12 Hidden Secrets No One Tells You About Real Estate Marketing

Does it ever feel like you know there’s a way to grow your real estate marketing, but you just can’t figure it out?

I know the feeling.

So, today, I’m going to try to break down the top 12 myths surrounding real estate marketing.

We’ll look at what works. And how it works so that you can grow your business.

Because here’s the thing

Majority of the time, it’s not the real estate marketing idea that failed. It was the implementation and expectation of how that idea would impact your business that was off.

1) You Don’t Get Leads When You Get Your License

One of the biggest real estate marketing failures I see is agents who think it’ll be easy to get buyers once they have their license.

Business simply doesn’t work that way.

Your new business is like a new house built in the middle of a forest in Wisconsin. There is no water main to hook up too; there’s also limited power lines; and sometimes it’s hard to get cell phone reception.

Does that make sense?

Your new business has no historical lines of communication or new leads running into it.

It’s your job to build as many aqueducts as quickly as possible to your new real estate company.

Your license and current connections alone will not make you successful. You have to build ways to keep your current connections close so that they do business with you. And build ways to make new connections.

Here are some great ways to build new connections and get more leads:

Pro tip: Start working on these real estate marketing ideas before you get your license…

2) “Come List Me” Calls Are Rare

Do you have a friend that promised you they’d have you list their house?

Guess what: The deal isn’t done until the paperwork is signed. There are multiple agents who will attempt both online and offline too.

In fact, a simple Google search can find scripts for getting people NOT to list their house with their friends. Here are three of them just from Mike Ferry:

“We have a good friend in the business.”
1) “I can appreciate that, almost everybody does, so when would you like to see how
85% of the homes I list for sale sell and why only 40% of the homes listed with
other agents sell…tonight at 6:00 or tonight at 7:30?”
2) Top Agent Alternative:
“Your friends will want the very best for you. I will be happy to call them for
you.”
3) Top Agent Alternative:
“Are you willing to jeopardize your friendship?”

You need to provide real value if you want even your closest friends to do business with you.

That means becoming an expert agent and providing free value. One of the best ways I know of to provide value is through blogging.

Here are a few resources to help you close more listings and provide value:

3) Postcards, Blog Posts, Flyers, Are Effective Over Time

Another big misconception when it comes to real estate marketing is time.

What is any marketing trying to do? Change peoples behaviors in order that they do business with you.

That’s a tough thing to do!

And it takes a lot of time.

You can read all of our blog posts on Easy Agent Pro about postcard marketing, blogging, SEO, and more. But the thing to keep in mind is that this all takes time.

Blogging is a really profitable real estate marketing source. But it takes at least 6 months to see that ROI. And you have to stay dedicated to the process throughout the entire time.

The same goes for cold calling. Sure, you can start today. But your pitch won’t be NEARLY as successful as it’ll be 6 months from now if you call everyday.

There’s no “hack” for time when it comes to most marketing activities.

4) PPC And Paid Ads Aren’t 100% Guaranteed

…the same component of time goes for paid ads, Google ads, Facebook Ads, and any type of magazine advertising too!

People need to see an ad at least 7 times before acting. This means you simply have to ‘stick to it’ even with paid types of advertising.

5) You’re starting a real estate business

When it comes to real estate, a lot of agents think of themselves as an agent. That’s really not true.

You’re a business owner. And a business owner’s mindset is keenly different than an individual agent’s mindset.

Here are some key notes:

You should document everything you do and make a system out of it. Emyth is a good book to read for this.
You need to build roles into your business so that eventually you’ll have free time.
You need to focus on growth and limit the time you spend on repeated tasks.

6) Small Wins Add Up To Big Wins

Here’s a big one:

A lot of agents dream about the end goal and shoot to achieve it in one shot.

Examples of this are:

I’m going to hire an SEO team and get on Page 1 for LA Homes
I’m going to close this huge deal and take a vacation the rest of the year
I’m going to [INSERT LOFTY GOAL] and get [HUGE OUTCOME]

The fact is:

You aren’t the only agent to try real estate. And if it was this easy to make millions someone else would also be doing it.

It’s much more profitable to focus on the little wins. And let them add up each and everyday. These little wins will win you deals that might not be sexy. But they’ll certainly be profitable.

7) You should keep the same real estate domain throughout your entire career

Here’s a little SEO tip that I often see agents get wrong:

Use the same URL or Domain name throughout your entire career.

Why?

The biggest thing you probably care about online is SEO rankings. And Google loves old domains. They love domains that have a bunch of content on them.

So, if you’re thinking of creating a speciality website for a neighborhood, create a section on your current website instead. You can even make it a subdomain if you’d like.

The point is, don’t have more than one real estate domain name. It’ll confuse Google and end up hurting your real estate marketing.

8) Content is king in real estate marketing

When it comes to your real estate marketing strategy for the next 5 years, you have to be thinking content creation.

Real estate is simply becoming more and more of an online marketing industry.

Zillow publishes over 5 blogs per day
Inman publishes over 7 blogs per day
etc, etc, etc

The sooner you start creating Youtube videos and investing in your social media presence the more you’ll succeed.

If you need tips to start creating your real estate content, check this out.

9) Create systems and document processes to prevent decision fatigue

Have you experienced this

Your inbox has 5+ unanswered emails. You’ve read them 5 times each, but just can’t write a response to them…
You have to re-write emails for the same questions daily…
You are processing the same paperwork and sending the same pdfs to different people weekly…

I could keep going, but these are the type of activities that you have to create systems for in your business.

Systems help take the load off of you. If you have to spend mental energy creating an email or deciding how to respond to a question, you’re going to burn out. VERY quickly.

You need to create repeatable processes for handling these issues. If for no other reason than: It helps keep you sane.

You’ll never be effective at real estate marketing if you don’t first learn how to keep your schedule tidy and clean.

10) Offline and Online marketing are not mutually exclusive

Should you cold call FSBO’s or invest in video marketing posts?

Should you farm areas with postcards or with blog posts?

Does door knocking or Google ads work better?

—–> THESE THINGS ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE <—–

You can and should do both of them. I suggest you print out this real estate business plan, and set a goal.

Then figure out all the ways to get to your goal. And then execute on all of them.

A blog posts literally only costs $12.50 if you follow this method. Order a post and then start your cold prospecting.

You can do multiple marketing activities at the same time if you use other people. Don’t limit yourself!

11) Seller leads scale easier, but buyers are best at the beginning

Real estate agents differ on what type of leads they like to work with. Some Realtors only focus on sellers and others only focus on buyers.

During the beginning, I highly recommend focusing your efforts on getting at least 5 positive testimonials from buyers.

Then, target sellers.

Sellers are going to be hard to convert at first if you don’t have the experience to back yourself up. Buyers, on average, don’t care as much about experience and are going to be a lot easier to convert.

12) People don’t remember the first time

Have you ever heard of the saying “Post and pray”?

This is what agents who aren’t good at marketing do. They get a listing and then post it. That’s not good marketing.

Here’s a list of 200 real estate marketing ideas…

I challenge you to pick 3-5 of them. And to execute on them over and over and over again.

People will not convert if you only do the activity once.

Or twice…

Or three times…

But the money in real estate is in the consistent branding over time. It doesn’t matter if you’re a commercial broker with the biggest brandor a brand new agent. You need to repeat your marketing at nausea for people to pay attention.