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In, most types of real estate markets, the quality and insights of the marketing plan, is, often, a significant factor, and difference, in the results, in terms of price, potential buyers, etc! Although, this may not be as significant, in an extreme, sellers market, such as what we are presently, witnessing/ experiencing, as it is, in others, it still has some impact! The finest quality, best, real estate professionals, often, differentiate themselves, from the rest – of – the – pack, by the development and significance of their plans, and approaches, in this area! With, that in mind, this article will attempt to, briefly, consider, examine, review, and discuss, 5 key steps, towards creating, truly, successful ones.

1. Overall plan: How does the specific property, differ, from its competition? What, exactly, is its competition, and why? Which, specific, niche, if, any, might this house, fit – into? An agent owes it, to his client (the homeowner), to, thoroughly, explain, his reasoning, and how, he plans, to create, the necessary degree of buzz! Homeowners and agents, must proceed, on the same – page, from the onset, to maximize desirable results, etc!

2. Table of responsibility between agent and client: If, you want the desired result, begin the process, in a mutually, informed, manner/ way! Each must understand, realize, and agree to his specific duties, as they relate to this Table of Responsibilities! When the owner, and the agent, he chooses, and hires, are comfortable with, and agree, from the onset, the plan, is better performed. For example, the homeowner must keep the house, neat and clean, and ready, to be, shown, on short – notice, to achieve the finest possibilities! They must discuss items, such as showing, advertising, Open Houses, etc!

3. Timeline: Most people, selling their homes, are concerned, with the stresses, tensions, and hassles, etc, which, often, accompany this period! Frequent discussions between client and agent, help to create, a viable, timeline, and often, a more realistic, prepared, homeowner!

4. Review/ discuss: The best – laid plans, of mice and men, often go astray! How many times, have we heard that, yet, continue, not to learn the key lessons? Since, it is impossible, to precisely, predict the future, usually, there must be a pre – scheduled, weekly time (at the minimum), where the parties, fully discuss, results, showings (or lack of), and, whether, there is a need to adjust/ tweak the plan and approach!

5. Modify/ tweak, as indicated/ necessary: Avoid being inflexible, but, maintain, a balance, between, what one hopes for, and reality! There may be a need to modify, and tweak, the plan/ approach, if, and when, it’s necessary, and indicated!

Smart agents and homeowners depend upon a quality marketing plan! Doesn’t it make sense?

In order to be successful as a real estate investor or basically in any other market, you must know how to market. Marketing is the pulse of your business, without a pulse, you flat-line and you DIE, no really, you are dead, or you might as well be because you aren’t doing anything in the business. You can be a newbie investor or a weathered one but if you “act” busy, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are doing the things that count to increase your leads.

MARKETING IS LIFE. You are not a real estate investor, well not precisely; real estate is just your vessel, your means of becoming financially independent. In essence you are a marketer. Learn this craft well; study it day in and day out. You must become the World’s Greatest Marketer, but in your farm area first. Baby steps, come on!! All of you insist on getting coaching, products, courses and real estate books. Those are all good and well but what about marketing? When does that come into play? Invest in some marketing books, they go a long way, even if they are in a different market, they all have great ideas and useful techniques to put into good use.

I use many different types of marketing strategies on a day to day basis, but what helped me the most which I highly, highly recommend is… Guerrilla Marketing!! That is right, how I launched myself onto the scene was with several subtle but extremely creative and powerful Guerrilla tactics that can help any investor, especially the newbie investor. Oh man, I felt like a little boy at Christmas once I started getting my phone to ring off the hook!

Shhhh, do not say anything, but what I am about to share with you are some of my secret, but really not so secret techniques that helped me get my phone ringing off the hook!! With this approach you can make $10,000 within the next thirty days if you start right now! Unfortunately some of the strategies I used involved hitting the streets, that’s right… you have to hit the pavement and I mean hard, hard like “curbing” as in American History X hard. Uncomfortable going out and about, well you might as well stay comfortable in your lousy life. In order to succeed you have to just do what it takes, remember, pain is only temporary but victory is forever.

As I was saying, yellow signs, the oh so lovable 18″ by 24″ yellow corrugated plastic, how I loathe thee. Two ways to use them, the first is to attract sellers and the second is to attract buyers. Like anything else in the world, this is a numbers game and you must stay persistent. Every month, if your budget allows for it, shoot to purchase 300 yellow 18×24 corrugated signs, a pole stapler and either a red or black “KING” sharpie. You are going to write on 200 of them:

WE BUY HOUSES

FAST FOR CASH

XXX-XXX-XXXX

Every week you will place 50 signs in high density areas, but use common sense guys. Do not put these signs on a highway!!! You are most definitely going to cause a car accident but most importantly you aren’t going to get any calls. For every 50 signs you put out, you will get around 5 calls of the highest motivated seller you will come into contact with, but in the end it will only result in a deal or two which is very good.

