The way you “get” listings is to own the customer relationship before and after the transaction. Most real estate agents fall short in this area, so it’s essential to be a marketing and advertising pro both before and after the transaction.
Here are five fast and easy ways to get listings in 2023:
Content marketing
The goal is to go viral with content marketing. It’s essential to create content that’s relevant to what people are looking for, thinking about, talking about and concerned about.
Answerthepublic.com is a useful tool that can help with this. By searching for keywords related to a topic, the website generates a graph that shows what other phrases people have searched for alongside that topic. The data also reveals the questions people have about the topic. Does selling a home counts as a capital gain? Or, who pays the closing costs when selling a home?
Timing is also crucial for content marketing. To maximize traffic, it’s important to time your content to what’s trending. Analyze what people are searching for and when, as well as using websites like explodingtopics.com to predict upcoming topics. This site uses an algorithm and data to anticipate what topics will trend next.
By identifying emerging topics and analyzing current search data and social media trends, Exploding Topics can help content creators create timely and relevant content. For example, a year ago, people were searching for help finding listings. Now, they are concerned about the impact of inflation on their home’s value. By using sites like Exploding Topics, you can anticipate what your audience will be interested in and create content that is timely and relevant.
Bonus tip: Put your most timely and relevant content into Facebook ads to generate clicks to the full blog on your website to get thousands of visitors.
The “What’s Your Plan?” email
The “What’s Your Plan” email is a simple yet effective piece of content that can help real estate agents stay relevant and identify new opportunities for listings. Send this email to your database a few times per year.
You can use it to gather important information about your clients’ plans. Use this information to create targeted marketing and follow-up campaigns. The email is designed to be timely, relevant and easy to reply to. There are three clear options for clients to choose from: staying put, looking for investment opportunities or wanting to sell their home before the value decreases.
By asking these questions and positioning them in a relatable and non-idealistic way, agents can create great opportunities for themselves and their clients. It is a simple and effective way to stay connected with clients and stay ahead of the competition in the real estate industry.
The CMA-a-thon
Real estate agents can boost their business by executing a CMA marathon. This involves reaching out to people in your sphere, either through Facebook Messenger or text messages, and offering to do a CMA for their home.
By positioning the CMA as a home equity checkup, agents can create a valuable service for their clients, whether or not they are planning to sell their home. Use a personalized message that creates a sense of reciprocity. Agents can build better relationships with their clients and create opportunities for future business.
The results of this strategy can be impressive. In one example, 30 CMAs sent by eight agents, resulted in 12 appointments booked, five listings taken and over $80,000 in revenue. By executing a CMA marathon, real estate agents can set themselves up for a successful year ahead and provide a valuable service to their clients.
Direct mail
Effective direct mail marketing is not old school, but bad direct mail is.
Many people have no strategy when it comes to mailing campaigns, and the lack of competition can be an opportunity for real estate agents to stand out. For instance, one of our clients in San Diego used a clever tactic to send postcards to a specific area.
After a home buyer drew a square on a map of the area they were searching, our client mailed postcards to the area with the drawing on it.
The postcard read, “Looking for a home to buy in this exact area.” It provided details on what the buyer was looking for, including the desired price range. This is a modern way to send a buyer letter and can help real estate agents connect with potential buyers.
Another exciting and creative way to stand out in a crowded marketplace is by using Yellow Letters. They are personalized letters that are designed to look like they were written by hand. These letters are printed on yellow paper and come with a handwritten post-it note on top, making them look even more authentic.
The post-it note can be customized with a message that will catch the recipient’s attention. “Your neighbor hired our team to represent them,” or “We just sold a home in your area for $X.” The letters are created in bulk and sent out to a targeted list of potential clients.
While the letters can be time-consuming to write, there are services available that will do it for you. With the help of yellow letters, real estate agents can show that they are willing to go the extra mile to connect with potential clients.
The Zactimate
Many people turn to Zillow to figure out what they should sell their home for. Whether or not we like it, this is the reality we’re facing and we can use this to our advantage.
Creating content around Zillow is a great way to put your brand next to a household name.
A clever way to do this is with the Zactimate or [your name]-timate. This is going to be an email that you send to your entire list with the subject line: Zillow was WAY off!
You can then draft a quick email that has a stat about Zillow being inaccurate with a link to an article about it.
Make it short and sweet.
At the end of your email, ask the recipient if they are considering selling their home. Offer to send them a “Zactimate” if they reply with their street address.
Chris Smith is the author of “The Conversion Code” and a co-founder of Curyator.