Marketing Strategies for Dummies?

[Bart Charkow]

Hey all!  Quick synopsis of my background; contractor for ten years as well as six years of estimating multi-million dollar construction projects.  In addition to this, I have been investing in residential properties for the last three years having closed approximately twelve deals and have two currently on the market and three in the works.

Having said all of that, I struggled with finding these deals.  It took a lot of legwork (common practice and not afraid of it) to get these properties however I found that more seasoned investors have a much easier time in finding these deals.  Most of the investors I work closely with have simply networked over the years and created a book of business.  I, unfortunately, have not networked as well.

Long story short (or so you thought), I am looking to understand the best/worst techniques in marketing for real estate.  I am looking to market directly to homeowners either looking to sell (free and clear), in foreclosure (short sale) or estates.  I have absolutely no idea what marketing strategies work and what don't.  I am willing to invest anywhere between $2-$3K a month for approximately three months for a marketing campaign but I have absolutely NO idea where to begin.  I am looking to do anything/everything (social media campaigns, EDDM, email blasts, etc.).

Can someone fill me in on what works and what I should avoid, what I should look into,  and any marketing agencies that I may benefit from, etc?  I am a sponge, soak me.  I am on Long Island, New York.  Thanks in advance!

[Ken Breeze]

Hey @Bart Charkow

Right off the bat, I'll say I'm not a fan of old school marketing strategies anymore. As much as I love design and paper and print and the touchy-feely stuff, digital is king. Why? Because it's faster, yields results is extremely targeted and cheaper.

@Jerryll Noorden has a lot of good points and I agree that SEO plays a major role in getting you leads, but SEO is not the best or only strategy - there are a few ways to go about getting leads, and every one of them is applicable and has its strengths.

As you can see Jerryll is using a platform that helps you generate leads. The problem is that there is a cost and a learning curve with any platform and it takes a lot of time and continued effort to do what needs to be done. So the question becomes quickly: do you want to keep doing everything marketing yourself or do you want to do what every business that wants to grow beyond their glass ceiling does: focus on making decisions that grow your business, not working in your business on all ends.

Back to marketing. There are two ways of getting closer to your goals: fast and slow. Both strategies have their reasoning. SEO and blogging take time. You can build these up alongside your weekly and daily activities, but it needs to be done consistently and won't help you in the beginning - it takes a few months to start to stick with the web crawlers and people you're trying to reach. I recommend outsourcing the SEO part since you need to focus on your passion for working on, not in your business.

That is why I am a huge fan of Facebook advertising: Facebook is immediate & cheaper than most other marketing strategies. People are on Facebook and other social media channels 24/7/365 and thus they WILL see your ad if they have, in your case, expressed interest in selling or buying a home. People share everything about their lives all day long, so they are guaranteed to say something about it. And when someone expresses interest in selling or buying, Facebook knows it all: the chatter, the keywords, the demographics, everything.

It's not as a shotgun approach like yellow letters, which I stay away from because conversion rates are terrible. And since you're looking for leverage, you're not wasting your time knocking on doors and cold calling people that aren't even interested.

Feel free to contact with me with any more questions.

Cheers, Ken ;-)