At the same time, you grab the left over 100 signs and write:

HANDYMAN SPECIAL!!

HOUSE 4 SALE

MUST SELL QUICK

XXX-XXX-XXXX

Or,

CHEAP HOUSE 4 SALE

4 BEDS/ 2 BATHS

MUST SELL QUICK

XXX-XXX-XXXX

Most of you at this point are going to whine, “But Lou, I do not have a house to sell, isn’t that wrong?” After I am done smacking you, I will remind you that you are a Guerrilla Ninja and that you need to have an ever expanding Cash Buyers List. The beauty of this is that you will get tons and tons of calls, I mean tons. About 40% are tire kickers, 40% retail buyers, 10% wholesalers and 10% legitimate CASH BUYERS!!!!

So once you have a deal under your belt you can quickly call and email the cash buyers to sell it quick! And since you placed all these signs in the same area, you will not have an issue matching them up to a property that they want. Also, since you have gotten in touch with some of the local wholesalers, try to get one of the deals they have and Joint Venture with them. It is the quickest way to make $1,500 and up for being the matchmaker between the two. And the more Cash Buyers you talk to, the more confidence you will have in shooting them out a deal when you are on a friendly basis with all these wholesalers. Wholesalers may be a little hard to get through the first time around but trust me, they only care about one thing and that is moving a property, and moving it quickly.

But wait, there is more, I highly recommend you save all those phone numbers you receive so that you can market to them in different ways. It does not matter if the calls are coming from either Seller signs or Buyer signs, but save them and you can market to them as well. But those strategies are for another time. Anyway, this was a quick but simple overview of one of my favorite Guerilla Marketing methods, the Yellow Sign.

Cheers!

P.S. If you want to get some cheap signs I recommend you going to signwarehouse.com, they are very inexpensive there as opposed to the local sign shop.

If you want some great books as well, I highly recommend the following books:

– Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Levinson

– Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz

– Selling The Invisible by Harry Beckwith

– Do It by David Newman

Instagram’s simple platform and focus on photos makes it the perfect app for real estate agents to share their listings. However, agents who aren’t familiar with the platform may not know what kinds of pictures to post. Simply posting a photo of your listing with the address and a description isn’t going to get much attention. You need to create a story around the listing and share multiple photos to tell that story.

The easiest way to start “Instagramming” your listings is to use Instagram during an open house. Below are 7 different pictures you can take to create and share your open house story.

Start with a selfie

A “selfie” is a photo that you take of yourself. Take a selfie in your car, in front of the sign or by the front door. Caption it with something like “Excited to host an open house at 12345 Main Street.”

Your favorite room

Take a photo of your favorite room in the house. In the caption, get your followers to imagine life in that room. For example, if your favorite room is the bathroom with the huge soaking tub, say something like “Can you imagine coming home from a hard day’s work and getting to soak in this tub? Glorious!”

Your favorite outdoor feature

Photograph your favorite outside space. Again, get your followers to imagine themselves living there. “Check out this built in BBQ. Would you love to host summer BBQs at this home?”

Give a shoutout to other agents

A shoutout is a social media referral. If a real estate agent you know comes by the house with clients, snap a picture with them and give them a shoutout in the caption (be sure to use their Instagram handle if they have one.) Your caption could read something like this “Look who stopped by my open house today! Thanks for bringing your buyers @realestateagent.”

Share your “to-do list.”

Write or type a list of things you need to do to prepare for the open house then post a picture. This gives people an idea of the services you provide when hosting an open house. You can also share the owners to do list to educate people on how they should prepare for an open house.

Tools of the Trade

Do you always bring a specific water bottle to open houses? Do you often bake cookies or bring a vase of flowers? Lay out your items and snap a photo. The caption can read something like “Here’s my open house survival kit!”

Get the owners in on the fun

If the homeowners are around, take a photo with them. Tag them and ask them to share the photo on their Instagram and to tag you!

Instagram is easy to use and the perfect platform for real estate agents who are unfamiliar with social media but want to use it to market their listings. With a few clicks of your smartphone camera and some witty captions, you’re next buyer could be one of your Instagram followers.

