Many older blog posts provide relevant — and ready-to-use — marketing advice.  Here’s a review of a few RealEstateRainmaker.com blog posts you may have missed — or may find relevant to your business-building marketing efforts:

Dan gives tips on how to find serious home sellers in Serious Sellers Only Need Apply.

Where can you find warm leads ready to buy or sell?  Dan reviews the basics in Prospecting 101 – Never Call on a Fence Post.

In an interview withVickie Marton with RE/MAX Classic Group in Branchburg, NJ, Dan discusses one Rainmaker real estate agent’s analysis of her most effective lead generation techniques  in Listings in Today’s Market Mostly Come From Direct Marketing, Not the Internet.

Let us know how RealEstateRainmaker.com or Gooder Group products have helped you find more home buyers and sellers this year.  Share your experiences by leaving a comment.

Among the Marketing Makeover tips were:

1. Do More with Less
2. Maximize Buyer Leads
3. Offer Buyers Something Special
4. Brand Your Site
5. Cultivate Former Customers and Increase Referrals

Check out the complete roadmap on page 26.  You’ll learn how to leverage your listings with a blend of Internet and print marketing to generate more buyers and maximize your business. 

What is the single most effective technique you use to bring buyers to business?  Share your success!

How To Get More Mileage From Good Press

I suggested Jim forward the blog link to his local newspaper. News is Big Business in Columbia, Missouri, where I got my Masters in Journalism (1978) because the university town has two newspapers – the local Columbia Tribune and the J-school newspaper: the Columbia Missourian. We used to say, “Columbia has more reporters covering Columbia than the New York Times has covering the world.” Even truer today.

After sending a link to my blog post, a reporter called Jim from the Columbia Tribune to do a story on Student Housing. The story and photos – including a picture of Jim and his colleague Jody Calvin – appeared on July 11: “Home sweet home: Local Realtors from Prudential Vision Properties are promoting homeownership for college students and their parents.” Jim couldn’t buy better ink or pixels.

Even More Publicity To Come

Jim is now planning to mail photocopies of the printed article to his prospect database and also send it to investor/owners in the Columbia market. Advertising in local student housing publications is also in the future. I recommend Jim offer a “FREE Student Housing Hot List” of properties for sale from his local MLS to maximize lead generation.

Nice work, Jim. Great way to take that publicity ball and keep it rolling into business!

John and I shaped the webinar (we had 230+ registrations) around three steps:

1. Generate Interest
2. Capture Information
3. Convert To Business

Here are 6 Do’s and Don’ts we recommended in the webinar’s summary.

Do’s and Don’ts of Online Lead Generation

• Do put the customer first (not yourself).
• Do offer something of value only a qualified prospect would respond to get.
• Do combine offline and online activity for maximum results.
• Don’t create a website without many forms and automated drip follow-up.
• Don’t expect to be all-things-to-all-prospects (focus on target markets).
• Don’t think a handful of prospects is enough (the biggest database wins).

Webinar Link

Here is the link to the 75-minute webinar: “ABCs of Online Lead Generation.”  Due to technical difficulties the first visual doesn’t appear until about 1 minute 15 seconds into the webinar.  Be patient.  Tip: The link opens Windows Media Player.  Let it download a while to complete the buffer before you start the webinar.

"The single most effective marketing I’m doing to generate business in today’s market is using direct response marketing on craigslist.”

– Chris Cassidy

Rainmaker Interview

To understand exactly how Rainmakers maximize their marketing using craigslist, RealEstateRainmaker.com turned to top agent Chris Cassidy with RE/MAX Encore in Wilmington, Massachusetts. Chris uses free ads on craigslist to drive traffic to his two websites – one branded website at www.ChrisCassidyRealEstate.com and one unbranded website at www.GetFreeRealEstateReports.com . Here is Chris’ highly effective – and very profitable – craigslist marketing strategy.

Lead-Capture Website is Foundation of Campaign

Chris said, “The key to my craigslist campaign is to have a good lead capture website.  My InfinityAgent sites have built-in drip campaigns and lead tracking, and a really robust back office.  They automatically populate my leads into Top Producer 8i, and I am working much harder now at lead follow-up (and continually overcoming call reluctance).”

