Real Estate Internet Marketing

Over the next 5 posts, I’ll share with you 5 ways to find qualified prospects using real estate marketing online.

One of the frustrations real estate agents face is finding qualified prospects. No one likes to spend their time and money on people who are not able or not interested in buying or selling a home. Yet, this is what many agents do each day in their quest to close a deal.

You know it doesn’t pay to spend time with someone who isn’t going to buy or list a home with you. So how do you find qualified prospects?

Here’s the first of five ways to find qualified prospects using real estate marketing online:

1. Target a niche marketing.

A marketing strategy designed for everyone isn’t a strategy. It’s a waste of time and money. You need to find your niche in the real estate market and focus your marketing time and money on that market.

No matter what market you choose, you will eliminate a percentage of the real estate market, but you can focus on this market and make it your own. You will know that you are marketing to people who are most interested in your services.

I know right now you’re probably saying to yourself, “I can’t narrow my market by choosing only one niche.” I beg of you to try this method. It’s proven time and again to increase your profit by bringing in more clients, creating loyal clients who come back to you and reducing money spent on marketing that doesn’t work because it’s too broad and too generic.

Exactly how do you determine your target market? First, you examine yourself. Who is your very favorite type of client to work with and what’s the best geographic area for that client to buy and sell in? You need to get as specific as possible. Identify your ideal client and geographic area by answering the following questions:

1. What type of job do they have and how much money do they make?
2. Based on #1 above, what’s the price range of house they’re going to be able to afford?
3. What’s their age range and socio-economic situation? Are they young singles? Newly married couples? Married with kids? Empty nesters? Retirees?
4. Where do they live now and where do they want to live? Are they moving into the community you service? Are they moving within the community you service? Or, are they moving out of the community you serve?
5. What’s the geographic area you want to serve? Don’t choose the entire town where you live, unless you live in a town of only 500. Narrow down the geographic area by:
   1. Your answers to #4
   2. Choose a geographic area that isn’t already “owned” by another agent.
   3. The turnover rate. Is it high enough that you’ll be able to complete the number of transactions you want each year? Usually, you’ll want a turnover rate of 7% or higher. If you need information on how to calculate this or where to find the numbers, there’s a great post by Frank Verna on Active Rain with all the details and even a downloadable worksheet.
   4. Where you live - It’s always easier to serve people within your own subdivision. But, if your answers to the other questions I’ve asked here make your subdivision a bad choice, then you shouldn’t choose it as your niche market.

Mark Wade of Center City Condos is an example of an agent who has successfully targeted a market. Mark’s love of Philadelphia’s Center City helped him choose the niche of people who want to live in condos in Philadelphia’s downtown area.

I asked Mark to tell us how he chose this niche market and how it has changed his marketing. He said, “I started selling real estate in 1989, and due to the stagnant market at the time, found myself selling foreclosed condos for banks. This piqued my interest in condos. Though I didn’t really start specializing in the sale of condos until about 2003, it was clear at that time, that condominiums were the wave of the future, in terms of downtown (Center City) residential growth. That’s why I decided to focus almost exclusively on condo sales.

As far as marketing changes, I bought and invested early in a good website domain name that included keywords for my niche. I also spent time and money to position myself as the ‘Center City condo expert.’ I targeted my mailings, my open houses, and advertising towards the condo market to establish a brand presence early on.

I went from about $13 million in sales in 2003, to $60+ million in 2006…almost all condo sales. Some townhouses, but primarily (about 90%) condominiums and lofts.

It didn’t take long to really see the huge increase in sales. I would credit that to the fantastic website that was done by Sandy Teller at Sizzling Studios, along with some good relevant content, and sticking with targeting my niche market of Center City Condos.”

What’s your target market? Please post a comment here and tell us about your successes and challenges with choosing or marketing to a niche.

Need help choosing a niche? Post a comment here answering the questions I’ve posed, and I promise to respond with some suggestions for you.

To boosting your leads,

Kathy Goughenour