The Easiest, Most Effective Way to Target Your Marketing (& Stay Within Your Budget)

Christopher GillExpertise:12 Articles WrittenFollow author

Over the years, I’ve worn a number of different hats in the real estate investing industry—from real estate broker to wholesaler, from flipper to urban developer.

Real estate, just like pretty much any other industry, is largely hinged on one small, but very important truth: “You must connect your product or service with people who want what you are offering.”

Really sit and think about this for a moment:

~If I’m building or flipping a home, I need to connect the finished product with a buyer who wants to own this property.

~If I’m raising money for a development or multifamily syndication, I need to connect with investors who want to occupy a        passive role in the deal.

~If I’m looking for land to build on or develop, I need to find property owners or real estate brokers who have connections        to the types of property I’m looking for.

This connection point is the make or break of your business. So, how can you best position your product or service in front of those most likely to be interested in it?

The Best Marketing Strategy to Try This Year

In a perfect world, your business would grow and prosper effortlessly as your product or service magically appeared in front of your target market. The amazing thing is, with just a small amount of effort, you can make this “magic” happen—and truly move the needle forward on your business.  Social media marketing is the most powerful tool we have at our disposal to make targeted connections with consumers. It’s the only place where seven out of 10 Americans have voluntarily come forward and shared immense amounts of data surrounding their likes, dislikes, hopes, and dreams.  If you are not using social media to connect with people who want what you are offering, you’re missing out. So, what are some steps to do this effectively?

1.Identify separate parts of your business.

The first step is breaking apart the different pieces of your business into small, specific sections. Focused marketing is more effective than providing general information. There are quite literally thousands of companies (with probably much larger ad spends than you) trying to sell houses. But if you identify and build messaging around a certain geography, style, or buyer niche, you can place your content in front of people who actually want it!
2.Create messaging for each area of focus. Build content and communicate offerings tailored to each area of your business. Again, specific is much better than general! Create targeted messaging with articles, videos, and photos. Realize that to effectively market via social media, a narrow niche is way better than a watered-down, generic call-to-action.  

3.Think through—with as much specificity as possible—who would be interested in your product or service.

In the marketing world, this “target audience” is called an “avatar.” Develop an idea of exactly who this target person is, and what they like and dislike, as well as how to best reach and influence them. You will use this to…

4.Target these people through lookalike audiences or other paid advertising means.

This is an important aspect of social media marketing that you must implement in order to be effective. I see people every day blasting their friend group with business-related articles and information, hoping to pick up business. This is ineffective at best and may cost you some friendships at worst.  Your friends and family are probably not your ideal customers. Putting the content you’ve created in front of your target avatar is an absolute non-negotiable. Yes, this costs money. No, it doesn’t take a fortune, and you can get a good feel from the effectiveness of your marketing campaign before turning up the dollars to really multiply the benefits.  Usually, when I’m testing a new campaign or piece of content, I’m using less than $10 a day of my actual ad spend. If things appear to be working, I’ll increase the budget; if not, I’ll make adjustments and work to fix the mistake before it gets too costly.

5.Capture information from these targeted individuals.

Once you find something that’s working, what do you do? Normally, the leads you’ll get won’t be immediately ready to convert and buy your product or service. You’ll want to begin building a relationship and “retarget” them with additional pieces of helpful content (think videos, articles, and pictures).  In a perfect world, I’d have prospects fill out a short questionnaire so that I could uncover ways to help them. But if I can’t get that, I want an email address or some other manner of flagging them as a “warm audience.” That way, I can keep putting my content in front of them until I do capture their questionnaire responses or email address info.  Ensure you have some sort of mechanism to keep track of the people who have shown initial interest in your product or service.   

6.Re-market to them and build trust/credibility.

After you’ve captured a piece of information from a prospect, you can now put more content in front of them. This is where you build an online relationship and foster trust.  I know I’m doing a good job of this when, by the time I actually speak to a prospective investor, buyer, agent, or client, they are 90% sold on who I am and why they want to do business with me. That’s the power of consistent, quality content in front of the right people!  7.Refine and repeat your process. Keep doing more of the same! This should be part of the marketing budget of every real estate agent, investor, developer, or broker! The efficacy of social media marketing is far better than almost any other marketing channel available today. Some things will work; some won’t. Refinement will be a process—much like honing your real estate skills in general.

Putting It Into Perspective

Here’s an example. I run an urban construction and land development business in San Antonio. We build spec neighborhoods around our downtown, as well as custom and semi-custom homes for people.  I have targeted homebuyers who already live or work in the area and Realtors who regularly sell the majority of the residential product downtown. I want to ensure that they (and the people most like them) know who my company is and what we do!  I have ads currently running that produce leads for between $3-$5 per name, email, and phone number. The average home I build/develop/sell is between $350-$450,000. Plus, agents at my brokerage can sell owners’ existing homes and/or represent buyers in the purchase of new homes. All things considered, I could make between $9,000-$50,000 per customer acquired (between commissions and profits on sales).  I can pay for a ton of $3-$5 leads and still be way in the green! This is the power of social media marketing.

Wrapping Up

If this process seems overwhelming and stressful, don’t worry about it! There are companies who specialize in social media marketing for real estate professionals and can help guide you through the nitty-gritty of building an effective campaign. So, don’t let fear of the unknown stop you from taking action.  Even though the internet and social media have been around for a while, the cost to get in front of your target audience remains very low. Put a plan in place to add or grow your social media marketing reach today! Resource: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/targeted-social-media-marketing-build-rei-business