It’s a given that you place your brokerage listings on your website and enter them into your local multiple-listing service to gain visibility and get buyers. Maybe your agents also use other online platforms to showcase listings. But one place many brokers and agents undervalue is the use of Craigslist as yet another place to visibly saturate the internet with your listings.
Craigslist has been around for over 20 years. It’s reliable and widely used with over 60 billion monthly users and 50 billion page views a month. For a free way to get in front of a potentially different segment of buyers, posting on Craigslist is a solid tactic to add to your marketing arsenal. As with everything related to online marketing, there is a right way and a wrong way to use Craigslist. To help your listings stand out in the sea of 80 million Craigslist classified ads, here are a few of best practices: 1. Add An Odd Number In Your Heading Headings matter. In fact, recent studies of social media show that most online users share a post because of a compelling heading. Sharing a post is one thing, but actually reading it is another. According to the Content Marketing Institute (CRM), “Odd numbers in list posts have a click-through rate 20% higher than even-number lists.” Be creative around your odd-number usage to gain the most clicks and don’t just write “3-bedroom house for sale” as the heading. That’s what everyone else is writing, and you need to stand out among the slew of other home sales ads. Try “3 reasons you should come to this open house on July 7”. 2. Catch Viewers’ Attention With a Visual Chute and Digiday’s visual marketing report found that an eye-catching visual is at least 20% more effective than text, with a chart or infographic preferable. Naturally, your visuals will be quality photos of the rooms and outside of the property, not focused on any one thing. But it may be interesting to do an infographic of what this listing has over others in the area. Remove and date and time stamp and keep the home photos no more than 600 pixels wide for easy loading or potential buyers will get impatient and move on. Craigslist enlarges the first photo you upload and shows it with the heading. That first photo should be chosen for its high impact on buyers. The remaining photos will be displayed only when a viewer clicks on the heading to open the home posting. 3. Showcase Features as a List Viewers want an easy, bite-size way to learn about a home’s features. Put features or other special attractions in a bulleted list for easy viewing breaking it up with subheadings, such as interior/exterior or kids/adults. Too much text is a distraction and will scare away viewers. 4. Post Sunday and Monday Between the real estate organization Rent Juice and the authors of “Cracking the Craigslist Code”, it appears that Sunday and Monday mornings are the optimal days for posting ads based on collective studies of over 800,000 Craigslist real estate postings. Best hours are between 10:00 a.m. and noon or 5:00 p.m. 5. Keep Your Ad On Top As anyone who has used Craigslist knows, your ad eventually gets buried in the feed by newer ads that come in later. The further down this long list it gets, the less attention it gets. It’s important that you have a regular schedule of reposting your listings so they stay current and on top. Craigslist has limits on how many times you can repost and so a best practice is to repost your listing every 48 hours. If you do it that way it’s just a button push inside your Craigslist account. Doing it this way requires a minimal investment in time and keeps your property front and center every day. Using Craigslist to Market Homes Getting your listings out there is not always easy and can be costly. Craigslist provides a simple, effective and affordable way to market a home, especially when using the correct real estate marketing strategiesfor the platform. This is just one of many marketing channels you can leverage in real estate. With so many options, it can be confusing to know where to start or what’s most effective. If you think your business could benefit from information-sharing and coaching on real estate marketing strategies, consider teaming up with Weichert. Your affiliation plugs you in to a host of programs, services and peer networking to power your business and allows you to provide more to your agents. For more information on proven marketing tools and strategies to help grow your brokerage, consider becoming a Weichert Affiliate. Go to weichertfranchise.com or call 877-746-2067. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/5-ways-to-use-craigslist-to-market-homes/
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Think back to the real estate brokers you worked for when starting your career. What drew you to work there in the first place and what prompted you to stay or move on? Did you feel your input mattered or that no one cared what you had to say? Was there a real team dynamic or was it everyone for themselves?
