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How to Create a Real Estate Marketing Plan

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I talk to a lot of real estate agents who do not have a consistent flow of business.

They're doing maybe two deals in one month, then nothing for three months, then one deal and nothing, then another two deals … that sort of thing.

It does not usually take long to figure out why their business is so sporadic.

They start asking questions like:

  • Can you recommend a good lead generation service?
  • Do you know of a good website?
  • Can you help me figure out how to get more listings?
  • Do you think I should start going after FSBOS (or expireds, short sales, foreclosures, etc.)?
  • Should I start blogging (or farming, cold calling, networking, etc)?

I hear these questions, and I know what's wrong.

These are questions agents have when they do not have a formal marketing plan. They're relying on luck.

They get an occasional referral from a close friend or family member, an occasional floor call that pays off, or an occasional open house lead, etc.

When they look back at the past few years and the source of their clients, it's random. They got lucky.

But WAIT!

You're probably thinking (I would be) that real estate leads do come from everywhere. Top Realtors will tell you that they get business out of left field. Their source of business chart looks like a freeform mind map.

But there's a difference between how top agents get random business and how struggling agents get random business.

Top agents make their own luck by using a consistent marketing plan. Some of their business STILL comes from random sources … but that's a side benefit to having a steady flow from their targeted sources.

It's like putting a bunch of fishingoles in the water in multiple strategic locations, using the right three kinds of bait … versus putting poles all over the lake using whatever random bait looked good to you and hoping for the best.

Successful real estate agents do active, specific, targeted marketing.

For instance, they know that the vast majority of home owners prefer to do business with an agent that was referred to them or that they have built a relationship with personally. So they seek strategies for consistently building relationships with home owners and centers of influence.

Or top buyer's agents know that the vast majority of home buyers do not really care who their real estate agent is. So these agents seek strategies to rake in as many buyer leads as possible and learn how to do lead conversion.

3 Real Estate Marketing Must-Haves

When choosing a real estate marketing method, make sure of these three things:

1. You like doing it. Or at least be sure you do not despise it. If you get sick to your stomach when you think of doing cold calling, do not do that.

Choose real estate prospecting that matches your personality. If you're highly social, you might enjoy networking and hosting events. If you're techy, you might enjoy internet marketing. If you love physical exercise and talking to people one-on-one, you might like door canvassing. If you love public speaking, you might like running real estate workshops.

2. You have the skills you need to do it well. Most of the time, agents focus on skills for doing the prospecting itself, things like: How many visits to the FSBO should I make? What is the best door canvassing script? What's the best website?

But they forget the most important skill of all – how to convert the lead into an appointment and the appointment into a signed commitment. Compare these two sentences:

  • My goal is to get 30 leads this week.
  • My goal is to ask for 10 appointments this week.

Which focus will result in more clients? The second, right? I talk to plenty of agents who are great at generating real estate leads. But they do not know how to generate appointments.

3. You are using resources wisely. Your resources include time, money, and energy. Your choice of marketing has to balance all three.

If you have a ton of money, you can run an effective radio and television ad campaign.

If you have no money, but a ton of time (because you have only one or two clients per month and you do not have kids or other distractions), you can do just about any form of free marketing, like door canvassing, cold calling, networking, running workshops (when you use strategic alliances), etc.

If you have a modest budget and modest time, you can consider things like internet marketing combined with workshops, or direct response mail combined with door canvassing in a neighborhood.

Ultimately, real estate agents who generate and convert more real estate leads have a specific marketing plan designed around their personality, skills, and resources. And then they stick to it.

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