Tackling Real Estate Marketing Without a Top Producer’s Budget

You can’t spend what you don’t have.

The adage that you have to “spend money to make money” doesn’t quite land with most real estate agents. Especially those new to the biz.

When closings become weekly appointments, real estate agents have a number of ways to reach clients. Until then, your budget needs to be carefully allocated.

Here are a few ideas on how to market your real estate services with less than a top producer’s budget.

Educational Seminars

A few cups of good coffee or case of water, some appetizers, and a lack of stage fright can go a long way toward positioning yourself as a local expert.

Use that growing email list, social media, and the office printer to get the word out about a “What’s Next For Mortgage Rates?” or “How Can Buyers Compete When Inventory Is Tight?” seminar, and share your experiences to build trust in your community.

All you need is 45 minutes and a few talking points to let folks know you care and that you deserve their business.

Remember to follow-up with each attendee personally, load their names into your database, and get them into a regular cycle of contact.

Digital Advertising

Adwerx’s solutions for real estate agents were designed to allow the typical agent—the heart of the industry—to build an online presence quickly and easily.

We’ve taken that approach and applied it to another powerful and affordable way for agents to build business: referrals.  

A sphere of influence campaign is your first, best, and least expensive way to broadcast your services to the people most likely to get you business. Gain referrals from your network without even asking, quickly and easily through our Sphere product. Even brand new agents have contacts on LinkedIn, via email, or family and friends.

This feature enables agents to pinpoint specific individuals within their business and personal network by starting with only an email address and our patent-pending Quick Adder™ tool.

Advertising to your sphere offers exceptional ROI because of the power of networking. Your contact may be reminded to choose you, and so might a couple of people they know.

(This is also a great tool for staying in front of those email addresses you collected at your seminar!)  

Zip Code Targeting

In email marketing they call it the concept of targeting only those most likely to engage with your services “segmentation”.

Similar to narrowing down your email list, Adwerx allows real estate agents to advertise online to specific zip codes, or areas in which an agent wants to specialize.

This is valuable for those on tight budgets because money won’t be spent advertising to expensive sold leads that rarely result in a sale.  

Like the intent of your free real estate seminars, zip code targeting allows you to establish familiarity through repetition, eliminates time educating clients on a specific community, and even narrows down the options for a picky buyer.

Social Media

Sharing relevant content is also something that is easier said than done. It requires consistency and creativity. Yet, it can be done cheaply, with merely your computer and an eye for what’s relevant.

Don’t let the pressure to post overwhelm you. Think quality over quantity. A couple of posts a week, provided they are meaningful to your audience, are often enough to ensure your name appears in a news feed.

Note that Facebook has recently changed what people will be seeing, focusing more on friends and personal networks. This means you’ll have to interact with followers more as a person than a business. This is a good thing, because again, people do business with people they like.

We’re live in 3 … 2 …

Facebook Live is growing quickly within the real estate industry, providing agents, teams, and brokers with a highly engaging, event-driven way to reach audiences.

Since the feature’s rollout, Google trends reports that online searches for “Facebook Live Stream” have risen 330% and that Facebook live videos are watched 3x longer than pre-recorded videos appearing in a news feed. Adweek shared that 5x more people will react to a live stream than a standard photo post.

Facebook’s new update does mean that people will interact more often with other people, but Facebook live events pull your audience to you, giving them reason to click on your business page. Of course, don’t forget the power of doing a Facebook live event from your personal account.

Consider doing live events that offer transparency, pulling the curtain back on your work. Go live to discuss how you tour homes for buyers, spruce up a listing, or develop content for your blog.

Best of all? It doesn’t cost you anything but time to pull off.

Sell First, Brand Later

When it comes to real estate marketing for agents with small budgets, ROI is critical. Look at value instead of monthly cost, and target prospects carefully.

Remember that as budget-friendly branding efforts are underway, sales remain paramount to building your business. Stay focused on determining the value of every new lead and how that person may factor into your new business goals. Also, strong deal management and high-touch customer service will eventually become your brand, and what your sphere of influence talks about when referring you.

Good luck out there.