As a broker, now is your opportunity to build the company culture you want. Whether you worked in real estate your entire life or started out in another industry, there are key attributes that make any business worth working for, including yours. Trust And Honesty Believability is important to success. Honesty and trust go hand-in-hand. Trust your agents enough to let them do their job of selling homes and provide the training and support for them to do so. Even as broker you aren’t expected to know everything but know how to get the answers. So, the next time an agent asks you a question you can’t answer, commit to researching it and getting back to them as soon as possible. And then make sure you really follow up. Use the calendar app in your phone or email to set a quick reminder for yourself. When agents see that their queries are important to you, it makes them feel valued and deepens your relationships. Respect Trust and honesty lead to respect. But it’s a two-way street. You must respect the agents that you brought on to earn their respect in return. This includes the young, inexperienced ones who may test your patience at times. Always be polite, actively listen and talk with your agents as equals. These agents, who you took the time to recruit, may provide you with a novel way of doing something that can set your brokerage over the top, which can only be learned through mutual respect. Recognition Recognize the talents and accomplishments of the team of agents you recruited. Did an agent close a particularly hard transaction or a new agent complete their first transaction by themselves? Announce it. Did they close a personal record-breaking deal? Give them a shout out. Let everyone know of their achievements. Recognition isn’t all about highest grossing or most transactions in a year. It’s also about general accomplishments and teamwork to help all agents—new and experienced—feel valued. Agents who know their contributions are valued strive harder to succeed. Support If your brokerage goes above and beyond to provide the right tools and techniques for your agents to succeed and properly trains them in the use of these tools, then word will spread that your agent support is exceptional. In turn, these support tools make your brokerage the go-to destination for recruits, saving you time and effort in both real estate agent recruiting and retention. Putting It Together Re-evaluate your brokerage to make sure you are creating a dynamic and positive culture that values your team as a whole, as well as individuality. Model by example and your agents will do the same. Build a solid team of agents with the right tools, techniques and attitude and you will stay competitive in your market. While it’s up to you to build a culture of trust and respect, there are easier ways to provide everything else than trying to keep up alone. Affiliating with a National brand, such as Weichert, who already has the tools and systems in place makes it easy for you to plug in and run. You get a wide array of agent training opportunities right out of the gate, for example, including sales coaching, weekly and monthly seminars, general industry trainings, online courses, technology training and more. Plus, leverage awards and recognition programs, sales tools and techniques and technology platforms. With all of these things readily available to you, you have more time to focus on your brokerage-building strategy. If you want to learn more about how Weichert can help your brokerage dynamics, contact us today: weichertfranchise.com or 877-567-3350. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-agent-recruiting/the-right-ingredients-for-an-attractive-brokerage/ Leads are the backbone of your brokerage. Good leads keep existing agents productive and are a draw for new agents. With 92 percent of buyers using the internet in their home search, according to NAR, brokers using smart website visitor conversion methods have a competitive edge in the cultivation and generation of leads for their teams.
