1
Brought to you by Technology changes fast. From new apps to digital marketing, it can feel impossible to keep up. At The Paperless Agent, our mission is to help real estate professionals from all experience levels filter through the hype and master the tech that will grow your businesses and save you time and money. If you like what you see, check out http:// thepaperlessagent.com/ for more great tips! 2
Update Your Marketing Strategies for 2016! 3
Marketing Strategies for 2016 1. Intro 5 2. Update Some Classic Marketing Campaigns 7 3. Get Your Brand in Order 13 4. Start Running Facebook Ads 19 5. Create a Digital Property Marketing Plan 24 6. Upgrade Your Listing Presentation 30 4
Marketing Strategies for 2016 Let s face it In today s digital age, marketing changes fast. New technologies and platforms seem to pop-up daily. And while each new technology brings new opportunities, it can be overwhelming trying to decide where to focus your time and precious marketing dollars. Should I focus on social platforms like Instagram and Facebook? Should I use paid advertising on those sites? What about blogging? CPC marketing? Should I spend my time revising the campaigns and marketing materials I m currently using? Is a sign in the yard enough? The list goes on and and on! Here at The Paperless Agent, we make it our business to stay on top of what s working, what s not, and what you should focus on to make the biggest impact to your bottomline. In this guide, we ll walk you through the areas of your business to focus on this year. The strategies we share are the same strategies we focus on in our brokerage in Austin, TX, and they re all proven to get results! 5
Marketing Strategies for 2016 So with that, let s get into the strategies and tactics you should implement this year. This guide is organized to introduce you to the areas of your business you should focus on improving and new marketing strategies you should implement. In each section, we ll explain why these areas and strategies demand your attention and give you some pointers for getting started. However, rather than list exactly what you need to do (that would make this guide hundreds of pages long!) to implement these changes, we ll point you in direction of other resources, videos, guides, blog posts, and so on that we ve created that dive into the topics in more depth! 6
Update Some Classic Marketing Campaigns 7
Update Some Classic Marketing Campaigns In real estate, we inherit many of our business ideas, strategies, and tactics from the people around us. While adopting practices helps us get up-and-running faster, they are often based on outdated practices. If we don t stop to update them, they can hold us back and cause to miss out on new opportunities. Here s a prime example: Real estate agents and brokers spent $1.5 billion on newspaper ads last year. Crunch the numbers, and that boils down to over $1,000 a year per agent in the business. That s a ton of money! Yet according to the National Association of Realtors National Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers, less than 1% of homebuyers found their home in print advertising last year Today consumers are online, and that $1,000 would be much better spent marketing to consumers where they are! Here are a few classic campaigns we ve updated to be relevant in today s digital age: Marketing to Your Network, Just Listed Campaign, and the Expired Listing Campaign 8
Campaign 1: Marketing to Your Network For any agent, the best source of new business will almost always be your existing network. Former clients, friends, family, and so on know and trust you, and you are likely to find success marketing to your network than marketing to cold leads. But today, people don t like to be bothered with phone calls out of the blue. Instead, people are consuming information and staying in touch online. So to stay in front of our clients, we need a useful, respectful way to get in front of our clients while they re at their laptop or smart phone. At GoodLife Realty, we provide timely, relevant content through a number of channels, including email, social media, blog posts, and yes even a phone call to achieve this goal! Here s an example of one such campaign 9
Campaign 1: Marketing to Your Network 10
Campaign 1: Marketing to Your Network This is an example of a network campaign for February. This PDF report was sent to our agents networks attached to a personalized email. The information from the report was then repackaged and shared on Facebook, blogs, and so on! By providing timely information (tax information just in time for tax season and property tax rates), our agents networks start to look forward to their communications. Sharing information like this also build trust and helps establish our agents as experts. What s more, this information actually gives you a reason to call your sphere! You can call to check-in and see if they have any questions about the information you provided (and EVERYONE has questions about tax deductions). This makes your calls feel valuable, and you ll feel much less intrusive calling! These campaigns are easy to create or find someone to create for you, so there s really no excuse to NOT start it today! 11
