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Holiday Season Debate? Should We Stop Marketing or Continue Marketing…

J. Lamar Ferren
4 min read
Holiday Season Debate? Should We Stop Marketing or Continue Marketing…

Far be it from me to be a debate starter, but I really want your thoughts on this topic. This past week I’ve read 2 interesting post on the BP blog. One from Molly Castelazo giving us Holiday Marketing Tips and another from Jason Hanson telling us to Stop Marketing Now. Which advice should you follow?

After reading both of these blog posts very thoroughly, it seems to be a slight difference of opinion when it comes to marketing during the holidays.

Molly Castelazo’s view:

On one side, we have Molly Castelazo who gives you 5 Ways to Find Real Estate Deals during the holidays. Some of the tips she lays out are subtle, yet have the potential to bring in some deals and help you build relationships with your clients.

Jason Hanson’s view:

On the other side, we have Jason Hanson who warns us to be mindful of the  holidays and to understand that we’d be wasting our money by trying to market  to sellers and buyers while their minds are most likely occupied by what to  get their friends and families for the holidays. He recommends working on something extremely important that I’ll mention in a minute that can help you BIG TIME in 2010.

So who is right?

Well, here is my take on this… If someone says that it’s a great time to get out there and start marketing and another says that it’s a horrible time to start marketing…There is only one way to find out the answer!

You have to TEST it!

This goes back to the story where a friend of mine told me that “He Would  Never Put a Street Signs” because they’re annoying and he thinks that his signs  would just blend in with everyone else’s and would grant him 0 leads. So I said, “Did you ever try it?” and he replied, “Nope and I never will”.

Now at this point I bet you’re wondering…Well If I do decide to “test” this out,  then wouldn’t I need to worry about wasting my money like Jason mentioned? Well it really depends on what type of marketing you do. If you follow the subtle tips that Molly mentions then you aren’t looking at spending a lot of money at all. However, if you’re going to go all out and do some Heavy “Politician Style” marketing, then you may have to put some more “skin in the game”.

With that said we will only know what works when we actually get out there and do it. There’s no reason to assume what will happen or what won’t happen. Crappy Marketing results can happen any time and this would definitely be the time to use low cost methods while going back to the drawing board and re evaluating the more costly methods.

Who I side with and why?

To be honest, I have to side with Molly. I can’t read people’s minds and assume that because this is the Holiday Season that they’ll completely disregard my marketing tactics offering to help sellers and buyers solve a problem. I don’t market to the masses. I’m looking for the one seller or buyer that is facing a problem and they are ready to do something about it today. Now, I won’t be completely ignorant to the holidays. I do notice that there can be a decline in sales volume. However, I think it has just as much to do with the Winter Season as it does the holidays.

With that said, I’ll just incorporate a “Holiday Theme” in my marketing. Maybe I’ll launch a Holiday Property Discount Promotion that is only available during the holiday season (Department stores do it…Why can’t I?). I tried this on Easter and it worked like a charm!  (Leads Galore!)

Now as for spending time with others…

I’m married with three kids, so trust me when I say that I understand that this is the time to spend with your family and friends. However, I think that marketing should continue and if I feel my time isn’t being well shared, then I’ll just outsource it or use less time constraining methods. Family always comes first in my book and they are the reason I do what I do.

Some people rely on real estate as their only source of income. I think they’d see a significant decrease in sales if they stopped marketing all together for an entire month or so. Plus, they’d have to play catch up once January rolls around.

Something Jason, Molly, and can I all agree on…

Now there is something that Jason and Molly mention in both of their posts that can truly have an impact on your business if done properly… I totally agree with this and had to give much credit to Molly and Jason both for mentioning this as one of their key points of what you can do during the holidays.

Develop Your Marketing Plan for 2010!!

Whether you take Jason’s advice and stop marketing all together for the holiday season or take Molly’s advice and keep marketing during the holiday season, the least you should do is start setting some goals for 2010 right now! This will ensure you start your year with a bang! Your marketing plan can contain the key milestones that you want to hit in 2010 and how you will realistically hit those milestones.

No matter whose advice you take, I think you still have a potential to win!

Although I disagreed with part of Jason Hanson’s last post, I have to admit that he is a valuable contributor to BiggerPockets in my opinion. He has a wealth of information to share and I highly suggest you check him out.

Molly Castelazo is very creative and helps others stand apart from the rest.  She is definitely an “outside the box” thinker from what I’ve read and has a wealth of information to share as well. I highly suggest you check her out too.

They’re two Bloggers that I will continue to follow.

To your Success,

J. Lamar Ferren
“New Breed” Investor

Ps. What will you do? Will you “Take a Break” from marketing or will you Keep on Going Strong? Leave a comment below!

PPs. Now that I think about it…When I did my first deal, it was in December. Just a few years back…
My mentor always taught me to finish the year strong and start the next year even stronger. To crucial points in your business! He always says, “How You Start The Year is How The Rest of the Year will follow!”

Photo: terren

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.