1) Don't Let Others Market for You - Whether you are a landlord, house owner, an agent or a broker, this rule applies. Property owners know their property best and need to be engaged in the process all the way through. The owner understands what features best describe a property and what features to downplay in showing the property in its best light. Similarly, real estate agents specializing in a particular type of property should not turn the listing over to others less experienced. In either case, the person with the most knowledge of the property needs to be involved in setting up the marketing program to insure that all of the benefits and features are coming through to Prospects.
2) Overspending on Expensive Ads - Proper marketing involves targeting the best prospects your property. Your best chance for success is to get in front the prospects most capable of buying or renting. You are gambling with your money when you decide to advertise in expensive print media or unfocused online venues that do little to deliver qualified leads that can actually rent or buy. We have heard of sales agents for glossy magazines speak to the benefits of "branding" your property or your project. This is code for taking your money with little return that they can point to. Advertising needs to be placed strategically where you are sure your prospects reside and where you can "track" the effectiveness of the ads. Without the ability to track everything you do in your advertising program, you are flying blind and insuring yourself of a losing effort.
3) Over Relying on One Marketing Tactic - This needs to be avoided at all costs. In today's wired and plugged in market, you need to cast a wide net so that your prospects see your property where ever they are. This includes both offline and online places. If you are a property owner, then don't rely on just your signs or the local online aggregator. If you are an agent, don't rely on the MLS to do your marketing for you or hope that open houses will snag a prospect. All avenues need to be thought through and should all point to a pre-prepared property presentation that maximizes the possibility of a sale or rental. Signs, brochures, aggregators, HUBS, websites, social marketing online, pre-recorded telephone messages, the MLS, print media ads and other roads should all point to your carefully prepared message. This is not that difficult. You just need to think it through ahead of time. When these pieces are properly choreographed, amazing things happen to you and your marketing program.
4) Failing to Present Your Property Using All of the Senses - Real estate is a perfect asset to show in full living color. It lends itself well to images, video, music, sight, sound and the written word. All of these need to be employed effectively. Prospects want to be entertained. They want to see everything they can and get every piece of information available to them before making their decision. You have the opportunity to persuade your prospects using carefully prepared scripts, videos, narration, and images to capture their fancy. A couple of pictures with some boring writing that an aggregator (or the MLS) forces on you will not capture anyone's fancy. Your best prospects will simply move on to the property that is more interesting, or, even worse, to the property that is the cheapest. Take full advantage of the benefits real estate offers and prepare interesting and captivating marketing.
We have seen four marketing mistakes that can tank a program before it even gets started. Simply avoiding these four classic errors will greatly improve your odds of success. Real estate offers a great opportunity to be creative and standout from the crowd. That is the core of a good real estate marketing program. Find out where your prospects hang out and get in front of them, persuade them to come to your pre-prepared presentation and educate them about the benefits your property will provide to them and finally, get them to see your property. At this point, you will have given them all of the information and excitement necessary to make a favorable decision.
