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Whether you are first starting out as a real estate agent and have just been hit with a heavy dose of reality, or are a seasoned agent that can’t escape the real estate roller coaster it can be hard to find extra Benjamins for marketing.
I understand that this business is hard.
I understand that this business is expensive.
The harsh reality is that of the 13% of people that actually survive their first five years as a real estate agent, only one percent make more than the average income of agents ($37K before taxes).
O U C H!!!!
The problem is, if you don’t invest time, money, energy, and focus on strategically marketing your real estate business, you will never be the exception to those rules.
NEVER.
By the way, those yucky NAR numbers, came out before companies like Amazon and Zillow were gunning for your position.
You’re in deep, deep, deep, deep shit here my friend. You can’t afford to not market yourself in a smart and savvy way. No matter how broke your ass is, you need to get the right message out to the right people, or you will definitely fail.
That’s why I wanted to take some time today to share a few tactics you can start using today that are not only free but will earn you clients and income to invest back into your marketing.
But before we can dive into today’s goodie bag of tricks, we need to get a few things straight...
You Need To Get Real About Your Budget & Spending
I have a tough time believing that you can’t afford a marketing budget.
If you are really an entrepreneur, you should have no problem making sacrifices for the benefit of your business. If that means getting rid of cable, buying your shoes at Payless, or eating out less, then grow the fuck up and do it.
If you are serious about this whole “I’m going to be a real estate agent and build my empire” thing; you need to be able to eat some shit first.
Nobody ever got rich in real estate by lying to themselves and pretending they were already wealthy.
If it were me, I would sleep in my car for my business to succeed. (By the by, I have done that before).
I promise you there are corners that you can cut somewhere in your life that will free up some cash for you to invest in building a lucrative real estate business.
That being said, there are things you can do at absolutely NO COST TO YOU that will help you attract your ideal clients.
Create A Local Facebook Group
Local Facebook Groups are one of my favorite ways to capture and curate local attention.
In case you haven’t realized it yet, the name of the game here is to get the attention of buyers and sellers, then earn their trust.
I highly recommend that you start a local Facebook Group right this second with an obviously local name. One very successful example is Venice Florida’s Friendly People. There are tens of thousands of locals in the group., many of which engage with it on a daily basis.
I don’t suggest making your group just a buy & sell like you often see. The discussion portion is essential.
You should be able to ask people questions and start conversations about topics that are important to them.
The page should also be branded entirely to you (without being too salesy) and should link to both your professional Facebook Page and real estate website.
Make sure to frequently ask thought-provoking questions, take polls, and share valuable content that is relevant to the people living in your market.
Get Referral Partners To Co-Sponsor Content
Often I am approached by people that want to hire me to write their blog, podcast, or some other type of content but can’t afford to pay my prices.
One of my favorite solutions to this is to ask local referral partners to co-sponsor the content. For example, you could ask your preferred lender to pay for part of the cost to have me write your real estate content. In exchange, you could post ads to their website along with the content, have me write content that centers around their products/services or offer to share all of the leads that come from your website with them.
You would be surprised how many referral partners are more than happy to do this with you.
The best part is that because the content is on your website, it increases your SEO and the value of your website so you can sell your website for a profit when you retire.
Here are some of my suggestions for potential sponsors for your real estate content:
Lenders
Builders
Title companies
Wholesalers
Home inspectors
Home appraisers
Moving companies
Real estate attorneys
Home Stagers and Designers
Real estate photographers
Real estate videographers
I could keep going forever, but the odds are that one of those will bite anyway. You may even want to ask several different people to split the cost.
As a matter of fact, I have even had a couple of clients that charged so much from sponsorships that they were actually profiting from the sponsors off of the real estate content packages I was giving them. I don’t mind if you do that by the way!
Become A One-Person Media Company
My mission is to empower all of you to become the “digital mayor” of your local real estate market. For you to do that, you need to produce more local content than any of your competition.
I need you to start thinking of yourself as a local television station, radio station, and newspaper all rolled into one.
Every time you are interacting with a local business owner, you should be doing it on video and audio, then creating written content for it.
The same goes for the teachers, charities, events, etc..
Don’t make it all about real estate and you. Remember, the more that you make it all about them, the more they will trust you and the sooner/more they will buy from you.
As your name becomes synonymous with the city you live in online, you will take over the local market.
Since nearly 100% of all online transactions begin with an online search, you need to be at the top of as many searches that include your market as possible. The goal is to make it so that all roads lead back to you!
