There are more than 1 million real estate agents across the United States. Although you aren’t competing with all of them, there’s a high likelihood you have plenty of competition locally, including many seasoned vets. How do you catch the eyes of buyers and sellers when they have so many options?
The answer is simple: marketing. Making a name for yourself is all about establishing your brand, clearly communicating your successes and unique skills, and promoting it all to the masses. Here are five important real estate marketing materials that will help you stand out from your competition.
Postcards
Snail mail is not dead! It can be more attention-grabbing than an email, and isn’t as easily ignored as a phone call. Plus, it’s a great tactic to use in conjunction with digital ads to boost visibility and build trust in your brand.
To optimize the effectiveness of your real estate postcards, you must ensure two things: an eye-catching design and a targeted audience list. You don’t need to hire a marketing company to help, but you might consider hiring a designer, especially if you want someone to create other real estate marketing materials, such as open house flyers and digital ad graphics.
Freelancer sites like Fiverr and Upwork are great resources for finding an affordable, reliable graphic designer. Having the same person work on all your real estate marketing materials will ensure they have the same look and feel. You can also choose to go the DIY route and design your postcards on a site like Canva, which offers free templates and tools.
By using a targeted mailing list of hand-selected prospects, you’ll reduce unnecessary expenses while connecting with those who will be most receptive to your message. You can find the right homeowners using a tool like Homesnap Pro’s free Likelihood to List filter to find prospects in your target areas who are highly likely to consider selling in the next 12 months.
A-Frames
Real estate A-frame signs are the double-sided stands that are shaped like a capital letter A when propped up. These are typically placed around a neighborhood to draw attention and foot traffic to your nearby open house.
A-frames also make for old good-fashioned brand publicity. Purchase a dozen or more of them and place the A-frames all throughout your farm area whenever you have an open house. You may think that a mile or more away is too far for foot traffic, but you might attract drivers or grab the attention of other buyers and sellers in the area who are looking for a real estate agent for their specific needs.
Custom Key Cutout
Your real estate career will surely be filled with many successes. As such, you need to be ready for those photo-worthy moments with a large, branded key cutout for your clients to hold up in front of their new home. These happy photos of your clients holding your giant branded key are perfect real estate marketing materials. Here are just a few places where you should publicize these photos with a congratulatory message for your clients:
- Organic social media
- Paid digital ads
- Your Google Business Profile
- Your next e-newsletter
- Your real estate website
- Share the photos with your clients so they can post them on social media, too
Homesnap Pro+
Agents also need digital real estate marketing materials to be successful. Homesnap Pro+ is the all-in-one answer that does more to boost agents’ online reputation and brand than any other membership. This membership will:
- Set up and manage your Google Business Profile
- Help you generate 5-star Google reviews (Pro+ members see 3X more positive reviews)
- Create a responsive real estate website for you with a custom domain
- Publish lead pages for all your listings
- Unlock additional prospecting tools
- Reveal which agents have viewed your listings and profile recently
- …and more
These member benefits give Homesnap Pro+ agents a robust online presence and equip them with the tools they need to generate leads in their market.
Branded freebies
Real estate agents are almost always in networking mode because, as a salesperson, you have to constantly think about forming new relationships to expand your sphere of influence. When you have that mindset, you have to consider all the places when you could meet a potential buyer or seller—a PTA meeting, a dinner party, a Labor Day BBQ or the local farmer’s market—so you should be prepared with more than just a business card for them to remember you by.
Consider these common products that you can apply your logo and branding to, and hand them out while networking:
- Pens
- Fridge magnets
- Water bottles
- Reusable drinking cups
- Small bottles of hand sanitizer
Here are some additional ideas for branded promotional products that you might consider, depending on your target audience or typical clientele:
- Chocolates in a nice pouch or box
- Measuring tapes
- Multipurpose utility tools
- Can-cooling sleeves
- Keychain can openers
There are certainly many different real estate marketing materials that you can create or purchase to support your business. However, these five marketing materials are top of their class for helping you stand out from your competition, whether you are working with a limited budget, looking for new ways to promote your brand, or just starting out as a real estate agent.