Chris uses a library of 25-30 forwarding domains to land on various pages in these two sites. Different landing pages appeal to different prospects – and feature different calls to action and USPs (Unique Selling Propositions) or offers. By using different domains – some pointed to the same page, some to different pages – Chris tests and tracks his success. Here are some forwarding URL examples:

• www.GuaranteedHomeSaleOnline.com (goes to branded site; guaranteed sale)
• www.Save10KGuaranteed.com (Chris’ branded buyer USP)
• www.Free-MLS-Access.com (unbranded; IDX signup)
• www.FreeMassachusettsHomeSearch.com (goes to the same page as domain above, useful to use for tracking ad copy and results)
• www.CMA-For-Free.com (unbranded; over-the-net home evaluation offer)
• www.MassachusettsHomePrices.com (same page as above)
• www.MassachusettsHomeSalesInfo.com (yet another that goes to same page)
• www.MABuyerAgency.com (unbranded site; goes to the buyer reports page)
• www.MassBuyerAgency.com (same landing page as above)

How to Use Craigslist to Drive Traffic

To drive traffic to these lead-capture landing pages, Chris uses two sections in craigslist: “real estate for sale” and “real estate services.” “I do the standard ‘over the net home evaluation’ ads for sellers, and a bunch of variations on the ‘free MLS search’ ads for buyers,” Chris said.

· Housing > Real Estate For Sale: Every property ad on craigslist links back to the property on Chris’ website (“CLICK HERE For More Information”) – where prospects can request free reports and other offers. He also embeds calls-to-action in every ad that link to landing pages to capture the leads.  One headline that is especially effective is "I’ll save you AT LEAST $10,000 on ANY home you buy."  Here’s a property ad example:

· Fantastic Lakefront Home!

· Services > Real Estate: In this section Chris rotates a collection of service ads. Chris uses established accounts that allow him to repost the ads with a couple clicks from his account page without re-writing them from scratch. “ I am constantly tweaking things. Right now I have two different craigslist accounts, one each for my branded and unbranded ads (and corresponding branded and unbranded follow-up emails).  With service ads, you are limited to three ads per day per email account. I am debating creating two more accounts for each (branded and unbranded), so that I could post ads morning, afternoon, and evening, in rotation.” Here are service ad examples (one is graphic, two are text only):

• Free Massachusetts Home Search
• Find Your Dream Home Today!
• Free Market Snapshot (Buyers or Sellers)

How to Avoid craigslist Clutter

As all craigslist visitors know, craigslist ads are posted chronologically, newest on top. Thus old ads soon “drop off” the first page as more ads arrive. We asked Chris what text or offer works best – or is the biggest bust – to beat the craigslist clutter?  Headline keywords?  Location?  Text vs HTML (graphics)? “I find any ad offering property searches pulls decent click-throughs,” Chris said. “I recently started changing all the headlines to provide variations of “Homes For Sale, From $3,500 Down” ($3,500 being based on a 3.5% FHA down payment and a $100K sale price, which is the very bottom end in my area). I am still testing text ads vs graphic ads, so I can’t answer which pulls better.  I only started the graphic ads a couple of weeks ago, and I am in the process of adding more.”

Tracking is Critical to Know What Works

How does Chris track multiple variations of an ad if he only has 2-3 domains? “I have a very precise and robust capability to do tracking with my sites.  I can add a tracking code to each domain. If I direct leads to www.FreeMassachusettsHomeSearch.com , I track the simple direct domain in one ad. In another ad I add a tracking code into the link that is hidden from the person seeing the link (although hovering the mouse over it would show it in the bottom of the browser).” Using this tracking system Chris can run unlimited ads linked to the same domain, yet track results for each one individually…and learn what works for different style ads, different ad copy. Also he can place the same ad in multiple locations, for example on BackPage (substituting “BackPage” for “craigslist” in the tracking code). Chris offered this example, where he uses a coded link from two different ads (“text” and “graphic” service ads, see above) to the same landing page:

• Coded link example of text ad: www.FreeMassachusettsHomeSearch.com?loca=craigslist&phra=FreeMassachusettsHomeSearch_Text
  
  
• Coded link example of graphic ad: www.FreeMassachusettsHomeSearch.com?loca=craigslist&phra=FreeMassachusettsHomeSearch_Graphic

$35,000 Question: How successful is this craigslist campaign?

