Become a PR Expert and watch your real estate niche grow! Are you a real estate expert? You may be, even if you’ve never thought of it. A lot of real estate agents may see them as real estate professionals but never think of themselves as “experts” in their area. You may not be aware, but the media is always looking for an expert opinion when they are working on stories. Do you want to get free exposure, position yourself as an expert and grow your business? Then you need to become a “PR Expert”. How do you bridge the gap between your being a typical agent and being seen as an expert? If you want to do this effectively you need to be watching for any potential breaking stories in the media. Obviously you want to follow ones that are related to your expertise. For example, if you do a fair bit of multi-family properties and you know there is a shortage in housing, then contact contact a local reporter and offer advice on the best places to find rentals. Or if you sell waterfront homes and you know there is water shortage, reach out to your local media outlets to show them ways you can save on water and still keep your waterfront beautiful. The key to the success of this is to not talk about YOUR business, but offer useful information with possible solutions to the problems and the best ways to accomplish it. If they like the information enough, the newspaper or TV station might air your information. You can now start being seen as an expert, and if it was good enough information the next time something happens, you will be one of their go to sources. Media outlets are starved for good stories. They are always looking for fresh content and new ideas. Another way to get in as an expert is to write articles. This is a technique I have used in the past and have had a lot of success with it. I wrote real estate articles for a couple of magazines and online publications. They were more than happy to publish my information. Again, the key...
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Are you weird? Today’s post is a bit different than my typical blog post where I share tips and ideas on how to grow your real estate business. I recently listened to an audio book by one of my favourite marketers, Seth Godin, called “We Are All Weird – The Myth Of Mass And The End Of Compliance” The core of the book wasn’t anything new to me, as I’m a big believer in niches (as you’d imagine) already. But it really struck home as to WHY niches are becoming a bigger and bigger thing and why the “norm” isn’t so normal any more. Seth really goes deep into why we are changing and how the last hundred years have beenan anomaly in terms of the real world. The premise?… People aren’t the same. We don’t all come from one mold. The last hundred years, marketers and businesses have tried to force everyone into buying the same things, do the same things and thinking the same things. But human nature is smarter than that. We humans have a funny knack of doing what we want. Once the internet was at our finger tips, it changed everything. There are no longer “the masses”. There are now tribes of people who don’t fit that normal mass and we are quite happy about it. The old school businesses and marketing companies are not… I’m not going to give you the coles notes of the recording, because I think its worth spending the time yourself and listening to. Let me know what you think about it? What are your thoughts? Do you agree? What makes YOU weird? To you and your niche, Ryan Smith – The Niche Agent...
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Wait wait wait… I know what you’re thinking. I don’t mean THAT kind of hooking up! This is a business article. (If you want to hook up online that way I’m sure there are other blogs and websites out there for you haha) What I’m talking about is creating relationships with other real estate agents and business owners by using online “tools”. This type of “hooking up” is a tactic that can push your niche real estate business to long-term success. There is a belief that if you get online and meet more and more people online, the bigger your database will be and the more homes sales you will get. And to be honest, that is partially true. But just trying to mass convert people can be a nightmare and very ineffective. For those of you who don’t know my story, I moved to the Durham Region a few years ago and I wanted to reach as many people as I could in the shortest amount of time. I figured I would go add random people on Facebook in the area and just build my list one person at a time. I thought this would be a great approach to grow my real estate business. I learned very quickly that this was not a very efficient approach and took a lot of time and energy. So what did I do? I quickly learned that I needed to connect with other business owners in the area. I started a blog shortly after I moved to the area called 52 Things To Do In Durham Region. I began blogging on a weekly basis about things going on in the area. I talked about events, great local businesses, exciting touristy things to try and so on. Then I started reaching out to local business owners to feature them on my blog. This was a game changer for me. But the important part was I unplugged from online and went out and met people in real life! When I moved to the area I knew basically 3 people. Within 6 months of running my blog I had a big list on my Facebook, countless coffee’s with local business...
