If you’re going to enjoy a long, financially rewarding career as a real estate agent, it’s essential that you build awareness of your brand in the community you serve.
Of course, doing so is often easier said than done. The biggest mistake most agents make is failing to focus on the long-term—instead, hoping that a few tricks will bring them notoriety overnight.
While this works in some cases—for a little while, at least—the real path to success is both long and winding.
Keep reading to find out how you can win the long game and build a real estate brand that last as long as you want it to.
Speak to your target audience.
New agents have a habit of working with anyone and everyone. And, in many ways, that’s not a bad thing. After all, real estate is a contact sport. You learn by doing, and that won’t happen unless you get a few listings under your belt.
On the other hand, you can get a lot further in the long run by specializing in certain types of transactions. For example, you could target first-time buyers, retirees, or another subset of clients within your overall community. In the world of real estate farming, this is referred to as a niche or demographic farming.
When you tend to target a specific group of clients, you’ll learn which approaches tend to get them the best results. By doing this, you’ll provide an amazing customer service experience and increase the likelihood of referrals and repeat transactions. Plus, since you’re specializing in a particular type of transaction, your marketing campaigns will practically write themselves.
But, most important of all, by specializing in certain types of transactions, you’ll develop a reputation as the agent for those transactions. When someone in your area has a need for your particular services, you’ll be that much more likely to get the call.
Give your marketing time to take hold.
In order to become the top agent in your farm, you’re probably going to need to spend a decent amount of money up front promoting your business. Many real estate agents are put off by that initial investment, and that’s completely understandable—especially since it takes a while for you to actually start making any money.
For that reason, there’s often a great temptation to give up on marketing campaigns before they really have a chance to bear fruit.
When it comes to geographic farming, you’re simply not going to see a wealth of results right away. By design, farming is a long-term approach that will pay off only through patience and consistency. If you’re sending out a postcard once a month, you may not see any new transactions for the first month or two. But, over time, you’re building mindshare and increasing awareness of your business.
When you supplement your postcard outreach with door knocking and other awareness campaigns, you’ll get that much closer to being the agent people think of first. And that’s the level of awareness that will drive sales.
Be proactive about following up.
Whether you’re trying to convert a prospect into a paying customer or trying to get more referrals and repeat business from your database, you need to master the art of following up.
The truth is, even the most effective marketing tools are just that—tools. Real estate agents are in a relationship-based business, and the only proven way to get business is through getting clients to know, like, and trust you.
At ReminderMedia, we preach the importance of personal follow-up efforts such as phone calls and in-person visits. Our most successful clients use our products—whether that’s their branded print magazine, digital edition, or our farming solution, Print on Demand Postcards—as organic excuses to reach out to the people on their lists.
Whether or not you use our products, you should take this to heart. Send something of value to your clients and prospects, and then follow up with them personally. Call, text, or stop by to see if they received what you sent and what they thought about it.
Practicing this kind of proactive follow-up accomplishes a few things. First, it creates an additional touchpoint opportunity, which helps keep you top of mind. Second, it builds trust by showing that you care about your clients. Finally, it gives you an additional chance to talk to your client about whether they know anyone with a current real estate need.
If you take nothing else away from this, remember that no single kind of outreach is going to be the thing that keeps your business growing. Instead, your success depends on your ability to connect with the right people consistently—offering value, building trust, and making your brand synonymous with your market.