“To give an example, I have a $420K listing right now that I got because of an ‘over-the-net home evaluation’ ad. When that sells, the couple will be buying a $1 million home with me.  The two deals combined will be worth somewhere between $30,000-$35,000 in commissions for me.  I also have a $245K listing right now that I got because I sold their brother-in-law’s townhouse two years ago — after he found me on craigslist through a similar ad.  I made $5,000 on that sale. Eventually I got another referral from that client that led to a second listing.  And this is all from FREE advertising/marketing — and it doesn’t count dozens of buyer leads that have been generated as well .”

Thanks for sharing, Chris! We welcome your comments and experiences using craigslist. Join the conversation with your comment.

Back Story:  14 Years in Both the Penthouse and the Outhouse

“I have been a full-time agent since 1995, and with RE/MAX since 1997.  I have attended several “marketing guru” conferences and coaching and grad programs.  I really embraced the direct response concepts, but to be 100% honest, I got to a point where I spent WAY too much money. I got sloppy. I practically ignored the ‘prospecting’ and ‘sales’ part of the business by not following up at all with the vast majority of the leads I generated.  I can only imagine the hundreds of thousands of dollars I left on the table. As a result I came very close to being out of business when the market turned in 2006-2007.

“Bottom line, when things get tough, you need to get back to basics.  I have both of the Real Estate Rainmaker books (and more importantly, I have read them, and refer to them often).  I also picked up Dirk Zeller’s book The Champion Real Estate Agent when it came out a couple of years ago, and I refer to it several times a week, to this day.

“I am happy to tell you that – after re-focusing and working to create a more balanced business for myself – that it is bearing fruit.  After bottoming out just a couple of years ago at the $1-$2 million mark (and that’s sales volume, not GCI), I am on track right now to do at least $5-$6 million in volume in 2009, and Lord willing, perhaps much more than that, given the number of buyers I am working with right now as well as my listing inventory.

“Thank you again for your interest in what I am doing.  And thank you for the two books you wrote. They have impacted my business tremendously as well.”

Christopher J Cassidy

REALTOR®, CBR

“I have been licensed since 1984, starting as a licensed assistant for a successful broker who specialized in third-party corporate relocation.  I have done new home sales and worked for developers for about 12 years.  In 2005, I joined RE/MAX and work by myself, mostly from my home office.  I am a CRS, GRI, ABR, CNHS (Certified New Home Specialist) and RCC (Residential Construction Certified). Our local market is all REO (60%) and short sales (30%), so any other listings are just not selling.  2008 was a very bad year for all of us.  2009 has been very good so far and I will close 9 units by June 30th.  Everything I have sold since June of 2008 has been a REO except only one.”

When I asked Sandra what is the single most effective marketing technique she’s using to generate leads in today’s market, she said, “social media.  I spent the long winter reading books, researching and placing my profile everywhere.  I started a Facebook page for my city and made photo albums for the schools, restaurants, shopping, civic buildings etc. Once a week the community events are posted.  I talk to the business owners and post their photos.  I am starting monthly contests and will give away gift certificates. I have over 80 fans of my page!”

How does Sandra invest her marketing budget?

“I spend most of my advertising dollars related to the Internet such as my website, Realtor.com, RealEstateShows.com. I did advertise in the Real Estate Book and had very good results, but they recently closed their book here in the Reno area.”

What sources does she find most helpful for technology tips?

“I spend my evenings and weekends researching new technology that I read about on Inman News, Geekestate Blog, My Tech Opinion and many, many more.  I have an ActiveRain blog and one on Trulia . I have a profile on Zillow , LinkedIn , Twitter (NevadaRE), and YouTube (NevadaRealtor) .  All of that makes me a Rainmaker in Northern Nevada…which is not easy in a dry, desert climate.”

I noticed on Sandra’s blog and on her testimonials webpage she featured a photo of a young couple standing in front of their newly purchased home holding their two toddlers. The caption read: Meet Nickia, Justin, Abigal and Wyatt in front of their 1st home.  With financing by the Nevada Bond Program (no money down), they purchased a bank-owned home with closing costs paid by the bank.  The day after they closed escrow they filed their 2008 income tax return.  The First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit gives them a cash refund of $8,000!  March 2009

I asked Sandra if using social media has produced business for her.

“Everything I read about social media said not to expect immediate results.  I made a comment on my Facebook page about Justin and Nickia’s success story with the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.  It was unexpected when one of my tenants (I do property management) saw the comment and immediately responded: ‘We want to buy a house too!’  The tenant then told their neighbors who were also renters and first-time buyers.  I closed both of their homes in the same week.”