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What is your real estate network? Do you have one? It’s important to realize that your network is not the same thing as your product or service. I know that sounds silly and obvious, but your REAL business is your network, not your services. Finding the next client is important, but the network of people you are building is even more important. So let’s look at it again, do you have a network? Are you focusing on building your network? If you don’t, I’d suggest you start. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to take time and some focus to grow your niche network but it’s worth it. So how do you do it? Sometimes it’s more obvious than you think, but let’s discuss some idea’s that can help you increase your network. 1) Make a lasting impression Have you ever been to a party or an event and met someone that just really stuck out in your mind? They probably left a really lasting impression right? When you go to networking events, meet new people or are just having conversations, it’s important that you leave a lasting impression. The mistake many agents make is they talk all about themselves. While that may leave a lasting impression, it may not be the impression you want. Don’t get known as the jabber. Make sure you listen, ask questions and engage. It needs to be a balanced conversation. I know, this sounds silly to mention, but some agents love to talk. But so do others! So let them engage and share. 2) Make your voice known By getting out to groups/meetings regularly, people will come to recognize you and if you engage correctly, you will get to be known as the as the go to person in your niche. A perfect example of this is the interview we did with Asif Khan (Episode 13). In this episode, you can see how Asif has truly made a name for himself in the community and build up a reputation as the real estate expert (without being pushy and promoting himself). Make it part of your business plan to get out there. Schedule it in, don’t just...
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Part of having a niche is the ability to build more/stronger trust with your ideal clients. Being the “expert” is one of the best ways to do this. Would you ever work with someone you didn’t trust? My guess is that you’d rather work with someone who you knew you could trust right? Well clients are no different. They want to work with a professional that they not only know and like, but trust as well. And for most, trust doesn’t happen overnight; building trust is an ongoing process. If you are interested in building trust with your existing and new niche clients then make sure you don’t blow these 9 trust building secrets. (Some of these may seem obvious, but if you are like me, then I bet there are a few here you could work on…) Setting Client Roles Upfront Sometimes new buyers/sellers don’t know what their role is in the home buying and selling process and sometimes experienced clients THINK they know what their role is and may be over stepping. (Admit it, we have all had those type of clients) When your clients are clear about their roles they will be clear about the expectations and time lines as well. This will help you and your clients work together as a team which will allow you ALL to move forward if you run into any roadblocks. Step one will definitely ensure that trust is gained on both sides. Keep Your Promises Sometimes this seems so simple and obvious, but it needs to be mentioned. If you promise to get the photographer arranged on a particular day, make sure it’s done when you said. If you say you will meet them at 6:00 pm, meet them at 6:00 pm, not 6:05 pm… It may seem unimportant or trivial and you may brush it off as being a few minutes late but every time you don’t hold onto these promises, you lose your clients trust. Respect Their Time If you are in a meeting with your clients and you have time booked to be with them, then they are your only concern. Your clients are paying you a LOT of money to...
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The Perfect Email Pitch In 6 Easy Steps When you are trying to engage with your niche, email marketing/communication can be one of the easiest and effective approaches, but how much thought have you put into your email pitch? Have you ever sent an email and wondered if anyone read it? Have you ever wondered if the content you are sending is even working? With a little careful planning, a few tips and some testing, you can be on your way to writing the perfect email pitch. Here are 6 proven and easy to follow steps that will help you write the perfect email pitch for your niche: “Brevity Is The Soul Of Wit” If you have read any Shakespeare, you may have come across this phrase. Shakespeare was a master of niche but could also have moonlit as a media relations pro! If you haven’t read Shakespeare or haven’t heard the saying, you may be wondering what the phrase means? To put it simply, it means that articulate and intelligent communication (A.K.A speech and writing) should use few and wisely chosen words. When it comes to your headline, you should be able to get to the point in 10 words or less (You are reading this, so I’m assuming the headline caught your attention!) Any more than this and you probably will need to rework it to get the message across more clearly. Keep it short and to the point and create intrigue and you will increase your open rate drastically. Surprise! People love surprises! (Most of the time…) So why not treat your niche to a surprising fact and use it as a hook in your subject line. Being in real estate, there are a ton of great examples to follow, but here are a few effective ones I have used! “Interest Rates Are Up! Should You Lock In?” or “Burlington Area Home Prices Hit Historical High!” Humor Them When I write my blog post I tend to use humor and add my personality to it. (At least I find it funny, and really, that’s all that matters right?… RIGHT?!?) But you have to know that humor may not be for everyone....
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