Investing in Your Brand

Once you decide on how to brand yourself, figure out how much you need to spend for the results you want. The industry standard for a marketing budget is 10 percent of a commission made goes to an agent’s advertising budget.

“Giving back to your business is one of the most important drivers of its success,” Dubray says. “A percentage of every commission check should be allocated to the development of your brand. When building your campaign, set a budget based on your commission gross. If I make $5,000 in commission, $1,000 will go back into my business.”

This is why it’s especially important to create your marketing campaign with your end goals in mind. Do you want to increase your sales to invest more in your brand? Or maybe you want to create a campaign that is easy to run, so you can focus on selling?

“Create a sustainable and creative marketing campaign that sets goals for who you want to reach, how often and what form of media will you use, whether it is social media, a video series or an e-newsletter campaign,” Murray says. “And then make sure it accomplishes the goal you want. Define a success metric. Understand what works and what you need to change, and be willing to change the plan when something is not working.”

The marketing success from a campaign can be defined a number of ways, and these correlate directly with your goals: increased page views to your website; social media follower growth; and being quoted in your local paper. In the end, though, it always comes back to your niche. Are prospective clients in your niche reaching out to you and approaching you? If the answer is yes, it’s working; if not, you might want to rethink your brand, not necessarily your campaign – especially if you are getting prospective clients, just from a different niche or demographic.

“A marketing campaign either works or it doesn’t; I know my marketing campaign is working if I hear about it from others,” Dubray says. “Agents can determine the success of a marketing campaign by answering one question – ‘Is my phone ringing?’ The agents who are getting the calls and gaining the most clients are the ones who live their brand with consistency. Be active in your community, invest back in your business and be ethical. It’s all about the buyer and the seller. Business builds business.”

However, this doesn’t mean agents should go after new clients only – a marketing campaign can be just as effective by targeting your sphere of influence or past clients. Miller says that in his experience, existing clients are much more profitable and worth the investment than trying to acquire a new client, and marketing dollars should be spent maintaining those relationships. According to the National Association of Realtors Home Buyers and Sellers Survey, consumers most commonly choose an agent based on a referral, with trustworthiness and reputation being the most important factors; two out of three buyers interviewed only one agent. Eighty-nine percent of buyers are likely to use the same agent again or recommend them to others.

“Staying top of mind with your database of clients is just as important as getting your name and brand out there to new clients,” Miller says.