Christina Frei
Get real estate clients by simplifying your approach and playing to your strengths
Let’s say on any given day, one of your buyers loses their 9th deal. Then later, a new seller insists their home is worth 30% more than market rates, and you do your best to set their expectations but they’re not listening. And you’re wondering where your next client is coming from, and trying to manage your day-to-day operations well. With all this on your plate, you’re supposed to be organized enough to put a marketing plan for your real estate business together? And stay consistent with it? In what world?
OK, yes, things get crazy, but here’s the truth: your clients and prospects need you to be a strong leader who stands for their highest good and gets the deals done. In the current climate of uncertainty and change, you need to show this leadership in your marketing.
You probably experience these challenges too:
- The pressure to do all the things AND do them well (hey, are you on Clubhouse yet?)
- The culture of martyrdom, where you’re supposed to bend over backwards for everyone
- A lack of self-care needed to stay vital and consistent, especially since you’re supposed to be “on” 24-7
So you’re supposed to build trust and be human in this environment. Right. Remember though, as a real estate agent, your clients trust you with their biggest transactions. So you need to really show up in your marketing in any way you can, which doesn’t mean doing everything. It means bringing your full self to the table.
Marketing is a lifestyle, a daily thing. If it doesn’t work for you, how long will you sustain it? A healthy marketing lifestyle not only gets you clients, but also supports you. This way, you CAN bring your full presence and value consistently.
So how exactly do you show up authentically, without burning yourself out?
The 3 Secret Ingredients to Sustainably Getting Leads
- A real estate marketing strategy based on your strengths
- Achievable daily steps
- An approach that inspires you AND gets you clients
You have your own unique version of this. I will help you narrow this down later. First let’s look at 5 real estate agents who have steady streams of clients and a marketing lifestyle unique to them. Each one is completely different, yet they each have a successful real estate practice.
Notice if you resonate with one of them in particular.
Five Real Estate Agents with Steady Streams of Clients
1. Maura Allard: The Nurturer Presence for Senior Citizens
Maura Allard is a real estate agent who serves the senior citizens market first and foremost. She’s been in business for years, yet she still keeps her marketing simple and life-giving. It consists of 3 things:
- networking regularly
- great client service that brings referrals
- a consistent Facebook presence
She does a great job at real estate marketing for senior citizens but this does not stop her from getting all kinds of clients, since working with seniors shows she’s great with anxious buyers or sellers. Not only does Maura keep it simple, she also tells her story from her deepest why: she loves to make it safe for her clients to thrive.
Maura shows the strengths of the Nurturer marketing archetype. Nurturers are energized by leaning in and creating sanctuary for people. Nurturers magnetize clients when they meet people in their challenge first and make them feel understood before they offer solutions.
Maura does this by showing understanding about how tough transactions can be and that she’s there for her clients. She talks about how she truly listens to her clients, how she even does grocery shopping for them, if needed, connects with them with other helpful professionals, such as move managers, and more. Rather than simply posting what corporate gives her, Maura brings fun and personality with her ice cream obsession on Facebook, including photos of her at creameries all around the North Shore. People bring her gift certificates and invite her to ice cream all the time.
Maura has created a real estate marketing plan or lifestyle that shows her at her best, makes others feel safe, energizes her, and gets her hired.
Are you a Nurturer? Click here to find out.
2. Carey Gatto: The Real Estate Investing Rockstar
Carey Gatto helps people become financially free with real estate investing. Although she works with all kinds of clients, her marketing focuses mainly on making money through smart real estate investing. Her marketing includes:
- A step-by-step book on real estate investing
- A highly interactive Facebook Group
- Frequent webinars to help people invest smarter
- Investing in real estate herself and share about it
Carey snags first-time buyers and sellers because if they’re not investors because her focus on investing shows her overall industry knowledge with a twist. Carey markets in a way that shows her at her best and energizes her, in particular by serving as a model of bold action. Carey invests in her own properties and shares her experiences with her wider community. She sees what’s possible for her clients even before they do, and she loves inspiring them to take bold action.
