"joy" In Central PA

The Price is Right - marketing can/will put money in your pocket!

I have been a successful Central Pennsylvania, real estate agent for a long time, (20+ years).  When I reviewed the information from the  www.activerain.com/real-estate-marketing  post it was interesting to me because now Joy Daniels Real Estate Group (JDREG) is hiring  “newbies” and I felt it would be good information to share with someone just starting out. 

It’s tough to say how I would spend $500 a month in marketing, because I know I spend more, not alot more, but definitely more.  I am a strong believer that marketing is so important for success.  It's like "putting money in your pocket" if it's done right.  One of the most important things I use in marketing is my signage.  Owning my brokerage has enabled me to choose colors that are not typical and I have people constantly telling me they see my signs everywhere!                                                              

The Greater Harrisburg Multi-List is an IDX site and so our listings are advertised everywhere and it’s up to JDREG to tap into this “free” marketing and enhance it.   Also of course I use a cell phone and my cell phone allows me to receive and send emails and also acts as a hotspot when doing a listing presentation and the Seller doesn’t have internet access.  I am not sure I would call this a marketing expense, like a car, it’s more of a “can’t live without” expense.  One other expense that we definitely do use in marketing, but I would own/use even if I didn't use it for marketing is Top Producer.  I would say the marketing parts are a fringe benefit. 

At this point our company spends $12 to $15K a month on marketing.  We have 5 Seller Agents and 11 Buyer Agents and we keep them very busy.  That is about $900 a month per agent, but the nice thing will be as we hire more agents the costs will come down per agent.  Our goal is to hire 8 to 10 additional agents by the end of the year, putting us at a cost closer to $500 a month per agent.  Our agents don't pay for marketing, their big expenses are their car, phone and continuing education expenses.

I have found that print marketing doesn’t give back as much as it costs.  We took 1 year and asked everyone that called for services why they called and not one mentioned the “free” real estate magazines that are available in grocery stores or gas stations, etc.  We stopped doing print advertising and started spending our money with online media; but there are other marketing avenues – so how would I spend my $500 marketing dollars?

1.     Signage                                               $160/mo.      (you always need new signs are getting new listings! And don’t forget directionals)

2.  "Just listed/Just sold” postcards        $40/mo.  (I was surprised how many people put these postcards up on their refrigerator and call maybe months or even maybe a year later!)

3.     Website                                              $99/mo.  (It doesn’t take the most expensive website to work, just one that allows you to work within it and captures leads!)

 4.     Boomtown                                          $99/mo.  (This is our biggest lead generator, our goal is to learn to capture a larger % of the leads we are receiving!)

 5.     Active Rain                                         $29/mo.  (You have read it many times again, blogging is VERY important for increasing your SOI and the insite and tips you get from out AR family is "priceless!"  One of these days I'll take advantage of the University!)

6.     Photography & Virtual Tours            $35/mo.  (Your pictures are the homes you have listed first impression, you need to make sure these pictures capture Buyers.)

7.     Docu-Sign (paperless transactions)    $38/mo.  (I don’t know what I’d do without Docu-Sign.  Since I started using this program, I am “sold out!”  Saves me so much time and really impresses my clients.)

This post is an entry for the $500 Real Estate Marketing and Tech Challenge. Learn more about this ActiveRain contest at www.activerain.com/marketing-challenge.”