When most real estate agents think about marketing, they think about advertising and sales. They think about the emails they receive, TV and radio commercials they hear, billboards they see, the websites they visit or the postcards, mailers and letters they receive each day. So it’s not surprising that when agents market their services, they try a bit of everything in hopes that something will stick. What they often don’t consider is how much effort went into planning the marketing campaign they are trying to mimic.

When a company like McDonald’s puts together a marketing campaign, it doesn’t just film something and run that commercial on TV. Rather, there are planning meetings, strategy sessions, and plenty of creative brainstorming – not to mention they have team of creatives working on the project and a huge advertising budget. They have ad agencies planning how to reach their target audience (kids, teens, moms, health conscious), what marketing message to use (McDonald’s is a cool teen hangout, McDonald’s now offers salads and healthy options, McDonald’s has cool prizes in its kids meals), and how to communicate their marketing message (through movie tie-ins, celebrity endorsements, games like Monopoly).

When you put together your marketing campaign to promote your real estate services, think beyond ads, brochures and websites to those three core elements: who are you targeting, what is your marketing message, and how can you best communicate your message to your niche. Here is a 6 step outline for creating your marketing plan.

1. Planning and Goal Setting What is the purpose of your marketing campaign? What do you want to accomplish? Where do you want to be at the end of it and what’s the best way to get there? Have you set SMART goals? Do you have the resources to accomplish what you want?
2. Define Your Niche Which prospects are a good fit for your services? Are you targeting prospects who are most likely to be qualified – meaning they have a need for your services, can pay you, and are looking to buy or sell their home in the next few months. Too many real estate agents want to help “anyone that can use my service.” This is the quickest way to burn through your marketing budget with few (if any) results.
3. Clarify Your Marketing Message – Do you know what your prospects’ key goals and motivations are? What is preventing them from achieving their goals? If so, the next step is to communicate your marketing message in a way that will capture their attention. How do you define who you are, what you do, and why people should care. If you can’t summarize this concisely, how can you expect others to understand what you do?
4. Promote Your Services – What’s the best way to generate leads? Which marketing tactics will you use and how can each marketing tool help you achieve your marketing goals?
5. Measure Your Results – Once you have your marketing materials completed, it’s time to test your results. How effective are they in attracting new clients? Is there something you can be doing better? Is one marketing piece more effective at generating leads than another?
6. Commit To Marketing Monthly – Marketing is only effective if you do it consistently, so once you find a strategy that works for your business, invest the time and money to keep using it on a regular basis.

By following these steps, you can put together a successful marketing campaign that consistently attracts new prospects.

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