As an agent, brokerage firm or builder, selling a home is only part of what defines your success. The goal isn’t just to sell a home or two; the goal is to dominate your market.
But such a goal can only be accomplished through a solid marketing strategy and a well-planned branding campaign. Your regular ad in the local paper isn’t going to get you the business you need.
Advertising that is not part of a marketing plan is ineffective, and it can deplete your funds pretty quickly.
Here are three steps to help you dominate your market:
1. Accept that marketing is critical to your success
If you don’t acknowledge that your business depends on marketing, you will either survive or fail, but you won’t be successful, and you definitely won’t achieve dominance.
Your intended audience won’t be able to guess why you are better than your competitors. If you aren’t helping your customers see what sets you apart from the competition, then you are likely to fail.
This is where marketing comes into play. Use it to clearly tell your customers what makes you worth their time and money.
2. Invest in your marketing
If you don’t, you risk losing value in your services or your product. Upon losing value, you are forced to compete on price. On the other hand, if you market a home correctly, you won’t be forced to lower the price.
Have you ever been asked to cut your commission? That means that your audience doesn’t perceive your value. It’s up to you to create that value for your clients, and then a home’s price won’t be your only point of leverage.
So what is it that makes you valuable? Your audience won’t work with you if they don’t understand why they should. Similarly, they won’t buy a home from you if you don’t sell them on the value. You don’t have to be the best in every way; instead, focus on what you are great at doing.
3. Stop complaining, and start acting
You can complain that others have an unfair advantage, but if you are sitting around waiting for referrals, you are losing market share.
Selling a home every so often isn’t the definition of success. You must have a certain share of your market to truly call yourself a successful broker, agent or builder.
Go ahead and observe what the market leaders are doing. Surely, you know who they are — you might even have tried copying their strategy to no avail. And look into new real estate marketing technologies.
Come up with a unique marketing strategy, because what works for them will not work for you and vice verse. So don’t complain when you get your competitors’ postcard in the mail. Take action instead.
To recap, you must invest the proper amount of time and money to let you customers know that you are better than the competition. Aim to be No. 1 in your market, and never settle for a single digit market share. Aim to dominate.
Laura Ure is the CEO of Keenability, a marketing agency specializing in lifestyle marketing that targets the affluent buyer. Follow her on Facebook or Twitter.