While you are giving your home and office a thorough cleaning, here at iHOUSE we’d like to encourage you to dust the cobwebs off your marketing plan as well.
By June, many of those New Year’s resolutions may have been long retired. Maybe you meant to get organized or to expand that contact list but you never really got around to it. Well, summer is the time to start anew. The following are a few suggestions as to how to breathe new life into your existing marketing.
- Make it a habit to start asking both new and old contacts how they heard about you. This is a quick and easy way to evaluate your marketing. What is working? What is not?
- Take another look your marketing materials such as post cards, emails, and advertising. Is your message engaging? Does it call your visitors to action? Is your contact information outdated?
- Consider adding something that is regularly updated, like a newsletter, to your marketing plan. This is a good way to make sure you are reaching your contacts with fresh information.
- Touch base with old contacts every so often using a new angle or message. Maybe their situation has changed and they are now looking for a different type of property.
- Take a look at your website. If it has been more than a few weeks since you edited your website, you are losing valuable leads that you could easily compel to stay longer on your site. Be sure to keep the content on your site updated and accurate. It sends a bad message about your business if your site has inaccurate information or broken links.
- Point people to your website. Today’s homebuyers are familiar with technology and are used to being able to look things up online. Many potential clients might want to check out your site before discussing business. Placing your web address in your email signatures, on your signage, voicemail, and on any ads you may place will make it easier to find.
- Check out your traffic analyzer (currently available on both iHOUSE and Spotlight websites). Note which pages are more popular than others. If one or two of your pages are getting the majority of the traffic, then modify other pages to be more engaging, or spice up the most-frequented pages to ensure maximum lead capture.
- Be sure to ask for referrals. Don’t burn any bridges with past customers; follow up with them periodically so you stay top of mind. You should never be afraid to ask former clients for referrals if you have worked hard for them. Referrals are the #1 source of leads for many agents. (iHOUSE Marketing Benchmark Survey supports this data). Be sure to keep track of any referral leads you get so you can continue to build your contact list.
The bottom line is that we’re halfway through 2007 and it’s time to look back at your marketing for the year so you can not only see how your marketing is working for you, but also find out what you can do to improve even more! We’re happy to help – take a FREE Test Drive of any of our products and see if you think they can help you achieve your marketing goals.