Promotions and Sweepstakes for your Real Estate Business

Having managed many interactive programs for Fortune 50 companies, I know first-hand how sweepstakes and promotions have proven to be tremendously successful for organizations in meeting a variety of objectives. In real estate, there are fun and effective ways you can implement these tactics to engage your past clients or generate leads and referrals.

There are several things to consider to ensure your bases are covered when looking to run a sweepstakes or promotion. Read this article for a full list of considerations: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-sweepstakes/

Communicating who you are to attract your desired clientele

The agents at my company, benefit from associating themselves with the #1 real estate company in the world – RE/MAX. They’ve consciously chosen to be part of the company for one reason or another. Whether it be the brand, the training, the broker him/herself or the commission splits.

What I do try to continue to impress upon our agents, is that you must define who you are beyond your brand. The fact is, you’re working in the same communities as many other real estate agents. No matter what company you hold your license with, your personal brand should be defined and communicated.

The fact is, there IS enough room for all of us, in any community. And you shouldn’t dislike someone because they have chosen the same field of work as you. I had a wonderful chat over lunch with a friend about just that — the truth is, not everyone will get along with you, like your personality or work style, or benefit from your strengths.

Instead, as an established agent, it’s more important to define who you are and work with the people that will benefit most from your services the most.

How do you go about doing that?

1. Define your business

As a real estate agent, you’re in the business of selling homes. Take that a step further…what kind of homes (new construction, short sales and foreclosures, luxury)

2. Define your strengths and weaknesses

Are you detail-oriented? Do you know real estate law like the back of your hand? Are you great with staging and getting homes ready to sell? Are you a home marketing guru?

3. Determine what you like about your career? And what you don’t like.

Don’t promote yourself as doing the least favorite part of your career. Do you despise working with first-time home buyers because they take too long to make a decision? Do you like working with luxury homes and have a knack for speaking their language?

4. How would past clients describe you?

Are you quick on your feet, witty, smart, devoted? Use those words in your brand statement to set you apart.

Using these tips, get started on defining your brand.

An example of a great brand statement might be:

Sonya Fox: A detailed and professional real estate agent with over 10 years in the industry, providing seamless transactions and a memorable experience  for luxury buyers in the southeast metro.

Once you’ve got a brand statement, you can create a shorter tagline and even a logo to further communicate your business to your clientele. Happy selling!

Real Estate Marketing Online

Taking information from each of the top real estate websites regarding their unique visits, along with information from “Real Estate Tech Trends” by Properties Online, Inc. I compiled this infographic.

I would have loved to included greater information about each of the top real estate sites and what differentiates their audiences, but there are not yet, enough distinguishable demographics in audience type. Stay tuned as further research about each site is released!

Promotional Products

Check out the lasting impact and impressions gained from promotional products. Perhaps it’s something you can consider for your business!

Partnerships in Real Estate?

As Realtors, each is essentially their own small business…that’s a lot of small businesses all working towards the same things, referrals, generating new business, developing and brand and positive reputation – being the “go-to” expert. When you think of other small businesses, they have the same goals, and in most cases, a loyal following/customer base. 

Think of a place like Cupcake, with two locations in the Twin Cites. The newest one opened at the Mall of America. As a small, non-chain restaurant, they have a loyal following as well as enough brand awareness to continue to drive new traffic into their shops. Exactly what each of us hopes for our real estate business.

My advice is to determine your niche and find like businesses that are non-competing and share your customer bases. Is your niche first-time home buyers or are they luxury home buyers? That clientele will frequent different places. Make a list of those locations and think about ways to partner with them to grow your own base.

Reasons to Partner

1. Build Credibility

Associating yourself with other brands that have a strong reputation, builds your brand. Think Crest plus Scope.

2. Gain Reach

Think of all of those consumers that frequent Cupcake. They could be potential new clients of yours. And they already love Cupcake. They’ll think…If you do too, you’re bound to get along great.

3. It’s a Win-Win

What does a place like Cupcake get out of letting you promote within their store? Let me count the ways! You’ll promote a unique offer to your entire database, encouraging your clients to go to Cupcake. You’ll post on social media, those same unique offers. You’ll encourage people to attend their events, you’ll help them announce sales and new products, the list goes on. Just make sure the win-win you’re proposing makes sense for their business and yours.

Closing remarks:

Keep in mind partnerships are more than just posting your business card on their bulletin board. It’s showing a unique preference and relationship between your brands. Perhaps you’re having an open house – at the open house, you’re giving away a gift certificate to your selected partner, in exchange of them promoting your open house.

ACTIVATION of that partnership is key.