Beginner’s Guide: Drafting A Real Estate Marketing Plan

Published on Friday - August 12, 2016

How important is a real estate marketing plan?

The one common trait among every successful real estate investor is their expertise in marketing. As the bridge between a business and its consumers, marketing is the voice and messenger of a respective brand; it's how people get to know, like, and trust a business. A good real estate marketing plan plays a fundamental role in real estate investing. That said, a real estate marketing plan is your compass to growing, thriving, and sustaining as an investor. The following highlights the necessary components of a marketing plan, as well as its importance for success:

Real Estate Marketing Plan: Your Ticket To Success

Perhaps the most important element of any business is the marketing plan. After all, this is the blueprint of how a business intends to present themselves to the world, including how they intend sales to be made.

A real estate marketing plan is a written guide for investors to follow, as to promote themselves and their business. It explains what you're going to do, how you're going to do it and who will be doing it — and it's the single biggest reason people succeed in this industry. It's also the primary manufacturer of real estate leads. This generally pertains to information on a possible buyer or seller — essentially someone considering purchasing or selling a property. More often than not, leads are generated from word of mouth, otherwise known as real estate referrals. Consider this: the majority of success for real estate investors is found in the form of referrals and word of mouth. A real estate agent, for example, receives roughly 75 percent of their business from these outlets.

"Your marketing foundation establishes credibility for your business," says Than Merrill, my colleague at FortuneBuilders. "That foundation compels other people to take you seriously–especially when you are new to real estate investing. As your marketing presence continues to grow, it will also generate referral leads from other real estate professionals."

The two most important qualities for generating leads as an investor are presence and credibility, both of which a marketing plan aims to establish. For investors, a marketing presence opens your name and business to the public, helping to spread the word, while credibility serves as the backbone for trust. As a beginner investor, you should think long and hard about your business goals before drafting a real estate marketing plan. Like most endeavors, the key to being successful starts with a plan and your real estate marketing plan is no different. Assessing your goals before drafting your marketing plan will better refine your approach moving forward, including developing a roadmap to your real estate marketing campaign.

A well prepared and implemented marketing plan is vital to real estate investors. Once you understand your objectives, you can begin to curate a plan of attack.

Guide To Drafting A Real Estate Marketing Plan

The key to a successful real estate marketing plan begins with goals and ends with persistence. It takes a dedication to follow your plan through the proverbial ups and downs, only to achieve the goals you set out to accomplish from the beginning. The biggest piece of advice I can offer for investors is to plan your work and work your plan. Having a path to follow is important, but it will be refined over time through trial and error, continuously improving along your investment journey. Because every marketing plan is different, I've outlined the essentials a marketing plan in 2016 should include:

Target Market: Who are you trying to attract? Buyers? Sellers? Foreclosed homeowners? This section describes the people you're targeting. As a new investor, you should spend a considerable amount of time describing your ideal target customer in details. That said, clearly identifying your audience will better assist in your real estate marketing approach.

Message: Your message is one of the most important aspects of your marketing plan. Not only does this information distinguish you from your competitors, but it's the foundation for everything you do. Often referred to as the Unique Selling Proposition (USP), your message not only distinguishes you from your competitors, but it's also the foundation for everything you do; it's what will resonate with customers. According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), this section should entail a summary of the main tag-lines, selling points and value proposition.

Media: Whether you are dealing with social media or content marketing, this section will highlight the types of media you intend to use. Some investors choose to use media outlets such as print, radio and television to broadcast their marketing efforts. The SBA recommends investors consider where their potential customers will see their message, and how they plan to track what they say about it.

Pricing: Aside from goals, your budget is one of the biggest influences on your real estate marketing plan. This is the section where your pricing and positioning strategy will need to be aligned, and according to the SBA, investors should not assume that the lowest price wins. "Would you buy day-old sushi because it's cheap? Your price needs to synchronize with your product offering and your target market. If you discount excellence, it becomes less credible in the eyes of your potential customers."

Channels: This is where you explain your distribution approach. How will customers buy from you? The most popular channels for real estate investors include direct mail, social media, content marketing, business website, networking, and so forth.

Promotion: This section showcases how you intend to reach new customers. As a real estate investor, there are many promotional tactics one can use to reach new audiences. This includes online advertising, event marketing, auctions, press releases, and bandit signs.

Tasks and Major Milestones: A general plan provides an outline to achieve a long-term goal. For new investors, a real estate marketing plan should also consist of tasks and major milestones that will ensure you're on the right path.

Important Metrics: Tracking your marketing efforts is one of the most important measures underutilized by real estate investors. It takes numbers to work a plan and investors should be tracking everything from leads, sales, website traffic, networking contacts–and really any effort that takes time and money to implement. If you're not tracking the progress of your marketing plan, you'll never really know if it's working.

Review Schedule: A real estate marketing plan is a work in progress and will be revised along the way. For investors, it's important to have a section in your marketing plan to review your past, preview your future, and align your actions with your goals.

Budgets: Managing your money as a real estate investor is imperative. As the catalyst for success or failure, your marketing budget is an important part of your real estate marketing plan, as it will ensure you don't overspend. As a new investor, focus your time on organizing your financial information, determine where to spend marketing dollars, and then make adjustments. According to the SBA, a good marketing plan needs to include a budget for expenses, and the sales that result from the different activities.

Learning the importance of a real estate marketing plan and how to draft one is the first step for beginner investors. While not all marketing plans are created equal, it is a critical piece in the puzzle of real estate success.

Source: Beginner's Guide: Drafting A Real Estate Marketing Plan