5 Marketing Tactics to Reach New Community Members

The following is a guest post by Jessica Thiefels

Thanks to the emergence of digital technology and an increasingly competitive real estate market, it’s become difficult for real estate agents to stand out in a sea of lookalike agents and attract new business. No longer is a good-looking headshot, professional listing photos, and a property description enough to convince buyers that you’re the right agent.

In today’s world, you need to use a variety of strategies to attract the diverse pool of buyers and sellers who will want to work with you. As an agent, those people are likely already within your community, and these tactics will help you reach them.

Leverage Social Media to Build Your Agent Brand

With most home buyers searching online, it’s imperative that real estate agents have a strong online presence. One of the most effective ways to build your digital persona is leveraging social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, allowing you to share home photos, along with wins that show you’re great at what you do.

If you’re new to social media, or want to get better at it, use these real estate social media tips and tricks from SproutSocial:

Participate in local Facebook real estate groups to connect with other professionals in the area and give your professional opinion and advice on related topics.
Use professional photography to capture your followers’ attention on highly visual networks like Instagram and Facebook.
Experiment with video, which is gaining in popularity with buyers and sellers. Create helpful tutorials or how-to videos for potential and existing clients and do video tours of the houses you’re selling.

Don’t forget to engage your followers as well, which is key to making the most of social media and connecting with your community. This is all about balance, according to the guide, How to Convert Social Media Followers Into Customers: “The best content strategy should be kept well balanced. You should be able to promote your business while providing useful posts and engaging write-ups. The key here is to keep your followers connected at all times, prevent boredom, and make them curious about what you’re sharing.”

Create Open House Flyers

Print is not dead— at least in the real estate industry. Having attention-grabbing print materials, like open house flyers, is just as important as having a strong digital presence. These serve as a point of reference that buyers can revisit to recall details and information about your real estate listing.

But not all open house flyers are created equal. Use the following design ideas for your real estate marketing flyers from My Creative Shop to make your print materials stand out.

You have limited space, so choose your words wisely and use language that evokes emotion. Words like, luxurious, landscaped and remodel are all words that help sell homes for higher than their listing price.
Keep it simple and stick to your brand guidelines. Avoid using jarring colors and font, both of which will distract buyers from reading the information.
Cater to your audience and create different versions of the same flyer for different demographics. This might mean changes in verbiage or messaging, in addition to overall design: thing minimalist versus information-forward.

Refine Your Referral Program

Referrals are an integral part of the real estate business. According to a new ReferralExchange study, 42 percent of agents earned $10,000-$50,000 from fees for referrals last year; as many as 5 percent earned $50,000-$100,000, and 2 percent earned up to $500,000.

Tap into your existing network of agents, contractors customers and peers to grow your referral program. For example, team up with contractors or interior designers to create mutually-beneficial partnerships in which you refer to one another’s services. This is not only beneficial for driving business, but giving someone a great reference looks good for you and may even lead to a better review.

Lend Your Expertise

As an experienced real estate agent, you have a wealth of information about the real estate market and home buying. Lend your expertise and knowledge to journalists and bloggers looking for quotes to support their articles or blogs.

Sign up for a service like Help a Reporter Out (HARO) as a source. When you do, you’ll receive three emails a day with queries from journalists. If you see a topic that you have experience with, you can respond, and the journalist may include you in their article. This makes you look like a trustworthy industry expert, and is also something you can include on your website.

Host Local Events

Another way to share your expertise and drive clients is to host workshops and training for buyers and sellers. Use this as an opportunity to show your wealth of knowledge to people who may be in the market. The key to attracting the right audience is to choose your topics wisely. For example, topics like, “How to Manage the Home Buying Process” may be better than, “How to Sell My Own Home.”

Many venues will allow you to host events like this for free or a very low vendor fee, including co-working spaces. Create invites on sites like MeetUp and Eventbrite to reach a wide audience. Don’t forget to promote it on your social media channels and via email marketing if you have a list of subscribers.

Reach Community Members

Use these simple ideas to reach more community members, driving clients and boosting your business. You don’t have to spend a lot to do a lot, so pick a few tactics and give them a try.

Jessica Thiefels is an entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Jessica Thiefels Consulting. She’s been writing for more than 10 years and has been featured in top publications like Forbes. She also writes for Business Insider, Virgin, Glassdoor and more. Follow her on Twitter @JThiefels and connect on LinkedIn.