2007 is here. Let's make it a fantastic year shall we?

This year will likely turn out to be one of the defining years in the real estate and mortgage industries.
With a current slowdown in progress, generating leads and converting them into clients and closings
will be even more important.

Let's have a look at three keys to real estate marketing success in 2007.

1. Be remarkable. And make sure you tell your story

We touched upon this earlier in the post
"Calling all real estate agents: Why should anyone do business with you?"

You really need to give prospective clients a good reason to do business with you.

And the stakes are getting higher and higher. Today's consumers are not looking for a "me-too" experience. They are looking for companies that will make them go "wow!".

Don't settle for anything less than being truly remarkable.

2. Track and analyze the returns of your media spend

"I can't afford to advertise or spend more on advertising". It's very common that
people tell me this.

This normally tells me one thing: Your advertising is not really working.

When your advertising is working you're making money. And your goal is to invest
that money into more advertising and referral systems to make more money. That is how businesses grow.

Would you spend $500 to make $1,000? If you knew for sure, then of course you would.
You might say to your self... sounds simple, but it isn't that easy!

The concept really is. It gets a little bit more difficult in the execution.

The problem most business owners face is the lack of tracking of the return of their investments.

The key is to being able to test and track your media spend, down to the initial request and all
the way to the closing.

You can't guess if the ad you're running will work or not. You need to know.

How?

In a small-scale environment it can be done simple by attaching a special code to each ad you run.
In radio spots you have dedicated 800 numbers. In print ads you have special coupon
codes for the special offers.

And on the Internet you can just put a tag on each ad or lead. That's one of the reasons I got started in the Internet marketing industry 10 years ago. The ability to track and get quick data. Any direct marketers dream.

3. Implement or improve your follow-up systems

It's truly one of the "secret sauce" elements of the real estate marketing world. The company with the best follow-up system wins.

It's a very rare occasion when a user do something on the first contact. You always need to follow-up. It can take up to 20 contacts and 12 months before a lead is ready to do business with you.

This means that you're not only in the lead generation business... you're also in the follow-up business.

You need to touch your clients and prospect through multiple channels such as email, direct mail and phone. They have extremely short memory so you need to be there for them helping them and reminding them to do business with you.

All the best.

-Ola

P.S. What topics are you interested in reading about in 2007? Let me know at editor(at) realtio.com