Estate agents guilty of dumping content

Mistakes in Estate Agency Marketing No.24

I am often asked to review agent’s press releases, mailers, flyers, blogs, adverts etc, many of which understandably focus on several excellent aspects of that agency’s service. It might be key points such as their great negotiating skills, virtual tours, professional photography, customer reviews, accompanied viewings, opening hours, low void period, training, awards or a host of other attributes that supposedly make them look good.

It’s good to see how proud these agents are of their service and successes, and I passionately believe in being generous with content, comment, advice, and opinion. However, it is SUCH A WASTE simply to dump them all into one article, flyer, advert, social media contribution or blog, for the following reasons:

Do you really think that anyone is that interested in everything you do? It’s like starting a relationship – it would be crazy to try to impress someone simply by listing all the things you think are good about you!
Each marketing piece needs to create impact. By attempting to promote everything in one place you promote nothing, as each attribute gets lost in the noise of the others.
Most important of all, by shooting your load at once, you immediately lose the opportunity to drip feed individually impressive nuggets to your target audience over a period of time (see my last articles about “bunching”).

The idea is to brain-wash your public! This needs to be done strategically so that people regularly see or hear something else about you that they did not know before, reinforced by the one key message that sets you apart (eg the “family house specialist”, “the listening agent”, the “fast agent”, the “tech agent”, the “upmarket agent”, the “buy to let agent”, the “we live locally agent”). This message should be indicative of your style and add meaning to your brand, but please don’t unnecessarily camouflage this with other stuff. Let each piece stand on its own merit and, bit by bit, you’ll find that you are able to convey the colour and deep, distinctive character of your agency, of which you are no doubt rightly proud.

Also, each piece should be an article/blog about the problems that your solutions solve in context, not the solution themselves in isolation. For example, you can afford to scare people with a piece about the things that can go wrong in managing a chain of linked transactions, whilst subtly showcasing your excellent sales progression services.

This is the nature of a more sophisticated approach to contemporary estate agency marketing. The vast majority of estate agents who bother to market their agency proactively at all often appear to do so in such a desperate bid for business that they fire off in all directions, effectively using an underpowered blunderbuss when they should really be using a powerful rifle designed for the job in hand.

Please let me know if you’d like a hand with your own estate agency marketing content. I have some great material for you (exclusively, subject to your area being available) that is designed to deliver consistent brand awareness, stimulate curiosity, enhance your reputation and prompt instruction enquiries. Request a proposal HERE.