Lead Generation and Marketing Plans for Real Estate Professionals

By Cheri Alguire

In pervious articles, we focused on targeting a niche, the WHO that benefit most from your services. Now we turn our attention to generating leads from that given niche and creating a marketing plan for success (the HOW.)

Once you have identified the WHO, you must set about a plan to communicate with them in order to capture that business. Don’t neglect a single person within the target. If you have singled out a particular neighborhood, for example, every waiter from every restaurant and every manager/owner of every business in that area should know your name and game. A branded, consistent image is essential, and you should carry—and leave it—wherever you go. The persona you present should be just as consistent: friendly, competent, and willing to help.

Master marketing blogger and author Seth Godin reminds us that marketing is simply a matter of spreading ideas—but that the very action of dispersing those ideas is a powerful force. He suggests that your marketing be a form of storytelling: let the consumer know you and your business through a memorable narrative. The story can be told in print, such as a glossy brochure or easily remembered business motto or slogan, but it also should be told through every visual image you present to the public as well: your website banners, stationery, postcards, etc.

Let’s use for example your target neighborhood again. You have identified the WHO in the niche and now want to reach them. They are a mix of upper-middle class singles and families, mostly professional, who support their neighborhood through school and community events. The neighborhood houses a city park, a few small, locally owned restaurants, and a scattering of businesses. What is your marketing plan to attract them? What story will you tell?

First, be visible. Be present in the neighborhood, supporting it. Live in it! If you are handing out flyers (or sponsoring?) the local half-marathon, everything that represents you and your business should be immediately recognizable: your logo, your colors, every image that tells your story. If you want to connect in this neighborhood, shouldn’t your photo on your website and promotional materials include an image of that park? If you are a runner, the consumer should see you in those shorts. A volunteer? Publish the image of your cause with you in it. To paraphrase the humorist, Nora Ephron, “everything is copy,” so get out there and get your story told with the real—and relevant--details of your life.

Second, be different. Seth Godin also warns us that “people only notice the new.” (ALL MARKETERS ARE LIARS, 2005.) The truth is, there are an awful lot of people who do what you do. So what do you do that is so different? Or how can you change what you do to be different? “Hot pizza, 30 minutes or less” is a differentiating distinction in a business of countless competition. You can’t “provide the best service” and be considered different from all the rest. But define the best service, and perform it, and you will succeed. We know of one real estate team that grew to become the top producers in their market by answering phone calls in five minutes or less, emails and text messages within ten minutes. They advertised this difference and delivered on it, convincing the public that they were interested in providing them immediate attention and service. Listing appointments included “the test:” potential sellers calling anonymously from a coded listing, only to have an agent return the call within five minutes and ask if they needed assistance on a particular home. Slam dunk.

Third, be active. Do not confuse having a “marketing strategy” with having an “action plan.” You must invest your time, effort, and dollars in securing the specific marketing resources which target your clientele and give you the best return on your investment. Big doesn’t always mean better, but then again, sometimes it does. Do your homework. Select media which fit both your budget and your goals. Then put your plan into effect.

Finally, analyze results. Track every lead to its source of origination. In that way, you can determine which marketing resources are working best, and which are most cost effective. You will know when and how (much) to change only if you track and account for your leads.

In the end, it is pretty simple: Tell your story well to as many people as possible.

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Coach Cheri Alguire has helped hundreds of Real Estate Professionals and Super Small Business Owners create a Lead Generation and Marketing Plan to really take their business to the next level of success. Find out more at http://www.CheriAlguire.com

Niche Marketing Lesson for Your Business from a Burger Restaurant

By Cheri Alguire

Now in the current market and more than ever, you may be tempted to define your clients as any and every one who walks past you down the street. Everyone needs a place to live, right? Concerns over the economy and a desperate need for lead generation may persuade you to apply the salt-shaker method of marketing: sprinkle it all over and hope that something sticks! But this panic-mode thinking could be the biggest mistake you make all year, resulting in wasted time, money and resources.

In order to get the most of your marketing efforts, in this economy especially, you need to follow the rules of niche marketing. In-N-Out Burger fast food restaurants are a perfect example of niche marketing. Never meant to appeal to everyone, never meant to take over McDonalds’ or Burger King’s market share, this successful hamburger joint has a limited menu consisting of only three different sandwiches: the hamburger, cheeseburger, and the "Double-Double" (double meat/double cheese.)

