This is step 2 of a five-part series on how new agents can successfully break into the real estate market.

General common sense dictates that your marketing materials should tell prospects who you are, what you do and what you’ve accomplished. If you pick up any ad, mailer, or other promotional material, chances are you’ll read about the agent’s accomplishments, sales background and history, or awards they’ve won. Yet this is exactly the opposite of what works in advertising.

The problem with this approach is that it focuses on boosting the agent’s ego rather than addressing their prospects’ problems, fears and concerns. Agents love to see their name and picture on billboards around town, or create a glossy, full-color brochure they can hand out, or design a website with lots of bells and whistles.

Yet, the truth is, much of these types of marketing materials are a waste of money. Your prospects don’t wake up in the morning and wonder who will give them a beautiful brochure or clever postcard today. They don’t start their day wishing they could learn more about the multitude of vendors competing for their attention. Rather, they are focused on their own problems and concerns and tend to notice things that speak directly to those issues.

The best marketing materials are written by putting yourself in your prospect’s shoes and asking: “If I was this person, what, specifically, would I be going through? Where would my biggest problem or pain lie? What would I be feeling?” The marketing piece would then be written to that person, describing in detail the problems he faces, the frustrations he feels, and finally, how to solve or alleviate those problems.

Marketing isn’t about being creative, but understanding your prospects’ psychology. If your marketing materials can describe their problems better than they can, show that you understand their pain, demonstrate that you’ve helped people just like them and offer them step-by-step solutions to those problems, you’ll have a much greater chance of winning their trust and building credibility with them.

So, how do you create these types of marketing materials?

Step 1: Identify your target audience. It’s impossible to write a letter, ad, or promotion that appeals to everyone, so pick the types of people who are most likely to need your services and write directly to them.

Step 2: Learn what issues are most important to your target audience. What questions come up repeatedly when you talk with prospects? What do they feel are their biggest problems and concerns? Put yourself in your prospect’s head and empathize with them – what are they going through right now? What do they think (maybe erroneously or irrationally)? How do they feel?

Step 3: Create marketing materials that educate prospects about their problems rather than who you are and what you do. If you were looking to sell your home, which offer would be more appealing to you?

• Offer A: Call now for your free home evaluation.
• Offer B: Visit our website to download our free 25-page report on the “Top 21 Ways to Sell Your Philadelphia Condo Fast for Top Dollar in a Down Market.”

Chances are, prospects would be much more likely to choose Offer B because:

• It’s highly targeted. It talks specifically to Philadelphia condo owners who are thinking of selling.
  
  
• It’s specific. It tells people exactly what they’ll get – a free 25-page report with 21 tips for selling a condo in Philadelphia.
  
  
• It’s focused on your prospect, not you. It speaks directly to a problem prospects are having right now – they want to sell their condo in a down market and still get as much money as possible for it – rather than appealing to the agent’s ego.
  
  
• It offers something unique. Many agents offer a “free home evaluation” – so that offer has become somewhat of a commodity. It’s not unique or special. When you offer a unique report with specific information, they must order it from you if they want that information, and by default, if they find the information you offer valuable, you’ll build credibility in their eyes because you’re the only one providing this great information.
  
  
• It provides a sample of your service. Services are intangible, so it’s difficult for prospects to evaluate which agent will provide them with the best services over the course of the next few months. When you offer a free report with great content, you’re giving them a sample of the advice they’ll receive if they hire you. The better the content in your report, the more credibility you’ll build because prospects will think, “If this agent is providing this great content to me for free, I wonder what great advice they’ll give me when I hire them.”
  
  
• It allows prospects to interact with you at their pace. “Call now” immediately invokes thoughts of sitting through a high pressure sales pitch where the salesman will say and do anything to get their business. Asking prospects to “visit our website” is much less risky because it allows prospects to research you and your solutions on their time and at their pace.

By providing education-based marketing materials, you give people a reason to raise their hands and tell you they’re interested. You also demonstrate you understand their problems and concerns, while giving them a way to learn more about you and your services at their leisure and in a less-risky way than a sales call.

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss cost-effective ways to generate leads using these education-based marketing materials.

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