Website Traffic to Leads Let’s say you’ve been diligent about your advertising and your team is actively working multiple social media channels to promote their listings and your brokerage. You are monitoring your website analytics and you can see a healthy rise in website traffic from your efforts. While you may be getting website visitors, how many visitors complete your contact form or, better yet, directly contact you by picking up the phone or sending an email? Converting visitors to real contacts through your brokerage website is one of the most cost-effective methods of generating leads. In digital marketing, we look at the ratio of unique website visitors to contacts, over a period of time, and we call that your “conversion rate”. Too many brokers leave money on the table by focusing exclusively on advertising, and not the more subtle art of optimizing your website’s conversion rate. Steps To A Better Conversion Rate Increasing and optimizing your conversion rate isn’t rocket science. In fact, in most cases it’s just applied common sense. But done correctly you will build a better conversion rate and help ensure a steady flow of clients by using a few tried and true website marketing principles:
Finally, always remember that when you get that contact, you need to be ultra-responsive. Think minutes and hours, not days. The digital world is one of instant gratification, if not by you, then it will be by your competitors. Lead the Way on Conversions To win in real estate, you’ve got to do it all. In the digital case that means both getting the website traffic, and getting the contact from either a form, a phone call or an email. The more website visits turn into actual leads, the more the cost of creating and maintaining your site and buying advertising, pays for itself with increased sales for your agents. Don’t neglect the last piece of the puzzle, convert! If you don’t have the type of resources outlined above to put into your website, you can still effectively take advantage of online consumer traffic by aligning yourself with someone who does. At Weichert, we make a significant investment in our website, Weichert.com and have the resources to continually optimize its results. Our digital advertising and marketing strategy drives over 3 million visitors to weichert.com every month*, making it one of the top independent brokerage sites in the country and continually driving leads to our call center to connect with agents. It’s one of our key benefits to our affiliates. To learn more about how this could fit into your business plan, go to weichertfranchise.com or call our team today at 877-567-3350. *Google Analytics, January 2017 Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-broker-marketing/website-converting-visitors-leads/ 2/20/2018 Understanding The Difference between Facebook And Instagram For Real Estate MarketingRead NowSocial media has taken over marketing in recent years, with 69 percent of the public using social media of some sort. You may do all your brokerage’s social networking or elect to turn that over to a marketing specialist. Whatever you choose, it’s imperative that you understand the demographics of each social platform to wisely spend your marketing time and money, while carefully branding your brokerage.
Facebook has emerged over the last 13 years as a powerhouse among the social networking platforms. According to Pew Research Center’s Social Media Fact Sheet, 68 percent of adults in the United States use Facebook. Facebook acquired Instagram—a newer social site—in 2012. Its use is becoming more popular at 28 percent of U.S. adults and amassing over 800,000 users to date, trailing far behind but still second to Facebook. Part of Instagram’s growing popularity is the ease of post and paid ad sharing between the two sites. Facebook Friends Facebook may already be central to your marketing plan for its wide range of demographics and the sharing of all types of media—photos, messages and video—across desktop, mobile and tablet formats. Its use is split almost evenly between males and females. Many view it as a networking forum for older adults, but that’s not a well-rounded picture of this versatile site. While Facebook does attract a larger share of the over 49 crowd than other social sites, Pew Research Center’s data indicates that ages 18-29 are big Facebook users (88 percent) with those ages 30-49 close behind in usage (79 percent). Content should be engaging in more than one way, so create a mix of videos, images, information and calls to action that elicit user interaction to get followers. A little tasteful fun goes a long way on Facebook. Instagram Images Facebook purchased Instagram back in 2012, and it has retained most of its unique nature. Both social sites share photos, videos and messages, but Instagram features images first and foremost, allowing the user to add numerous digital filters, as well as use image hashtags and geotags. You can create your own hashtags for events, open houses and more to gain traction. Since December 2017, users can follow hashtags, so your image hashtags need to be relevant, retain your style, and be interesting to grow your followers. Instagram’s newest rollout—Stories—is a Snapchat-like feature that is quickly growing in popularity. Instagram is primarily intended for use on-the-go with a smartphone, appealing to younger users. In fact, Instagram’s core users are ages 18-29 (59 percent) with a higher percentage of women of any age favoring the site. Ages 30-49 make up 33 percent proving this network is a haven for those ages 49 and younger. As a real estate broker, structure your Instagram posts around interior design, as that is a favorite topic on this platform. Has a local or national celebrity viewed a listing or sold a home using your brokerage? Snap a photo and post it (with permission), as celebrity and entertainment posts are hot. Visual consistency and imagination go a long way toward building your Instagram following. Stand-Out Instagram Marketing Instagram is all about the aesthetics. To leverage marketing on Instagram that plays to your brand and brings in sellers and buyers, it helps to study a few real estate accounts of those who are rocking it in the world of Instagram marketing. Here are some tips to help individualize your brokerage on the Instagram platform:
Play Off Each Other Instagram is a logical choice to add to your marketing arsenal to attract more of the on-the-go Millennial masses and even some older groups. As they play off each other, using Facebook and Instagram together equals a robust social sales strategy. At the end of the day, a consistent approach to social media usage is just one part of your marketing and sales strategy. At Weichert, we have the systems that can help you pull it all together. Contact us at 877-533-9007to learn more or go to weichertfranchise.com. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/understanding-difference-facebook-instagram-real-estate-marketing/ As a broker, you have carefully built your brand through targeted advertising and marketing. You have strategically calculated a marketing plan to funnel quality leads in a variety of markets to your agents to help them close more transactions. Your website, social media presence and other digital marketing is part of your overall plan. But how much time do you spend chasing these leads? The time you have invested should not outweigh the amount of leads generated.
