One of the continual topics in real estate is ‘marketing’, however do we really utilise all knowledge out there to achieve the best results? You may think of marketing only as selling and advertising, this however is just the tip of the iceberg. When marketing correctly you will be able to attract new customers by promising superior value, and keep current customers by delivering satisfaction.
What is marketing?
Philip Kotler, one of the leading marketing academics describes it as ‘a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and managing customer’s relationships in ways that benefit the organisation.’ It includes market research, product development, distribution, pricing, advertisement, personal selling and online-social interaction just to name a few elements. It should be the central core of your business and shape the way you service and communicate to your clients.
How does marketing help us?
As discussed in the following video, Barrack Obama conducted a very successful marketing campaign that ultimately won him the presidency.
If Barrack can become president through effective marketing, imagine the results we could affect locally.
Where to from here?
Over the coming months, I invite you to reinvent your personal marketing with me, to complement your businesses infra structure. Having just completed a course at university I am pretty excited to explore the possibilities available. I will be starting at the base, researching what my marketplace wants (through door-knocking etc a prospecting method in its self), to creating a new ‘product’ based on consumers demands and finishing with pricing, promotion & customer retention.
November 28, 2009
Great first post Chris. It’s refreshing to see someone thinking outside the square about real estate marketing.
There are far too many agents who look at what their competitors are doing & make marketing decisions based on what their competitor does. In any marketplace I’d rather be known as the innovator rather than the imitator.
Whilst being the innovator can be a harder road to take initially, once momentum builds around an effective marketing strategy, the competition will almost find it impossible to catch up & the innovator ends up with a significant USP (Unique Selling Proposition) which means that they can demand a higher fee for their services.
Whereas, the imitators often try to copy the innovators concept & end up trying to provide a similar concept at a cheaper price to compete. But the problem is that the imitators are normally 3 or 4 steps behind the innovator, who is forging ahead with a better, more effective strategy or USP.
In today’s world it’s no longer the big that beats the small, it’s the fast that beats the slow.
Note: Agents you don’t need a big marketing budget like Obama to have a big impact. You just need to think differently about your marketing & how you can use marketing strategies that work more effectively.