As a real estate agent, your marketing budget will depend entirely on your income, and the resources you have at your disposal. Most suggest you spend about 10% of your commission income on marketing.
Marketing is very important as a real estate agent because it's how most agents earn clients, so agents need to budget for this!
What Budget Works for YOU
Before you spend a dime on pay-per-click ads or a flashy new website, find out exactly how much you’re working with. Figuring out your budget is important and thankfully, easy.
Take note of:
- Your average commission on sales
- The average final sales price of the homes you sell
- The number of transactions you conduct in each quarter and year
If you had a particularly good year last year, it isn’t necessarily a sure thing about the future (but cross your fingers).
Try to balance the marketing budget you wish you had with the amount you’re willing to spend. Find a happy medium, and you’ll have a solid number to work with.
Create A Marketing Strategy
Are you hiring a company? Doing it all "in-house"? Either way is great, but let's figure out a direction. Next, it's time to decide if you want to focus mainly on social media, ads, or your website? Dividing financial resources up around all your other resources is a great idea. See what sticks, and then give more funding to that. For example, your social media takes off? It's time to upgrade Facebook ads, etc.
Think outside the box, too! Don't just focus on mailer ads or Facebook ads. Consider sponsoring a local high school team and ending up in a school's program or having a banner in a gym. Local parents take note of such things. Or how about doing something with a local coffee shop? Think local first, then get global!
Digital marketing like organic social media engagement, content marketing, and a website are relatively inexpensive. There are also plenty of low-cost advertising options available online. Pay-per-click marketing campaigns can be targeted by region and behavioral demographic.
Another option is to invest in an all-in-one real estate agent CRM that has many of these things included, like a website and a social media management platform. This type of software can grant you access to multiple marketing tools that would normally be out of reach on a tight budget.
Bottom Line
Whatever budget you decide, whatever strategy you go with - make sure it works for you! So, it's important to feel good about the direction of your marketing budget. Also, consider that some methods may need some time work. As always, be ready to pivot at a moments notice if something begins to "work".
Get ready to field calls and leads - your marketing will pay off!
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