Use a variety of strategies to sell real estate.
A real estate agent’s success depends on how well he markets his services. Reaching out to potential clients is an ongoing process. Since the evolution of the Internet, the real estate agent has found new ways to market his business, but a successful realtor uses a variety of strategies.
Farming
Farming is a traditional real estate marketing strategy whereby an agent sends mailings to a specific group on a regular basis. The group might include a neighborhood. The idea is that over time some of the recipients will remember the agent when the time comes for them to use the services of a real estate agent. The mailings might consist of newsletters, real estate information, even recipe cards--sent monthly or quarterly.
Websites, Blogs and Social Networks
Tech savvy real estate agents create their own websites, but any realtor can use a real estate template or website service. Websites should include information about the agent and community. Another way to market online is to blog, which involves making regular real estate entries in any one of the free blog services available on the Internet. This helps establish the identity of the real estate agent. The agent might also consider utilizing Twitter and other social networking websites. A comprehensive online marketing strategy involves using as many of these programs as possible.
Virtual Tours
Virtual tours market listings as well as the agent. There are a number of virtual tour services, where real estate agents upload their listing information to create an online virtual tour of the property. This might include photographs, videos, audio and text. Many of these sites offer an additional service for submitting the tour to real estate listing websites. This may or may not cost an additional fee. Some agents' online marketing strategies also include creating a YouTube video of the property.
Sphere of Influence
The richest source of potential clients typically comes from previous clients, friends and family members. A successful marketing strategy employed by many agents involves creating a contact list of past and current clients, as well as friends, family or acquaintances who might use the agent’s services or know of someone who might. This list, commonly referred to as the sphere of influence (SOI), might include approximately 100 contacts. An agent’s list may be significantly more or less, yet it needs to be manageable so that the agent can confer with each contact on a regular basis. Some agents make contact once a month, which might be a phone call, letter, annual calendar or birthday greeting. This strategy requires that the agent periodically give the contact something of value. This might be a marketing magnet or valuable real estate advice.
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