How to Create the Perfect Real Estate Marketing and Lead Cultivation Platform (a Tutorial) - Part 1

I've been fielding lots of questions from Realtors® wanting to know how to pick the right tools to put their own end-to-end solution together, how to make "tool A" work seamlessly with "tool B" and even "Where do I start on this and how to I figure out what I need?"

Truth be told, there can be tons of things you can add to a system, but if you are setting out to build an effective, easy to manage and work platform, part of the art of constructing it is knowing "when to say when" and only putting those things into the platform that are uniform and in keeping with your original vision.

Today, I thought I would run through a list of key elements you should consider putting into such an end-to-end marketing system, along with warnings about potential pitfalls that may jam you up along the way. I am going to share a total of seven things I believe comprise the key elements to the success of a project such as this. In order to keep things from getting too long, I am going to split this article into two parts. One published today, and one next week.

1) If it doesn't make you comfortable, skip it

This is one of the most important, yet most overlooked considerations. As you put together your end-to-end system, you are going to be subscribing to many different products to make your platform. It is understandable that there is going to be a little bit of a learning curve as you sample and decide upon these different products.

The thing to never lose sight of is that if you sample a solution and still aren't 100% comfortable with it and have reservations, do not choose that product as a piece of your platform. Go on to the next option and explore it instead. If you stick with something you aren't comfortable with, eventually the platform is going to get too frustrating, you will stop using it, and then you are right back to square one.

Additionally, remember that since you are going to be selecting many different products from many different developers, only look at those products that are flexible and can be integrated with each other. You never want to get in a situation where you are manually having to move data across from one product or service to another. Disjointed products do not make an end-to-end platform.

2) Do your homework on your marketplace and your ideal clients

We've discussed time and time again how client personas are critical when planning how you are going to market to your potential clients. In short, you want to use those personas to make sure your content is appreciated and deemed as valuable by the prospects in your marketplace.

Take time to consider who your ideal clients are and then make sure that whatever source you are pulling your marketing messages from is in alignment with the wants and needs of those ideal clients. For instance, if you are an agent that specializes in a niche like bank owned real estate, you wouldn't use traditional marketing messages that might be used for open house visitors. You would want to find a service that specifically writes marketing messages geared towards bank owned properties.

3) Make sure ALL your messages are locked and loaded ahead of time

If you are getting your marketing messages from a third party source, there will undoubtedly be some sort of financial costsinvolved in getting these messages from the provider. Quite often, we see agents start with only the first few months of messages with the idea that they will "gauge the success of them and then double back and buy the rest at a later date." On its face, this sounds like a great idea. In reality though, it isn't.

Remember, you've already done your homework, so you have very reasonable assurance that these messages will work perfectly. Don't fall into the trap we see many agents fall into where you get busy, lose sight of where people are on your campaigns and the messages suddenly run out and stop. That will completely undermine what you are trying to achieve.

Until Next Time...

So that is the first part of critical steps to consider when building out your platform. Next week, I will share four more critical considerations and steps to build your system.

Whether you choose to go with our Concierge Platform, choose to build your own, or go with another third party, keep these necessities I am sharing with you in mind to ensure you get the right platform and you grow your business faster than you ever imagined possible.

To view the original article, visit the Leading Agent blog.