How to plan your real estate marketing calendar for 2023

New year, new you, new marketing calendar strategies. As a real estate agent, planning your marketing for the year ahead is an essential task. That way, you’re not leaving it to chance each month or banking on having “the time” to promote yourself properly.

Let’s face it — there are a lot of things that get pushed to the back of the list when we get busy, and it’s going to be a busy year. That’s why planning is so important.

From your direct mail marketing to farming, to client events, to door knocking — and everything in between — it’s time to get organized and make the most of your marketing this year. 

Plan ahead by looking back 

One of the best ways to plan for this year is to think about what worked well last year and what didn’t. Are there any strategies that could be improved upon? What are some new ideas that could help take your business to the next level?

Start by assessing where you are now and what your current situation looks like. Consider factors such as market trends, competition, customer needs and any other relevant information that could impact the success of your business. Once you have this information, use it to develop an action plan that will guide your efforts over the next year or more.  

Set your objectives and goals 

Before you get started with any real estate marketing activities, it’s important that you set objectives and goals.

• What do you want to achieve in the upcoming year?
• Do you want to increase leads by 10 percent or generate more social media profile views by 5 percent?
• Do you want to earn $20,000 more in commissions or establish a better referral system?

Having concrete objectives will help guide your decisions when creating your activities and milestones calendar. If you have a team, this will help keep everyone on the same page and ensure that everyone is working toward the same goal. 

Break your big goal down into milestones 

Once you have created an overall strategy, it’s time to set milestones along the way so that you can measure progress as time passes. These milestones should include short-term objectives as well as long-term goals and should be specific enough so that they are measurable and achievable.

Additionally, make sure these milestones align with your overall strategy so that each one helps move you closer to achieving your ultimate goals. 

Organize your calendar 

Now that you know what events should go into your calendar, it’s time to organize them in order of priority and importance. If you have a team, keep track of all your events with a tool like Asana or Trello; these platforms make it easy for team members and support staff alike to keep track of tasks and deadlines.

Try not to overwhelm yourself by adding too many activities or campaigns — you should focus on quality over quantity when making this plan.

Start by breaking down each milestone into smaller tasks and then assigning deadlines for each one. Be realistic when setting deadlines; if something seems too ambitious or unrealistic, adjust accordingly until it feels manageable yet still challenging enough to motivate you.

Also, consider what resources or materials you may need for each task — whether hiring someone with specialized skills or purchasing certain marketing materials — so that nothing is overlooked along the way. 

Organize your content and marketing 

Once you have set your objectives, it’s time to map out what activities need to be done to reach those goals.

For example, if one of your objectives is to generate more leads, then hosting open houses or running digital ad campaigns may be something to consider adding to your calendar. Other activities could include anything from social media campaigns, email marketing strategies, or even events like seminars or webinars.

The key here is to come up with activities that will help you reach those goals you previously set out. It’s also important to remember that not every activity needs to be big or flashy; sometimes, simple tactics such as direct mail or making prospecting calls can make all the difference in a successful campaign. 

Plan on at least one outbound marketing project per month that helps ensure that people in your sphere and farm know your name, face and what you do for a living. That is the epitome of self-promotion.  

Some ideas:  

• Offering a neighborhood market report (aka the CMA) 
• Tax time tips 
• Seed mailing 
• Mother’s Day cards 
• Father’s Day cards 
• Summer fun activity 
• Back to school promotion 
• Holiday food drives 

Develop a strong online presence  

This includes having a professional website and being active on social media platforms, like engaging video content. There are countless tools out there that can help you develop and schedule social media posts to keep you consistently supplying your farm areas with helpful information and inspiring messages.  

Schedule your ‘smile stops’ 

Smile stops (often called “pop-bys”) are fun reasons to stop for quick visits with past and potential customers to show appreciation and continuously cultivate your connection and build trust. I recommend that you do this twice a year for your past or potential clients or split up your client list and do a handful each month so that you can connect with everyone on your list consistently (but not so often they think you might be stalking them).

Some agents prefer to break their bigger list of past clients into smaller groups and do monthly stops rather than deliver 100+ smiles all in one weekend. Which do you think would work best for you? 

Here are 11 smile stop ideas that will make your past clients smile.  

Invest in your education and professional development 

There is nothing better you can do for yourself and your business than to invest in continual learning. This can include taking courses; attending industry events, webinars, and conferences; and staying current on real estate laws and regulations.

Connecting with a real estate coaching program that fits your style and budget is a great investment of time, and it’s been proven time and time again that real estate professionals find more success and earn more money when they work with a real estate coach who can help them in their business.

While getting this time on the calendar might not be easy with everything else you need to do, this can be one of the best uses of your time.  

Creating an effective real estate marketing calendar requires careful planning and attention to detail. Start by setting objectives that are aligned with what you want from the upcoming year; this will help guide the type of activities that should be included in the calendar itself.

Once everything is mapped out — from events and campaigns down through each task — make sure that everyone involved understands their responsibilities and deadlines (and don’t forget about those tools). With a clear roadmap laid out, reaching your destination in 2023 is only a matter of time and effort.