Quick: What’s your response rate for real estate EDDM postcards? What’s your return on investment with door hangers? How many leads do you typically get when you visit a networking meeting? Which of your marketing methods has the best conversion rate?
If you know the answers to most or all of these questions, great! Grab a cookie and pat yourself on the back. You’re doing well.
If you don’t know all of the answers, or don’t even know what some of the questions mean, that’s ok! But you’re probably going to want to keep reading, because knowing these answers can make a big difference in the effectiveness of your real estate marketing plan.
We all have a limited amount of time, and too many tasks to get done in a day. So using your marketing resources – both time and money – effectively is absolutely vital to get the most out of your business.
The combination of ways to market your real estate business and ways to measure the success of your marketing is essentially endless. Don’t try to do everything, measure everything, all at once. Start small, with the elements that are most important to you. There are a couple of easy ways to start:
- Pick 2-3 of your current marketing strategies, and see if you can determine the response rate you’re getting from them. Are you getting lots of prospects, but few qualifying leads? Are you seeing a low response rate, but a high conversion rate?
- Look back at your easiest closes and most profitable clients. What marketing methods worked best to secure those clients? Is there a trend? What can you do to get more of those clients in the door?
- Go at it from the other direction: what are your least effective marketing methods? It’s not uncommon for people to pursue a certain real estate marketing strategy because they feel like they should – not because it’s providing great results. Are there marketing methods that you just don’t enjoy, so you never get around to them, or that just don’t seem to ever bring in any good leads? If so, let the numbers be your guide and drop those strategies, so you can free up time for something that does work.
Once you’ve gotten the hang of tracking results and measuring success, you’ll be amazed at what a difference it can make in your business. Armed with these numbers, you can take charge of your real estate marketing and feel confident about the process.
Do your best leads and referrals come from networking groups? Then stock up on real estate business cards and get out there. Does your market respond well to postcards? Make a plan for a real estate postcard campaign that spans the year. Whatever works best for you, get out and do more of it. You’re sure to see your business grow.