It’s easy to market how great you are when the real estate sector is booming.
Record price achieved!
Sold over seller expectations!
Exceptional result delivered!
But when the market turns, it becomes tough to promote a result that’s not as great as you would have achieved six months ago.
Many conversations I’ve been having with agents recently have been about how they have been too scared to market the result of a property.
Some have even reduced their personal marketing because it doesn’t feel as “sexy”.
The key is understanding a shifting market means you should triple your marketing and prospecting activities.
So how do you present yourself in a declining market and create great conversations?
- Become a wordsmith
Headlines are the hook, so you must make them sharp.
A boring headline is like an undercooked hamburger; someone will take a bite or two and then stop eating.
Headlines should be clear and concise.
Mastering how to use headlines in your marketing will make you a wordsmith and really make what you’ve got to say stand out.
Move away from the good old “just sold” and “just listed” and write a catchy headline on the sale.
2. Market every listing and sale
It blows my mind that agents don’t implement a premarket strategy in their efforts to find a buyer.
Right now, it’s so important that you showcase your listing and sales locally.
What do you do when you list a property?
Do you simply print out a DL, load the property online and send a just listed email?
Or do you showcase a point of difference and exclusively position the property for your target audience?
A premarket strategy should feature the following:
- A social media campaign (allowing your followers to see the property first)
- Direct letter marketing (allowing neighbours exclusive access to the home in case they have a family member or friend looking to move close by)
- A text message campaign to all buyers registered in the database for a preview showing
- An email campaign noting the premarket campaign and that the reader is viewing the home first
- Load it online to the portals.
Doing all of this will give you time to showcase the property to your market, and it should generate enough buyer interest to ensure the home is priced right for the first open home.
3. Be the certainty in the uncertainty
You can’t avoid the fact that property prices have fallen.
But that doesn’t mean vendors have lost a significant amount of money on their home.
In fact, if they have owned the home for many years, they’ve made a huge amount of money.
Talk about the quality of the results you have achieved and how you achieved those results through creating buyer interest with a strategic buyer marketing plan.
4. Don’t let technology make you lazy
The problem is the booming property market has made people exceptionally lazy.
Sorry, but it has! (Please don’t punch me in the face, I know it hurts to hear that!)
But seriously, think about it?
You haven’t really had to work hard to find a buyer. Until recently, people had flocked to open homes and marketing success has been generated due to the buoyant market.
This, combined with hundreds of different real estate marketing technologies, means we’ve lost human connection.
5. Don’t let your marketing look like an ad
It’s easy to complete and email out a virtual appraisal.
But think about this; how many messages do you think that person receives a day?
The answer – a lot! So you need to make sure yours stands out for the right reasons.
Once your link and email are lost among the hundreds of other spam emails and texts a person receives each day, they will never look at it again.
Robots and automation certainly have their place, but so does going back to doing what works.
Use handwritten letters and thank you cards to deliver the appraisal in person.
The more you think about the human experience in your marketing, the better your result.
