I promised you that I’d concentrate on marketing in my blog. So here goes! This first blog is both for the newer real estate investor and for those that have been investing for years. You new RE investors will find this out and the experienced investor already know this… behind every successful real estate investor is an effective marketing campaign.
Marketing is all about using effective strategies to fill your pipeline with high-quality leads. Over the last few decades, I’ve had the pleasure of listening closely to the indubitable Dan Kennedy, one of America’s most popular marketers. If you don’t know Dan’s work, Google him and buy his books. You’ll be better because of it. I’ve learned a TON of great marketing strategies because of Dan. Here are some concepts that I learned from the master.
All marketing is about 3 core components. The 3 M’s. #1 – Market. #2 – Message. #3 – Media.
• Market – You have to know your market before you create your message and determine which media to use. The biggest mistake most entrepreneurs make is not knowing their target market. Who is your avatar? If you don’t know this business term, your avatar is your perfect, ideal client. Real estate investors ideal client is someone that owns a house and is highly motivated to sell it quickly. This avatar is perfect for flippers, wholesalers and long-term investors that want to buy homes at a discount. So, what are your avatar’s demographics? You have to ask these questions. What is their gender? Their income level? Their field of employment? Where do they live? What is their preferred language? What type of entertainment do they like? Who are their favorite sports teams? Do they have children? What do they read? You have to know your target market’s likes, dislikes and pain points to be able to market to them effectively. Your research into these categories is going to help you not only target the right customer, but also help you shape the right message and use the right media.
This is where Google, your county records, contractors, real estate agents and title reps come in handy. Each will have their own special knowledge to help you determine the marketing methods you need to use to reach your avatar for the least amount of money.
Even though motivated sellers make up the majority of who you want to market to, you have to determine which market sub-niche you want to pursue to help you decide both your message and media. Are you going after divorce homeowners, probates, expired listings, FSBO’s (For Sale By Owner), realtor referrals, contractor referrals, network referrals or others. Each sub-niche has it’s own avatar and you have to know who that is to ensure your marketing dollars are most effective.
• Message – The message you send a Baby Boomer will not be the same message you’d send to a Gen Z (born 1997-2012). The language is totally different and so is the tone. “Like dude! How’s it hangin? You been chillin?” Ask this to a Baby Boomer banking executive and they’ll be gone. The same thing applies as to whether your market is male or female, wealthy or broke, a slow talking southerner or fast-talking New Yorker. Once again, do surveys and see what kind of language they use. I’m sure you’ve heard of ‘mirroring’, right? If not, it simply means you need to reflect the speech pattens, tone, speed and body language of the person you’re talking with. If they are kicked back, relaxing in a soft chair as you do your Zoom meeting and you’re ramrod straight, arms crossed and looking straight-laced, you’re not mirroring your customer. Your message needs to mirror them in copy or video as much as possible. If you don’t know their demeanor, ask them in an email survey.
• Media – Old school advertising said that big corporations should spend ad dollars across multiple media in the hopes that the ‘shotgun’ approach would work. U.S. retail magnate John Wanamaker once said, “Half of my advertising spend is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.” This was back in the day when television, radio, magazines and newspapers were the dominant media sources. Today, with the influence of AI and social media, smart marketing experts can narrow down the right media to reach your perfect avatar. If you’ve studied AI like I have, you’d be both astounded and a bit frightened by how focused media marketing can be these days.
Most real estate investors don’t use old school media any more. Newspapers, magazines, radio and television are rather outdated for the sophisticated REI marketer. The digital world has reshaped the media chooses over the last 20 or so years. These days, smart RE investors are advertising on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Twitter. Naturally, you’re asking, “Hey Chasen, which one do you suggest?” My answer… “It depends.” I don’t know who your avatar is, but if you’re like many successful RE investors, you’ll invest your media spend in this order.
#1 – Facebook ads
#2 – Instagram
#3 – Linkedin
#4 – Youtube
#5 – Twitter
You have to know where your avatar hangs out online (Market) to know where to put your ad dollars (Media). Here are some recent stats for a few of the most popular online platforms.
Facebook – Facebook has a worldwide user population of 2.8 billion. India is it’s largest player with 350 million users. The US has 198 million. 73% login daily. The largest age group in Facebook is the 25-34 years old millennials. Mobile use is 57 minutes a day. The highest usage times are Wednesday and Thursday from 11am-2pm. The good news about Facebook advertising is that you can fine tune your customers to zip codes, gender, likes, dislikes, occupation and many other categories. Facebook ad fees have risen over the last few years, but its still pretty affordable and delivers a decent ROI.
Instagram – Over 1.2 worldwide users. 141 million U.S. users, Age group 25-34 are its top users. 600 million views daily. 43% are college grads, in U.S., 61% of its members use it daily.
Linkedin -771 million users worldwide, 198 million in the U.S., 57% are men, 47% use it monthly, 57% of traffic is mobile, 51% are college grads, 60.1% of age group 25-34 are members.
Youtube – 2nd largest search engine, just behind Google (who owns Youtube), 51% use it daily, 73% of age group 36-45 use YT, 56% are men, over 1 billion viewing hours per day, 41.2% use on mobile.
Twitter– 302 million worldwide users, 38.5% of U.S. age group use Twitter, 51% use daily, 80% of tweets are created by just 10% of users, 41% earn household income of $75k or more.
I hope these stats help you determine which online platform(s) to use. If you need more information, Google is your friend.
Is marketing important to your real estate investing business? Absolutely! You’ll find that the most successful investors have marketing plans that are laser focused and produce great ROI. It’s always better to have too many quality leads to work with than sitting by your phone waiting for an unmotivated seller to call you from a misplaced Bandit sign.
Marketing Makes Millionaires. ™
© Chasen Chess 2020, REI Marketing Success