January 2012 Volume 2, Issue 1
We are well on our way into the New Year of 2012! January has been speeding by quickly. This month’s focus has been on production projections, marketing plans and budgets for our clients. With that in mind, this month’s newsletter provides valuable information about Website and Marketing Basics and an article about the Modern Real Estate Consumer. We are always standing by to assist you with all your administrative needs. We wish you a happy and successful 2012!
Your Helping Hand
In today’s real estate market, it is even more important to have the support you need to take care of clients, process files, and keep up with marketing and social media.
StreamLine provides a helping hand to lighten the load and still maintain the high level of personal service your clients expect.
Call us – We offer hourly, project based and transaction fee services to meet your needs.
Website and Marketing Basics
Recently, our clients have been wrestling with the best approach for their website and marketing. While each agent has an individual style and different needs, here are some basics to evaluate when making your plan for the year.
- Make a budget for the year. Take your budget information from the previous year and decide how much you are going to spend on marketing (this includes website costs). Remember to estimate based on last year’s production what your production will likely be this year. Take your marketing budget and divide it by your expected income. This will give you the percentage of your production being spent on marketing. Review whether that percentage makes sense to you. If you have a high number (let’s say 45% on marketing) then it is definitely time to evaluate where the marketing dollars are going and how effective they are.
- No matter what percentage of marketing dollars are being spent. Evaluate each year how effective those dollars are. Maybe you only spent 10% of your production on marketing. Did you have all the business you wanted last year? Was that 10% effective? Is it time to change services, marketing techniques, or increase your web presence?
- Exactly what are you getting with your website services for the amount you pay? Maybe you are paying $300 a month with a general promise of having your web pages updated, maintenance of Facebook, etc. What exactly is being changed on your site? Are they maintaining your listings on your site? How often are they posting and updating to your Facebook? How many leads have you received from your site each month?
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be an expensive proposition and there are levels of services. When evaluating this service, find out how many leads the company would expect you to get each month from their efforts. Also, review EXACTLY what steps will be taken each month to increase your standings in the search engines. It can be somewhat of a guessing game, so if you do purchase this service, keep close track of whether hits to your site increase, where your leads are coming from, and how long visitors are spending on your site. Getting a prospect to your site is only half the battle. The ideal situation is to get them clicking on multiple pages and spending some real time on your website – they are then more likely to call or email you.
- Websites should be easy on the eyes, easy to navigate and have valuable information for the prospective client. Information about neighborhoods, schools, utility company contact information, interesting local shops or restaurants, buyer and seller guides, mortgage calculator and more, will keep a prospect on the site, impress them with your knowledge and make it more likely they will contact you to assist them. Posting a blog and newsletter to your site is always helpful both with visitation statistics and for search engine optimization.
- An e-newsletter should ALWAYS be a part of your marketing plan. This is a great (inexpensive) way to stay in touch and increase your repeat business statistics. Even if a client moves to another state, stay in touch. You never know when they will have a friend from your area that also wants to sell, or whether they will move back. I just received an email that an agent was contacted by a previous seller that moved out of the area and they are now moving back. They received the monthly newsletter and so had their old agent’s contact information handy and contacted that agent to assist the family with their home search. As you already know, Real Estate is building relationships for a lifetime.
- A crucial marketing cost to consider is your time. How much time are you spending on marketing activities, managing your website, newsletter, advertisements, etc.? How much is your time worth? Are you unable to prospect for new clients, or handle existing clients because you are busy with the administration side of your business? Are you able to provide the “Wow” factor for your buyers and sellers that will keep them coming back over the years and referring their friends or family to you? If you find that more of your time is spent on marketing than selling, it may be time to consider an assistant. To evaluate whether it’s time for an assistant, what type of assistant you need, and how to manage an assistant financially, view our presentation “Is It Time for An Assistant” by clicking on the title or visiting our website at www.streamlineagents.net.
Referrals Welcome!
Send us a referral and if they choose to use our services, we will discount your next invoice.
Another basic to building your real estate business
At StreamLine we are always on the look-out for information and tools that will help real estate professionals build their business. This month we found a fantastic article on the “33 Must Knows About Modern Real Estate Customers”. Click on the title to read this well written and compact article.
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