Archive for the ‘Marketing Tools’ Category

I once had a friend that was trying to sell a piece of land from two states away.  Since the prospect seemed like he was pretty interested in a property, my friend who was really prone to taking action, wanted to send an email and attachment with photographs.  However, when he did so, the photographs were disorganized and he had a hard time explaining to his client over his cell phone certain aspects and features of the property in question.  One of the ways my friend could easily overcome this problem would be with virtual meetings.

Virtual Meetings May Soon be a Reality

There are several online companies that have services which allow you to use the Internet to hold virtual meetings.  One of the companies that is excellent in what they do to provide a platform to give you the ability to hold a virtual meeting is an online company called Go To Meeting.  (www.gotomeeting.com)  With Go To Meeting you can use a webcam to talk to each other while sharing visual documents like pictures, charts and anything else you can think of.  This platform is very versatile because it will allow you to alert people not just by email that you are going to have a meeting, but also by phone.  (Please bear in mind that this system will only work if the other parties involved in the meetings have Go To Meeting’s platform and software installed on their computers as well.)

This system is really pretty versatile in its applications as well.  For one thing, you can have a conferencing session by way of phone and computer at the same time.  If a person is even in their car, they can hear you and other online attendees to the meeting over their phones.  If a client can’t meet with you due to conflicting schedules, you can easily record online audio and video sessions with them and play them back later.  So if a person wants to see a piece of real estate by way of a virtual meeting and their business partner or wife can’t be there, you can always record the session and the client can play it back later for the absent party.

I predict that for businesses and individual clients, virtual meetings for Realtors will be a commonplace reality.   It will save gas and traveling to offices, as well as allow people clear across the country to see pieces of real estate that they might be interested in.

Other Uses of Virtual Meetings for Realtors and Real Estate Professionals

Not only are the presentation opportunities available for this type of a platform, but also you can train staff with it as well.  Go To Meeting has interactive training features that allow for assessments that you may need such as tests, quizzes and polls to gauge the effectiveness of your training even if you are still clear across the country.

I remember the first time I started using social media to begin building my listings and clients lists.  I started marketing real estate on Facebook at the time and began to make all sorts of friends in such frenzy that I almost got kicked-off due to spamming.  Now, bear in mind I wasn’t sending unsolicited email or anything like that, but I was making friends at such a fast speed the social media site started to warn me about making too many friends.  After all, wasn’t that the idea behind social media marketing to make as many friends as fast as you can online so you can market back to them?

The Natural Way Real Estate Agents should Use Social Media

Much to my chagrin, I found that there was a lot more to connecting and selling to people on a social bookmarking site than meets the eye.  One of the big mistakes that I learned right away was to not be impatient with making friends and relationships when using this new medium. After listening to a few webinars as well as reading several books, I found out that there were important strategies as to how a real estate agent should use social media and what not to do as well.

• Try to sound like a friend.   The last thing that you really want to do is sound like a snake oil salesman.  Actually, don’t just act like a friend, become one.  If you really care about the people you are working with, it will translate into long term friends as well as customers.  People can usually tell when you are being superficial, so try to be genuine and have their best interests at heart.  In an era where everyone is in business for a quick buck, a person that takes the time to truly help people out will stand heads above everyone else.
• Ask a ton of questions.  How are you going to find out what the needs of people are if you don’t ask questions?  This will help you on two different levels.  First of all it will help you find out about what their needs are, how many family members and friends that they have as well as what type of real estate they are looking for.  Second, it shows that you are genuinely interested in them and what their needs are.
• Listen to what people are trying to say.  There is a true art to listening.  As a matter of fact, the entire sales process many times hinges on how well you can actually shut up and listen.  So, the next time you are in a conversation, ask a lot of questions, make eye contact and listen.  I know you can’t necessarily do this on a social media site, (unless you are using a web cam) but when you are chatting online make sure you don’t try to sell anything initially, not even your services, so that you can get into the habit of natural talk.

