Marketing Musts for the Real Estate Pro

Many real estate investors don’t give a thought to marketing; this can be a costly mistake, as marketing is arguably one of the most essential parts of your real estate business. Without good leads, your business simply won’t produce. Without putting some serious thought and hard work into your marketing strategy, you cannot produce good leads. To that end, here are five marketing must-dos for real estate:

Invest.

To successfully market your business, you need to make a serious investment. You do not have to launch a pricey, full-scale marketing blitz, which is good news for those new investors with few resources. However, if you can’t put in a great deal of money, you must be prepared to invest a great deal of time getting your name out there.

Diversify.

It is not wise to depend on one singular type of marketing. The best strategy is to use a combination of marketing techniques to reach as wide a potential client base as possible.

There are two main types of marketing: prospecting, in which investors search out properties and motivated sellers, and advertising, in which investors spread the word about their business in the hopes that buyers and sellers will come to them.

Within these two categories are the options of direct marketing, in which specific potential clients are targeted, and mass marketing, in which promotional materials are widely distributed. Beyond that, investors can choose from a wide berth of techniques including, but not limited to: email, direct mail, social media, cold-calling and promotional events both live and online.

You may have to tweak your overall strategy to see what combination works for you, and you will need to rely most heavily on the method that best reaches your key demographic.

Measure.

It is important to consistently measure the effectiveness of your marketing strategies. You should take careful stock of the quantity of leads generated by each marketing method, and evaluate the quality of each lead. You should also keep careful track of the cost of each method and balance it against its overall effectiveness.

This information will give you a clear window into how efficient and cost-effective your marketing campaign is. It will also show you who your campaign is successfully reaching, giving you a better idea of who your target demographic should be.

Follow up.

Finding leads is not the end of the story. Following up with your leads is just as essential for the success of your marketing campaign. Keep a spreadsheet or ledger that lists all of your leads, along with information about how they were generated, how best to contact them, and what their needs might be. Then set aside time to follow up in the way best suited to each individual prospect.