Market Your Real Estate Business with SMART Advertising

Cathy Predmore

Hondros Family of Companies

Surviving in the real estate industry requires perseverance and personal connections who will help you grow your network and create business. Thriving in the real estate industry requires a certain level of tenacity and the understanding that smart advertising is one of the keys to success. Every realtor should know how to establish smart goals to market themselves and the services they offer.

Advertising may feel like a shot in the dark, you’ll never know if that one flyer created impact or if someone discarded your business card after you’ve handed it to them. However, there is a science to advertising that when applied correctly, can help your business grow and create smart planning for the future. “SMART” advertising stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. Using SMART in advertising creates a clear-cut path to the goals you’ve established for your business.

Before diving into the mechanics of SMART, you’ll need to get a good grasp on what methods you’re already using to advertise your business and what new or enhanced methods may be best suited for your skillset. It’s important to utilize multiple channels (print, online, direct mail, etc.) to connect with your audience. If you don’t already have your business represented on a social media platform or website, it’s high-time you did so. Or if your business is on one social platform, like Facebook, consider expanding to another like Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter. Print examples might include a direct mail piece sent to specific zip codes, or handouts displayed in local businesses. No matter your channels or goals, SMART advertising will help you be successful.

After establishing a general idea of the advertising channel you’d like to pursue, walk through these ‘smart’ steps to help you bring the campaign to life.

S – Specific: This refers to setting a specific goal for the desired advertising. Likely, a realtor’s overarching goal for advertising will be to generate new clients. This is a great goal to have, however, it is not specific enough. Consider setting a specific goal like, “I would like to generate 5 new prospects a week as a result of this new advertising effort.”

M – Measurable: Setting a measurable goal enables you to understand the effectiveness of your efforts. If the goal is to generate leads, measurement is easy to calculate. Effectiveness is measured by the number of prospects reached. If your goals center around building a social media presence, there are many helpful measuring and analytical tools that exist within those platforms. For example, a measurable goal could be to grow your following by 5% within a certain timeframe, post a certain number of times each day, or grow engagement with your posts by a certain percentage by creating more thoughtful content.

A – Attainable: Keeping goals attainable provides the opportunity to plan for the future of your business. If you know the goals are attainable, you’ll be able to create a measurable standard of results and use that information to grow these efforts in the future. For example, if you develop goals around a direct mail piece that is audience-specific and targeted to certain zip codes, and that postcard is mailed multiple times over a 2 month period resulting in a 6% increase in prospective clients, that information can be used for future prospecting efforts with a certain level of confidence that a similar course of action will return similar results.

R – Realistic: When setting goals for advertising your real estate business, start small and build from there. Set yourself up for success by developing reasonable goals on a reasonable timeline. If the goal is achieved quickly, congratulate yourself and move on to setting newer and bigger attainable goals. Budget and resources are the keys to keeping goals realistic.

T – Timely: Be sure to establish a reasonable timeline that works for you, but also ensure you’re not giving yourself too much time. Consider creating weekly, monthly or even quarterly goals. Achieving goals in a shorter amount of time means moving on to the next level and setting bigger goals to grow your business.

It may take some dedicated time to develop the goals that will help you achieve the dream you’ve always had for your business. But utilizing SMART advertising standards to market your real estate business in an intelligent way will allow you to plan for your company’s future by examining past efforts.