Share marketing ideas lean times

ORLANDO, Fla. – Nov. 19, 2008 – A market downturn is not the time to cut your marketing, even if your budget is looking leaner than a runway model. It’s critical that you maintain visibility.

Three top real estate professionals shared secrets for marketing on a shoestring budget during the recent National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Conference & Expo in Orlando.

Free advertising. Terry Miller, of Coldwell Banker Bain Associates in Seattle, recently put a listing on the classified ad site Craigslist and quickly generated a sale. “And it cost me absolutely nothing,” she said. Miller has now asked her personal assistant to put her listings on every free Web site.

Just-sold cards. Alicia Trevino, of Alicia Trevino, Realtors, in Mesquite, Texas, is taking a more old-fashioned approach: Hanging “just sold” cards on doors. “They cost just two cents apiece,” Trevino said, yet they continue to prove enormously effective in generating calls because few other practitioners are actively marketing in her market. “It gives people the perception I’m the only one out there selling houses.”

Blogging for business. Sharon Simms of Simms Team at RE/MAX Metro in St. Petersburg, Fla., took up blogging for the first time, writing about her market, and is already getting noticed. She’s already received referrals.

Google tools. Session moderator Haley Hwang, a rookie sales associate with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Glenview, Ill., impresses clients by recording everything she’s doing to market a house and everything she plans to do. She puts the information online using free Web software called Google Calendar, and makes the calendar accessible to her clients.

There was one piece of advice all of the speakers agreed on: Market downturns are not the time to skimp on marketing. It’s smart to create a marketing “safety net” with a six-month reserve of marketing expenditures, so you can maintain visibility even when business is slow.

They also said Realtors should focus marketing dollars on the Web, where you get more exposure for less money.

Source: NAR, Robert Freedman

© 2008 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

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