Blog / Leadership
Perfecting Marketing in Real Estate Barbara Ketley
With Barbara Ketley Real Estate Design
More than ever, marketing matters in real estate. An expert in developing marketing assets and strategies for real estate agents and agencies, Barbara Ketley, co-owner of Real Estate Design Studio says, “To build enquiry and engagement you need an arsenal of marketing assets for tools to prospect, relationship build, convert and sell. You have to draw on the power of words, sounds and images to create a series of hooks, touches and marketing collateral to draw in buyers and to show your worth to vendors. You have to connect with your target audience."
Don't DL unless you've got a hook
Barbara says, “Use the DL format to provide worth to the consumer. Create or buy useful content for sellers. Show your value. We created the 13 part DL Seller Series for vendors, which builds trust and can be sent every two to three weeks - they have proven to be very popular."
They include:
- Preparing your mind for sale
- To renovate or not to renovate?
- To buy or sell first?
- Making the most of your greatest asset
- Tell your agent your property's story
- Choose an agent who will go into battle for you
- To auction? To auction?
- Marketing is all about careful targeting
- Preparing your home for inspection
- Relaunching a property
- Selling a property in unexpected circumstances
- How to deal when other agents approach
- The danger of setting a property price too high.
The DLs can become the basis of a whole annual marketing calendar. Agents can buy 8 to 10 and if sent every two to three weeks, they can build a relationship over time. Agents build their reputation as an agent who cares and can offer genuine value to a potential vendor.
Barbara adds, “On our site realestatedesign.com.au, you can see the range of assets we have created in partnership with Lee Woodward that you can bring into your marketplace as suits your specific needs."
Engage with video
Barbara says, “If you use video on a website, you get people to stay on the website page for an additional two minutes on average because they are engaged by the power of the video. Video delivers so much more than a simple word or image can deliver.” Video has many applications. For hot buyers, you could send them a video on a point that emotionally engaged them. Barbara adds, “Think about your audience; your clients. What is it about your area that makes it an attractive place to live? What are its lifestyle benefits? If you have a lot of overseas investors, make a short video on what you need to know if you're moving from overseas. Or how to rent/buy a property faster in Australia. Perhaps create a video on what you need to know if you are purchasing in your state. Highlight some of the infrastructure developments in your neck of the woods, that are making it more attractive such as a new school being built, a new railway or changes to land laws. Do you have some of the best schools in the area? Why not interview the school principal? The best noodles? Coffee? View?"
Stop sending out information that doesn’t connect with your marketing strategy! Start hooking buyers in and connect with your target audience.
The Golden Rules of Real Estate Marketing
1. Know your key message and your audience
Who is your audience? What do they think now? What do you want them to think? Define your market. Understand to whom you're talking and create a communication program that is consistent, regular and actually answers the questions that your clients want answered.
2. Provide a rapid response
Clients expect an immediate response. Delaying getting back to people sends the wrong signal and lessens your chance of engagement. Marketing assets are there to bring in clients. Use robot marketing to engage with people who want to be communicated with and provide them with critical information instantly.
3. Create assets and marketing collateral that hook, stick and work together
Life has got complicated. Marketing has got complicated too because there are so many elements required to market effectively and so much thought that needs to go into creating marketing collateral. There are 15 channels for communication – how many do you have in your business? For example, when you make a phone call to a client, do you follow up by sending assets to a customer, for example a video, a Web Book, or a Buyer’s Booklet? All your DLs, prospecting letters and Web Books are there to spark interest and start a conversation with buyers and vendors. You have to create hooks and find messages and approaches that stick and resonate with your audience.
4. Sell your message with a series of touches
It's not about one touch. You have to sell a message through lots of different media and you need to do it at a frequent and a steady pace to build brand awareness. When the time is right for somebody to want to sell, they will remember you. You will be top of mind.
5. Create a consistent, authentic brand
Your branding must be authentic. It's really got to reflect the company or the agent it's representing. Branding is so much more than just a visual. Your brand is everything to do with your organisation. It's the way you speak, the way you communicate, the people you bring on board - everything needs to be integrated to create that brand otherwise it's hollow. You have to understand where your brand is now and where you want it to be, and then list a set of actions for the organisation that will actually deliver that result.
6. Don’t forget marketing is for clients - and for staff
A strong brand draws in clients and it also attracts quality staff. From a leadership level, you can recruit a lot of people with the right look and feel. An agent is actually selling you as an organisation to your prospective new recruits. Engage the customer emotively and engage the people who are representing the business. Both are equally important.
Marketing strategies that work
1. Don’t DL unless you’ve got a hook 2. Newsletters 3. Lettershells 4. Robot marketing 5. 12 page buyer booklet 6. Posters 7. National selling plan 8. Web books 9. Post-listing communications 10. Website 11. Customised e-marketing solutions 12. Social media 13. Billboards and signage 14. Video 15. TV and radio advertising
For more information please see: Real Estate Design Studio 1300-733-804. www.realestatedesign.com.au
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