When you get started in the real estate business, putting a solid marketing plan in place will be one of your first priorities. This will be the main tool that will separate you from your competition. Decide what your focus is going to be, regarding the type of properties you initially would like to purchase in your business, and create a plan of action that will begin to bring in motivated sellers in droves and create golden opportunities for you. Learn what exit strategies (see my final chapter) to use. Getting educated must be one of your top priorities. Continue to get a good education in the buying and selling of real estate. This will quickly separate you from most of your competition.
Don’t be afraid to do what those around you will not do. Dare to be different and consistent in your marketing efforts. The results will absolutely amaze you. After careful research, determine what your particular market niche will be. Niche your marketing and become an expert in your market place. Get educated about your market so you know what your property values are and what your personal target market is going to be.
Find out what your real estate market is doing:
- Are there a lot of pre-foreclosures?
- Do you live near a military base where a lot of people are being transferred?
- Are you in an area where there are a lot of ugly houses you can purchase inexpensively and then wholesale to another investor?
- Run the demographics to find out what kind of income levels there are within your market area.
- Is the market slow and are there a lot of houses for sale?
You must then learn to be creative in the way you market your properties. If there are very few houses for sale and they are high priced, then it is a seller’s market. If there are more houses for sale than the market demands, it’s a buyer’s market. You will need to adjust your marketing strategies, accordingly. This is all part of discovering your niche within your market. Don’t allow yourself to be influenced by various advertisers or those who profess to be real estate experts in your area. Take the time to discover what works best for you in your marketplace and stick with it.
Figure out what your marketing budget is and which marketing strategies will reach the highest number of sellers within your budget. For example, your budget may include signage, business cards, direct mail, flyers, ads, websites or a combination of all of these.
Continue to test and track your results as you go so you can make sure the marketing dollars you spend are bringing in the highest number of quality leads. If necessary, drop the marketing techniques that don’t work well and put that money back into the marketing techniques that work the best for you. This is also how you will learn which marketing strategies work best for you on a continuous basis. Continue to track your real estate market’s changes so you can adjust your marketing, accordingly, as you go. Using this strategy assures that you will always have the highest number of quality leads possible coming in. More quality leads means more deals and more dollars coming into your business.
Be aware of the special problems of your market:
- Are there a lot of layoffs?
- Are there a high number of pre-foreclosures?
- Are there a lot of people who are part-time residents?
- Is yours a very high-end market with a lot of luxury homes?
- Do you live in an area with a high number of middle to low income properties?
Figure out what it is that everyone before you has done and then you do it differently. In order to make a difference, you have to be different by using innovative marketing.
For example, in my market almost no one uses direct mail on a consistent basis, so I have made this my personal niche. By doing this, there is virtually no competition for properties, whatsoever. Figure out what your niche is by figuring out what your competition is not doing. Do more of what is different yourself. As soon as possible, find out what makes your market unique and capitalize on it.
Make sure you take the time to begin to build your “dream team” along the way. These are the people who are going to help you to locate deals, get them closed and then sold. This is how you make huge profits in the real estate business, by surrounding yourself with team players who want to see you make money so they can make money as well. There are many ways to use your vendors as “bird dogs” to find deals for you where you have virtually no marketing costs until you actually purchase the deal. At that point, you would pay them a finder’s fee. This is a good way to keep them motivated to find you even more real estate deals.
Make sure you take a portion of the profit from each deal that you do, especially in the beginning, and put it back into your marketing so you can continue to grow your business. At the point at which you decide you have enough deals coming in each month, you will be able to determine exactly what your monthly marketing budget needs to be in order to bring in the number of deals that best works for you.
Remember to set specific goals for your business and yourself. Write down your daily, specific goals. Strive to meet those goals each and every day. By doing this, you are planting seeds of success for today and for your future. You won’t be able to see a clear picture regarding where you began or where you are going, unless you do this. This is one way to keep focused and keep your business on track.
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August 27th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Since marketing dollars are scarce, it is very important to target specific areas. You can do that best through neighborhood direct mail programs. This can allow you to become the “go to” realtor in desired neighborhoods.