I’ve read in several places that it’s good to have a solid marketing plan. Of course, it can only be so solid when working with a budget. I tried the farming idea. I came up with this brilliant idea to seek out apartment dwellers. I sent out over 500 postcards. Do you know that I pretty much received half of them back? It was a sad day in my marketing world. I feel like they are basically a hit or miss. I mean, how do you know that they are even thinking about buying a home? So, I decided to put my marketing funds into tweaking my website www.ForSaleByLindsay.com ! I am hoping that will get me boosted up in the search engines and get my name out here.
Marketing Plan 101
1. For starters, I publish an ad in the Real Estate Finder magazine once a month. I’ll have to be sure to post some of my ad’s b/c I am so proud of them. They have a great graphic designer. I thought that it would be a better idea, for now- to just list in the Real Estate Finder instead of sending postcards out to a certain area. Did you know that you have to send out at least 5 postcards for them to even remember you?
2. Since I publish in the Real Estate Finder, I am allowed to use their website www.re-finder.com for free. I love it. I think it runs in the search engines, google and trullia. I have had a number of hits from this and have gotten great exposure for my listings.
3. Open Houses Baby! I love open houses! I love meeting people and talking about homes. I am a home junkie. When I was younger, I loved to just ride through neighborhoods and look at houses. So, yeah…open houses..people+refreshments=gold.
4. I also do single property websites. This is where consumers can have information on my listings 24/7. Genius idea. I was thinking about doing the 1-800 number, where people can call and get the same information, but I assume that people want to see pictures and so forth. Ex. www.beaudarren.info
5. Two weeks prior to my open houses, I place an ad in the advocate to inform people that it’s open house time.
6. The re-finder also has a section in their website that you can post about open houses. This is so helpful. I think that is why we had such a great turn out at the last open house, and possible b/c of the location. Remember- location, location, location- oh and free cookies. We also gave out a lot of freebies at this last open house. We made little goody bags w/ pens, sticky pads, candy, magnets, business cards and so forth. I was so excited about gettin the chance to give away freebies. Why, you ask? Well, I was suppose to be in the Denham Christmas parade back in December. I bought 350 water bottles w/ my name and logo and so forth. Well, once they came in the mail- they were a little top heavy. I just imagined myself trying to throw these water bottles out and giving someone a concusion. So, now I take them wherever I go and try to give them away as much as possible!
7. Craigs List. I put all of my listings on craig list, b/c it is free and you can’t beat free with a stick. I mean, you can try but I think it’s impossible. I have had a few leads just from craigs list.
8. Flyers, Flyers, Flyers
9. Word of Mouth
10. MLS system, of course this is a given.
I am still working on my marketing plan and what I have to offer my clients. I am brain storming constantly trying to come up with unique ideas, so I will continue to storm the brain and will get back to this one later.