Thanks for sharing, Sandra!

What tips would you suggest for Sandra to generate even more business from her social media presence? Join the conversation!

The Biggest Mistake Your Competition Made

Many agents who never experienced a market slowdown panicked, hunkered down, stopped marketing and — if still in the business — are now praying for the next deal to close. This deal-to-deal mentality is the biggest mistake they made. The time is right to take advantage of your competitors. How? Rainmakers use their marketing to standout from the bunker crowd. Today, sellers especially are putting a huge premium on choosing an agent who aggressively earns their listing and builds a brand that sells homes. (As Mike Parker, ABR, CRS, GRI, SRES, a top Rainmaker who dominates Northern Kentucky with HUFF Realty, www.MikeParker.com , says, “Buyers buy houses, sellers buy image.”)

Leverage Your Brand For Listings

No matter what buyers are doing in today’s market, listings are still taken every day. The question is: Who gets them? You see, it’s not about the market, it’s about market share. Aggressively marketing now builds mindshare (marketing-speak for name recognition) with prospective sellers. (The same folks your competition has abandoned.) Yet sellers always lead a new market. After all, listings must be taken before buyers are attracted to buy. A strong Rainmaker brand as a lister is the key to slingshot your market share ahead of the competition in a recovery. More listings lead to more buyers, which produce a bigger marketing budget to acquire more listings. If you control the listings in the new market, you control your market. As other agents retreat, Rainmakers who continue marketing themselves emerge as market leaders.

Repetition is the Mother of Retention

Rainmakers are not made by following what “most agents” do. (Most agents are broke.) Smart agents explore new methods of generating business. They analyze their market and farm areas to add new target markets that are selling (See 10 Niche Markets To Scratch For More Listings , May 13 blog post). Others work their relationships harder; call on the phone behind every direct mail or e-mail to their targeted “core list,” walk door-to-door, work community events, host Seller Seminars (“How To Sell Fast In A Buyer’s Market”). The repetition creates retention of past clients and sphere contacts. Every conversation ends with a request for referrals: “Do you know anyone who is thinking of moving?”

If you have committed yourself to building a business – and not just survival – by doing the smart thing, by remaining committed to your marketing plan, you will succeed.

Join the conversation, and share what’s working for you to generate listings in the new market in your area.

“A client of mine from New Jersey buys a one bedroom, one bath condo on the beach in South Palm Beach for $97,500. He takes advantage of the $8,000 tax credit as a first-time buyer at the age of 72! I posted the transaction on Facebook. Within a short time I had a host of real estate professionals reply indicating interest in similar undervalued properties. Three of them are now in my active Hot Prospect files waiting to hear from me when the next property-on-the-sand beach deal arrives! While in DC at NAR midyear I bumped into one of these prospects and his wife on the tradeshow floor. He recognized me and introduced me as his ‘Facebook buddy’! Amazing!”

Nice work, Tim! How cool is that to use Facebook for a Just Sold announcement!

When I asked Tim what else was new with him, he shared another tale of success. At closing Tim posted photos of the settlement below to show that affordable homes, FHA financing and tax perks are making today’s market work:

“A single mom, two kids, working with affordable housing program, contacts me to find a home she can afford. We look at a host of homes with the need to find a home with low taxes typically associated with a primary residence owned by the seller. This was significant because full-time resident real estate taxes are capped at a 3% a year increase on assessed value versus non-homestead property that carries a full assessment and might be over assessed based on soaring home prices in 2004-2006 market. Two homes, side-by-side, same size and basic details could be assessed at $100,000 or at $250,000. The taxes could range from $1,000 a year to $5,000 a year. We needed to find a property on the lower end for the single mom. We did!

Once we discovered a $104,000 property in Lake Worth, we negotiated a contract on the foreclosure with the seller paying 3% closing cost. Buyer financed max loan amount, had $2,000 on deposit and brought $4,000 to closing. She will file an amended tax return and get $8,000 back from IRS for incentive. In essence she is a few thousand ahead, but more importantly a proud homeowner and able to give her two children their own bedrooms and backyard! Tears of joy flowed!”

Tim is a top agent in Delray Beach, Florida, and Allen F. Hainge CyberStar with Coldwell Banker ( www.PalmBeachCountyRelo.com ). He speaks on many topics including how to use social networking to grow your business.

