Any great real estate agent knows that listing marketing is a top priority in the business. You have to keep your listings in order and ensure that they get out and get seen. You will never move a property if nobody knows it is on the market. So, do you have a good listing marketing strategy?

You should be getting your listings out there. You need to be making sure that they are being marketed in various ways. You want to try different methods and to see what works the best. Diversify your efforts and you should see amazing results.

One idea to try is to add listings to your blog. You should already have a blog set up and be taking advantage of the benefits it provides you. All you need to do is make post about your listings or set up a section that is dedicated to your listings. Using a package like Postlets or Rainbird will enable you to include attractive photos of your listing.

You can do videos on your listings. Make it informal and friendly. Show the property off and let people know why they must see it. Videos can really catch people’s attention. You will be amazed at how great this works to draw in business.

Whatever you do to market your listings, bump it up. Take it to the next level. Handle your listing marketing right and you will reap the rewards.

New people move into your farm market on a regular basis. Are you reaching out to them? You may not have been the real estate agent who sold them their house, but you might be the one who sells the next one to them!

Keep track of new home buyers in your community, and make a point to greet them. Welcome them to the town or neighborhood. Take along a house warming gift of some local treats or a nicely put together community guide. Share with them some of your favorite places around town. Invite them to any upcoming community event that you know of.

If your community doesn’t have a welcome wagon program, look into working cooperatively with some other area businesses to establish one. This will reduce your cost and increase the impact of your visit, not to mention it may help someone who is feeling shy about their new surroundings. And they will remember you for the warm welcome!

Do you know which of your leads are the most valuable? Generally, one referral lead is worth four sign calls and 20 internet leads! Increasing your sphere of influence and satisfied client base will increase your most valuable leads. If you are not already doing so, begin to contact your SOI at least monthly by mail, and include emails and phone calls in the mix so that you are contacting them about 18 times in a year.

"On average, agents and brokers typically spend 10 percent of their gross commissionable income (GCI) a year on marketing - four percent of which is allocated to direct mail and six percent to online/web/email channels." To read the entire survey press release, click here.

Those are the findings of a recent survey by QuantumDigital, an online provider of direct mail services. In the survey, they asked 10,000 real estate professionals about their marketing practices. The results are a pretty good guide to ensuring your marketing efforts are up to or above standard.

How do your practices measure up? What percentage of your GCI are you spending on marketing and how does it break down? We would be happy to analyze your marketing needs and efforts and suggest any needed improvements. You can contact us by email, through your Key Assistant, or by scheduling a call with Steve Kantor, Best Agent Business president.
Here are some other highlights of the study:

• SOI marketing still leads to the most new business.


• Email is mostly used for customer retention and follow-up.


• Direct mail and online marketing are used for customer acquisition.


• 67% of real estate professionals are part of an online social network.


• Top two social networks for real estate professionals are LinkedIn and Facebook.


• Top two cited real estate blog sites are ActiveRain and RealTown.


• Top three listing sites are Realtor.com, Craigslist, and corporate/brokerage web sites.


• Mail and email campaigns typically hit 200-400 local contacts.


• Real estate professionals need to touch their market at least 18 times per year!

How do you keep in contact with your entire database? One way, even more effective when combined with other marketing plans, is to send a monthly email.
We advise sending a monthly email during first week of the month to your clients, your sphere of influence, and all buyer/seller leads. Sending a monthly email only takes a few hours to write, edit, and send each month. We suggest a quarterly rotation of three types of emails:

• Market conditions: A summary of market conditions in consumer (not real estate statistician) English, offers for a CMA for seller’s or buyer’s mortgage pre-approval or credit repair for buyers, and a link to your website for more detailed charts and graphs and a longer version of market conditions.


• Helpful home ideas and vendors: Something of value which relates to the home. This may be a coupon from a local plumber or vendor, useful tips for the home, or something which connects you and the warmth of a home.


• Personal/holiday/events: An email which is not about the market and not about the home, but a bit about you personally, perhaps a holiday, and hopefully an invitation to quarterly Client events. For example, we suggest quarterly ideas of New Years/Valentine's Day; Summer Coming, Back to School, and Thanksgiving.

All monthly emails should have a catchy subject line that makes people want to open and read the email. All monthly emails should include a short personal question and note at the top of the email which encourages people to respond to you. The goal is to get people to reply and interact with you.
Everyone should be sending a monthly email to hundreds of their contacts through Top Producer or Agent Office. We would love to see your emails, help with suggestions and to share ideas. We help many clients create and send out their monthly emails, in addition to their other types of mailings and we can help you too! Just contact Best Agent Business for more information!

Many successful real estate agents use a custom newsletter, complete with paid advertising spots, to market to their target farm of over 10,000 homes. How would this work? Contact the experts at Best Agent Business for more information and to get started.

For every 100 clients or SOI in your database, you should be getting 4-10 deals per year from repeat or referral business. Are you achieving 10 per 100? If not, ask us for improvement ideas. You may need to clean up your database and you should probably increase your focus on marketing efforts. We can help you with all of this! Contact us for more information.

A great time to increase marketing to clients and SOI is during October and November when life is steady and calm and business is a bit slower. We encourage you to reconnect with calls, emails, mailings, and special events revolving around Halloween and Thanksgiving. This is far more effective than the December holiday rush. We strongly encourage you to consider investing $1-$10 per person for your clients, SOI, and farm. People love Halloween and it is the most 'home' oriented holiday because people walk around the neighborhood. Do pop-bys or pop-ins to give away pumpkins, pumpkin pie, or other items. We have a new blog full of great Halloween marketing ideas. Check it out! Best Agent Business has assistants ready to help you get your choice of these ideas up and running.