Do You Need a Real Estate Marketing Company?

As a REALTOR, you know your homes, your communities, and your customers. Getting the word out about those homes to those customers in your community might not be your strong suit. A good real estate marketing company isn’t going to tell you how to do your job, but they can help you focus on what you do best: provide excellent service to your home buyers and sellers. After all, the agent isn’t just a source of information anymore. There are plenty of apps and websites for that.  Agents play a role that is more like a sherpa, and that will never be disrupted by technology.

What you do want in a real estate marketing company — and what you don’t.

You’ve probably already been approached by several firms wanting to handle your marketing. If you don’t like their approach — perhaps they’re too aggressive, email too often, or the tone of their emails seems pushy — then you’ve just figured out some criteria for choosing one.

• Effective marketing shouldn’t be annoying. When you walk into a store and a salesperson is all over you, it puts you off of buying. Same holds true for your customers. If you don’t like how a firm is filling your inbox, that approach may irritate potential customers, too.

If on the other hand, you’ve stopped to read one of the communications a firm has sent you, they probably piqued your interest. Perhaps you admired a template they used, clicked on an intriguing headline, or perhaps you received a phone call and you liked the personal touch. You just found more parameters for your search.

• The marketing approach should feel uniquely tailored to you and your business. No one wants to be an entry in a mail merge form, and no business should make you feel that way. Likewise, you want your customers to feel special, and your real estate marketing should reflect that.

Know your own strengths to create your real estate brand

You’re no stranger to marketing by now, so you’ve probably already laid the groundwork for brand awareness in your community. A good real estate marketing company will build on this foundation and work with you to make it stronger. They shouldn’t ask you to change course or start from scratch.

Make a list of the things you feel you can do, and the things you need help with. Perhaps you would like help with copywriting and proofreading, graphic design, or making your website mobile compatible; perhaps you have yet to realize the full potential of awareness marketing.

All of these are things a good real estate marketing company can assist you with, and you should be able to get a clear quote for each service from them. Make sure they know that you will not even consider their business without these quotes.

No code words

Several companies can talk about digital marketing, ROI, PPC and SEO, and many other tiresome acronyms. Marketing is a specialized language, just like real estate. If they’re more interested in throwing around technical terms than connecting with you, you might want to take a pass.

Stand out from the crowd

There are 2 million licensed real estate agents in the United States. Fortunately, you aren’t in competition with all of them. However, you still need to make an immediate impression, and that’s what a great real estate marketing firm should do for you. For example, at Adwerx, we let you own your zip code by targeting your digital advertising to prospective customers in that locale. Your business in your neighborhood. Makes sense, and makes an impression.

Actual real estate agents love the idea. It’s easy, simple, and the results are clearly documented. We send reports, but the best reports are from your friends and family (not to mention new customers) telling you, “I saw you online!”

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