Every real estate agent is self-employed no matter what they tell you. Working in the real estate industry has great rewards and benefits but it can also be very challenging and risky at the same time. Most real estate brokers don’t just sell houses, they also focus on real estate marketing strategies, business development, lead generation, networking, accounting, agent management, and team growth. At the end of the day, you aim to provide a great service for your customers and make a decent living yourself.
As a digital marketing professional with over 10 years of experience in real estate photography and understanding the local real estate industry, I am often asked… “When should I hire digital marketing help to generate more business?” There is no one-size-fits-all answer … However, there are some great guidelines to think about when you are contemplating if it’s time pay someone to handle your real estate marketing strategy. Before getting into some helpful tips, Let me remind you that real estate will always be a face-to-face, high-trust industry. Your marketing needs to be personal. Thus, it needs to sound like your voice and reflect your approach to working with clients — whether informal, full of data, or the other reasons people use you as their agent.
With that said, here are some reasons you should hire a professional for your real estate marketing.
1. YOU ARE LOOKING TO ENHANCE YOUR MARKETING
You are a business owner and real estate expert, not a digital marketing guru. While you can learn a lot about SEO, content marketing, social media strategies or other ways to drive traffic and customers to your website, it’s likely that digital marketing is not your main area of expertise. When you reach the point in your business where you are considering marketing help, you ask yourself what the best use of your time and talents are. Even if you love doing the work with your real estate marketing plan and become pretty good at it, if you are able to hire an expert either as a consultant or full-time with your business, it may be smart.
2. YOU ARE LOOKING TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS FASTER
If your income and business strategy is sustainable and you are ready to take it to the next level, you’ll need more hands on deck. The effort that got you this far, will not likely get you to where you want to be unless you have help. You’ll need new processes, new ways of thinking, and new skills to take it to that next level. You need to decide what your time is worth and how much you want or need your brand to progress. When growth is paramount, you need assistance. If you’re ready to grow your business much bigger than it is at the moment, it’s time to hire help.
3. MARKETING EFFORTS TAKES TOO MUCH TIME
If you are working the business the right way… YOU ARE BUSY! You are responsible for business development, customer service and fulfillment, marketing planning and execution, payroll management and more. That can be lots of responsibility on your plate and it’s tempting to let marketing fall to the wayside. The goal of using a professional marketing expert is to free up your time so you can focus on the things that really matter by eliminating the time consuming tasks that someone else could quicker and more cost effectively than you can. They also have a better knowledge of the industry in terms of understanding how to get the most return for your marketing dollars.
4. EXPAND YOUR MARKETING & CREATIVE STRATEGIES
Even professionals who are very good at their craft eventually come to the point where they are not sure what to do next. If you reach the point where you struggle to identify effective means to improve your real estate lead generation, client conversion, and bottom line, it’s time to find someone to help you. With the growth of online technologies and social media platforms, there are literally hundreds of online avenues to generate business and capitalize on local trends. An effective real estate marketing professional can help you identify these trends and tap into them.
5. HELPING TO BOOST YOUR REAL ESTATE MARKETING
As a seasoned marketing consultant, sometimes I feel like a Psychiatrist. People only come to see me when they have issues. Some people are good about their twice-yearly brain storming sessions just like some people are proactive in their marketing and keep a marketer either on staff or they just reach out to me. If your growth has gone backwards and you don’t know why, it’s time to hire an expert to help you diagnose the issue, put together a strategy to bring your business back to its former levels, and then help you further advance your business.
6. HIRING A REAL ESTATE MARKETING PROFESSIONAL
If you’re not familiar with modern marketing techniques and approaches, you might not know the questions to ask a marketing services provider to gauge if they’re a good fit for you or your company. The first decision you need to make is whether you should hire someone full-time or as a part-time consultant/contractor to help you. This is both a personal and business decision, depending on the kind of company you want to run. Begin your search by asking colleagues in your industry if they’ve worked with a marketing consultant or agency and who they would recommend. Then, search for marketing firms and pros that specialize in real estate marketing. It’s important to find someone with expert knowledge in both the housing industry, your local market, and digital marketing trends that are successful in today’s industry.