Platform Marketing Ideas
5 Articles Realtors Need To Read Before Starting The Platform Marketing Program
4 Viral Video Ideas For Realtors (That Make You Look Like A Hero To Your Local Community)
How To Generate High Quality Listing Leads (The Missing Ingredient In Most Marketing Campaigns)
4 Proven Ways To CONVERT More Of Your Leads (Because Generating Leads Is The EASY Part)
Our Marketing “Secret Weapon” For Realtors…That Your Competition Cannot Copy
How To Generate High Quality Listing Leads (The Missing Ingredient In Most Marketing Campaigns)
Looking for specific marketing ideas?
If you’re anything like me, you quickly get bored with theory.
So here are 4 specific marketing strategies that we recommend for all agents who want to actually convert more of their leads.
Lead Conversion Strategy ONE: Listing video tours as retargeting ads
Many agents are already filming video tours of their listings. If you’re not, what are you waiting for? Video is a far more modern marketing strategy than photos, and it demonstrates your marketing professionalism.
Not to mention you can track who is watching your Facebook videos even if they don’t give you their contact information.
This is a stealthy way to provide value to potential buyers without forcing them to give you their contact information right away (which can be annoying and a turn off, especially in higher price points). This allows you to retarget them later and stay top of mind. Needless to say, this is a great way to both generate leads AND build your brand.
To make sure you’re accomplishing both at the same time, make sure you’re in the video.
This is the most common mistake I see with listing videos!
Agents will hire a fancy professional videographer who captures gorgeous, dramatic drone footage…but the agent isn’t in the video!
It should go without saying, but you can’t build your brand if you aren’t in your own videos.
Your listing video tours should be a guided tour of the house, just like a showing would be. Point out the best features while you walk through the home.
Here’s an example of a great listing video tour.
Now, here’s the “secret sauce” that makes this technique specifically relevant to converting leads instead of just generating new ones: when you create ads using your listing video tour, don’t just run them to cold audiences.
We don’t want to just boost these ads to the general public.
We want to setup more advanced “retargeting” ads, so people who have already been clicking on your other ads will start seeing them.
This accomplishes two important things that most agents ignore (and it’s why most agents waste so much money on marketing that doesn’t work).
Number one, it ensures that you are showing the videos to people you know are in the market to buy or sell a house.
This means you can spend less money overall on advertising, because you’re only spending money to show ads to people you know are actively looking to buy/sell.
Most agents don’t do this…they spend money boosting their ads to the general public.
This is a giant waste of money!
Generously assuming that 10% of the population is looking to buy a house at any given time, this means that they’re wasting 90% of their budget.
However, by “retargeting” your ads to the specific people you know are actually planning to move soon, you can spend less money overall on ads and get better results.
The second reason that setting up your listing video tours as “retargeting” ads is so important is that it positions you as an active, top producing agent.
There are far too many amateur, part-time agents out there.
Unfortunately, sometimes it’s hard for the public to know who to trust! By running listing video retargeting ads, they’ll know you are proactively promoting your listings and that you’re an expert on the current market.
It’s not enough to promote testimonial ads of your past happy clients. Buyers and sellers want to know that you’re an active agent who is currently making sales, right now.
There’s no better way to do that than promoting your listings with retargeting ads!
This forces people to think to themselves,
“Wow, they sure look busy! I am constantly seeing their ads. They must be a great realtor if so many other people are working with them!”
You can create this perception by creating listing video tour ads, and running them as retargeting ads.
This is one of our core strategies at Platform Marketing, and it helps separate our agents from their competition.
Lead Conversion Strategy TWO: Authoring An Actual Book About Your Local Real Estate Market
The first step in marketing yourself as a realtor is realizing that you are a commodity.
The second step is doing something to change that perception.
Accept the fact that all other agents do the same thing as you. It is what it is. You might think you are different, better, or more experienced, but the public thinks of all agents as interchangeable commodities.
They don’t care who is with KW versus RE/MAX versus Redfin.
Unfortunately, the average person is just as likely to use their second cousin as their agent—because they’re their second cousin—than they are to conduct diligent research on the top performing agents worthy of an interview. This is unfair and disadvantages the entire industry.
However, you can transform this apathy into an advantage by giving the public something tangible that proves you are step above other agents.
You must write a book.
The root word of “authority” is author, and that’s exactly what you’ll become when you publish a book about your area: the undisputed authority.
Think about it: you can literally claim that you “wrote the book” on local real estate.
And I’m not talking about a generic 25 page e-book.
Write a real book.
A 100+ page physical book. Just like any other book you’d see in Barnes & Noble.
Here’s an example of an agent who wrote a book and massively grew her GCI.
When you host open houses, you can give away free copies of your book to anyone who shows up (and of course, autograph them). You can send copies of your book to all of your past clients, and ask if they know anyone who may be moving soon that would like a free copy. Your Facebook ads can promise a free copy of your book. You can add an extra drip email to any autoresponder sequence that simply says Oh, one more thing. Would you like me to send you a free copy of my book?
This simple email gets many unresponsive leads to actually reply, because it’s offering value (and it doesn’t feel like an auto email).
There are literally dozens of ways to leverage a free book to generate more listing leads and build your brand.
It’s the ultimate marketing strategy.
You are much more likely to receive inquiries and phone calls for a free book than you are a “free consultation.”
A consultation is valuable to the agent. A free book is valuable to the client. See the difference?
