Whether you’re a new agent or have been in the industry for a long time, the way you market yourself as a real estate agent and climb to the top in your community can be really difficult.

When I started in this business, I was trying to do everything else everyone was doing in their marketing. But I quickly learned that I had to incorporate a part of me into my marketing and that being able to have confidence in that part was either going to make my career successful or make it a total disaster!

So, after over fifteen years of real estate experience, I have narrowed down what it truly takes to nail your marketing for ultimate success.

Let’s go ladies – let’s get this:

BE YOU; because there is nobody else out there who can do that job any better than YOU.

Every agent knows when they’re getting into real estate that there will be lots of competition but very few take the time to differentiate themselves. Understanding just how many agents are working in your market, competing for the same clients you are might just get frustrated and throw in the towel. So let’s take a second to look up how many licensed agents belong to your local MLS and write that number down where you can see it every day. That’s the number of people that are sending out post cards, dripping content, and prospecting in your market. That’s the number of agents your market has to sift through and choose from. So ask yourself, how will you stand out? Spark your inspiration with some of these questions.

What are my hobbies? How can I connect with people who enjoy those hobbies as well?
What am I really good at? How can I use that to bring value to my sphere/target market?
What am I willing to do that other agents in my market can’t or won’t do?

CHOOSE A NICHE

By now, you may have come up with a few ideas for a possible niche. Finding a niche and staying in it is a really scary thing to do. I’m here to tell you that your business will grow into an automated lead generating machine much faster if you focus on “depth”. What I mean by that is you need to choose your niche and dive deep into how you can become the ONLY option for the people in that niche. You need to be the no-brainer choice for those people. How do you do that? You become a specialist.

Becoming a specialist is really easy if you choose a niche that aligns with your current skills & interests. For example, if you love dogs you can make dog owners your niche. That’s a pretty big niche so you could narrow it down a bit but let’s just go with dog owners in your town. You can volunteer at the local shelter, start your own fundraiser, or sponsor local pet walks. You can write content on your blog about how to safely move with pets. You could partner with a local pet store and host an adoption event or pet wash. You could hand out branded doggy-doo-doo bag holders at your local dog park. The options are endless. Choose a niche that you’re passionate about and the ideas will flow quite easily.

BE VISIBLE

It’s pretty pointless to spend time figuring out how to differentiate yourself and define your niche if no one sees you, right? So, how do you market yourself as a real estate agent to your niche? Well it’s a matter of spreading awareness of your brand. You need to get your brand in front of them on a consistent basis. And you do that by putting your branding wherever their attention is currently. This will change overtime and it’s your job to stay on top of where your niche’s attention is.

Let’s say your niche is still dog owners in your city and right now they’re all over Facebook and YouTube watching funny videos that are going viral. Those get shared quite a bit don’t they? So what can you do to get your niche’s attention and get them to share your brand with their sphere without them realizing they’re working for you? You find or create your own unique dog inspired video that has the potential to go viral. Then you share it on your Facebook & YouTube Channels and be sure to tag a few Facebook friends that you KNOW will appreciate and share it. Then you sit back and watch your branded dog video go viral.

PROVIDE VALUE

An expert in their field is considered an expert because they’re the ultimate resource on a particular topic. In order for you to become the ultimate real estate resource for your niche you’ll need to provide lots of value. Whether it’s serious, helpful, playful, or actionable information – you need to be sure that it’s valuable to your niche and not just fluff. To make sure your information is valuable you can do a few things:

Ask them what they want to hear more about. Conduct a survey on your Facebook page and share it on local pet business and shelter Facebook pages.

Share resources. Create a master list of local resources that dog owners would find useful and offer that to your niche via PDF download or you could just send it to them in the mail.

Giving your niche the tools and information they need and want will create a level of trust that you need to be seen as a trusted advisor and expert. Once you’ve reached this point, you will receive inquiries from people who want to work with you and only you.

CONSISTENCY IS KEY

Becoming a local expert and earning the trust of your niche takes consistency. If you’re just beginning to market to your niche it’ll take some effort on your part to be sure that they hear from you frequently and most importantly on a consistent schedule. The best way to do this is to create a drip marketing schedule. First, decide how often you want them to hear from you and then set a reminder for when content needs to be dripped out. I personally make sure my niche hears from me at least once per month. Whether it be emails, post cards, holiday cards, an event, or a sponsorship… I make sure I’m visible to them every 3-4 weeks throughout the entire year.

BEING PATIENT IS ALSO KEY

The worst thing you can do is something that LOTS of agents are guilty of. When it comes to marketing yourself as a real estate agent you have got to make a long term commitment to stick with it. Most of your efforts will go unrewarded for the first year or two. Let me say that again. Most of your efforts will go unrewarded for the first year or two. This is the nature of marketing and it’s the difference between marketing and prospecting.

However you decide to market yourself as a Realtor, make the industry proud and brand yourself accordingly. Your brand is EVERYTHING!

With Love | Nikki xo