How to Thrive in a Shifting Market with a Three-Part Marketing Plan - Part 1

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What's your plan to thrive in today's market and what's to come? While you can't control the market, you can control your marketing! Now more than ever, it's essential that you position yourself as a trusted resource, continue to foster relationships, and attract new customers. Yet, to do that, you need a modern marketing strategy that is doable and will actually make a difference.

And to help you do just that, this week and next week's podcast episodes are extra special as I'm giving you a front-row seat to my recent live training - How to Thrive in a Shifting Market with a 3-Part Marketing Plan. So, let's dive right into this actionable and timely topic!

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Today, we're talking about how to thrive in a shifting market with a three-part marketing plan. And let's be honest, let's start off this conversation and recognize the fact of something we are all dealing with. And that is there is a lot going on in the real estate market. I have been in real estate marketing for a long time, I'm actually getting close to a decade. And I remember the end of 2019 we were looking so forward to 2020. And then 2020 is happening. We all were there - or you might have been there but not in real estate yet. But you know the feeling of 'what was going to happen?' And we didn't know that people were actually going to start buying more real estate and the market was going to be hotter.

And now we're here today, getting ready to actually close out 2022. We have everything going on with interest rates, inflation, demand, inventory is changing - there's a lot going on in the market. And if you're like me, you're probably learning. I know you're learning because you're here today trying to better yourself. So you're learning, you're analyzing, and you're watching predictions. What are those real estate economist saying? Everybody wants to know what's to come? That's the million dollar question. We all want to know what's going to go on in the future so that you can better plan, be more prepared, and take better care of your customers.

But really, we want to know what's to come so that you can continue to be successful with your business. But the thing is, we cannot control the real estate market. There are going to be ups, downs, and a lot going on that is totally out of your control. You can't control what's going on with inflation, mortgage rates, or buyer demand.

But what you can control is your marketing. You are in absolute complete control of your marketing, how you show up every day, how you take that dedication and pour it into your business, how you position yourself for success, and more importantly, how you proactively leverage marketing in your business. That is going to be key.

Today, I'm going to help you focus, because there's so much moving and going on, and I'm going to help you narrow that focus. 

Because when it comes to real estate marketing I have done it all - from your traditional sales techniques to things like postcards, lead nurturing, and cold leads. I've also done all the digital marketing, all the social media, marketing, content, video, everything that you can think of - I've experimented with it all so you don't have to. And I continue to test and try things out to figure out what works so that you can be the most efficient with your time. And today, I'm sharing my best practices so you can thrive. 

Today's Real Estate Market and Customer: A Helpful Exercise

So let's begin with today's market and customer. One exercise that I like to do when it comes to real estate marketing is to pretend I'm not in real estate. Instead, pretend you're somebody who has no real estate background and head to Google. Recently, I went to Google and typed in 'Florida Real Estate Market' because I'm here in the Orlando area and I want to see what people are seeing. Because when people have questions, they might not be going to you (yet!). Instead, they're heading to Google and they're talking to their friends. And it's important that we know the questions they're having and the information they're getting back because it can be very surprising. 

So for the Florida real estate market, here are some of the things that popped right up at the top: "inflation crushed Central Florida homebuyers." Wow. It also says: "the housing market used to be the hottest in the country, now the wild party is cooling off." Also, "will the housing market crash? Here's what experts predict." Here's one I really like, "when will the housing market crash?" Because it's just assuming that it's going to happen. And maybe some of this information is accurate, or maybe it's totally not accurate. But this is what people are getting. They're viewing headlines, and then they're making assumptions from that. And you can see a lot of these headlines really lead from a place of fear, which is very common in our media now. And this is the information that your potential customers are getting. 

There's a resource I highly recommend called Answer the Public. And this is a search tool where you can type in a phrase and see the most popular search phrases that people are searching for related to that phrase. So when we think about people heading online to search for terms like 'homes for sale' or 'the real estate market.' 

In this example, I'm going to show you Florida real estate. I have looked at this data so many times, and most of the time when people Google Florida real estate, they're looking at things like "where's the best place to buy Florida real estate?" "How much is Florida real estate?" "What's it like to relocate to Florida real estate?" But now the most popular searches related to Florida Real Estate are "are Florida Real estate prices dropping?" "Are Florida Resort prices going down?" "Is Florida real estate in a bubble?" "Will Florida real estate market crash?" "How is the Florida real estate market?"

So, this is a great outlook of sentiment and what people are curious about, what their concerns are, and what they're worrying about when it comes to real estate in our market.

Additionally, the market for real estate agents is getting more competitive as people are googling how to get their Florida real estate license along with more questions about getting into the real estate business. 

So you're in a landscape where people aren't really sure what's going on, and you have more people who are trying to take advantage of the opportunity of real estate - because there's still opportunity. 

I think it's so important that you utilize this information. For one, it provides great content ideas. So when we're thinking about social media content and how you can position yourself as an expert, you can answer these questions. "Are Florida real estate prices dropping?" Well, let me give you the data. "Will the Florida real estate market crash?" Well, here's what expert real estate economists are thinking. "How is the Florida real estate market?" Well, here is how it is not just my opinion, but also backed by data. So this is valuable information so you can be meeting people where they are. And this quick exercise will show you the top questions people have and how this has changed.