There is almost no tool or strategy as powerful as writing a book. That’s why politicians usually publish one the year they are planning to run for president! Even though they may already be a governor or a US Senator, being an author is considered even more prestigious on the resume. It demonstrates wisdom and expertise.
Most importantly, it gives your potential clients peace of mind that they’re not just working with an expert, they’re working with the expert. The guy who literally wrote the book on local real estate.
Your book’s title should be as straightforward as possible. If you live in Gary, Indiana, the book should be called The Ultimate Guide To Gary Real Estate: Insider Tips To Get The Best Deal Buying And Selling Homes.
Think about it…if you wrote the ultimate guide, you must be the expert!
This positioning is qualitative. That means no other agents, no matter how big their advertising budget is, can take this positioning away from you. They will attempt to spend more on advertising (quantitative) because you’ve won the more important battle (qualitative).
Ultimately, the public prefers someone they can trust.
No amount of billboards, direct mailers, or Facebook ads can create trust the way that authoring a book can.
And that’s why you must write a book.
Lead Conversion Strategy THREE: Creatively Feature Local Small Businesses In Your Videos
Another way to earn your community’s trust is by consistently promoting local businesses in your videos.
Don’t just talk about listings and other real estate topics in your content. Talk about the community!
If a homeowner is trying to decide between two agents to list their home, often times the tie breaker will be “who has the better reputation around town?”
By promoting local businesses in your videos, you can position yourself as an advocate of the community.
You aren’t just an expert on the real estate market.
You’re an expert on the overall community.
See the difference?
Your marketing should make this obvious.
It should be clear that you know all the restaurants and small businesses, and beyond that knowledge, you advocate for them.
Your marketing should leverage emotional feelings of hometown pride.
Many of your videos shouldn’t feel like commercials for you as much as they’re promoting local businesses. Again, this positions you as being a likable citizen trying to reinvest into their community!
Who wouldn’t want to work with a real estate agent who is that connected to the community they serve?
No amount of Zillow leads or billboards can buy a brand. You have to earn your brand by building a local reputation. Promoting local small businesses is the best way to do that!
These ads are incredibly effective precisely because they don’t feel like an ad.
Here’s a few creative examples from agents working with Platform Marketing (we helped them script these videos, edit the videos, and launch the ads).
Anngela Musgrave video at local restaurant
Aaron Alvarez local restaurant review video
Lead Conversion Strategy FOUR: Make Your Ads Less Formal And More Personal
One quick and easy way to increase the effectiveness of your marketing is to commit to being less formal.
Many agents obsess about their formal brand.
They want to look and feel “official.”
Maybe they’ve just watched too many episodes of Million Dollar Listing, but let’s set the record straight: it’s easier to stand out and win business when you look real than when you look formal.
Whether it’s an experienced homeowner or a first-time buyer, prospects want to work with someone relatable. They want to feel like they can trust you.
Whether you’re wearing a $2,000 suit or a pair of those fancy red Louboutin pumps, they do not care.
Those do not automatically convey trust. Sometimes they can even be a liability if your community isn’t particularly affluent! Expensive clothing and formality is not synonymous with trustworthiness.
Even if you do live in an affluent area, realize that your brand cannot be bought! It must be earned.
It’s time to put the personal back into “personal brand.”
In almost every case, you can improve your marketing results by intentionally being less formal.
This doesn’t mean posing for photos in your underwear. Being informal is not the goal as much as being real.
The best marketing usually flies under the radar because it doesn’t feel like marketing. The best ads don’t look like ads. And that’s precisely why they work so well (when our mental guard is down we’re more easily influenced).
If you want to build a better brand, attract more warm referrals, and win more listings, inject some personality into your marketing.
Be willing to share about your hobbies, your favorite sports teams, your favorite books, things that annoy you, etc.
The goal is that based on your retargeting ads, potential clients should already feel like they “know” you before they ever meet you.
This is by far the easiest way to improve your lead conversion rate.
And that’s why it’s so essential to the Platform marketing strategy.
Here’s a great example of a retargeting ad from a realtor who understands this
.
Notice there’s not even any mention of real estate, listings, etc. It’s all about sharing personal information so people can feel like they’re getting to know you. Once they feel like they know you, it’s actually pretty easy to “convert leads.”
That’s why most agents prefer referrals to cold leads.
Well, what if you could build relationships with your online leads that are just as warm as sphere referrals?
You can, if you stop caring about formality and instead embrace personality in your marketing.
No amount of sales scripts or objection-handling can overcome the power of an authentic relationship. And the way to cultivate relationships, at scale, is to run paid marketing campaigns that are personal.
Let people get to know you!
This is the ultimate shortcut in sales, because everybody knows that we work with people that we know, like, and trust. Most salespeople falsely believe they can only “get to know’ someone in-person. And that’s why so many real estate agents obsess about handling objections and practicing their sales scripts.
What if it was possible for people to get to know you through the personality of your ads?
That way, when they’re ready, and they feel like they know you, it will seem natural for them to call you.
This is the ultimate leverage. It’s not scalable to try to meet every single prospect for an appointment (nor is it possible).
But if your marketing helps people get to know you, then you’ll only have to invest your time with the warm leads who initiate contact and give you a call.
This is old fashioned marketing. And, really, it never went out of style.
It’s just that most of us have been so fascinated with fancy Facebook ads, Google PPC, IDX websites, and “automation” that we’ve forgotten the fundamentals of relationships.
The truth is that you can’t automate a relationship.
But you can automate most of the marketing that leads to relationships…if your marketing feels personal.
Platform Marketing