Gone are the days of the five-year marketing plan. Today, you need a nimble, research-informed strategy that can be easily adapted to take advantage of timely marketing opportunities. Take last week’s NYC Real Estate Expo, for example. Whether your company was a sponsor or an attendee, you gained valuable insights to share with stakeholders during professional development sessions and met prospective clients and business partners with whom it is important to remain connected. Is your firm’s current marketing strategy poised to make the most of these opportunities and leverage new connections?
Whether seizing the opportunity to follow-up on recent event marketing or revamping your real estate firm’s marketing strategy for 2015, it’s time to evaluate what is working well, identify opportunities to replicate prior successes and refine strategies and tactics that aren’t achieving your goals. Here are five key reasons to refresh your real estate marketing today:
The media landscape is constantly changing
In a world where new communication channels are constantly emerging, it’s easy to let the tactics drive the marketing campaign. In reality, the strategy – research-informed and audience-centric – needs to be at the helm. As marketer Peter Shankman once said during a professional development workshop, it’s not about using Twitter to communicate with your target audiences. It’s about effectively communicating with target audiences in 140-characters or less. If Twitter were to go away, you could still leverage your successes and lessons learned through a new channel. Simply put, it’s about embracing the concept, not the medium.
Businesses evolve
What may have begun as a one-office commercial brokerage firm may now be a market leader with a regional or national presence. A property management firm with roots in the rental market may now specialize in condos and co-ops. Your marketing strategy needs to reflect these changes and ensure the messaging reflects the brand as it stands today. Effective key message points clearly convey a brand’s value proposition, set it apart from the competition and let target audiences know ‘what’s in it for me?’ should they choose to become a client of the firm.
Target audiences grow and change
Just as businesses evolve, so do their target audiences. Whether your company has chosen to target a new vertical, honed its niche or expanded geographically, it’s important to maintain a strategic marketing program that is tailored to the wants, needs and communications preferences of these audiences. For example, if you are a commercial brokerage firm interfacing with on-the-go c-suite professionals, your direct mail campaign may sit on a client’s or prospect’s desk for weeks unnoticed. On the other hand, your carefully-crafted and well-timed email marketing campaign may get noticed the day the first message is sent. Know your audience. Know how they like to be communicated with. Know how to stand out from the crowd.
Brand ambassadors come and go
Who is the face of your firm? Whether the president, CEO, CFO or CMO is your primary spokesperson, you likely have an arsenal of other brand ambassadors on staff who are ready and willing to help get the word out about your firm’s industry expertise and outstanding achievements. Remember, that penthouse didn’t sell itself, and there’s a reason your firm is the media’s go-to source for expert commentary. That said, it’s important to have policies in place for what constitutes serving as a brand ambassador, who is authorized to do so and within what context. It’s also important to outline how brokers and other key team members’ personal brands can and should align with the firm’s overall image. At the end of the day, whether you are a team of 20 or 200, you are collectively working to market and support one cohesive brand.
For more tips on personal branding for real estate professionals, click here.
Competitors change
When your company opened its doors 25 years ago, it may have been the only firm in the market space. Conversely, it may have been an unknown entity in a sea of well-established companies. As new competitors emerge and former competitors shift focus or close their doors, it’s important to hone one messaging and marketing strategy to seize these newly-created opportunities to attract new business and close leads. It’s also important to maintain an up-to-date marketing campaign to stave off those emerging competitors from eating up your market share. By auditing the competition – from its overall business presence to its specific marketing efforts – your firm can stay ahead of the pack and ensure its strategic marketing program is well-aligned to overcome challenges and seize opportunities in the marketplace.
While effective marketing campaigns are as unique as the real estate firms who execute them, developing a nimble, research-informed strategy is key to success. Whether your firm’s marketing strategy was updated last year or has remained static since its inception, now is the time to evaluate what’s working, identify areas for improvement and hone your approach to achieve optimal success and generate measurable, meaningful results.
Building your real estate marketing plan from the ground up? Contact us! We can help.
