Developing a Marketing Campaign

After you’ve figured out your brand definition, Jim Miller, managing broker of Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty, says that in order to decide how to design your campaign, five main components should be included in every brand awareness marketing campaign: identify your reach, determine a budget, set goals, define success metrics and build your own brand – not your brokerage’s.

First, build a marketing campaign with the target audience in mind. Determine what types of buyers you want your message to reach – your target demographic – and the best way to communicate with them.

“We know our marketing materials (i.e. postcards) are reaching our niche market when they call us and mention they receive the postcard,” Miller  says. “Prospective clients will mention it when they first reach out. Through our experience, we have found that direct outreach to our sphere of influence is most important.”

Determine who you want your message to reach, whether it is Millennials, Gen X’ers or Baby Boomers, and figure out the best way to communicate with them – even if you do not prefer their preferred methods. For example, first-time homebuyers are typically going to be Millennials today, and according to Hubspot, a failure to respond via social channels can lead to up to a 15 percent increase in existing customers getting frustrated and looking elsewhere.

“Most young consumers today want their messages in short bites, like through Twitter, and through visual means, like video,” says Pattie Murray, an agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff Realty Group in Glen Ellyn. “We invest in Facebook, Twitter and the Web, and are working on using more video. Twitter, Yelp and Instagram are very big with the younger buyers and, surprisingly, even the more mature clients.”

And although you might cater to different demographics or have different specializations, make sure your brand remains consistent through every marketing material, every ad and every mention of you online. Whether you are your town’s go-to homebuying resource or you are hyper-focused on selling two high-profile blocks, identify the type of broker your local market needs, and determine who you want to be. For example, Anne Dubray, a Coldwell Banker agent based in Glenview, wants to be known as a Glenview expert, and her tagline, “The Anne Advantage,” sets her apart from other local agents.

“If you do have a tagline, you need to stay consistent,” she says. “Brand consistency has to be everywhere, and people will recognize you by name and tag line. Consistency is the foundation to building a brand for your business.

“If you consistently market your listings in the same way with the same branding,” she adds, “even if they’re in completely different areas of town or appeal to different buyer demographics, you will get a response.”