Carey is the quintessential Adventure Guide marketing archetype. Adventure Guides inspire action by focusing less on demonstrating expertise and more on highlighting what’s possible for their clients. That’s why people hire her. Carey has figured out a way to be an inspiring leader for her community with a simple, doable marketing approach. Being an Adventure Guide starts with honoring your marketing archetype, i.e. your “why.”
Are you an Adventure Guide? Click here to find out.
3. Chip Osborne: The Philanthropist Real Estate Agent
Chip Osborne had a come-to-Jesus moment a few years back when he realized his passion was to help the less fortunate get decent shelter. Changing the way he did real estate, Chip has built ties to several housing-oriented non-profits, and he gives them money from every transaction. Maintaining his relationships with their leadership means that these organizations have become referral partners, as well as an inspiration to hire Chip. His marketing includes:
- Maintaining ties with these organizations that reflect his values
- Sharing some real estate tips on Instagram to grow his follow and stay top-of-mind
- Networking in the community to grow relationships
And Chip’s secret sauce is looking at things differently with new perspectives. Chip is inspired to use a real estate transaction to help less fortunate people to live a better life.
This is what Door Openers do. They open up new worlds of possibility simply with a shift in viewpoint. These natural educators look at things from many angles and offer lots of ideas, and because of this, it can be a challenge to focus their message. Chip has conquered this by focusing on one big message: even the day-to-day transactions can have a bigger purpose. This message and mission sustains him, it’s doable, and it gets him consistent business.
4. Adam Wagner: Top Customer Service and Steady Social Media
Instead of juggling 15 things at once, Adam Wagner gets a steady stream of clients by offering top-notch customer service and posting his deals and market facts on Facebook. That’s about it.
From this simple approach, he’s had steady business for the past 8 years. I’ve been his client, and I am always impressed by his steady methods that include regular follow up and great communication. It’s no small thing to offer great care to your clients, but people forget that it’s a marketing strategy too. Your clients will send business and hire you again when you show you care. To recap his real estate marketing plan:
- Offer top-notch customer service that people will never forget
- Post his deals and market facts on Facebook to stay in front of people
This works especially well for Adam because he’s a Steady Presence marketing archetype. That means he’s the calm in the storm who loves to assure his clients they have what they need to move forward. His system of serving clients actually energizes him, since he thrives on steadiness and routine. He enjoys sharing the statistics on his Facebook page because he’s kind of a geek and loves to share facts. The Steady Presence archetypes do well by showing their calm presence and by offering their geeky curiosity to others. Adam has discovered a manageable, fun way to stay out there and to get clients.
Are you a Steady Presence? Click here to find out.
5. Katie Clancy: The Happiest Person in Real Estate
As a walking party, Katie Clancy has fashioned her own way of marketing and getting clients:
- Celebrating people and her community on Facebook/Instagram to show her leadership and involvement
- Informative videos on real estate that you can’t turn off
- Getting involved as a parent and community so she knows everyone in her local area
Katie is a top producer in Cape Cod, MA, and she seems to know everyone there. You would think she had a marketing machine behind her, but she keeps it pretty simple and plays to her strengths as a leader. A master of relationship marketing, Katie shows up in her community and helps out in any way she can through the school system and other volunteer opportunities. Instead of talking about herself, Katie openly celebrates the strengths of others in her area, building them up and emphasizing why it’s great to live on the cape. She makes real estate education fun with her videos on YouTube and Facebook.
Katie is a Celebrator marketing archetype, which means she loves to bring the good life with her own special flair. Celebrators are great at making dry topics fun and vibrant. They tell their story by sharing their enjoyment of their work and community. Katie does this non-stop, and it’s a delight to see.
It’s refreshing to see a real estate agent having a great time and helping others do the same, as she supports them in their deals. If you asked her, I’m not sure Katie would even call this all marketing. It’s just what she loves to do.
Are you a Celebrator? Click here to find out.
Each one of these agents is a compelling expert in their own way.
You have your own version of this, and it doesn’t require doing more.
However, it does require a little self-honesty, a little focus, a little mindset work, and some consistency. Here’s what I mean.
Your Real Estate Marketing Plan in 4 Steps
1. Define Your Marketing Archetype
When you are creating your real estate marketing plan (i.e. your marketing lifestyle), start with your marketing archetype. It will ensure that you are leading with your strengths. It will also help you tell a better story and narrow down your approach. It reveals your “why,” which you can integrate into your marketing. This way, you’ll know you’re making a difference, and you’ll know your work matters.