Buyers and Sellers Want More Today’s market is different than even five years ago. Buyers and sellers want more value out of a brokerage. Specifically, they crave quality information. No longer are buyers and sellers content to sit back and roll with the fact that an agent has years of experience in real estate and has closed a certain of number of sales in their neighborhood. Instead, they want specific information presented to prove that agent’s expertise. More importantly, prospects expect a high value from the material they receive. Tempt Prospects with A Giveaway One way to stop chasing listings and build your brokerage into a lead magnet where prospects come to you is through the value of a giveaway, such as a short, easily accessible video, e-book, infographic, quiz, guide, handout, resource or checklist or free home inspection for new listings. Create a giveaway that builds value and tempts prospects to give up their name and contact information to get the free material. The material should be well written and designed and present your brand as an authority to build long-term trust and add monetary value in the eyes of your prospects. Create A Relationship The point of the giveaway as a lead magnet is to alter your prospect’s mindset to be predisposed to use your services. The topic of your materials should be clear-cut, easily read in no more than 5 minutes and address a distinct topic that provides specific answers. The prospect should feel a relationship with your brokerage after reading the material that prompts her/him to act. Know Your End Goal To decide the topic of your material, you must know the end goal, such as increased revenue or list building. The market segment you are going after is also important. What real estate pain point are you addressing in your giveaway that will turn prospects into hot leads for the desired target market? For instance, luxury sellers may be interested in top-notch staging tips and resources. Speak to the desired pain point and prospects will more readily give up their contact information. List Building Management A well-calculated giveaway campaign can bring in hundreds of leads. It does no good to attract leads and build your marketing list if you don’t have a good CRM system to organize your marketing efforts. Is your CRM up to the task? Review your current system to see if it stands up to others on the market for functionality and number of contacts. Now may be the right time to upgrade your CRM system if you’re just not getting the value out of it that you need. Weichert, for instance, offers a CRM system to its affiliates that is directly tied to the best practices and processes we teach for lead generation and follow up. It is integrated into our national lead network and provides efficiencies in lead handling that are unsurpassed in the industry. Lead Magnetism Doesn’t Happen Overnight. Brokers know that there is no silver bullet when it comes to generating leads. A variety of tactics executed regularly is what works to improve your lead generation in less time. But it’s hard when you are doing it all on your own. That’s why franchise affiliation is often a great solution for brokerages. By plugging into their resources, you are able to leverage their expertise and marketing materials to be able to compete effectively in all of these ways, including having a CRM to properly manage and close incoming leads. For more information on how Weichert can turn your brokerage into a lead magnet, contact Weichert® today at 877-533-9007 or go to https://weichertfranchise.com . Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-lead-generation/need-lead-magnet-give-something-want/ While every broker understands how important technology is to an increasingly younger home buying audience, managing the selection and use of technology in your brokerage can be a challenge to say the least. With real estate software vendors, advertising agencies, mobile apps, and website technology issues all competing for your time, it can be difficult to get traction on technology initiatives, or even know where to turn for reliable, impartial advice as to what to use, and how to use it.
