Meeting Your Mark: Marketing Like a Top Producer
Though mastery of the marketplace is a key attribute of any top producer, such knowledge can only be put into practice if you have a broad, ever-changing assortment of clientele to apply it towards, and all top producers similarly distinguish themselves through unique, expertly-crafted marketing materials.
Consistent with her “outside-the-box” researching methods, Hausman markets her real estate business on a number of roads less traveled, including a billboard at Buffalo Grove’s hugely-popular Metra station and a mobile billboard on her car, which, Hausman admits, “makes sitting in traffic less frustrating and more productive.”
“I’ve also utilized the shopping carts at our local grocery stores for several years to keep my presence in front of potential clients,” she says.
The Realty Executives brand, for its part, has invested in mobile technology, and O’Connor says that his brokerage uses a Realty Executives-designed app that allows clients to see everything related to its listings, from property details, to virtual tours, to communication methods for contacting the listing’s agent.
“Mobile marketing is big now and it’s going to last,” O’Connor says. “People want the information now and they want it from their mobile devices. I see that more and more. What’s going to last in this industry is mobile technology and where this technology is leading us.”
Such is mobile’s influence, O’Connor says, that he’s even forgone one of the more tried and true elements of home selling – the open house.
“We don’t conduct open houses in our area and haven’t done so in many, many years,” O’Connor says. “We feel with the technology today the homes are ‘open’ 24/7 on the Internet.”
And research by the National Association of Realtors does support O’Connor’s direction; 70 percent or more of homebuyers searches are being done on mobile devices, NAR found, and 94 percent of buyers start their searches online.
But still, “traditional,” print-based methods of marketing cannot be counted out, though such materials from top producers go far beyond mere leaflets and one-page brochures.
McKenna, for instance, publishes full-gloss advertisements and brochures, in which she includes multiple photographs, a clean presentation and professional headlines; even the font selection, she says, is essential, and she applies that level of detail to all of her publications, regardless of the featured listing’s price.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a $300,000 home or a $3 million home, every client wants their home presented this way to potential buyers,” McKenna says.
Salm follows a similar philosophy, crafting high-quality publications for his listings that ignore the home’s asking price.
“I spend a good deal of time creating top-flight brochures for every listing, no matter the list price, so that everyone has a ‘high-end’ experience when selling their home with me,” he says. “High-quality materials resonate with the buyer population, and of course it doesn’t hurt with the sellers either as they feel you’ve gone that extra mile.”
But going that extra mile, McKenna points out, does not necessarily mean embracing technology. Word of mouth, she says, is still as reliable now as it was before the advent of the Internet.
“To be frank, many Realtors have websites and utilize social networking sites, and although this is important, your best marketing strategy will come from your own mouth,” she says. “You need to be able to get clients excited about a property and get them to see the inherent opportunity.”