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In Real Estate Marketing Aim For The Response
hile working in the you want to reach homeowners or
direct mail industry for homebuyers — but get more
a company whose clientele specific than that.
was 75% real estate, I witnessed
the production and distribution Go beyond the obvious. Take notes
of more than 70,000 real estate about each client you work with
marketing pieces each week. and then compile the notes.
Review them prior to each
A common but unfortunate trend I marketing project you undertake.
noticed was the overburdening of
marketing messages. In other Create a mental picture of your
words, many of the marketers typical prospects. Visualize them
wanted their messages to do more in your mind's eye. What do they
than they were capable of doing. look like? What do they want?
What fears wake them in the
I'll elaborate. But first, a night? What happiness do they
quick marketing primer: seek?
Creating an effective marketing When you can answer all of these
message usually calls for a questions, you can move on to the
three-step approach. You must next step, defining your goal.
define your audience, your goal
and, ultimately, your message — 2. Define your goal
in that order.
Under this step you might add the
1. Define your audience sub-steps of clarifying and
simplifying your goal. The clear
Who are you marketing your part is obvious — a clearly
services to? Who are you hoping defined goal is a goal more
to motivate and persuade? Sure, easily attained. By “simplify,” I
don't mean making your goal real estate marketing factors
trivial or unworthy of pursuit. I might come together to drive an
mean reducing the goal to its actual message geared toward an
purest form. actual audience.
Strip away anything that's not Let's say you're primarily a
critical to the precise objective buyer's agent, so your audience
you want your reader to take. If would obviously be people
you have several goals for your shopping for homes. You've done
marketing message to accomplish, some research on homebuyer
you haven't simplified enough! demographics in your area, you've
Boil it down to one specific got a good mental picture of your
action (like the example that audience, and you've made a list
follows later). of things that are important to
them.
3. Define your message
Now it's time to define your
Based on your audience and your goal.
goal, what must your message do
to bridge the gap? What should The Key to Goal Definition:
you say or write to get your
audience to move toward the Don't confuse your ultimate goal
desired action? with your messaging goal. In
other words, don't define a
Process in Practice: messaging goal that your message
can't deliver. Instead, go for
I've simplified the above the low-hanging fruit.
process, but all the fundamentals
are there. Now it's time to get Let your real estate marketing
specific. Let's look at how these message do what it's good at. Let
it move the reader one step of turning them into a client.
closer to a larger, more ultimate
goal. That's what marketing Think of It This Way:
messages have been doing
effectively for decades, moving You're not selling a toaster.
readers toward specific, You're selling the real estate
achievable actions. services you provide — services
that have an impact on the
For instance, if your ultimate finances and ultimate happiness
goal is to gain a new client, the (or unhappiness) of your clients.
goal of your messaging might be Those are weighty issues.
to initiate first contact (a
phone call or email) from that Words on paper can sell a
prospective client. This would be toaster. Words on paper cannot
an excellent messaging goal for sell your prospects on your
two reasons: ability to deliver. Words can,
however, sell your prospects on
First, it's a goal your message the next step they might take (in
can actually accomplish. this case, calling or emailing
you). After that first contact,
Secondly, it's a goal that can there's plenty of time to show
support your overall goal of them your ability to deliver.
client acquisition. Here's why:
An NAR survey sponsored by the Give your real estate marketing
Gooder Group found that 74% of message a break from unreasonable
people shopping for a real estate expectations. Let it do what it's
professional go with the first best at. Let it move the reader
one they call. That means if you forward in your ultimate plan.
earn that first call from a
prospect, you have a 74% chance * Copyright 2006, Brandon
Cornett.
About the Author:
Brandon Cornett is the founder of http://ArmingYourFarming.com, a company providing real estate marketing guides since 2004. His free newsletter is available at: http://www.ArmingYourFarming.com
For daily real estate marketing tips, vist Brandon's blog at http://www.realestatemarketingtips.blogspot.com
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