It is important to know what marketing means to you, because your own beliefs about marketing will determine how effective it is for you and your clients. If nothing else, you should understand the vital role marketing plays in selling properties, and how that works. At the core, it really is pretty simple.
Marketing is really all about making buyers aware that your property offerings exist. They won’t buy it if they don’t know it’s there. It just doesn’t get any more basic than that. And in order to make sure your marketing is seen by as many potential buyers as possible, you have to make it easily accessible and visually attractive, and be consistent with making it available. Multiple mediums – print, video, email, Internet, etc. – will get your offerings out there. Making them appealing will get them noticed. Reach and frequency of marketing is also vital. Reach is simply how wide an audience you reach, and frequency is how often you present your offering. Once you understand the importance of marketing and the elements involved, then you will be able to communicate that importance and process to your clients in a convincing manner.
Keep in mind that you don’t need to sell all of the marketing that will be necessary to your clients during the listing presentation. Go easy, ask lots of questions and listen to the answers they give you. Build your relationships and a foundation of trust first, and then in a week or two your clients will be far more receptive to your informed marketing recommendations for them. You should also put together some visible, tactile printed and Web-based examples for them to see and touch, and interact with. Simplicity is key: Present three marketing packages, show your most expensive and elaborate marketing option first, and then stairstep downwards in price from there. Once they experience the effectiveness of the higher quality presentation they won’t want to step backwards very far.
Also explain to your clients how you use your database to bring in the first prospective buyers more quickly, then describe how immediately effective a video is that’s readily available on the first page of a Google search, and also cover the necessity of press-based support, signage, photography, etc. Finally you can tell them how you use indicators of interest – i.e. numbers of inquiries, numbers of inspections, requests for copies of the contract, offers made – to monitor how well the property offering is doing in the marketplace.
The process involved in vendor paid marketing is one of the most important skills you must learn as an agent. I hope you have a better understanding from this overview, and will join us again for next week’s Coaching Tip.