Realtor Marketing Ideas

Legal note: Not all Real estate agents are Realtors® – see here for details. Realtor® is a trademarked term of the National Association of Realtors.

All that said, if you’re looking for Realtor marketing ideas, we can help.

This list has a lot of the usual – and some unusual and uncommon as well.

1. 1. This shirt on the right, worn in coffee shops in your target farm neighborhood. Pull up a laptop and park it for a few hours while you work on other parts of this list.. schedule an hour a day for this each morning, wearing this shirt for a week.
   2. Doorknocking works, but requires you to get past your desire to not do it. This works like gangbusters because your competitors, most of them, won’t do it. Keep the script incredibly simple – “Hi, I’m Bob Jones. Would you have any interest in moving in the next year or two?”. That’s it. Assume you’ve interrupted them doing something, so keep it short, which will make more productive. Hand them a magnet or pen or some small useful printed schwag, if you speak to them for more than 90 seconds. Don’t leave it at homes you don’t speak with. You probably don’t want to do this, but if you will, you’ll get listings. Best done as part of a 33 touch campaign, with mailers and database marketing (handled as part of Swift Marketing).
   3. Flyer boxes on yard signs – BUT don’t waste the back, and assume they’ll all get taken by neighbors who just want to know the price. Solution? Contest – Win dinner at {nice restaurant near you} by guessing the final sale price! Call me, Sally Sue at 444-555-6666. On the back, don’t waste the advertising location – this is time to offer your free reports, free videos, CMA / free home valuation, 10 Deadly Mistakes when Selling / Buying a home, etc. <click to see our done-for-you video series>
   4. Class database marketing / Active Referral Generation, which is a mix of 33 touch systems, 8 by 8 touch for new contacts. Swift Marketing’s real estate contact management software can keep you in touch with your A, B, and C list on a schedule with a mix of emails, postal mail, and phone calls.
   5. Wine / Beer tasting – the trick: price of admission is a referral. It’s fun, and a great way to convert A-list clients into true personal friends, and B-list clients into A-list.. and that’s on top of getting some actual referrals.
   6. Wear a name tag and/or conversation starter. When I was a young agent I often noticed the seasoned vets (in that office, usually 40 and 50-something women!) always wore pins. It was like the official outfit of an agent.. later I realized it was not just decor, but an obvious conversational opener for others.
   7. Social Media presence – Maintain a consistent blanket presence on Facebook, Twitter, Google+. Naturally, we’re biased here, but it works – Swift Marketing has a 61-point (our 33 touch system is actually close to 100 possible impressions total) done-for-you pre-scheduled carefully timed and tracked social media system, branded for you. If you do it yourself, great – if you just want it done for you, we can hook you up. Whether you buy ours or not, the trick is consistency and timing. For real estate, click throughs are highest around 3pm Saturday, but for business topics (and un-engaged employees) Thursday late afternoon is highest. See http://swiftsocialmedia.com/realestate for our system and the free schedule at the bottom.
   8. Sign riders – but lower the barrier to call. Try “Price is firm… maybe”, “special financing”, or even “quiet neighbors” if adjacent to a graveyard. Show some personality, because we all hate being sold, so we avoid salespeople and give them the “just looking” routine.
   9. Setup Swift Radar (free!) with RSS monitors for phrases like “moving sale” or “estate sale” (stop by and ask if the house is being sold – many times it’s either a move, downsizing, or probate deal), monitor for “relocation assistance” (on job listings), watch Twitter and Facebook for phrases like “moving to los angeles”. Contact the poster and ask if they want help, area recommendations, etc. – tip: this system can export to Swift CRM real estate client relationship manager.

1. 1. • Make sure everyone you know is 100% unequivocally clear about what you do, how you can help them, and that you’re an expert. If you do nothing else, this one Realtor marketing idea is something you need to master, or you’ll encounter the dreaded “oh, we just listed with {your mortal enemy (just kidding) / competitor}”.
      • Christmas cards are a problem because you’re lost in the shuffle. Better: a packet of seeds at Arbor day in the spring, “lumpy mail” that always gets opened, $.01 or $.03 stamps when the postage rates increase.. the more high tech our society becomes, the more handwritten notes will stand out.
      • Find expired licencees in near you and figure out some RESPA-compliant way to make it worth their time to refer you. Stay legal, but former agents who have gone into some other line of work or let their license lapse, or perhaps even had it pulled due to things like overdue child support will still have a flow of deals coming their way and/or a sphere of influence.
      • Open houses: Have a neighbor’s preview with the guess the final sales price contest.
      • JV Joint Venture: Cross-market with financial planners, attorneys, wedding planners, insurance professionals – trade them promotion on your website and/or newsletter…
      • Active Sales Networking groups – like BNI (Business Networking International) is a group that typically meets for breakfast and it works like gangbusters for real estate agents. The group only allows one of each type – so one agent, one mortgage provider, one wedding planner, etc., then each promotes the others in their group.
      • Guest blogging. Write some content for other bloggers and news outlets that cover your geographic area.
      • Business-card-flyers on cars. Be careful of littering laws ($$!), so the trick here is give real value on the card.
      • Ask your friends for referrals. This works if you’re the expert. What’s the best way to demonstrate expertise? Videos and autoresponders. – see http://swiftmarketing.com/real-estate-autoresponders for our done-for-you kit
      • Advertising – generally, the best for agents is hyperlocal awareness campaigns combined with internet marketing for real estate agents. We’ll write a whole post on Realtor internet marketing ideas soon that are internet centric, but at the end of the day marketing is simply “compelling offer” + “delivery to interested humans” + “response / capture method” = success.

If you enjoyed these Realtor Marketing Ideas, imagine what SwiftCloud can do for you.