How To Market Yourself Without Breaking The Bank

The idea of marketing yourself can be a scary one, no matter what kind of business you are in. Especially when you’re a real estate agent. How you market yourself will make or break your career as an agent. Far too often, agents hear the word marketing and automatically think “cost”.

Marketing yourself will not always come cheap, but in the long run, if done wisely, the correct marketing strategy will lead to a successful, and profitable, career in real estate.

Obviously, social media marketing is the number one way real estate agents are marketing themselves. Social media has opened up new doors for real estate agents to market themselves and their properties, while possible customers are able to search for homes. Finding a real estate agent is easier than ever now. Social media marketing is still in it’s technological infancy, but it has already proven to lessen stress and eliminate errors that can occur when trying to buy or sell property. Buyers can use the internet to research every aspect of a home sales, which means real estate agents must use every form of social media available.

Real estate agents need to be on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIN, etc. By being social media savvy, real estate agents can successfully market themselves by posting pictures, blogging, commenting on posts and message boards, sending personal messages and responding to inquiries. This will develop a connection between the agent and the prospective client. You can pay for targeted ads on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, or even pay an SEO expert to make sure you are the King or Queen of Google. All of which you have control over when it comes to spending.

If this sounds too time-consuming, I understand. After all, you have work to do. If you can take one or two days out of your work schedule to completely focus on implementing new marketing strategies, you will be killing two birds with one stone. You must become a hybrid of real estate agent and self-promoter, all while not focusing on one target. After some immediate success in marketing, some real estate agents start thinking about expanding their business by expanding their territory. If they are dominating business in one area, then they believe they can do the same in the next town over. The bigger the territory, the larger slice of the pie? Not so fast. The whole point of inexpensive marketing is so agents don’t go too fast, too soon. Target a specific, single area or market, and then monitor the progress.

Speaking of specific, an area of internet marketing that agents will want to pursue combines the 21st century with some old fashion ideals. Social media meets personal connection. Real estate agents should have community pages on their personal website. It gives a potential home buyer a chance to learn more about the particular region in which a targeted house is located. The page info and data can explain everything from the town’s school district, to highway accessibility and availability of public transportation. The page also allows people interested in buying homes, to learn more about the agent. It tells a more personal story besides the usual song and dance we hear from agents. The best part is that you can create a community page for free and have the link to it on your website.

Personalized postcards can also boost an agent’s marketing presence without breaking the bank. This has been a common form of marketing for real estate agents for some time now. Postcard marketing is essential for agents hunting for new clients, as well as maintaining contact with existing ones. If you think postcards sound too old fashioned, you haven’t heard it all yet. I’m kickin’ it really old school with a handshake and a business card. Networking events are still some of the best venues for real estate agents. Referrals can really fly around in that type of setting. After a few drinks and some convo, watch the swapping of business cards take place. It looks like the floor of the NY stock exchange.

Social media, personal community pages, postcards, business cards and networking events. Does any of this sound like it’s way over budget? Far from it, in fact. You know the old saying “you have to spend money to make money”? It’s as true today as it was decades ago. So imagine that exact same saying coming true, and being a smashing success, for a fraction of the price that some might consider “expensive marketing”. For real estate agents, it’s not how much you spend on marketing. It’s how you do it and where you do it.