A great brand does two important things:

1. Helps potential clients identify you
2. Allows you to stand out from your competition

Real estate branding is not something you’re trained on when you study to become an agent – but it should be. Effective personal branding is critical to being successful in today’s competitive marketplace.

“I have nothing interesting or valuable to say, so I’m going to waste your time.”

This is the underlying message conveyed to leads and clients on behalf of agents who use today’s real estate CRM systems for ‘automation’.

So far in 2014, we’ve seen many local real estate markets across the country continue to gather steam. At the same time, however, competition between real estate agents for those valuable buyer and seller leads continues to increase. And so, while incomes for agents are generally rising, so too are marketing costs. To keep your head above water and ultimately thrive in today’s real estate marketing environment, your marketing efforts need to be affordable, effective, sustainable, and scalable.  

In this post, I’ll present you with 9 real estate marketing ideas you can adopt today to set yourself up for success in 2014 and beyond.

Generating Seller Leads

More and more real estate marketing activities are rightly focused on the most important aspect of the agent-client relationship: effective communication. As a result, email continues to be an extremely important tool in every agent’s arsenal. After all, there’s really no other method for efficiently communicating with so many leads and clients at such a low cost. As the real estate email marketing landscape continues to expand, it becomes that much more important to focus on differentiating yourself as a top-tier agent. Part of that process is to ensure that you’re not making any ‘rookie’ mistakes that are sure to paint you as a ‘rookie agent’.

Online marketing isn’t a new or novel concept. And it’s certainly not something that’s lost on the majority of real estate agents in today’s market. However, it has taken significantly longer for online marketing to have a BIG impact in real estate than it has in many other industries. Rest assured, the time has come. And the message to realtors who may still be reliant upon increasingly costly and ineffective ‘traditional’ marketing practices is clear: online marketing is now king.