In Real Estate Marketing, Aim for the Response by Brandon Cornett

Purpose of the real estate marketing article: To explain the importance of response-based marketing in today's real estate market.

While working in the direct marketing industry for a company whose clientele was mostly real estate, I witnessed the production of more than 70,000 real estate marketing pieces each week.

I couldn't help but notice how many agents tried to overburden their marketing messages. In other words, many of the real estate marketers wanted their messages to do more than they were capable of doing.

I'll elaborate. But first, some Real Estate Marketing 101:

An effective real estate marketing strategy usually calls for a three-step approach. You must define your audience, your goal and, ultimately, your message.

1. Define your audience
Who do you hope to sell your services to? Who do you hope to motivate and persuade? The key here is to go beyond the obvious.

In your mind, try to picture your typical prospects. Visualize them. What do they look like? What do they want? What fears wake them in the night? What happiness do they seek? What problem(s) do they have that you can solve better than anyone else?

When you can answer these questions, you're ready to move on to the next step — defining your goal.

2. Define your real estate marketing goal
To define your real estate marketing goal, you must also clarify and simplify it. The clear part is obvious — a clearly defined goal is easier to achieve. By “simplify,” I don't mean making your goal trivial or unworthy of pursuit. I mean reducing the goal to its purest form.

Strip away anything that does not support your objective (which is the action or response you want from your readers). If you have several goals for your marketing message to accomplish, you haven't simplified enough. Refine it until you have one specific action you want people to take.

3. Define your real estate marketing message
Based on your audience and your goal, what must your message do to bridge the gap? What should you say or write to get your audience to move toward the desired action?

Process in Practice
Now it's time to get specific. Let's say you're mainly a buyer's agent, so your audience would obviously be people shopping for homes. You've researched home-buying demographics in your area, you've got a good mental picture of your audience, and you've made a list of things that are important to them.

Now it's time to define your goal.

The Key to Goal Definition
Don't confuse your ultimate goal with your messaging goal. In other words, don't define a messaging goal that your message can't deliver. Instead, go for the low-hanging fruit.

Let your real estate marketing message do what it's good at. Let it move the reader one step closer to a larger, more ultimate goal.

That's what marketing messages have been doing effectively for decades, moving readers toward specific, achievable actions.

For instance, if your ultimate goal is to gain a new client, the goal of your messaging might be to initiate first contact (a phone call or email) from that prospective client. This would be an excellent messaging goal for two reasons:

First, it's a goal your message can actually accomplish.

Secondly, it's a goal that can support your overall goal of client acquisition. Here's why: An NAR survey sponsored by the Gooder Group found that 74% of people shopping for a real estate professional go with the first one they call. That means if you earn that first call from a prospect, you have a 74% chance of turning them into a client.

Think of It This Way
You're not selling a toaster. You're selling the real estate services you provide — services that have an impact on the finances and ultimate happiness (or unhappiness) of your clients. Those are weighty issues.

Words on paper can sell a toaster. Words on paper cannot sell your prospects on your ability to deliver. Words can, however, sell your prospects on the next step they might take (in this case, calling or emailing you). After that first contact, there's plenty of time to show them your ability to deliver.

Give your real estate marketing message a break from unreasonable expectations. Let it do what it's best at. Let it move the reader forward in your ultimate plan.