Looking to learn how referral marketing for real estate agents works, it’s much simpler than you think? In this post, we’re going to talk about the 2 things needed to start implement a referral marketing strategy and attract lots of referrals on this post! If you’re stuck how to market your database, this should help you out too.
Why Referral Marketing For Real Estate Agents Is Essential
A good referral marketing strategy allows you to stay top of mind with your database. Let’s be honest, your database isn’t as loyal as you think. They don’t think about you 24/7 staying in front of your database is a problem because you don’t know what to send them. Sound familiar?
If you feel stuck , we’ll make it easy on this post.
Referral marketing for real estate does NOT have to involve you talking about real estate, but rather reminds your database you’re in real estate.
The Strategy To Referral Marketing For Real Estate Agents Should Only Have 2 Goals
First, is that you create content people are excited to consume. Secondly, is that your content reminds people that you are one bad ass real estate agent. The key to growing a referral based business is to build a brand amongst the network of people who already know, like, and trust you. When people trust you, they refer you. The key is top of mind brand awareness.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”It’s not your database’s job to send you business, it’s YOUR job to remind them to.” quote=”It’s not your database’s job to send you business, it’s YOUR job to remind them to.”]
Taking on a multi-channel approach so you are the first person people think of when the term “real estate” comes to mind is possible if you do these two things.
Referral Marketing For Real Estate Agents Thing #1- You Must Define Your Story
First, you must realize you’re a brand. I know it feels weird thinking of yourself as a brand because you are just one person, but if you were to open up a clothing store, wouldn’t that be a brand? How would you market that brand? Most likely, you would first start by defining your audience.
In real estate, your database is the most important audience because the vast majority of people hire the first person they meet with 78% of the time.
A good referral marketing strategy would consistent of creating content THAT REPRESENTS YOUR BRAND and then placing that content in front of your database CONSISTENTLY.
Let’s go through an example on how this is done. This is a past client of ours story.
The Logo/Brand Visual Story
Meet Emilio. Emilio wants to be known by his friends and network as the go to resource for everything locally. Emilio is not, just a real estate agent, he’s a resource. His new visual story (logo) now accompanies him everywhere. This is the visual reminder of what his brand stands for!
Marketing your broker’s brand does your broker great, but you no good.
When people think of real estate logos they often take their initials and put a roof over them. When we design a new logo, we make a story out of it. Your logo should do 3 things.
- Remind people you’re in real estate
- Reflect your personality
- Tell a story
Does your current branding reflect your story? Does it reflect who you really are? The brain processes images 60,000 faster than text or verbal communication so trust me, branding your logo is essential.
Which do you think would be more memorable? Emilio Solano, Realtor or Ask Emilio? Here are some other brand story examples.
It’s once you define your brand you can then create a content strategy.
Let’s take Ask Emilio for example. Emilio is positioning his brand as the go to resource amongst his database and local community. He is going to start a video series called Ask Emilio. In it, he is going to conduct small business owner interviews with establishments he believes are the go to spots in their niches. None of his videos will necessarily be about real estate, but rather put the focus on the business owner and why Emilio believes they are the best at what they do. The content he creates will be used to video email to his database, post on his social profiles, create an additional blog post on his site, and run Facebook ads to it for further brand awareness.
Another example would be of me being a dude. No matter business I’m in it will always be dudey because that’s part of my personal brand. For more information on personal branding, click here.
Referral Marketing For Real Estate Agents Thing #2- Adapt A Consistent Video Strategy
Once you have dialed in your brand strategy, let’s put it on video! Video is an amazing communication strategy to brand building. Video doesn’t generate leads, it converts them. It allows people to see who you are and how you roll.
Does it make you uncomfortable feeling like you have to talk about real estate with your marketing?
Then don’t. This is when it gets fun! Video is a personal way to stay in front of your database and local community without you always having to talk about interest rates or market updates. I’m not saying don’t talk about real estate, I’m saying tell stories that infer you’re in real estate instead.
This is especially true for your social media marketing efforts. People aren’t going to Facebook to look for real estate, so you need a marketing strategy that keeps your brand present without turning people off by being too salesy. I believe the same is for email as well as direct mail. Are you starting to see how this works?
Your brand’s story will be the central message conveyed in anything you talk about. That’s why it’s so important to have a real estate branding strategy that’s matches up to your values and passions. It no longer feels like work because you begin creating content about things you personally enjoy!
You’ll also…
- be more excited about creating video content
- avoid getting the video jitters because the videos aren’t even about you
- come across more authentic
- always have a marketing strategy to keep you in front of your database and local community in a more personal way
[click_to_tweet tweet=”The goal of this series is not to generate leads, it’s to generate the attention your database so they don’t forget to use you or refer you.” quote=”The goal of this series is not to generate leads, it’s to generate the attention your database so they don’t forget to use you or refer you.”]
The reason why this works is very simple. 78% of consumers hire the first agent they come into contact with. At the same time, we also know that 10-15% of the population is moving this year and that 100% of them knows someone moving they can refer you to. An effective strategy for referral marketing for real estate agents is simply establishing top of mind awareness amongst their database.
That’s it.
I believe real estate is a popularity contest. The more people who know what you do, the more opportunities that open up.
Consistency is key!
If you decide to adapt a referral marketing strategy like this, you need to set a schedule no differently than any other kind of media. You have to look at your business like it’s a media company because it is.
Think of it no differently than direct mail farming. You must continue to publish your content to keep that constant presence amongst your database. It’s the repetition that brands you as the go to agent of your network.
And if you need help just click the schedule demo link and inquire about hiring a real estate marketing dude.