Property Marketing Checklist

Tracy Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald Luxury Group, Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty

2019 Real Estate Agent of the Year

When it comes to the real estate industry, few agents survive on the “fly by the seat of your pants” method. It’s a fast-paced business that can be difficult to keep up with, especially for those who don’t stay organized. And trying to live on selling one listing at a time will put you on a fast track out of the profession. While there are multiple areas of the business to manage in order to successfully sell a listing, marketing the property is one area where you can create a process that you’ll execute every time.

Prior to marketing the listing, you need to make sure you’ve completed your “get the property market-ready” checklist. This can include things like determining the value of the property, completing any painting, lighting, or landscaping, and identifying what you’ll do for staging.

When you’re ready to market, here’s a checklist you can use to get started:

1. This is an area you can feel good about investing in because first impressions are invaluable. Photographers are trained in the art of angles. Give them the opportunity to help you show off the property to its fullest potential and it’s likely you won’t regret it. Our agency specializes in selling luxury real estate, so we find it beneficial to hire drone and video footage as well, but it all depends on your market.

2. Many people won’t spend the time to advertise in print, but it’s a great way to build brand awareness and showcase your listings. Because marketers are so digital-focused these days, you’ll stand out more. Consider sending a postcard of “Just Listed Properties” to a targeted group and/or finding a niche print magazine where you can place an ad.

3. According to the National Association of Realtors, 44% of prospective buyers started their house hunt online. In today’s day and age, people can shop for a home while they’re in bed, at the hair salon, or waiting in line at the grocery store. This makes it incredibly important to put your listing on sites like realtor.com, Zillow.com and your own website if you have one. The sooner you can execute this tactic, the better!

4. Social This one is kind of a no-brainer. Everyone, even your grandma, has a social media account these days. It’s best to share the listing on every platform – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and LinkedIn. But if you had to choose two, Instagram and Facebook are great options because they’re both visually focused and give you the ability to create a video to “share a story.” Your followers can also easily tag friends in post comments, growing your reach. Creating a YouTube channel where you can highlight the property in video form (also share the video on social) is another ideal way to get eyes on your listing. For designed, professional-looking posts, consider using Canva.com.

5. Send emails to your network and a targeted list. Include agents within your company and those that sell in the area. You can choose to use an email service like Mailchimp or ConstantContact that give you the ability to send professional-looking emails to a large audience all at once, or use your business Outlook, Gmail, etc. email address (just be sure you’re following the rules on the amount of emails you can send to at once).

Every agent has different tricks and variations of the above tactics to stand out from the crowd, but this checklist will help get you started and ensure you’re executing the property marketing basics. At some point while creating your own checklist, make sure you take some time to research the nuances of your specific niche in the market. Maybe it’s the same, maybe it’s a little different, but it’s always good to spend time every now and then to check out what your competition is up to.