Real estate agents should prepare for the off seasons when the housing market hits a slump. Although there are always people buying or selling properties any time of the year, during dramatic shifts in the economy or a low inventory in a particular community, a real estate agent may have fewer clients than usual. Here are some tips for marketing your services when buyers and sellers are less plentiful.
Reconnect With Previous Clients
It’s smart to keep in contact with your former clients for a multitude of reasons. The first is that word-of-mouth is a great form of marketing, especially for real estate agents. Reminding your old clients of you by checking in occasionally makes it more likely that they’ll recommend you to a friend who is looking for an agent. Contact some of your favorite clients that you have worked with before to see if they know someone who is thinking about buying or selling a home. You might also want to keep a list of testimonials from emails, cards, or telephone call quotes from satisfied customers. Make sure to ask if it is okay to use their names as references for future clients.
Old clients might also be considering a move due to a growing family or a job relocation, and if they were pleased with your service before, they will likely be happy to work with you again. Even if the calls or emails don’t pan out, you can remind them of your current availability if needed.
Utilize Social Media
You are probably already using Facebook, Instagram, and Linked In for yourself, but you can use these for your business as well. Post short updates and interesting or humorous insights to the current housing market. Viewers might enjoy the knowledge you offer along with entertainment value of your tongue-in-cheek observations about finding the right house or preparing one to sell. Frequent tweets and posts will keep your name fresh in people’s minds for when they or one of their friends needs a real estate agent.
Advertise in Community Publications
Explore advertising tools in your target audience’s scope of view to promote your services on a regular basis. Traditional marketing for real estate agents could include posting ads in the local newspaper or doing an interview with a radio talk show host about a housing issue. Joining the local chamber of commerce and publishing occasional blurbs in its newsletter can also be helpful. You may want to put up a business website in conjunction with a real estate company you work with to include personal certificates, training, or degrees that may attract additional new clients.
Give a Talk on Your Area of Expertise
Making a presentation to a civic organization like the Rotary or Lions Club can put you in contact with community leaders who can spread the word about your status and professional successes. Giving a luncheon talk or offering a trade show presentation would also position you as a leader in your area.
If you’re unable to give talks displaying your expertise in person, consider writing a real estate blog for your business instead. Like a presentation in your community, a blog post can show your professionalism and skills while also providing readers useful information. When they see that you’re well-informed on the real estate market in your area and how to navigate it, they’ll trust you and have more confidence in your skills. Then, when they’re ready to start house hunting, they’ll think of you first.
Work With an Advertising Company
Sometimes, advertising yourself and your skills is much more difficult than advertising a house. If you’re not sure where to start with marketing your homes and real estate business in your community, consider working with a marketing company that specializes in working with real estate agents. They can help you figure out a strategy that will work well with clients in your area. They can also help you improve your SEO so that you’re more easily found when potential clients are searching for real estate agents in your area. With a good advertising strategy in place, you make yourself more accessible to clients and better able to grow your business.
Use all the resources available to let others know about your abilities and success. Connections help to forge professional relationships, which can be critical in building your realty business, especially during the slow times.