Introduction: Real Estate Marketing and Its Importance
Marketing for the real estate
Contemporary society is a well-organized group of people with some needs and ways of reaching certain goals. It is natural that some individuals are more informed about the benefits of certain sectors and devices than others. In this respect, information plays one of the major roles in the process of shaping a person’s database in terms of information available from the media and other people reached, approached and used in various ways.
Real estate is one of the components of a contemporary person’s life. This sector has its features as well as all other business areas including production of goods and entertaining services. Marketing is important for the real estate business due to sellers and buyers, and intermediaries that help some transactions made via brokers and specific agencies.
Advertising as the most recognizable aspect of marketing
Advertising is one of the most recognizable aspects of marketing which can be used in the sector of real estate. Moreover, this area empowers real estate agents to facilitate the transactions, promote their personal image of independent agents or of their companies, develop their networks related to other professionals from this area. In other words, advertising is a way to inform buyers and sellers about the goods to be sold or purchased, about yourself, and the quality of services provided by you/the company you work for.
Why People Buy Real Estate: What a Client Wants
Buyers and sellers
While talking about the real estate business, you should remember that there is more than one party concerned and your job is to show yourself. The advertising involves all parties that are interested into the sector of real estate marketing because sellers need to sell whereas buyers need to buy and a link is the advertising as it provides sellers with an opportunity to attract more clients that are able to pay as much as the real estate costs and the buyers can learn about some appealing options to consider.
As suggested by Lipman, “You may want to use the classified sections for recruitment purposes and to increase listings, the lifeblood of the real estate business” (15). Thus, the author offers several options why people read classified sections of various newspapers and how real estate agents can use this information and benefit from exploring the ways of influencing people’s tastes and decisions.
An agent, irrespectively of the independent activity or work in a company with other professionals, should seek for a more effective performance. So, it is necessary to learn habits and features of sellers and buyers.
In addition, you have to learn the reasons for buying real estate (for instance, change in lifestyle or other possible events) and address those categories of people having the information that they can be searching for real estate due to a particular reason (Lipman 23). Besides, the real estate business requires large portions of information to be processed because an individual that possesses some helpful data can use it and enjoy the results of a transaction.
Real estate salespeople
The more you are qualified, the more effective you can be in terms of your professional activity because salespeople are expected to be aware of many other things than human psychology. Effective advertising, self-promotion, being easily located at a necessary place makes involved into the real estate sector highly professional and more competitive.
Moreover, salespeople should be able to write ads by themselves so that it was easier to sell some property (Lipman 223). Advertising created by professional advertisers will influence the cost of the real estate and the competitiveness of a sales agent because all costs spent during advertising and marketing campaign are related to the final transaction and can make salespeople ‘outsiders’ in case when the strategy is not well planned.
Controlling the budget and having a well-organized plan make you a competitive professional and increases you chances to make a bargain prior to your competitors. Lipman gives some helpful hints on the ways to control your budget while advertising the property and organizing the transaction (224).
Besides, you can be sure to be involved into the business because “A large proportion of housing transactions are carried out with the help of realtors” (Hendel, Nevo, and Ortalo-Magné 1878). Most people read classifieds for leisure whereas salespeople can analyze the preferences of potential buyers and offer some appropriate options to consider.
A Beginner in the Real Estate Business
Starting with self-promotion
As a rule, people address those agencies that are more or less known in public. A new sales agent should familiarize the potential clientele with his/her opportunities and the manner of making business. In other words, advertising is the way to tell people about yourself as a sales agent with good reputation and a talent to satisfy the taste and needs of the most hard-to-please customers.
You can use the Internet to inform potential sellers and buyers that can apply for your services about the property you want to advertise. “…the Internet offers a cheaper and potentially more effective platform that facilitates direct (by owner) marketing” (Hendel, Nevo, and Ortalo-Magné 1878).