Though times have changed since the chain opened its first restaurant in 1948 in Baldwin Park, California, little has changed at In-N-Out. The menu - burgers, fries and drinks - is still the same basic menu customers have always enjoyed. Have they expanded their menu to have other kinds of sandwiches and entrees? No. Loyal burger eaters know that when they want a good quality burger, IN-N-OUT is the place to go. They do not spend marketing money advertising the latest Chicken Sandwich Spectacular because they don’t have one. They focus on what they do best.
As a small business owner, what lessons can you learn from IN-N-OUT?

Now is exactly the time to refocus your time, money, and resources in a similar manner. When all three may be in short supply, it only makes sense to concentrate on your niche, the group of people most assured to bring you certain returns, the group of people you want to work with and concentrate on.

If you don’t know them already, choose who those people are.

• Who best benefits from the specific services you offer—and deliver--better than anyone else?
• Who already has benefited from your services and is now a “Raving Fan?”
• Who do you know who “talks up” your services and serves as your Goodwill Ambassador?

After you have determined the WHO, analyze the WHERE.

• What do these groups you have identified have in common and where do they come from?
• Are those who benefit most from your services within a certain age group? Geographic location? Job or organization?
• Those who are your Raving Fans are clearly past clients and referrals, but where do you find them now?
• The Goodwill Ambassadors are clearly your sphere, but where do you find them? The family tree? The immediate neighborhood? Church? Clubs?

Then of course, you must apply the HOW. How will you reach that target once you have identified it? If seniors are the most likely to respond to your services and inventory, you will probably not concentrate solely on internet strategies But similarly, if you have a Gen-X or Y population clamoring for your services, you need to be well established with the latest technologies, communication platforms including social media networking sites, and expertise. Know how to reach your clients and where to spend your time and money.

And remember your goals. If you are planning to double your business within the next five years, then the HOW must include the resources you will need to market to and service your niche.

Don’t succumb to the fear that if you don’t court every potential client, you won’t have any clients at all. Make your niche as carefully designed a part of your business plan as your budget. If you focus your time and resources and serving the burger-loving clients the best way you possibly can, you will attract more of the same. Leave the chicken-lovers to someone else.

This is the true key to Niche Marketing!

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Coach Cheri Alguire has helped thousands of super small business owners and real estate professionals find their niche. Find about her book Branding & Marketing Mastery or her business planning guides at http://www.CheriAlguire.com

Discovering Your Niche Market

By Cheri Alguire

How many times in your business have you heard, “You need to choose a niche”? While nearly everyone talks about the benefits of a niche and that they need to find theirs:

• How do you really choose a niche?
• How do you know the right one?
• Will you really like it?
• Will it prove profitable?
  

For me, in the beginning it seemed to boil down to one critical question: How was I going to attract clients?

I understood finding my target audience from the marketing I had done in my previous businesses. After hearing the speakers, taking the classes, and reading the books about the importance of choosing a niche, I began to understand that to really have effective advertising, my business and marketing plans must start with a clear idea of what my niche market would be.

I am a business and life coach for Real Estate Professionals. Okay, there are still a million Realtors in the United States, but to be honest, when I first began coaching I thought that niche was too narrow. I knew there were other Real Estate Coaches out there. All I could focus on was the overwhelming feeling that came to me in trying to figure out how was I suppose to compete with the other coaches with that same niche. So, I decided I wasn't going to limit myself. I decided I was also going to work with small business owners. They were kind of like real estate professionals since they both had small business and I had owned several small businesses in the past. I knew there were a lot of small business owners out there.

I also told myself I didn’t want to get “bored” working with just Real Estate Agents. Now, several years later, after working with hundreds of real estate agents, brokers and managers, I have found a couple groups of ideal clients that excite me: real estate moms looking to balance their business and their life, busy real estate professionals looking to efficiently manage their time and brokers or agents looking to build an effective team.

Sometimes you chose your niche and it works out from the beginning. Other times, your niches evolve as you and your business change and grow.

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Coach Cheri Alguire is a Business Coach who works with Real Estate Professionals, Small Business Owners, Moms, and New Coaches. To find out more about her new book: A Guide to Getting It: Branding & Marketing Mastery please visit http://books.cherialguire.com