For more information For a detailed look at this campaign AND our Just Listed and Expired Listing Campaigns, check out our recent blog post: The 3 Cornerstone Campaigns to Fill Your Pipeline, Secure Future Clients, and Grow Your Business 12
Get Your Brand in Order 13
Get Your Brand in Order In the old days of real estate, firms and professionals promoted their brands by running ads in newspapers, magazines, and billboards or by sending direct mail. If they had the budget, they would run television and radio commercials. These vehicles to connect with the consumer were costly and hard to measure results. Just like the campaigns we discussed in the last section, the options to promote and build real estate brands have radically changed because of online marketing technologies. Online search, mobile advertising, social media, email marketing are just some of the tools we can use to connect customers to our brand message. These platforms are cheaper, and you can tack your results to see the return on your marketing investments. The opportunity to create a brand impression starts when people search for homes online, research the home buying or selling process, use tools to calculate what they can afford or how much they will make when selling a home, and make inquiries to those online places they ve spent time. 14
Get Your Brand in Order During all of these activities, your online presence, or your brand, is giving clients a message about you. If your mindful about what you post, the information you share, and how you share it, that message can be powerful and help to win over clients! But what is your brand? What makes you unique and sets you apart from other agents? The answer to these questions will shape your brand message. By refining that message, you can guide how customers think and feel about you (before you even talk to them). Flip to the next page for 7 questions that will help you refine your brand message Once you ve answered all of the questions, try to boil them down to one unique statement. Using the answers on the next page, an example might be: Austin luxury and modern home sales using advanced mobile and marketing technologies to deliver a 5 Star Experience. 15
Question Response 1. What kind of consumer do you want to attract? Austin s luxury home buyers and sellers. 2. What s the profile for that customer? High income earner, business owner or executive, technically savvy and smart about the market 3. What do they care about? Lifestyle, convenience, prestige. 4. What are other agents and brokers in your market telling the consumer? You can trust me to sell your home for more money because I m the best and provide great service. 5. How do want to stand out to this customer from other agents or brokers? Luxury and modern home lifestyle, advanced technology and marketing, 5 Star Experience. 6. Is what you want to be known for a compelling reason for the customer to work with you? Yes, but if trying a new one, you ll need to test and improve. 7. What are you already known for and should it continue as part of your Technology centric, Modern homes, Hip & urban lifestyle. brand or identity? 16 4
Get Your Brand in Order Once you have your brand message nailed down, go through all of your marketing, your website, your social media profiles, and so on, and make sure your messaging and content reflects the brand message you want to convey. To help you get started, check out this free online video training Building a Brand with Facebook! Just click the image below. 17
Start Running Facebook Ads
Start Running Facebook Ads When it comes to marketing, one rule we say time and time again is meet your prospects where they are. With 968 million users logging into Facebook daily, there s a good chance both your existing and future clients are there. The question is: How do you reach them on Facebook? The best way we ve found is by leveraging Facebook s advertising platform. Facebook ads are by far the most effective and easiest way to market on Facebook. With Facebook ads, you can place specific ads in front of targeted audiences. You can offer home valuations to homeowners likely to move, or showoff your listings to newlyweds in need of a new place. The possibilities are endless! With a few easy, cost-effective campaigns, we doubled traffic to our website, our open listings pages are now the most visited part of our site, and we re generating leads for way less than it costs to get them from sites like Trulia.