A sphere of influence (S.O.I.) is another helpful hint that can be used for you self-promotion as a new sales agent. When a sales agent meets some people, this person should mention the position and the sector of activity he/she is engaged into; a business card is an important aspect of a successful sales agent because it helps to communicate with the public.
So, you can develop your sphere of influence using the simplest rules and applying theory into practice (Arvizu 159). As suggested by McCrea (146), professional development is not the same as the process of developing professionally because the position of a sales agent may require certain training but you should choose the most appropriate courses so that you acquired the knowledge and gained skills that can be applied in your professional area.
Effective advertising
Effective advertising is one of the most important aspects while being engaged into the real estate business because you can tell potential customers about your talent and make them change the perception of you with the help of certain strategic planning.
As “Homeowners wishing to sell their homes contract with a real estate agent (the listing agent) offering the agent exclusivity for a limited period, usually 6 months, and agreeing to pay a commission, of usually 6% of the sale price, if the house is sold during the contract period” (DOJ, as cited in Hendel, Nevo, and Ortalo-Magné 1884), you can become a part of the real estate business by advertising your services and approaching each customer in an appropriate manner. Besides, it is important to cover different layers of population in terms of certain income level groups, positions, and status.
As reported by McCrea, you can use the web advertising as a part of the marketing campaign (109). So, different strategies and tactics used while promoting your image of a reliable sales agent can help in the process of establishing your image in the sector of real estate. A sales agent should use different approaches to address different customers and different levels of the world information space.
The value of information
As information is one of the most important aspects of successful advertising, a sales agent should be aware of the latest changes in the real estate business including marketing strategies, price rates, an overall income level of the population and social tendencies that take place in the contemporary society. The more you know, the more adequate decisions you can take towards the advertising strategies and certain methods used to attract more customers and offer them more appropriate options.
You should offer more complete information about certain projects and make readers interested in the offer with the help of an adequate advertising strategy (Lipman 112). Besides, if you choose a strategy that differs greatly from the one applied by the competitors, you can benefit because alternative options and approaches are usually considered before making the final decision.
You need to search for customers that know what they want and can trust you and the offer you make. However, you should make them trust you beforehand. An image of a successful sales agent can be created via successful advertising; thus, you have to provide the potential clientele with the adequate and helpful information.
As suggested by McCrea, you can take different ways to inform customers about available options (58).every customer has some preferences in terms of the way of presenting the information and would appreciate if you show yourself as an experienced psychologist while searching for the most appropriate way of providing your customers with adequate and helpful information.
Conclusion
Important concepts of the real estate marketing strategy
There are many different options that should be taken into account while searching for the most appropriate marketing strategy that can be applied in the real estate business. In addition, you have to successfully combine different concepts used for promoting a product or a service.
In this respect, advertising is one of the most recognizable aspects of real estate marketing. As soon as customers learn about a sales agent, they can compare his/her approach to other agents and companies. However, a customer can choose to be engaged into the business without intermediaries.
Advertising as the fastest way to get a client
The most successful and productive way to inform people about something is the announcement while an announcement made in a specific way can be truly beneficial; it is called advertising. As a rule, sales agents are expected to make advertisings by themselves and do it more professionally due to certain training courses. In other words, a sales agent should have a few identities and be able to combine those in a successful way and address the customers in an appropriate manner as well as make advertisings
Works Cited
Arvizu, Carlos. How to Sell Real Estate: A Guide for Real Estate Rookies (and Non-Rookies, Too!) Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2009. Print.
Hendel, Igal, Aviv Nevo, and François Ortalo-Magné. “The Relative Performance of Real Estate Marketing Platforms: MLS versus FSBOMadison.com.” American Economic Review 99.5 (2009): 1878-1898. Print.
Lipman, Linda. Real Estate Advertising That Works! United States of America: Argyle Press, Inc., 1992. Print.
McCrea, Bridget. The Real Estate Agent’s Business Planner: Practical Strategies for Maximizing Your Success. New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, 2005. Print.