Technology Management Is A Process Often, it feels like there’s a new piece of tech or some hot new real estate marketing strategy coming out every day and brokers are trying to make sense of it all as they consider juggling their technology investments. What brokers must consider is that understanding and managing issues around technology does not require an engineering degree, but it does require a process. A process that can happen regularly, does not take a lot of time, and leverages resources that are truly experts in real estate technology. The experts at Weichert recommend that you look at your brokerage’s technology on a regular basis. Look at your technology investments from a few different perspectives:
If the selection and use of technology to support your processes is too often the thorn in your side or you feel like you can’t keep up, affiliation with one of the larger real estate brands can be a tremendous resource in this area. They take that burden off your plate, freeing you up to focus on other things related to running your brokerage. Weichert, for example, is continuously improving existing technology and evaluating new ones to ensure it’s using and providing the most efficient and effective techniques for managing real estate business. Affiliates are given access to these technology tools, such as our online marketing resource center, paperless transaction management system and our WeichertPRO CRM tool. Developing A Productive, Successful Relationship with Tech As a broker, you’re a relationship builder. So, it’s key to build a “relationship” with the technology you use and your process for evaluating it. The brokerage that makes effective use of technology is one that will develop into a real force to be reckoned with now and in the future. A brokerage with well-integrated technology will have a more efficient workflow, smarter online real estate marketing tools, and timely, consistent follow-up. Furthermore using effective, up-to-date technology can lead to higher agent retention, better productivity, and more efficient team dynamics. And who doesn’t want that? Real estate is ultimately a face-to-face industry and Weichert firmly believes that technology will never replace a handshake – but we also understand how the real estate industry is changing – and we want to deliver the best of both worlds in order to help build stronger, more effective brokerages. If you share this vision, get in touch with us today at https://www.weichertfranchise.com and let our team show you some technology solutions that can help take your brokerage to the next level. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/online-real-estate-marketing/managing-technology-brokerage/ “Commit to CANI! – Constant And Never-ending Improvement.” – Tony Robbins
If you ask any expert, there are a range of elements that must be present for a business to succeed, whether you are a real estate broker, CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or just starting out on a new venture. Some of these are easy to think of:
Others are more industry-specific. But don’t forget the driving force that brings these elements together–the glue of any growing business–which is positive energy and a can-do attitude. What Is Positive Energy? It may sound like something right out of an alternative lifestyle book, but it simply means having the right attitude. When you see nothing as an obstacle, but rather challenges to be overcome, you become that positive force that drives your brokerage forward. Think of leadership as a responsibility to inspire, not just give commands. This mental shift will affect everyone in your brokerage including:
A positive, energetic attitude has that same effect on anyone you meet, drawing their most positive selves to the forefront. With a brokerage team aligned with your vision and this kind of positive mindset, there is very little you can’t accomplish. Most successful business owners use this “can do” approach towards their professional goals, allowing them to achieve maximum effectiveness and results in the delivery of their products and services. Even if you’re more of an Eeyore than a Tigger, you can learn just a few behaviors that will make a big difference at the office and in all your interactions. How Does Positive Energy Influence the Workplace? An attitude shift is not about being unrealistic or seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses. It’s about creating a culture where achievements, success, innovation, and improvement CAN happen and are celebrated. The interesting thing is that studies have shown that simply by achieving this mindset, business owners receive the following benefits:
This is especially important for brokerages with a less experienced team. With a leader setting the standard for positivity and creating a safe work environment where it’s ok to fail once in a while, your team will strive to accomplish goals more effectively, regardless of their formal experience.
Increase Your Can-Do Attitude, Increase Your Results As a successful broker, you’ve already learned how to keep your team happy. But why not kick it up a notch? You don’t have to start dancing down the aisles, but many times it’s small things like choosing to coach, instead of criticize. Celebrate the positive, can-do attitude of others on your team. At Weichert Franchise, developing positive team dynamics is a cornerstone of our philosophy and an attribute of our most successful brokers. For more information on how Weichert Franchising can be a positive force in your business, visit https://www.weichertfranchise.com/. Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/attitude-power-positive-energy/ |
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