How to Create a Property Marketing Plan that Wins Listings

Is your marketing plan enough to seal the deal with sellers? If you're only doing what the majority of other agents are doing to market a home, you're not standing out. And if you're not standing out, you're not growing your listing business.

Today's real estate consumer is far more sophisticated than they were just 10 years ago. They can not only find detailed property information online without the help of an agent, but they can also research what it is agents should be doing for them.

For sellers, the number one thing that they want is for their agent to market their home to buyers, according to a recent study from NAR. But where are the buyers? They're online, according to a 2014 study from Google that says that a whopping 97 percent of buyers search for properties online. What's more, almost half of buyers found the home they eventually purchased online first.

"Sellers know that people go online to search for properties, and they expect you to market their property to those buyers online," says Chris Scott of The Paperless Agent, a company that offers agents training on digital marketing and is owned and operated by the leaders of GoodLife Realty. If your marketing plan doesn't address the expectations of today's digital consumer, it's time to consider an overhaul.

Crafting Your Marketing Plan

Fortunately, this doesn't have to be a difficult process. Scott suggests starting by simply making a list of all the promotional and marketing activities that you do for your listings. "You may be surprised by how much you do when you write it all down," says Scott. "But consumers will have no idea what you do to market their home unless you explicitly tell them or show them."

Once you've listed all your marketing activities, the next step is to start incorporating a few new things. This can be something as simple as running a Facebook ad campaign to promote a property. "All of a sudden, you've added a whole new domain of expertise in the seller's mind because what you're saying is, 'I'm using unique and innovative ways to market your home,'" says Scott. "Other listing agents are not saying that."

According to The Paperless Agent, successful marketing plans have five different elements:

1. Pre-launch - Your listing only has one chance to make a good first impression. The "pre-launch" phase of your marketing plan should be designed to position the property for the best possible impression right out of the gate. This includes activities that "seed" the marketplace and optimize for SEO.
2. Campaign sequencec - This builds on the previous phase by announcing the property's availability through both online and offline channels. Online channels are great for connecting with consumers, while offline channels work well for connecting with buyer's agents.
3. Marketing technologies - Once you've explained what you're going to do, now it's time to detail how you're going to do it by talking about the tools you use. Search, pay-per-click advertising, social media, email, and more are just some of the technologies that successful agents leverage.
4. Campaign performance - It's not enough to throw an ad up on Facebook and hope for the best. Agents need to be constantly monitoring the performance of the various elements of their campaign and making adjustments as needed. Explain to your seller how you keep an eye on metrics like click-thru rates, ad impressions, email open rates, and more to maximize the reach of each element of your campaign.
5. Campaign re-launch - Is your listing getting a low level of interest from buyers? It may be that the price is too high. Let your sellers know that in case an adjustment is necessary, you already have a plan in place to relaunch your marketing activities at the new price point.

To edge out your competition, show sellers exactly how you're going to actively market their property to home buyers. The more details you offer, the easier it is to differentiate yourself and win their trust. (You can even mention that most agents won't do any of what you're showing them.)

If you need help crafting a property marketing plan that sells homes faster and for more money, check out The Paperless Agent's new Real Estate Digital Marketer (REDM) certification course. For more information, visit http://thepaperlessagent.com/redm.

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