What you need to do now to make this your most

successful season ever

5 CAN’T-MISS STRATEGIES FOR YOUR

Spring Real Estate Market Success

Chapter 1 | Pages 3-4Invest in relationships, not just marketing

Chapter 2 | Pages 5-6Get in on the conversation early

Chapter 3 | Pages 7-8Spring clean your listings

Chapter 4 | Pages 9-10 Provide more than just real estate content

Chapter 5 | Pages 11Target your message to focus on families

Bonus Tip | Pages 12-13Bonus tip: Use social media to engage parents

Conclusion | Pages 14Start building trust and rapport today

The spring market can make or break a real estate professional’s year. Historic data at the National Association of Realtors indicates sales from April through July outpace the balance of the year.

But while the market heats up, so does the competition. Many agents spend more time, more money, and more effort during these months than at any other time of the year. If you want to win your share of the market, you need a sound strategy.

This e-book is designed to give you ideas to plan and execute a winning spring market strategy on any budget. You’ll learn not just what works, but why it works and how you can get started today.

IntroductionWhat’s Inside

Invest in relationships, not just marketingWith the urgency of the spring market, you may be tempted to focus on marketing tactics with the hope of attracting clients and scoring quick wins. This would be a mistake. Top producers don’t hope for success; they plan for it by investing in relationships.

Consider these statistics:

Percentage of home buyers who found their agent through a referral or had worked with them in the past.

54%Percentage of home sellers who found their agent through a referral or had worked with them in the past.

64%

Even though building relationships takes time, it’s more likely to lead to repeat business and referrals. Not only that, but it’s more cost-effective than traditional marketing and advertising.

It makes sense when you think about it. Marketing works if you reach people who are in the market to buy or sell their home, if the timing is perfect, and if they have not already found an agent. That’s a lot of ifs.

But if you leverage relationships effectively, you can reach people when they are in the market, before they choose another agent.

Invest in relationships, not just marketing

HOW SELLERS FOUND THEIR REAL ESTATE AGENT IN 2014

OTHER

OPEN HOUSEFOR SALE/OPEN HOUSE SIGN

DIRECT MAIL, NEWSPAPER, YELLOW PAGE AD, CALENDARS

INTERNET WEBSITE

PERSONAL CONTACT BY AGENT OR REFERRED BY ANOTHER AGENT

REFERRED BY (OR IS) A FRIEND, NEIGHBOR, OR RELATIVE

USED AGENT PREVIOUSLY TO BUY OR SELL HOME

ALL SELLERS

REAL ESTATE AGENT EXPENSES ACCORDING TO NAR 2014 MEMBER PROFILE

REAL ESTATE AGENT EXPENSES

BUSINESS USE OF VEHICLE EXPENSES

ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES

TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS AND SERVICE EXPENSES

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT EXPENSES

MARKETING OF SERVICES EXPENSES

BUSINESS PROMOTION EXPENSES

AFFINITY/REFERRAL RELATIONSHIP EXPENSES

Get in on the conversation earlySummer is a good time for many people to move. Children are out of school. Warm weather and abundant sunlight are perfect for showing and viewing homes. And tax refunds make closing and moving costs a little less painful.

But that doesn’t mean the entire process happens in the summer. Most people think about moving well before taking action. If you wait too long to start a dialogue, you could be left out in the cold.

Outpace the competition by leveraging this prime time for real estate activity. The next page offers ideas for how to start the conversation.

Get in on the conversation early

BE A RESOURCE.If you help clients now, they’ll be more likely to turn to you when they decide to put their house on the market again.Who do you think they would recommend to a friend—an agent who has been a helpful source of information and advice or an agent whose only interaction is a sales pitch?

Share your expertise to help make your clients’ lives better. Make yourself available to answer questions. Provide inspirational ideas for everything home related. There are almost endless possibilities.

STAND OUT.Ordinary and usual are boring. People don’t gather around the water cooler to talk about a predicable ending to a movie or TV show. They talk about the twist nobody saw coming.

Clients expect postcards and other traditional marketing materials from their Realtors, so they usually end up in the trash can without a second thought. Instead, send them something unique or creative. If it’s something shareable, that’s even better. Those are the kinds of promotions that get clients talking.

