What to Do in the First 3 Months

Execute Your Marketing Plan

Your primary goal within the first few months of your real estate career is to build awareness of your services in your target market. The most effective way to do this on a limited budget (with between $2,000 and $5,000 to spend on marketing), according to industry experts, is to conduct repeated mailings of a single, strong marketing brochure to your target market.

Once you’ve developed a Personal Marketing Plan and a budget, here are tips on how to execute your plan:

• Decide how large your target market is. You need to know how many marketing pieces you need.
  
• Work with a designer and copywriter to help you develop your brochure. To find these professionals, ask other small businesses in your area for leads on whom they use, local printers, a college advertising department, and the Internet. Ask for estimates. And review them carefully to see what they include. Ask how many drafts they’ll allow under the original charge? Is photography needed and is it included in the cost? Is the estimate made on a set number of hours or on the project? Allow at least two weeks for copy and two weeks for design. When everything is done to your satisfaction, sign off on the final copy.
  
• Have brochures printed. This will usually take two weeks, but get a definite commitment date from your printer. Ask your designer to monitor the printing to avoid any problems.
  
• Develop mailing lists for your brochure. Preprint envelopes or labels so that you’ll be ready to mail when the brochure is ready. Order envelopes and stationery if you need them for your mailing.
  
• Mail your brochure to your mailing list, which should include your family and friends. Then mail 10 brochures per day into your farm area (the area you want to target). If you don't have a farm, send your brochure to 10 names from the reverse directory (a directory that if you have a street address gives you the name of the person who lives there.) Also, hand out 10 brochures per day to people you meet. Always have your brochures ready to give out. If you eat out, put your tip on top of your brochure when you leave.
  
• Evaluate the results of your mailing. How many responses did you get? What groups responded most favorably? How many responses converted into referrals, listings, or sales? Keeping track of the responses helps you to determine which marketing efforts result in the most buying and selling clients so you know where you should be spending your marketing efforts and dollars for the best return.