This exercise also shows you the information people are getting back, which is very important. Sometimes because we are in the real estate industry, we see a lot of what other realtors are posting, what brokerages are sharing what the industry leaders are saying. But your average person is not as engaged and connected to all those people. So this is the type of information that they're getting back. And like I mentioned, is great content ideas for your marketing. So whenever we move forward with marketing, I always want you to be thinking about that customer, where are they looking to go? What are their goals? What are their challenges? And how can I be there for them? I'm not waiting for them to bring this up. I'm being proactive about it to begin with. Because people will always have questions, and more than ever, they need somebody that they can trust. They need a local real estate adviser that's going to be there to guide them today and tomorrow. 

And you'll notice that I decided to say real estate adviser, not salesperson, but advisor - we're creating trust. And that's what people need. 

So today, I'm going to share with you your three-part marketing system and how we do that with modern and digital strategies. There's a lot of different things that you can do in marketing, but specifically, I'm going to talk about modern digital strategies because they are more scalable and more efficient. You can only door knock on so many doors in an hour but you can hit a lot more people on social media, email marketing, and different digital marketing techniques. So that's what we're going to talk about today. 

Part 1: Personal Branding

Personal Branding has always been important, but it's so important now. I want you to think about personal branding as not something that's a logo, a color, or something where you maybe filled out an exercise to create a slogan. Instead, I want you to think about branding as being essentially who you are. Your real estate brand is who you are, how you're presenting yourself how you make people feel. Do they feel secure with you? Do they feel like they can trust you? Do they feel energized by you? What people think of you - that reputation - is a huge part of your brand. And then why people think that way.

And this is interesting because the 'why,' you are in complete control of. Whether you're a new agent, you're breaking into a certain market, or you want to emphasize something, you can position that. Branding is a very powerful marketing tool when done right, because we want people to remember and recognize you - but I want to go beyond that. When someone thinks of real estate or has a friend who needs to buy a home or has a question about the market, I want them to think of you as not just an agent, but as the person to help them with all of their real estate needs. We also want to use that branding to pull people in and to attract your ideal customer to you.

{Click here to download my free Realtor Branding checklist}

So thinking about things that are changing in the market, who is that ideal customer that you want to work with? I'm sure there's still somebody out there that you would like to bring in, and your branding can help you do that. And it's so important in today's market because we want people to turn to you for their real estate needs instead of Google or another agent they know of. And we can do that through your marketing. 

Because branding actually creates connections. When you do branding well, it's not just visual recognition - it's getting people to start that relationship with you. It's a bridge that allows people to start getting to know you. So if you're on the training here today, you have probably experienced my branding. Maybe you follow me on Instagram, you listen to the podcast, you've been to my website, and you've gotten to know me a little bit more. And hey, I'm here on camera today. This is all part of branding - showing up being my authentic self and serving others. That's branding. And one of the best places to do that to this day, even with changes happening is on social. But the key to this is, it's not just creating lots of social graphics with your logo. It's showing up on social and not being afraid to share who you are, to be on camera, to be on video to let people have that emotional connection.

People are not going to have an emotional connection with a picture of a house and a logo. So I encourage you to be you do not be afraid - you have to get out of your comfort zone a little. Video is one of the best ways to brand yourself and start forming connections because people hear you, they see you, and they have that emotional response. Now we have Instagram Reels and tiktoks - the short-form video content can be very fun and there are so many creative ways that you can even use Reels. 

In this example, this is a reel of me for personal branding to let people know Hey, this is what I know and how I can help. And I will admit that when it comes to Reels, I am not the best person to point on time and remember the choreographed dance - it's challenging for me. I have a much easier time recording a one minute video, so you can figure out what works for you. But in this Reel, it's just Liam Neeson talking and then it pops up some of my skills, my experience, and it's establishing authority, but also connection in a fun way. So you can checkout that Reel example here on my Instagram. 

So don't be afraid to try different things like that or to show up on Instagram stories. If you want an easy way to show up on stories right now (because stories are a more organic, natural way for you to brand yourself and to create connections) take a little selfie of yourself and share on stories what you're doing. Or maybe when you're finished reading this blog post, hop on stories and record a little video with a best tip that you learned are how you're going to be serving your customers better. 

These are easy ways you can use the free social media tool you have access to - social media. It just takes the effort. Sometimes you have to shake it out, get out of your comfort zone and give it a try. 

Above all, we want to share posts that can create connections, and connection starts person to person. So share that valuable content - think about the questions people are asking. What are they looking to learn more about? Answer them, and that will brand you as a trusted expert in your local market. So instead of saying "hey, I'm a Realtor, work with me." Instead, you're saying, "you wanted to learn about this - here is the information." And it's branding you. And I'm going to walk you through some post ideas to help you with that as well:

Social Media Post Ideas for Realtor Branding

The market update. This is not a new post idea, but I'm going to share with you how you can do it a little bit differently. Because remember, there were a lot of questions about the market. So this is a carousel. So if you saw this on social, you would swipe through to see the different posts. And let's take a look at the first picture and why this works. The first reason that this works is the main image, it's not a picture of a house or a picture of a neighborhood - it's you. So that's further positioning you as that knowledgeable expert. It's also speaking clearly to the people in your market, and the things that they're worried about. It says the market is changing. So let's look at the data for and then you would have had your community, your area, your city name there and see exactly what's going on with real estate in our local area. So you're going to show and you're going to explain it to them. And then we get into the actual market data.