All too often I see small business owners missing the mark with their marketing. Sure, it’s easy to do when you specialize in a specific industry niche and you spend your time engulfed in industry sector jargon. However, it’s best to put yourself in your potential customer’s shoes and think your marketing through from their perspective, addressing their most important questions. Your customers want to be able to trust you, to know you are looking out for their interests and that you don’t just see them with Dollar Signs in your sunglasses.

Below is a sample page, perhaps good for a website, brochure, email, or letter. Why not look this over and consider how you might form your own message. Use your own voice, your own style and remember you are talking to your customer across the table for the first time. You know what questions they will ask. Show that you care, that you are working for them, and will go out of your way to get them the best rates, and great service. Here is the sample:

Commercial Real Estate Loans

Are you looking to purchase an income property such as an apartment building, small office building, or retail center? Would you like to put several rental properties in your real estate portfolio into one commercial mortgage? Wish to find a suitable piece of land and develop that property? Do you need a loan for acquisition and construction?

Do you want to buy a business property with a business on it; a restaurant, carwash, service station, laundry mat, hotel, etc.? Are you looking for a commercially zoned property with a warehouse or industrial building on it? Are you expanding an existing business and/or want to own the property under your business rather than paying the monthly lease?

Are you in the agricultural sector, looking for specifically zoned farming property; land for a vineyard, orchard, or crop such as berries, vegetables, or flowers? We have significant experience to make this happen. Our area in Southern CA has one of the best climates in the world, and incredible top soil for growing almost anything.

We can assist with all types of commercial real estate loans including government-guaranteed loans such as FHA, USDA, and HUD. If you are looking for an SBA 7(a) loan or a CDC/SBA 504 loan for commercial real estate we can get it done.

We can assist you with traditional commercial mortgages, commercial bridge loans, or commercial hard money loans. We also have lines on non-traditional sources for hard money commercial real estate loans, which are custom tailored to you needs for complicated projects outside the normal scope of typical commercial real estate loans and mortgage offerings.

— — — —

Why not try something like this? Just because the Federal Reserve has raised rates doesn’t mean you have to let new deals and new clients move to your competitors. I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Because of the challenges involved in today’s tough real estate market, more and more realtors are leaving the business. This exodus is causing an unprecedented opportunity for those realtors skilled at marketing to move forward in gaining large amounts of market share! The simplest way to focus your marketing efforts is to select a niche and focus on that group. Here are some niches that you may want to consider:

A Farm – This is the easiest niche for most agents to understand. A farm can be a subdivision, an area like waterfront homes on a certain street or even a county if it is small. Some great ways to start to become an expert in an area are to visit all the homes currently listed for sale in the neighborhood, visit all the FSBO’s who currently have their homes available, and offer to do open houses for agents who have current listings. Let the FSBO’s know when you are going to have your house open so you can coordinate with them to have theirs open also. Send postcards to the homeowners and also start a neighborhood newsletter giving sales information and relevant neighborhood info.

First Time Homebuyers – These are people who need the expertise and connections that a realtor can provide. To reach these buyers you can send postcards or walk apartment complexes, renters make great first time homebuyers! Offer to hold “lunch and learns” to large area employers who have younger workforces that need to find housing solutions. You can partner with the affordable housing government agencies in your area, finding out the requirements for buyers to qualify. Offer to send them “hot” listings that are in great shape and meet the pricing requirements of their programs. Make sure you preview and hold open all the houses in these price ranges that you can get your hands on so that you can know the ones that will be worth taking your clients to!

Luxury Home Buyers and Sellers – This one can feel like a farm but it is a little different. Targeting high end buyers and sellers will result in larger commissions AND larger expenses! Make sure your marketing materials are professionally designed to appeal to people in a top tier demographic. Target international buyers by displaying high end properties on your website and blog (if you do not have your own listings “borrow” some from the other agents in your office after asking for permission). Make sure you list information about marinas, yacht clubs, tennis clubs, country clubs and golf courses on your website. If there are high end retail areas in your market list those shops and also any five star restaurants that may be nearby. Join the local country club and support the regional arts councils.

Baby Boomers – If you live in a warm climate this group is for you! Find out all the retirement and 55+ communities in your area and list them on your website or blog. Become familiar with the restrictions of the different communities (some allow pets, some don’t, some allow one person to be under 55, some require everyone to be over 62). Advertise in the senior magazines in your area, focusing on your expertise as a benefit to finding the perfect retirement home. Have a group of vendors that you can recommend if they need property management services while they go north for the summer or visit family for extended periods of time.

Those are just four of thousands of different niches you could choose! Whether you like boating or golfing, like working with buyers or sellers, love children or dogs, there is a niche for someone like you. Pick something today and focus on it with all your energy and you will be able to capture more of the market than you ever thought possible!