As a new real estate agent, you quickly realize how limited the market is and how fierce the competition can be. Trying to find and work with your properties can take time. It requires finesse and skill in marketing, creating leads, and tricks and tips such as how to list a property, staging, and more.
Starting as a real estate agent is a crash course in generating business and maximizing leads. Fortunately, there are many strategies to help you on this journey. Let’s learn how to get started as a real estate agent:
1. Identify Your Niche
Find your target market. It may be commercial real estate, industrial real estate, selling condos, selling in a specific neighbourhood, or specializing in certain clientele. In a niche, you further minimize competition and can start building connections within it.
2. Launch a Website
All it has to be is a single page if you’re new. Have your contact information, some info about you, some high-quality images, and that’s all you need. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. A website is very affordable and is a great place for clients to access all your information.
3. CRM for Contacts
You’re going to start accumulating lists and lists of names. You need a way to filter them. Past clients. Prospects. Word-of-mouth recommendations. Etc. You’d treat each of these slightly differently. Real estate CRM software can help you create filters and manage your contacts efficiently.
4. Build an Email Subscriber List
Email subscriptions are free marketing for real estate agents. Have a form on your website to capture leads’ emails and think of different ways you can obtain interested parties’ emails. Through email marketing, you have a direct line on which you can cultivate leads and create business for yourself.
5. Start an Informative Blog
A blog is free on your website. You create clicks with blogs. You can use free content across search engines, social media, email, text, and various online settings to get attention and create awareness. A blog is written every week, every two weeks, or a blog a month works.
6. Hand Out Business Cards
Get some business cards done. Have them on you at all times. You never know when you might run into someone who can become a client. Pass them out freely to interested parties.
Look at leaving a few at select local businesses for people to pick up, i.e. gyms, pharmacies, restaurants, or anywhere you believe your target market would be.
7. Always Look Professional
You never know where you might meet your next client. Always look professional and nice. You don’t need to be in a business-casual suit at all times but don’t go to the convenience store in sweatpants.
You don’t want your clients to see you like that, and you certainly can’t hand out business cards wearing a look like that. Invest in the mentality to always be ready to meet a client.
8. Get HD Photos Taken
Every real estate agent should have pro-level, high-quality images taken. These will be posted on your website, potentially on business cards, and online and offline marketing and advertising messages. Make it a point to get these done and hire a professional photographer.
9. Establish a Social Media Presence
Make it easy for people to look you up. Join and create professional accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You may also want to create a TikTok account when you use these accounts for social media marketing.
10. Launch PPC Paid Advertising Online
There is a limit to free marketing online for real estate agents. Launch PPC campaigns on Google and search engines to jumpstart your brand awareness. You can also launch paid marketing on social media sites and target it to reach the exact audience you want, hopefully bringing you new clients quickly and qualified as a lead.
11. Local Newspapers And Media
In addition to looking at paid marketing online, go offline as well. Local media, radio, TV, newspapers, and classified ads are all opportunities to get your name out there. A paid ad in publications with a professional photo creates awareness and may help you nab your next client.
12. Integrate Yourself Into The Community
Make an effort to become a part of the community you’re working with. Go to community gatherings, attend local events, and consider sponsorships for certain initiatives if you have the budget to allocate to them. Get to know the properties, the people, and the overall atmosphere you’re operating in.
13. Offer Free Consultations
In any given region, there are people selling properties, people buying properties, and people thinking about selling or buying. The ‘thinkers’ are an important segment of the market to look at. Consider offering free consultations where you can sit down with someone and have a short conversation about their property and the local market.
Consider this your chance to make a presentation about why they should hire you. Whether a conversion comes from it or not, a friendly, no-pressure conversation that makes a kind impression is always positive.
