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This post was updated Nov. 1, 2024.
Average days on the market are increasing in most markets. This leads to the question: How do you market your listings in a way that they can stand out from the crowd? Here’s a step-by-step process professional agents can use right now to make sure their listings garner the most attention possible to help them sell faster and for the highest possible price.
1. Make the buyer agent’s job easy
One of the best ways to make your listing stand out is to make the buyer agent’s job as easy as possible. Odds are they are going to be asked to provide details on several homes their buyer clients see online.
The first step is to have everything the buyer might want in the documents section of the listing on MLS. This could include cost-to-own details, HOA documents, previous surveys, inspections the seller did prior to listing the home for sale, and any additional information the prospective buyer might ask their agent to request.
In addition, I would have all the details in a ready-to-text or email pdf, including whether the seller is offering buyer agent compensation. We can debate whether the seller should or should not offer compensation, but the bottom line is that every buyer is going to want to know whether the seller is providing compensation or if they will be responsible for compensating their agent before they see a home.
Another way to make the buyer agent’s job easier is to respond to requests or details about a home you have listed as quickly as possible. The faster you provide the buyer’s agent with details about your listing, the quicker the buyer receives them as well. While other agents may drag their feet in response, have your info readily available and provide it as fast as possible.
2. Take your agent hat off, and put your buyer hat on
I had an aha moment a few months ago while listening to a presentation by Mark Stark, former CEO and founder of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Arizona/California/Nevada properties. He said the best way to succeed in real estate is to take your agent hat off and put your buyer hat on.
In other words, quit thinking and marketing like an agent and start providing marketing that appeals to buyers. This process should involve the following three main questions.
Who is the ideal buyer for your listing?
Every home has an “avatar” or certain type of probable buyer. It might be a newly married couple or empty nesters that are downsizing. It might be a single person or an expanding family. Once we’ve identified who the probable buyer might be, we can begin to shape our marketing strategy.
What information do they want and need?
What details are important to that “avatar” buyer? Is it the living space or are outdoor amenities a highlight they will desire? Are there specific landmark amenities like schools, hospitals, or shopping/restaurant areas the buyer might desire to be in proximity of? Whatever it is that might be important to the probable buyer of your listing, make it readily available and highlighted in your marketing.
Where does this ideal buyer spend time?
Does the prospective buyer spend time on Instagram or Facebook? Are they on YouTube or LinkedIn? Wherever your ideal buyer spends time is where your marketing should be focused.
When you’re able to think like the buyer, the marketing strategy you implement will be more in line with the buyer’s needs. This type of marketing is much more valuable than the vanity marketing many agents produce that makes them feel good about themselves but serves very little purpose for prospective buyers.
3. Launch the listing like a movie premiere
Another aha moment for me came when Jimmy Mackin, co-founder of Listing Leads, suggested listings should be launched onto the market like a movie premiere. He gave an example of how the stars of a movie are on all the talk shows, giving teaser videos and interviews about the premiere of the movie weeks before it is released.
He then said the marketing is elevated right before the release day and through the first weekend of the release. He finished by saying the successes of the launch weekend are then utilized as the marketing at the end of the launch weekend to keep the momentum moving.
So how can you launch your new listing utilizing this marketing strategy as a model?
Coming soon marketing
Begin teasing the release of your new listing a few weeks before the actual launch of your listing. This should be focused on building awareness and anticipation of your new listing going live. One way to do this is to record a green screen video for Instagram reels with a map of the area behind you.
Tease with a line like:
“I’ve got a new listing coming to market in the next couple of weeks in the area you can see on the map behind me. I can’t give you all the details until it is live on the MLS, but it will be a four-bedroom home in this highly sought-after area. If you’d like me to share details with you or someone you know as soon as I can, DM me and I will get everything to you ASAP so that you can be one of the first people to know all the details.”
Day of launch marketing push
Maximize the day of launch marketing to create as much exposure for the new listing as possible. Just like a movie launch, I’ve always preferred taking a new listing live on the MLS on a Thursday. That is the most trafficked day for our local real estate websites, and by launching it then, we have our new listing at the top of the search portals (new listings are at the top for 48 hours after they are brought to market) for the busiest day of the week for traffic, and it stays at the top through Saturday morning.
