Marketing

Have you really considered how "Marketing" applies to selling real estate? Many people refer to the term sales and marketing with the understanding that they mean the same thing, yet we offer a different opinion; in fact, as experts in the field of marketing, we offer a very strong different opinion!

 

First, we have sales and although the concepts of "sales" cannot be overlooked when dealing with our real estate business, most people have an appreciation and understanding for just what sales is.  One of my favorite lines about sales is that when you meet my wife, Lynn,  you're gonna know instantly that I'm a salesman AND a good one at that!  Ha, Ha!  There are many faucets about sales however this topic page has to do with it's counter part; "Marketing".  So just what is marketing?  Well 50 years ago we likely could've all agreed that it was the "ART" portion associated with sales and that would've been a satisfactory opinion then. But today Marketing has become both an ART and a SCIENCE!

 

 

There are the basic 4 P's of Marketing,

and they are:

 

 

And there is a very long winded definition of the term Marketing that my professors have provided to me, however I'll spare you the blurbage; if you want a copy of the definition just send me an email and I'll be happy to provide it to you, it's a healthy paragraph long.  After being involved in the Marketing Industry for now close to 30 Years we have come to understand that true, proper marketing is about information and then insight into that information.

 

 

The information must be collected and observed from systems or processes that have WORKED or at least been tried, then tested.  Nothing can replace experience when it comes to marketing, everything short of that is just a plain 'ol guess.  A company or organization that is not monitoring and measuring their marketing stategies doesn't have a marketing plan.  The best source of information is from our existing customers and preferably the ones that bought something.  We collect the data from our customer or client base that provides a demographic profile of them, a geographic distribution, their life cycle status, their price point of purchases, their total value for repeat clients, their duration of shopping times, our primary sources for reaching these clients and their rate of referrals for our business. These are some of the key elements of a good marketing campaigns information collection systems, however any and all information collected for use in your marketing campaign is useful.  Keep in mind, we want to focus on the clients that actually purchase our product(s).

 

 

Many real estate marketing campaigns make the grave mistake of collecting data from clients that never actually purchase anything, then they customize their campaigns towards a customer that actually never buys?  It's very easy to do in real estate because everyone has an opinion and the market is flooded with the Lookie-Lo's; not that there is anything wrong with Lookie-Lo's, often with our patient drip marketing campaigns they become our customers too; but to base your bread & butter marketing campaign on this flawed concept can be detrimental to your marketing budgets and strategies.  We have always been careful to interview and receive information from the group of individuals that the industry has coined the "BUYERS".  Another mistake is to run marketing campaigns with no monitoring system at all. Wow!

 

 

A Buyer of real estate knows what they want, and a seller of real estate wants a buyer; so it only goes with logic that the buyer groups are going to steer our marketing campaigns!  It is not difficult to track your buyers groups to find out where are they from, how did they come to know you, what price range did they buy in, what employment group are they apart of, how long did they shop before they bought, what sources did they use for shopping, what kind of repeat buyer are they, etc. ??? Applying successful marketing strategies to successful real estate sales should be a no brainer?  The key to a successful marketing campaign relies on the fact that you are understanding the campaign from the Clients point of view and not yours!  More often than not, when companies conduct proper marketing campaigns the results are shocking; in fact many of the experts state that the organizations are shocked beyond belief 100% of the time!

 

 

Therefore, it goes without say that a successful marketing campaign should produce results and it always does.  Since launching our real estate careers here in the Shuswap Region we have produced No. 1 results year after year; my good buddy says it's not "rocket surgery"; ha! I've always liked that one.  Therefore, with an expert marketing salesman applying the "SCIENCE" of marketing, results are guaranteed, everytime!  Once a successful marketing campaign has been launched, it will be easy to develop and maintain a proper marketing budget that can be very effective.  It is critical to conduct the market research to understand and employ a proper marketing strategy!

 

 

We have done an extensive measurement of our clients from a data base of buyers that produced the No.1 sales and marketing team in the entire Shuswap Region, year after year. This is a 'valuable' data base of buyers!  Our buyers emphatically stated that they wanted information!  They want all the information that they can get their hands on!  That is why all our listings offer proper location maps, lot plans, title searches, property disclosure statements and photographic tours with detailed explanations.  Buyers want to be able to shop on the internet!  The Lookie-Lo's complain about the information and sometimes the sellers will say that we provided too much information.  Some businesses state that they purposely (B - cough - S) provide only a little bit of info so that clients will pick up the phone and call them; ha, ha, now that IS funny!  It's the 21st Century and we're in the world of the internet which wasn't coined the "information age" for nothing.  The biggest marketing tip that we can provide towards the real estate business and the ongoing success that we have is be an information provider.  I for one will greatly appreciate it!

 

 

The promotional material is one of the Four P's of marketing and although most of the information can be categorized under the "Science" heading of data collection, there still remains the "ART" form of the marketing promotions.  Here at BIGRob we do all our own website design, graphic designs, photography & advertisement layouts "in house" with 100% care and control.  Why? Probably because we just wanted it done right and right now!  The presentation of a good marketing campaign requires expertise and skill and provides a tremdous source of client satisfaction when completed properly.

The Place, well that's a secret, but it isn't hard to figure out where the buyers are coming from; even an organization that doesn't have high sales results can begin a campaign that will provide some excellent feedback data whereby we'd recommend finding your future clients!

 

It's the real estate market and we're full time real estate sales people. We do nothing but watch the market every single day! We know our product.

It's a buyers market today; however it changes constantly and knowing and understanding price point is a big side of marketing. 100% of the properties that are over priced don't sell.  Pricing properly today has never been more important and clients need to understand the market shifts and trends.  In the first part of 2009 our advise to our client sellers was don't sell unless you have to.  The market has improved, but price is very important.

See above, ha, ha.  The promotion is both an Art and a Science!

This is where you do your marketing.  Does it make sense to advertise in a newspaper that never generates a single buyer lead? No.  We only have so may advertising dollars and with the average newspaper ad costing around $500 it doesn't take long to use up a $50,000 marketing budget.  One year, with clients assistance we had a real estate marketing budget of over $250,000..... that was an absolute pleasure collecting the data from that budget campaign.  Advertising should be done to produce results; and it must be effective.

 

I hope you found this article on Marketing informative and that it will assist you in understanding our marketing expertise. We certainly would enjoy having a conversation with you about how we can serve you in your personal real estate needs.

Rob and the BIGRob Team at C21 Lifestyles