The Cost of Being An Agent: What You MUST Include In Your Real Estate Marketing Budget (Plus Free Download!)

There’s no shortage of advice about how you should be spending your real estate marketing budget. But it’s simply not possible to put your dollars towards all of these resources.

We all deal with limited budgets on top of limited time, so today we’re going to explore the top 3 marketing tools every agent must have in their arsenal for success.

Before you read on, do a little brainstorming yourself.

Estimate your monthly real estate marketing budget and then answer this question:

If you could only invest in 3 marketing tools to grow your business, what would they be?

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..

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Have your answers?

Then it’s time to read on!

So, whether your monthly real estate marketing budget is $50 or $500…

Here are the top 3 marketing tools MUST-HAVES for any real estate marketing budget.

Let’s go!

Facebook Ads

One of the most powerful lead generation tools currently available for real estate agents is:

Facebook ads.

NOT posting to your business page.

NOT boosting your posts to get social engagement.

But going into the Ads Manager, and creating targeted conversion ads to generate real leads. Here’s an example:

Facebook gives you powerful targeting options like “likely to move” and “house hunting” that allow you to put relevant ads in front of people who are actively interested in buying or selling real estate.

If you’re not using Facebook ads to get more leads online, you’re missing a huge opportunity!

How much you invest in Facebook retargeting ads and campaigns is up to you, but no matter your budget this needs to be one of your top strategies.

Plus, the more you refine your ad and audience specifications, the less money you’ll need to invest each time to get leads.

Do you know how much it costs per view on one Facebook video ad?

$.02

TWO CENTS!

Yup, for two pennies someone will view your video, see your face, and now know what you can do for them.

Email Marketing

If you haven’t already, it’s time to invest in email marketing.

You need to start sending value-driven email sequences.

It’s common for agents to use the email tools provided by their brokerage to send leads updated lists of homes.

But does that equal value?

NO.

Your prospects can literally access that information anywhere.

And they probably are.

So, your email just becomes more junk clogging up their inbox.

Your emails, like your social and blog content, should set you apart from the competition.

To do this, you need to deliver in-depth knowledge about your local market.

Because this is the stuff that Zillow or any other large portal won’t have access to.

This is what distinguishes you as a neighborhood expert.

Sending regular emails that link to valuable and interesting content is one of the best ways to establish authority and build trust with leads over time.

Here is a list of ideas for your drip sequences:

Real Estate Email Blast Ideas

• New Restaurant Reviews
• Neighborhood Reviews
• New Listings
• Open House Schedules
• Big Personal Family Events (Kids, etc)
• Big Town Events

So, what email marketing tool should you use to create this value?

We did a full review of 6 of our favorites: 6 Real Estate Email Marketing Tools To Grow Your Production.

Our top recommendation to start out is Mailchimp.

When it comes to automating a few emails, Mailchimp is simply the easiest platform to use. And you’ll most likely fall into their free plan.

The best part about using Mailchimp is probably their drag-and-drop design platform. You’re simply able to create great-looking emails in just seconds.

Here’s what it looks like:

You’re also able to create really easy drip sequences with Mailchimp. Look at this menu for their automation program:

Overall, it should be really easy to integrate Mailchimp with your real estate marketing programs.  You can put people on to automated paths when they sign up on your website. Or you can manually move people around.

The nice thing about Mailchimp is that it has a lot of integrations. You can use them if you have a LeadSite. Or if you just have some landing pages. Almost every type of online lead capture integrates with their platform.

Here’s how to use Mailchimp with our Paths App

Webhosting

Finally, you MUST have a website!

You have to invest in a website to secure your future success.

And not just any site…

A kick-ass site that will attract traffic and get you qualified leads.

No matter what your real estate marketing budget is, this has to be a priority.

Otherwise, what good are the other tools?

All the social proof and traction you build on Facebook and leads you to capture via email are worthless if you’ve got nowhere to send them.

Now, without any offense intended, the site your brokerage provides is likely to be generic at best.

Generic does not get leads.

The design will be out of date and most likely lack the smart marketing tools that actually get you leads through your real estate website.

Your site needs tools like:

• Landing pages
• Pop-Ups
• Blogging
• Social Share Shortcuts
• Automatic Text Message Followup
• Smart Contact Forms

If your website isn’t equipped with these lead-generating tools, you’re already falling behind.

FREE Ways To Boost Your Rep And Get More Referrals

Once you’ve got these necessary tools locked into your real estate marketing budget, you can pad your resources with lots of free activities to increase your credibility and land more referrals.

Here are 4 tips from our main man, Tyler Zey, to build credibility in your niche for FREE!

1. Learn The Market

It’s really important to understand everything there is to know about your real estate market. Sure, you can fake it to a certain point. But eventually, a lack of cold-hard knowledge will get to you. You can do this by reading articles, keeping up with local news, watching trends in similar cities, and most importantly writing. Why writing you ask? Because it’s easy to ‘think’ you know something. But when you have to write about it, you gain a completely different level of understanding. Plus, you’ll have a blog that proves your knowledge to anyone online. The perfect win-win!

2. Find Your Opening

After several weeks of reading, you’ll start to find an opening or niche in the market.  This could be a specific area, neighborhood, type of property, or anything really.  The key here is to find something you love. And then pursue it with everything you know. My biggest mistake is always trying to go to wide with my opening. You really should try to pick an opening that is smaller than you are comfortable with.

3. Make Connections

Next, find the top influential people in that area. Make a list of 50 of them and start getting their contact information. Then, take them out for coffee and follow up with them similar to the 33-touch system. Finally, add them on LinkedIn and other social networks. Make these people realize your expertise in the area!

4. Be Everywhere People Look

Finally, the internet is full of information. There are tons of places to look for answers to your questions.  But there is one key feature. Most neighborhoods or cities have very specific areas where they post. You can find them through simple Google searches.  For example, if you find people in your city posting on Yelp. Go to Yelp and start a few posts.

Keeping your eyes peeled and posting useful information is a great way to outshine other Realtors everywhere. You can easily become a dominant player in the market and be trusted by many people through just a few posts a week.

Check out Tyler’s full guide to Outshine The Competition: Real Estate Marketing With Zero Budget.

Are you a LeadSite user? Join our Facebook group to connect with agents like you. You can also post your questions there and you might just see one answered on EAP TV!

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Tyler Zey

Hey! I'm Tyler with Easy Agent Pro! We provide top notch marketing content for realtors... And we do it for FREE! I get excited about sharing tactics and strategies that can be implemented TODAY.

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