You could be a …
- Nurturer
- Adventure Guide
- Door Opener
- Steady Presence
- Celebrator
Or a combination of two of these.
Start here with your assessment now. Once you take this assessment, you will receive emails that reveal how to tell your story from your “why.”
2. Choose Your One Big Strategy
The reason the previous five agents have a continuous stream of prospects is that they chose a single powerful marketing strategy that aligns with their unique humanity, their “why,” and their expertise.
This is about doing less, not more, but doing it really well. Once you’ve defined your marketing archetype, you can choose a core strategy that makes sense for you, which could look like the following:
- Creating a talk that shows your expertise
- Offering a series of webinars that get consistent engagement and prospects
- Doing regular events with partners such as banks and libraries to be recognized as a local leader
- Writing a small book or pamphlet
- Creating a series of in-depth articles for an expert newsletter
- Recording an expert video series for social media
Yes, these strategies take some work up front but will pay dividends for years to come.
One simple marketing strategy done well can yield limitless variations and options:
The Big Strategy: Webinar Series
Turns into…
- Something to announce in networking meetings
- Snippets for social media
- A catalog on YouTube
- Something to invite people to in your email newsletter
- Material for an in-person talk
- Something that can be translated into an article
The Big Strategy: In-depth articles
Turns into…
- Material for blog and newsletter, possibly a larger platform such as Medium.com
- Something to share in a one-on-one meeting or prospect meeting
- Lots of ideas for social media snippets
- Material for a talk
- Material for networking commercials
When you generate core content, you can use it in multiple ways.
It’s vital to choose the big strategy that you enjoy as a healthy challenge, that shows you at your best, and that gets you noticed. Choose wisely, since it becomes your lifestyle for a long time. If you want a guide for this, book a discovery call with me.
3. Be a Pillar of Service in 10-Minutes a Day: A Mindset Shift
You are a leader so it’s important to get into a leadership mindset. Being a pillar of service is not about being boring and unmoving. It starts with celebrating your generosity and your potential to help others.
To achieve this contribution attitude, each of my clients uses the Generosity Practice for 10 minutes a day. Here’s what you focus on:
- Your capacity to change the world and your people for the better
- Your ability to create something out of nothing
- The shear joy you get out of giving
- A life where everybody wins, including you
This is the opposite of giving it all away as a helpful martyr or making it all about you, like certain gurus and influencers. This is an “everybody wins” mindset, and it makes you unstoppable, even after you lost a particular deal or didn’t get that one client.
Instead of letting the ups and downs of running your business leave you bewildered, you become a generative human who makes decisions that positively affect others.
The world is littered with real estate agent marketing plans that never happen. Some agents are overwhelmed or they’re not up to it, since it takes courage to stand out. You can decide if you want to be on fire to help people. You can decide that in 10 minutes.
4. Handle the Basics
This might seem obvious, but several of my seasoned real estate clients were overlooking some golden opportunities. Here is a friendly reminder of the basics of your marketing plan.
- Regular networking (i.e. joining one or more networking groups)
- A website
- A Facebook Business page
- A LinkedIn page
- An email newsletter service
- Business cards
- Regular meetings with referral partners and industry colleagues
This is the marketing foundation for everything to stand on. With a lineup like this, you can reach new prospects online and in person, and cultivate a relationship with them.
The Bottom Line on Marketing as a Real Estate Agent
In order to get great listings and great buyers consistently, you need to show up consistently as a compelling expert to your wider business community. This is easier than you think!
Consistency can be challenging, which is why it’s helpful to look at marketing as a lifestyle, because honestly, when will you need to stop marketing? Probably never! Wouldn’t it be powerful to create a marketing plan that played to your strengths, that was fun, and that got you buyers and sellers? You are a tremendous and vital resource to your clients! Now it’s time to show your prospects and referral partners how you are the best guide for their real estate transactions.
Christina Frei works with real estate agents to become compelling experts and get great clients. Book a 30-Minute Discovery Session here.
Check out her a self-study approach to these 4 steps, if you enjoy working on your own.