As the real estate market turns, I’ve been talking to Rainmakers around the country lately about how they are generating listings…what works (and what doesn’t) in the new market. Margaret Rome, a top agent in Baltimore and an Allen F. Hainge CyberStar (www.HomeRome.com ), is busier than ever this year. Why?

“I kept up my advertising when others dropped out,” Margaret said. “In fact I’m doing even more ads than before. I negotiated lower rates for my print ads. That means for the same budget I actually can afford more advertising, not less.”

Margaret’s two-fold advertising strategy is designed to generate business using offline ads and a great website. “Primarily my local ads are designed to generate listings. Local owners see the ads and my branding and visit my website. Then I’ve got them,” Margaret said. “I put all my listings in each ad. In all ads I include my web address in the text, plus maybe four other places. When a prospect sees the ad, they are exposed to my web address over and over. The site is designed to reinforce my brand and also persuade owners to list with me. A second benefit is that the ads drive local buyers to my site. When they send me e-mail or complete a response form, I follow-up the old-fashioned way…I pick up the phone and call them. Some are astonished…and impressed…when I tell them I can search the MLS for the exact features they are looking for and alert them when a matching property comes on the market. They love it. And they think I’m amazing. Of course, that’s fine with me.”

Check out Margaret’s website, www.HomeRome.com , and you’ll see why she is such a successful lister. From many of her own listings prominentl y on her home page (including recently sold listings, “Too Late!” and “Coming Soon”) to her listing-oriented slogan and branding (“Sell Your Home with Margaret Rome”), you’ll see how one of the top Rainmakers in America convinces sellers to list with her.

While you are there buy a copy of Margaret’s new book for real estate professionals, Real Estate the Rome Way , at http://www.homerome.com/book/index.html . Margaret’s book was rated one of the top 10 real estate books in 2008 by www.Trulia.com . She certainly practices what she preaches.

Many markets are picking up steam around the nation — not only because it’s the spring selling season but also the low rates, marked down prices, easier FHA, high inventory, reasonable sellers and all the Stimulus credits and new rules are having an impact.  Rainmakers are now beginning to reap the benefits of a well-managed practice as their markets recover.

Source of Listings Trend

Several top Rainmakers I’ve talked with recently are reporting a significant trend in today’s new post-downturn market: Listings are not primarily coming from the Internet. Why is this trend striking?

It’s common to hear that “everything has gone to the Internet,” that all business comes from the Internet.  But, in fact, what Rainmakers are finding is that BUYERS are typically generated by inventory and inventory today is typically on your website. Thus web-based IDX home search has become the primary source for BUYERS.

SELLERS and new listings, however, are being generated from relationships and offline direct marketing (referrals, repeat, prospecting, farming), Rainmakers are saying.  The Internet does NOT generate their new sellers and listings primarily.

Here’s what top agent Vickie Marton with RE/MAX Classic Group in Branchburg, NJ (www.HouseWebTour.com ) told me when I asked her about her source of listings.

Interview

Dan: Reviewing your closed listings in the last 12 months (listings sold, not buyer closings), what generated those listings?  Can you identify the source of business for each of those sold listings?  Answers might be: your website, referrals, repeat client, print advertising, direct mail, open house, relocation department, broker referral, signage, RE/MAX Lead Street, Home Gain, House Values, microsites, farming, etc.

Vickie: Very interesting question, Dan, as I’m seeing that computer-generated leads are not an overwhelming lead source.  My news listings came from: Postcard mailings…designed to drive traffic to my community microsites to register for a CMA… are 50% of my new listing lead source. Followed by referrals/repeat business at 30%, and Internet 20%.

Dan: When you say 20% of listings are sourced from the Internet, specifically what activity or Internet marketing effort generates those listings?

Vickie: That 20% is coming from Internet response from my other listings. Some listing leads come from Internet, of course, just like some buyers are also sellers, and vice versa.  In terms of marketing activity, however, 80% of my new listings come from direct mail and referrals from people I know.

Dan: Thanks, Vickie. Your experience confirms what we are seeing in other markets: In today’s new market listings are generated by relationships and direct marketing.

Join the conversation. What source(s) generate your new listings in today’s market?

Learn more about microsites , or e-mail Gooder Group for a personal presentation.