The Multiple Levels Of Real Estate Marketing

Most real estate brokers and agents when asked about the different levels of real estate marketing will likely answer that there are two such levels,,, seller marketing and buyer marketing!

In reality,  there is a third level of real estate marketing which is often over-looked and equally important, if not more important, than either seller marketing or buyer marketing…and that is personal marketing!

To become, and remain, a consistent ‘lean, mean listing-machine’, real estate agents MUST invest heavily in both traditional and non-traditional seller (property) marketing! When done effectively and efficiently, the investment can quickly help agents, at all levels of experience, establish local-area listing dominance. But, as we all know, it can be expensive…very expensive! If not done with discipline, it can also drain the ‘proverbial bank’ leaving little or nothing for buyer marketing…and personal marketing!

Buyer marketing, on the other hand, is often ‘one-directional’…unfortunately! Most, if not all, buyer marketing is directed at finding or generating buyer leads and typically takes the form of investing in lead generation programs, pay-per-click advertising, teaming-up with Zillow etc. Also, VERY expensive! Unfortunately, little to no buyer marketing, is targeted at ‘positioning’ an agent’s buyer as the ‘best buyer’ for a seller’s property. Opportunity missed! And this ‘missed opportunity’ ultimately makes negotiating and closing a transaction a lot harder!

A case can easily be made for the third level of real estate marketing... self marketing, as being the single most important type of marketing for most agents, especially ‘new’, ‘struggling’ and ‘under-producing’ agents! 

Like any other business, a real estate agent’s business needs to be aggressively marketed…with an emphasis on agent ‘differentiation’ and ‘positioning’!

As we all know, failure to ‘differentiate’ oneself from the hundreds of other agents working the same market area can be deadly! You simply get ‘lost in the shuffle!’ Failure to ‘position’ oneself as ‘the agent-of-choice’ because of one’s local knowledge, expertise or experience will likely result in incurring a monumental ‘opportunity cost’!

When it comes to self-marketing, the challenge is three-fold for most agents! One, they don’t realize how critically important self-marketing is to the growth of their overall business! Two, they don’t allocate enough, if any, marketing dollars toward this level of real estate marketing! Three, they don’t know ‘how to’ effectively self-market!

To quickly learn ‘how to’ effectively self-market, I would strongly recommend: 1. Research a gentleman by the name of Jack Trout! Jack is the author, and co-author of numerous highly-regarded marketing-related books… three of which are identified below. 2. Visit ifasttrac.com 

Recommended Reading: The 22 Immutable Laws Of Marketing: Positioning: AND Differentiate Or Die… all by Jack Trout