CONDUCT A SURVEY.Questions are great conversation starters. Think about how many of your daily conversations begin this way.

That’s just what surveys do. And the answers clients give can help you provide more targeted and engaging topics of conversation.

Even if you don’t get the listing today, you want your clients to know that you have a diversified marketing platform to get their home in front of more potential buyers. And you want to remind them of your value as a buying agent before they even think about what they want in their next home.

Remember, what’s important is the relationship. Don’t just sell. Start a conversation. Your goal should be to build trust and rapport.

HERE ARE A FEW SUGGESTIONS:

Start a conversation.

Spring clean your listingsWhether your listing appears online, in a newspaper classified, or on the back cover of American Lifestyle magazine, the headline is the most read portion of your ad. But when you see and write enough listings, they can quickly get stale. Follow these tips to add new life to your listing copy:

PROVIDE A BENEFIT.Most real estate ads do a great job of listing a property’s features. But what do those features mean to the buyer? What will turn the house into a home for them? That’s the benefit. And it’s what can help you make your ad stand out and connect with buyers on an emotional level.

USE SPECIFICS.Instead of writing “large lot” or “spacious home,” state the acreage or square footage. And be as specific as possible. For instance, 2,013 square feet is more memorable than over 2,000 square feet and demonstrates an attention to detail that adds credibility.

WORD CAREFULLY.Many of the words and phrases common in real estate listings are seen by buyers as code. Cozy means small. Charming means old. Lovingly maintained means it needs to be updated. Perception is reality when it comes to language, so be sure the meaning of your words is what you intend.

The next page offers rules to follow and tips that will help to improve the overall presentation of your listing ads.

Spring clean your listings

4 simple ways to take your listing ad from good to great

HEADLINE RULES:Spend more time on the headline than you think you should.Advertising professionals often spend more time on the headline than all of the other ad components combined. Don’t stop at one or two or even three headline ideas. Keep writing and rewriting. Your best headline could be your first or your thirty-first.

PHOTOGRAPHY:A picture is worth a thousand words, but could your photos be sending the wrong message?Hire a professional, or take a beginner’s photography class to ensure that you’re capturing listings in their best light.

LESS IS MORE:Don’t force every photo or detail into a listing ad design. No one will take time to read three paragraphs of text and it’s nice to leave something for the imagination.

CAST A WIDER NET:Try sprinkling in local content with a listing’s details. Expand your reach by including a side bar of local favorites or upcoming events. Local details are both relevant to your listing’s location and something that anyone will find useful.

Provide more than just real estate contentListing ads are important, but don’t stop there. Provide valuable, fun content that will resonate with your client base this season.

Remember from Chapter 1 how important it is to build relationships with clients? Often the best way to do this is to give them something completely unrelated to real estate. We’ve seen proof of this with our own customers, who have received referrals and won business after sending a magazine that covers a broad scope of inspiring topics. American Lifestyle magazine isn’t the only way to appeal to your clients’ other interests. Here are a few ideas that are perfect for when the weather starts warming up:

SHARE RECIPES. Spring and summer are social seasons. People get together for picnics, barbecues, and block parties, and recipes can be your connection. Picture it: your client’s friend or neighbor asks about the food they are enjoying, and your client shares the recipe, along with a good word about you.

ENCOURAGE SUMMER SAFETY. Come up with a list of ways clients can protect themselves and their families from the dangers of the sun, heat and water to stay top of mind and establish good will.

OFFER FITNESS TIPS.Who wouldn’t like to get in better shape for swimsuit season? There are all sorts of ways you can help, from posting motivational quotes on social media to sharing new exercises with videos or handouts.

Use the activity on the next page to brainstorm your own ideas.

Provide more than just real estate content

Spring for brainstorming.

BRAINSTORMING ACTIVITY:Coming up with relevant, timely content is easier than you think. Use the path to the right to help

kick start your creativity.

