DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Advertising help/suggestions...

So as some of you know, I became a licensed Realtor last year after 12 years in Hotel Management. Now that I am primarily responsible for my own advertising and budgeting, I'm researching how best to advertise my services.

I've got my website up and running, and it's doing well. It's a never ending challenge to keep it updated and relevant, but it does have a fun side to it as well.

Now I am looking for ideas on how else one should advertise. I know there are some great small business minds here who have a lot more experience than I do, and hopefully you will be able to toss me some of your wisdom.

What have you found to be the best bang for your buck? Where do you advertise and what sort of a return do you get for that? Are there any ways that you are currently looking at that you haven't explored yet? Do you use traditional advertising like mailings, newspaper adverts, magazine adverts etc?

Any help is appreciated.

In all seriousness, I believe they advertise a sight on the radio that you might be interested in.

Constantcontact.com

I think you could get on Groupon as well . . .

My very, very best source of customers was my customer base.

When I sold cars, I sent each and every one of my customers a card every 3 months. I used cards because they would see my name even without having to open an envelope.

I used reminders about winter driving, maintenance, thank you, and so on, and always asked them to keep me in mind if they, or anyone they knew, were looking for a car.

I got at least 3-4 new customers per month from my current base, either repeat customers, or referrals.

If I were selling houses, I would use a similar system, but I would also use a twist. I would find out what the average time a person lives in their home in your area, and get a list of people who fall into that range. I would put together a nice little flyer with some helpful hints, home maintenance tips, home selling tips, and so on, and send it out. I would target people with these for a couple of years, and would also add new people to the database as they reach the "prime selling" time in your market.

Also, you may want to see if you can get a list of "orphaned" clients ..... people who bought a house through your agency, but whose agent has left. I did well with these as well, "just a quick note to introduce myself .... your former Realtor has left our company but I wanted to know that there is someone available to answer any questions you might have, now or in the future. I look forward to being of service to you."

I used to get customers off of these as well ...... and I had a couple of people who used to call me about once a month for something ...... but each bought probably 4 or 5 cars off of me during my sales career, and each sent me a lot of other customers. I got a few other customers who I helped with an issue here or there, even if just getting a car in for service, who bought from me just because I helped them "when I didn't have to".

The whole key is just to get your name in front of people, and preferably people who are in the market for your product. Stick some business cards on grocery store bulletin boards. Try to get on a local radio show with "homebuying advice". Sometimes smaller stations have such programs, and you can develop almost a cult following from such a program.

I have a friend who went to a few smaller businesses and offered to buy their bags (that they used to bag merchandise) if he could also place a small ad for himself on them. He found a few businesses that took him up on that.

Good luck.

While I would be the epitome of small business (small, that is), I am in a completely different line of work. I use direct mail to MY customer list. Works great for me. For a realtor - probably not a good idea.

Thoughts: perhaps get "in" with a HBA - home builders association. My guess is most of the time, people that are building a house have an existing house to sell. It never hurts to mingle with the builders, give them a good impression, etc. Word of mouth from others trumps any paid for advertising imo. (good word of mouth)

Don't know about down there, but around here, many restaurants and businesses have a place (mainly restaurants) where you can put a business card on the wall, so to speak.

Contact previous buyers or sellers that you worked with - offer them something if they direct a friend or associate your way (with the caveat that you actually get the business, that is).......dinner for 4 to a nice restaurant, for example. It's as simple as "hey, you used me to buy/sell your home. If you have any friends or acquaintances that are in the market - send them my way, and here's what I'll do for you."



I've got a friend in the Dallas area that, about a year ago, started his own real estate photography/videography business. He marketed himself by going to r.e. agents and saying "here's what I can do for you" (with examples) If there are some similar type companies in your area, go out, introduce yourself, and glad hand them. It will never hurt.

Bout all I can think of off the top of my head.

Good luck.

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My very, very best source of customers was my customer base.

When I sold cars, I sent each and every one of my customers a card every 3 months. I used cards because they would see my name even without having to open an envelope.

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He has to get some customers before that will work.

keys, you have to build some relationships.. meet some homebuilders (custom and track) who can let you know who is looking at building homes, residential architects who are designing homes, meet some mortgage brokers who can recommend you when people are inquiring about mortgages... think of ANYBODY that meets with and talks to potential homebuyers at the very front end and take them to lunch, go meet them, etc.. It's going to take some time and cost some money but they would be a constant source of referrals.

To play off what YTown said...one of the realtors near me sends out postcards whenever he puts a home for sale within a 5 block radius of me. The card has info about the home for sale on it, but he ends with something along the lines of "what can I do for you"

I'm not in the market to sell or buy right now, but I would look this guy up when I am. I haven't seen anything from the other realtors selling in my neighborhood (let alone the ones on my street).

And yes, I agree with Ytown in keeping in touch with past clients. I haven't heard from my realtor in about 6 years (we've been here 8). When I am ready to sell, I won't consider looking her up. I'll go with the guy I spoke of earlier or a couple of friends of the family that are realtors instead.

Target market areas, flood them with flyers. One type touting the homes available at remarkable savings, One leading people to your website to find the latest home availability or tips for preparing your home for sale. In otherwords, anything that a home owner might be interested in.

I'd also start to associate myself with services home owners use.. Lawncare, maid/cleaning services, plumbers, carpenters, Carpet Cleaners etc.

I'm talking about the local guys not the national chains.. they won't talk to you.

Look for smaller services that are smart enough to have websites. Cross link to thier site if they'll cross link to yours. (Check the BBB on them to make sure you aren't associating yourself to problem children)

anyone that looks at thier site, will see a link to yours and the same holds true in reverse.

Hit apartment complexes to find buyers... Hit them hard.

Find a way to identify the erderly homeowners that may be considering that it's time to sell. Not sure how you'd do that other than find someone in the nursing home/rest home/retirement home/assisted living business then get them to lead people to you... Not sure that would work at all,,, just throwing it out there.

A magnetic sign on the side of your car..

That's all I got for the moment...

Sponsor Kurt Busch's NASCAR ride so he doesn't use the Ricky Bobby / Talladega Nights paint scheme again due to lack of sponsorship!

web page

Serious Note: To me, realtors are a "word of mouth" type of thing. I found my favorite that way. Reputation via word of mouth.

So, I would say, go the extra mile with any clients currently and the rest will follow. Huge effort and customer service costs nothing to a budget. I had recommended my guy to quite a few people. There was a time I had a listing with a friend's wife. She couldn't get anything going and I had two house payments. When people heard what was going on, they recommended my guy. I fired her and signed him up. House was gone in less than a week AND FOR WHAT I ASKED FOR IT!


For him it was just one big snowball. At one point he had to refer people to others since he had so many listings. I know this doesn't quite answer your question for advertising now, but my post surely can't hurt. Give 1000% of yourself and word of mouth will be the best advertisement you can have!

Thanks folks. Some very good suggestions. Some I am already doing, some I plan on doing once I have my customer base set up. Fortunately I have been in the area for a while now (13 years almost...wow). So I have a number of contacts and I am networking with them and going to most all of the functions around town.

I do need to work on the mailings and some of the tips pointed out about targeting a specific area in town. Not sure where to get that mailing list from, I'll have to check that out.

Keep it coming. Gonna be interesting