Start Running Facebook Ads If you re like a lot of agents, however, you already see the value in Facebook advertising but you re not sure where to get started. Three of the most effective campaigns you can run are: 1. Just Listed Campaign Think of this campaign as the digital sign in the yard or the online version of sending out postcards for your listing. For us, running these campaigns doubled the traffic to our website. People also stayed on our site longer and spent time looking at additional listings. not just the ones we had advertised! With this campaign, you create ads that showcase your listings to potential buyers and the neighborhoods you work in. 2. What s My Home Worth Campaign When someone considers selling their home, one of their biggest questions is: What s my home worth? To find out, most sellers will turn to the internet first, rather than calling an agent. A free, online home value assessment is a no-hassle, easy way for sellers to get the information they want, and you can offer it by running Facebook Ads. 20
Start Running Facebook Ads 3. Property Search Campaign What do buyers want to see? Homes, homes, homes. With many real estate websites, the IDX feature allows buyers to use your site to view listings. Many also offer the ability to require buyers to enter their name and email address to view those properties. This campaign runs Facebook ads that drive buyers to your property search page so you can capture their information and follow up with them. We know You might be thinking, Great, but how do I implement these campaigns? Or maybe, how do I even create a Facebook ad? We ve got you covered. Just see the next page for a link to our resource 3 Facebook Campaigns for Real Estate! 21
Start Running Facebook Ads This blog post and report will tell you everything you need to know about running the campaigns we just mentioned: http://blog.thepaperlessagent.com/2015/08/3-facebookcampaigns-to-find-new-leads-and-promote-your-business/ 22
Create a Digital Property Marketing Plan 23
Create a Digital Property Marketing Plan If you ve followed us, you know The Paperless Agent recently declared war on what we see as one of the biggest problems in our industry When we agree to take on a listing, we are inherently promising to do everything we can to help our sellers get the best possible price for their homes. Yet too often, real estate agents market their sellers' properties as if they were stuck in the dark ages... They simply put a sign in the yard, put the listing in the MLS, and pray that it sells. Just syndicating your listings isn't enough... It does nothing to actively market our sellers' properties. This causes a breach in trust that spreads across the industry and creates a negative reputation for agents everywhere. This is where a Digital Property Marketing Plan comes in 24
Create a Digital Property Marketing Plan A Digital Property Marketing Plan is a detailed list of activities you will perform to market and sell your clients homes. Facebook, YouTube, reaching out to your sphere. Everything! By creating this plan and sharing it with sellers, you ll address sellers #1 want and concern (according to the National Associations of Realtors): Help marketing and selling their home! You re detailed plan will set you apart from the competition and give sellers confidence that you re the right person to sell their home. So basically, a Digital Property Marketing Plan is your key to winning more listings this year! At GoodLife Realty, we use a two-phase property marketing plan designed to give properties massive exposure and put them in front of as many buyers as possible. 25
Phase 1: Pre-MLS Launch Campaign Before your listing hits the MLS, conduct a series of activities to generate buzz about the property and ensure potential buyers can find the home online. In marketing speak, this is called a pre-launch campaign, and it s an incredibly effective way to seed the marketplace and put the property in a great position to sell. These activities are also an effective way for you they are also an effective way for you to generate awareness of your brand, which can eventually result in more leads. These steps for a pre-launch sequence are as follows: Set up an online Landing Page for the property Drive online traffic to the Landing Page with Social Posting Post on Craigslist to get online traffic to landing page Drive online traffic using Just Listed or Coming Soon Facebook Ad Campaigns Get the client to share the Landing Page for their property to their networks 26
Phase 2: Property Launch Activities Then we complete activities to launch the home and perform ongoing activities to market the home to buyers. This is an important aspect of the overall property marketing process because it s how you demonstrate to your client the ongoing value and service you provide. By performing these activities, and letting your client know what s going on, they will have a good picture of what you re doing. Furthermore, because most agents simply put properties in the MLS and put a sign in the yard, you re also showing them a unique competitive advantage. This is how you build the reputation of being a highly competent listing agent and generate referred and repeat business. Announce the property to the local network of agents Promote the property in the MLS Promote the property on the portals where you syndicate Promotional collateral for seller to share Review initial campaign data to make necessary adjustments 27
For more detailed descriptions of the marketing activities mentioned and more information our Digital Property Marketing Plan, check out our free guide: 28
Upgrade Your Listing Presentation 29
Upgrade Your Listing Presentation As we wrote in the last section, sellers #1 want and concern is help marketing and selling their home. That means to win more listings, you need to do an excellent job communicating exactly how you will sell their homes. And that means upgrading your listing presentation to address these topics and more! First things first, if you re still using a printed CMA from the MLS as your listing presentation, it s time to go digital. Grab your ipad or other mobile device and create a presentation. You don t want to talk about digital marketing strategies then hand someone a stack of paper! Once you have a digital listing presentation, there are three crucial slides you need. 1. The Marketing Campaign Slide(s) 2. The Pricing and Preparation Slide 3. The Why Work with Me Slide 30
Upgrade Your Listing Presentation When you re ready to upgrade your listing presentation, check out our guide, 3 Slides Every Listing Presentation Needs. It walks you through each of these slides, gives you examples of the slides we use, walks through the narratives we use to talk about them, and a whole lot more! To get it, just click the image of the report: 31