Does Internet Marketing for Real Estate Work Anymore?
Like most real estate professionals, you are probably ready to put 2008 completely behind you and do great things in 2009 with your real estate business. This is easier said than done of course, but it all starts with confidence in your experience that has helped you weather the storm of ‘08 and, more importantly, a solid marketing strategy that will act as your backbone for the upcoming year.
Hopefully you are one of the wise REALTOR® who has already laid out your marketing plan for this year, or at least the next 6 months. If you are, than this post is more geared for you. If not, then we recommend that you stop everything else you are doing and spend some time planning out your real estate marketing strategy as you have some work to do. If you are planning on going through 2009 blindly again or sticking to your tired, ineffective marketing plan then you very well may not be in this industry come this time next year. We saw it happen to many REALTOR® this past year and with the market being as tough as it has been we would not be surprised to see more experience the same fate.
Let’s focus on those of you who have come to realize that marketing is vital, specifically online marketing. By now, as a REALTOR®, you should understand that if you do not have a strong presence on the internet then your prospective clients are being poached by those who do. If you are still questioning this, then we suggest reading why internet marketing for real estate is more important than ever.
Does Internet Marketing for Real Estate Work Anymore?
The answer is, you should know. One of our predictions for 2009 is that online marketers and agencies will be required to deliver an actual, measurable ROI on their marketing campaigns. Whether you are doing your own internet marketing or having a company do it for you, knowing the return on your marketing / advertising is crucial. As long as your ads are generating new customers for equal or less than what you are spending on marketing / advertising, then you should be buying / doing as much of it as possible.
The inspiration for this article actually came from the marketing guru, Seth Godin, who addressed this exact question of "Do Ads Work?". He uses Amazon.com has his example; a company that has become one of the best businesses to learn something from when it comes to marketing / advertising.
Your strategy should be just like Amazon’s - if ads are generating customers for the same or less than the cost of your advertising than you should buy / do as much as possible.
The real estate will be as good or as bad as you make it. Other REALTOR® seem to do fine in any market and so can you. If you don’t know where to start or just need to brush up on some new methods or ideas then feel free to email us at [mail_to email="[email protected]"][email protected][/mail_to]