In the world of online social media, what usually goes around comes around, so try to make sure that you appear to be professional at all times.  Try to refrain from using foul language, and talking about risqué subjects because your words very possibly, will be seen by many people.

As a real estate sales professional you will have many marketing tasks that you will use to fill up your funnel of potential clients and listings.  One of the smartest things that you can do in any marketing situation is to outsource much of the work you need completed.  In any business, you want to be in a position where you tell others to do the grunt work for you so you can focus on the marketing and sales aspect of your business.   So, in the case of sending out flyers to people you have on your marketing list, you can easily have that outsourced and done so well that it increases the traffic to your open house or event.

Enter Real Estate Marketing Flyers

One of the companies that I have found on the Internet that can get flyers outsourced for you is a company called Next Day Flyers. ( http://www.nextdayflyers.com )  With this company, you can go online and use their already prepared templates to create your marketing message.  You can add your own pictures and logo and easily design the message yourself so that you have full control.  The beauty of Next Day Flyers is that they will also mail the flyers out for you as per your own schedule to the people on your mailing list.   With just a couple of simple clicks of your  mouse buttons, Next Day Flyers can send your marketing message out without any hassle of filling out the address information yourself.  You save loads of time filling out this information,, which will leave your more time for planning, managing and selling personally without doing all of that menial work.

Learn to Write Ad Copy Yourself

I personally think that you should learn how to write your marketing message yourself.   Learning ad copy will save you tons of money because good ad copy writers do not come cheap.  There are quite a few online courses by Dan Kennedy, John Carlton and other great ad copy writers that can show you how to do this.   You may feel that these individuals are charging too much for their courses but you would be wrong.   Ad copy writing is an acquired skill that takes a lot of practice and time to learn, so why not learn it from the best?  If you are really strapped for cash, you may

Marketing Rebel John Carlton

find a copy of their courses on eBay, but you will have to look diligently over a period of weeks.  However, as I said before, you could save both time and money and outsource the work.  If you have a big enough budget, you can hire someone that has experience or you could go the cheaper route and learn to do it yourself.  If you wind up hiring someone just bear this in mind; if the person comes cheap, then chances are that he is not that good because excellent ad copy writers are expensive yet worth it.

Real estate marketing flyers should be considered as a part of your overall marketing strategy; one that you can easily implement without any fuss. In my next Blog Post,  I will show you examples of good  individual ( as opposed to an agency’s site that is given to the agent ) real estate websites and blogs and how you can learn from looking at other peoples more successful sites.

Imagine going to your real estate office and a young couple is sitting there looking through the MLS book and the day before you had an opportunity to go out to several properties they might be interested in and photograph them.  Imagine also, that the properties in question are a considerable distance apart and you would rather not spend all of that gas money and time driving to all of them, especially if a couple of the properties will be eliminated from the list rather quickly.

Before you take the couple out of your office, you reach into your brief case and pull out your Coolpix s1000pj Digital Camera and set it up.  Now the two can look on your wall where you are projecting images of the homes that they are interested in.  Not only are you projecting pictures, but you are also show short video clips that you have taken as well.  They can now see the property and decide whether or not if it is worth their time to drive out and view it.

The Coolpix 1000pj is a great tool or real estate professionals because not only is it able to project clear pictures and videos, but it will allow you to create a slide show with beautiful transition effects. The camera also comes with a projector stand and a wireless remote so you can  present the pictures professionally.

Many of the other features of the Coolpix 1000pj are:

• 12.1 megapixels for high resolution pictures.
• A function called D-lighting which adds exposure effects to under exposed images.
• A skin softening effect from their smart portrait system.
• 5x (5 times) zoom Nikkor lens.
• Subject tracking which helps you track your subject.

Overall, this digital camera will make the job of showing potential real estate buyers properties on the fly and allow you to present them with crystal clarity and professionalism. To find out more about the Coolpix 1000pj – CLICK HERE.

Here is a video from the Nikon Corporation on the Camera:

Here is a real quick video tutorial on how to use the latest in video technology.  Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

-Mark Ellis