I suggest utilizing AI during this part of the marketing, and that is covered in detail in point #4 below.
Highlight the successes
If the home doesn’t sell during the first weekend, highlight any success, like a well-attended open house or sharing how many showings you had. These are highlights that will help you continue the momentum for weeks after the launch.
If the home sells during the first weekend, tell the story of the successful pending contract. By doing so, you are positioning yourself to list the next home that comes on the market in that neighborhood. Sellers are watching your marketing, and this is the opportunity to share the steps and processes you utilized to help your listing owners get their home sold quickly.
4. Utilize AI to optimize the marketing reach
As I mentioned above, maximizing the marketing on the day of launch is critical for success. I love utilizing ChatGPT to maximize the reach the marketing can have on launch day. I coined this the “Chick-Fil-A on Sunday” marketing plan. Meaning, if you utilize it, just like Chick-Fil-A on Sunday, your listing will be closed.
The first step is to prompt ChatGPT with the following:
Please act as an expert real estate marketer specializing in maximizing exposure for a listing that is coming to the market. Please write an SEO-optimized Facebook post announcing the home located at (address) as a new listing that has just come on the market. Please add a call to action at the end of the post that encourages the viewer to reach out to me for additional information and to schedule a showing of the home. To help you write this, please use the following MLS description so you can highlight details an ideal buyer for this home might be interested in knowing about.
This is the MLS description for the home: [Insert MLS description].
ChatGPT will provide the SEO-optimized Facebook post with hashtags and emojis. Make any modifications needed, and you will have a ready-to-utilize post for Facebook on launch day. Right below the Facebook post it provides, prompt ChatGPT with the following:
Now convert this to an SEO-optimized Instagram [post or Reel script] announcing the home as a new listing.
Again, make any adjustments needed and post that to Instagram on launch day. Right below the Instagram post or reel script prompt ChatGPT with the following:
Now convert this to an SEO-optimized LinkedIn 500-word blog post announcing the home as a new listing.
Check to make sure it is acceptable and post the blog post to LinkedIn on launch day. Then prompt ChatGPT with the following:
Now provide me with an SEO-optimized YouTube short script announcing this home as a new listing.
Finally, ask ChatGPT to provide you with 25 unique ways to market your new listing to gain as much exposure as possible. Although you may not implement all of them, there are usually a few strategies you may not have thought of that could make a difference in getting the home sold.
5. Maximize the exposure via a 4-point focus
Marketing a home effectively involves messaging directed at several different groups of people. Each is unique, and the style and delivery of that marketing should be customized for each group. This is a list of the four groups of people I like to focus on with customized marketing.
Sphere of Influence
Many times, the ideal buyer for our new listings has just a few degrees of separation from ourselves or the people closest to us. When marketing new listings to my sphere of influence, I like to utilize text and phone calls to make sure they are aware of the new listing in case they know of someone who might be looking.
I filter the people in my sphere that I text or call by the listing being a home, like the home they own or the next logical home for them to buy (larger or smaller depending on their situation as a growing family or potentially their next move being to downsize). This increases the likelihood that a friend of theirs might be looking for one of these two options.
- Neighbors – Letting the neighbors know about your listing might lead to them having a friend that wants to move into the neighborhood. It also gives you an opportunity to talk with other owners who could become your next listing.
- Agents – Many of the potential buyers for your listings have signed buyer broker agreements with other agents. By marketing the listing to other agents, you expand the reach of your marketing and exposure of the listing to as many potential buyers as possible.
- Consumers – This is where most of our marketing is focused. These are the potential buyers discussed in point No. 2 above.
6. Build more and better agent relationships
I started this article with ways to make the buyer’s agent easier and how that will help you sell your listings. I want to close this article with the value and need to have good relationships with other agents.
Yes, we represent our clients and negotiate as professionally as possible on their behalf. But this business takes a buyer and a seller. In most transactions, that means you will be working with other agents. Diligently represent your clients but be fair. Your reputation with other agents does affect your business and, in turn, your listings.
The better your listing marketing plan, the better the results, and the more listing opportunities you will have in the future. Develop your marketing plan. Execute your marketing plan and you will reap the rewards of more sales and more listings.
