Real Estate Marketing - Integrate Your Efforts for Maximum Response

By Brandon Cornett
Integrated marketing sounds pretty scientific. That's probably why some real estate marketers get a glazed look in their eyes when the topic is mentioned.

But in reality, integrated marketing is fairly straightforward and easy to understand. It can also do great things for your real estate marketing program as a whole.

My objective with this article is to take you beyond understanding integrated marketing and well on your way to using it ... well on your way to enjoying the results.

So What is Integrated Marketing?
Here's a definition I found online: "Integrated Marketing: The practice of blending different elements of the communication mix in mutually reinforcing ways."

Let's simplify that a little. Integrated marketing is what happens when various real estate marketing channels (web, print, email, etc.) work together to achieve a common goal. The "working together" part is critical, and it prompts me to create a title and definition of my own.

"Integrated" is a past-tense word. It suggests something that has already happened and is done with. It's not forward-thinking.

So let's call it "cooperative marketing."

Here's the main principle of cooperative marketing:
The individual parts cooperate to achieve more than they could achieve on their own. In other words, the whole is stronger than the sum of its parts.

Cooperative Marketing in Action - Real Estate Marketing
Let's say you're a real estate agent who focuses on buyers mostly. The goal of your direct marketing campaign is to generate emails and phone calls from potential clients. (An excellent goal, since statistics have shown most people end up hiring the first real estate agent they contact).

To persuade your prospects to contact you, you've offered a free home-buyer's kit. Here's how cooperative marketing can help you achieve your goal:

You send a direct mail postcard to your real estate farming area. The postcard showcases the free (and valuable) home-buyer's kit you've created. It provides clear instructions on how to obtain the guide.

The postcard also features a small image of the information kit's cover (a further enticement) and directs the reader to a section of your website where they'll find an excerpt of the info kit.

Having nothing to lose, they read the excerpt. They like what they see because, of course, you've chosen the two best pages for the excerpt.

All they have to do now is call or email you to get the free report ... which, hopefully, they do.

The info kit also functions as a high-value business card, because you were smart enough to include your contact information in it.

And if the recipient shares the kit with friends, you've extended your marketing reach without any extra effort.

Now that's cooperative marketing.

On its own, a real estate marketing postcard cannot convey much information. But when it entices the reader with a promise of value, and points the reader to a website where that value can be obtained, the postcard gains a whole new level of effectiveness. Cooperative marketing achieved.

On its own, a real estate website can offer valuable information. But your potential clients will never know it's there, unless they stumble across it. The marketing postcard puts the website in front of them, and it gives them a specific reason to visit. Cooperative marketing achieved.
Lastly, don't mistake the word "cooperative" with "dependent." The postcard doesn't depend on the website for success -- nor the opposite. Each channel is capable of generating a response on its own. They're just capable of a lot more when they cooperate.

Direct marketing (and real estate marketing in general) is rarely a one-shot deal. The whole is stronger than the parts. The parts cooperate to achieve the common goal.