And when I told you to take your real estate hat off, it's important we continue to do this. I see a lot of agents share market update information on social, and that's great content. But the thing is, the average person has no idea what those real estate terms mean. Average days on the market - maybe they could kind of figure that out. But when they see things like absorption rates or months of inventory, most people have no idea what that means or why it matters if they're not in real estate. So when we're sharing the data, I want you to provide background and context such as definitions and why these numbers matter. How could it impact home owners or potential buyers and sellers? This goes above and beyond and this is what positions you as that local expert. 

So if you get anything out of this training, if you're sharing market data, you need to explain it more. If you're not confident with covering market data, you can use templates like the one I've provided here that have prompts that can tell you to fill it in. But you can also go out and watch other trainings, take trainings from NAR, see if your local board has trainings, and really get smart when it comes to the numbers.

And then at the end, we've gone through all of the data, we still want to work on that branding. So use text that encourages people to stay connected, and share why it's important in today's market. So from this posts example, it says "as the real estate market continues to evolve, it's important to have a trusted real estate adviser in your corner. I'm here to help you navigate the current market conditions with confidence."

So it's not salesy. Instead, it's saying "I'm here for you," and also has a call to action. What is that next step that we want people to take when they look at our post? Maybe those people aren't ready exactly to pick up the phone call you and say "hey, come on over and list my house." So this example says, "Want to learn more about the market and how it could impact you? DM me any questions." So it's just a more casual, friendly way to encourage conversations.

Now another post idea is this one, which is kind of fun and reminds me of magazines quizzes where you would circle your favorite things. And it's talking about real estate and still highlights that you're a real estate agent, but it's not annoying people. So it's a fun way to show off your personality and let people get to know you on social. Even though social has changed so much at the core of social we still want to know what's going on with other people. We're interested in other people. And this is a fun way for them to get to know you. And that's what we want. We want people to get to know you so that they want to work with you. 

More Quick Branding Tips

So some more quick tips for showing off your brand on social are to schedule a pro or DIY photo shoot. This is key - I want to see more of you on social. I don't care if it's a photo shoot or video shoot, but get it done. Put it on your calendar, schedule a morning to get photos of yourself. You can work with a professional if that's something you want to invest in, or you can go the DIY route. It's so important for you guys to have photos of you because we're building your brand. 

And for that branding, we want to have photos of you in your local community. So think about, what are the hotspots?

What are those areas that really represent my market and get some photos there.

Schedule a time to go do it. And as you get more used to doing that, you can do it more spontaneous, and as you are out and about in the community, you can get into the habit of snapping some pictures or filming some videos.

Get out in your market and share what you do - make those connections. 

This is a Reel that I filmed and I barely have any makeup on and I'm wearing a baseball cap and a sweater and I was just working in a little dowtown area in Orlando, and this is, is or is one of my best performing Reels because it's raw, but it's informative, and people are able to create connections. 

So get out there and get in your market and start creating that content. 

And another way that you can brand yourself when you have more images of yourself is that you can leverage templates and prompts.

I'm a big fan of not having to do everything on your own because that's just way too difficult - you're not going to be able to do everything on your own. So take advantage of templates and prompts. 

So this template actually had a very pretty picture of a home interior and it says "mortgage rates on the rise, pull up a chair and let's chat about it."

You'll notice that more conversational language people are interested in, but I just switched up the picture to a picture of me. So you can see how this brands that more. If I was an agent, it would be branding me more as the expert on that topic. And it's inviting people to learn more. But what I want you to do is focus on building your agent brand, while you are still consistently sharing who you are. So we're building that brand, we're sharing who you are, and at the same time helping your ideal customer. That's how you build branding that works for the future. That's how you do branding that attracts more customers. And that's how you build a brand to last. You're not just focusing on yourself, how you look in this picture, or the perfect color choice? No, we are always thinking back to that customer and how we can connect with them. 

So part one - we are focused on your brand. 

And up next week, we'll be moving the next two areas to focus on with your marketing and how to implement it all. So, be sure to tune in!

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Looking for more? Don't miss these top related episodes:

• Target Marketing for Realtors: How to Identify & Attract Your Dream Customer

• 3 Easy but Effective Instagram Reels Ideas for Realtors

• Branding for Realtors - Part 1

Plus, here are some featured resources you might enjoy!

• The Marketing Suite Training: ‘How to Tap Into Profitable Opportunities with a Target Marketing Strategy’

• Realtor Training: How to Create an Agent Intro Video to Attract More Customers

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I’m Heather Colby, host of the “Ideas for Real Estate Podcast.”

If you like what you read here today, I’d encourage you to take a listen to the episodes. :