The real estate business is competitive, especially in today’s market, where homes are selling the same month in which they’re listed! Unfortunately, not everyone who takes a shot at selling real estate makes the cut. 87% of new real estate agents fail within the first five years of being in the business. One of the main reasons why they’re unable to succeed is that they don’t market themselves effectively.
Although the top 10% of agents earn over $112,000 a year, the median gross income for real estate agents was only $43,330 as of 2020. Depending on which part of the country you live in and what segment of the market you sell to, these numbers will vary. However, the philosophy behind being a successful agent remains the same—you need to know how to sell your services. So, whether you’re selling Great Hills luxury homes or Downtown Austin real estate, read on for The Speed & Neuren Group’s top tips for success.
Choose a niche
In highly competitive markets such as Austin, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, you’ll find a plethora of agents in the business. Buyers often go with one of the first agents that appear, so it’s important you capture their attention fast. Stand out in a sea of hungry agents by targeting a specific niche.
Becoming the go-to agent for families with small children, divorced individuals looking to start anew, or pet owners, allows you to make a name for yourself relatively quickly. This is especially true in saturated zip codes.
Targeting your messaging toward a specific audience also allows you to dedicate your limited time as an agent to building expertise in one subject matter that counts. When built consistently over an extended period of time, this targeted expertise establishes your credibility, allowing you to connect naturally with a particular client base. A jack-of-all-trades may struggle to do the same.
The effect of a niche real estate agent can be even more powerful in less competitive markets. There’s less competition, so there’s more of a chance for you to stand out. You just have to make sure the niche you choose serves the communities you work in.
Know your audience
Understanding the needs of the communities you serve is essential to the success of any marketing strategy. For instance, while you may effortlessly connect to prospective homebuyers of Mueller homes with dogs due to your affinity for canines, it’s much more important to evaluate if that’s an immediate need of homebuyers in your area.
Consider the proximity to unique locations. If your home or office is located near a military base, then there’s an excellent opportunity for you to focus on army veterans who may be in search of new homes. Understanding how VA home loans and Armed Forces homeowners insurance work will set you apart from other brokerages in the vicinity.
Knowing who you are working on behalf of in a real estate transaction makes all the difference in this business. Not only will you be able to choose your niche wisely, but you’ll also develop the ability to anticipate buyer needs without buyers having to voice them.
This garners trust between you and your clients, making them much more likely to rely on your expertise and recommend your services to others.
Hire a professional real estate photographer
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
Professionally taken real estate photos are the key to making listings stand out. 89% of all homebuyers believe photos are useful during their decision-making process. By now, most brokerages understand the importance of hiring a professional photographer. However, not all know how to choose the right person for the job.
Not only should your photos make the homes you’re selling look appealing, but they should also tell a story. What that story is, depends on the kind of brokerage you are and what kind of home you are selling. Every home has something unique about it, whether it be its history, architecture, or interior design. Choose a photographer who knows how to highlight these aspects of the home through lighting, staging, and other photographic techniques.
Take your audience on a virtual tour
Taking visuals a step further would merit hosting a virtual tour. Virtual journeys create immersive experiences for the potential buyer to explore the space. Virtual tours aren’t limited to just homes, either. Some brokerages have developed tours that take buyers through the neighborhood as well.
A neighborhood tour can highlight key amenities buyers are interested in, such as schools, hospitals, and local gyms. These kinds of tours also widen your buyer pool, allowing buyers who would otherwise be unable to visit and experience all that your property has to offer.
Create unique listings
Photo courtesy of Pexels
When making a major purchase, such as a home, buyers are usually willing to do some extra leg work. Once they find a house they like, they’ll reference Google Maps to locate the nearest grocery stores, Google Street View to check for bike lanes, and sometimes even look up who currently owns or has owned the home in the past.
As a brokerage, we take it upon ourselves to make it easy for potential buyers to obtain this kind of information. Although they should be concise and focused on the property itself, listings should also include neighboring amenities and interesting non-physical features of the property.
Including links to resources that might support the buyer in their decision can only increase the buyer’s interest—not to mention their trust in you as a brokerage or agent. If you would rather not clutter your listing description with links, you can always place them below the listing or off to the side on your webpage.
Design a user-friendly website
You’ll notice that a lot of the marketing strategies we are providing comes within the context of digital marketing. Nowadays, the internet is simply where businesses compete, and real estate is no exception.
In order to lure in potential buyers and pique their interest, a user-friendly website is a must. When browsing through a brokerage’s website, buyers want to be able to seamlessly navigate between pages and learn as much as they can about the properties that are being displayed and, of course, the brokerage that is selling them.
Your real estate website should conquer a handful of tasks:
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The first is to impress visitors with a visually appealing aesthetic. Your home page should be clean, easy to read, and eye-catching.
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Next, navigation through the site should be simple and intuitive. Make it easy for visitors to jump from one page to another and obtain the information they are looking for.
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Lastly, your website should prompt visitors to take action. Visitors should be able to leave their email addresses or send you a message. This ensures you have a way of contacting them once they’ve left your site.
SEO
Along with hosting a user-friendly website, we also incorporate SEO into our web pages. A visually appealing website does nothing for your real estate business if visitors aren’t able to find it! SEO allows your content to rank high in search engines through a variety of practices such as:
- On-page SEO: Incorporates keywords into existing pages on your website in the page’s title, image file, and alt text.
- Off-page SEO: Allows other sites with high domain authority to link to yours.
- Technical SEO: Ensures websites are responsive, fast, and secure.
Build your Google Business Profile
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
When you stop to think about it, Google offers real estate professionals a variety of tools that support their businesses. Google Maps and Google Street View help in the visual research process, while Google Search allows visitors to find us.
But there’s one Google tool that’s underused by real estate professionals, and that’s Google Business Profile. It’s a free listing that makes it that much easier for visitors to find and identify you as a business. For many savvy brokers, Google Business Profile serves as a second homepage for their businesses.
Without even visiting your website, buyers can call, book an appointment, read reviews, leave reviews, and get their FAQs answered. You can also include some of your best listings along with prices in your Google Business Profile. It’s an excellent marketing tool all real estate businesses should utilize.
Need help marketing your home?
Whether you're relocating or investing in Downtown Austin real estate, The Speed & Neuren Group is here to represent your best interests every step of the way. Our knowledgeable team has both the experience and expertise to get you the professional results you expect.
Austin has witnessed a major real estate surge in the last decade. You need a qualified team that knows how to effectively market and help you buy or sell your property in this new and ever-evolving market. Reach out to get started today!
*Header photo courtesy of Unsplash
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