Brainstorming ideas for content that goes beyond real estate:

LOCAL FAVORITES• Best new restaurants

• New boutique spotlight

GET PERSONAL • Favorite hobbies

• Causes you care about

UPCOMING EVENTS • Local spring calendar

• Easter egg hunt

WILD CARD• Book recommendations

• Motivational quotes

Timely content that’s relevant to the season is the easiest way to attract attention. Use this list of spring and summer holidays and events and word bank as inspiration. Next, take that inspiration, and use it when completing the activity to the right.

• Saint Patrick’s Day

• March Madness

• Daylight Savings

• April Fools

• Mother’s Day

• Cinco de Mayo

• Father’s Day

• Summer Solstice

• Baseball season

• National Craft Month (March)

• Garden• Flowers• Rainbows• Umbrellas

• Sunshine• Exercise• Baseball• Nature

Spring Word Bank:

SPRING/SUMMER CALENDAR:

Target your message to focus on familiesFamilies are a great demographic to target for the spring market. An analysis of census data shows that 57% of households, where the oldest child is between 5 and 9 years old, said they moved sometime in the previous 5 years.

Education is a big factor in that. Parents want to move into desirable school districts while their children are young. And they list most during the spring season to be settled before the new school year starts up. Obviously, schools are important to families with school-age children.

Other top considerations include:

• Safety

• Recreation and activities

• Community

And don’t forget there are numerous topics beyond real estate you can leverage when building relationships with families, including healthy meals, arts and crafts, and family-friendly vacation spots.

The bonus tip on the next page offers ideas for how to leverage your family-focused message and engage parents through social media.

57%Percentage of

households where the oldest child is

between 5 and 9 years old, said they moved

sometime in the previous 5 years.

Use social media to engage parents.BONUS TIP:

A recent study published by NM Incite, a Nielsen McKinsey Company, found that parents use social media for almost everything more often than people without children. That makes social media a must for your marketing mix. Here are a few best practices:

MAKE IT SHAREABLE. Each time a customer shares your content, they put your brand in front of potential customers you may otherwise never reach. Not only that, but the act of sharing makes those customers more engaged in the relationship you’re developing. So what posts will customers share? According to research from CoSchedule and Buffer, food, home, and lifestyle topics account for 85% of the world’s most shared content.

Use social media to engage parents

Social media feeds can cycle pretty fast. To make sure your message is reaching your clients, share posts on a regular basis. Social Media guru Guy Kawasaki even reposts tweets 4 times per day.

In Socialbakers’ analysis of the top 10% of posts by more than 30,000 Facebook brand pages, photos generated 87% of all interactions. No other format had more than 4%. On Twitter, adding a photo boosts retweets by 35%, according to Twitter Media Blog.

Only 20% of your content should promote your brand.

The remaining 80% should be about your customers’ needs, wants, and likes.

THE 80/20 RULE. USE IMAGES. POST OFTEN.

CUSTOMER WANTS/NEEDS

YOUR BRAND

Use social media to engage parents.

INCREASE ENGEAGEMENT WITH PHOTOS

collaborative marketing approach that is backed by positive social conversations.

HELP RELATIONSHIPS GROW WITH A

TWEETS WITH IMAGES RESULT IN

53% 104% 35%+ + 48%retweetsmore likes more comments favorites

If you’ve read everything up until this point, you’ve probably noticed that most of the tips for a successful spring market come back to building relationships, not just securing listings or promoting your services.

Make this your goal as you formulate your plans.

Start conversations by providing content that families care about. Whether you’re connecting through social media, mailings, or some other method, you’ll want to diversify your message beyond real estate topics.

But don’t wait too long to get started. Building trust and rapport doesn’t happen overnight. You need to plant the seeds now to reap referrals and repeat business when the market hits its peak. To learn about the tools and tactics ReminderMedia offers for the strategies outlined in this e-book, contact one of our relationship marketing experts, or take a tour of American Lifestyle magazine online.

Don’t wait too long to get started. Building trust and rapport doesn’t happen overnight. You need to plant the seeds now to reap referrals and repeat business when the market hits its peak.

CONTACT US:ReminderMedia866-458-4226info@remindermedia.comwww.remindermedia.com

Spring forReal Estate

Success!

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