8 Ways to Get More Out of Your Real Estate Farming Strategy
Experienced real estate agents and newcomers alike can use real estate farming to become a dominant competitor in a given market. But merely adopting a real estate farming approach doesn’t mean you’re going to be successful – or that you’ll make the most of your allotted budget.
In fact, many inexperienced real estate farming marketers make critical mistakes in their first forays that compromise their ability to reach new people. If you want to avoid this fate and maximize your ROI at the same time, you’ll need to follow the right tips.
What Is Real Estate Farming?
What is real estate farming?
For the unfamiliar, real estate farming is the process of building a strong personal brand associated with a given area, such as a specific neighbourhood or a small city. Over time, you’ll cultivate the reputation of being a foremost expert of this area.
By the end of it, you’ll have more knowledge and experience that you can use to buy and sell properties more effectively and you’ll have an easier time persuading new clients with your marketing and advertising strategies.
How to Get More Out of Your Real Estate Farming Strategy
How can you get the most out of your real estate farming strategy?
1. Choose the right area. Much of your success depends on your ability to choose the right area. You’ll need to consider several factors, including your level of experience and familiarity with each region. There are no right or wrong neighborhoods for farming, per se – your selection is more about how you can position yourself.
For example, if a neighborhood is marked by high real estate prices, you’ll need to find a way to boost your appeal with high-earning buyers. Think about the price level, the crime rates, the school districts, and the local amenities, as well as the long-term growth potential of this area.
Just as importantly, you’ll need to study the competition; are there already agents competing to become known for this area? If so, you’ll need some way to stand out among them.
2. Use an omnichannel approach. There are many different marketing strategies that can be used in pursuit of real estate farming, and nearly all of them have something to offer. Because of this, it’s advisable to use a combination of different marketing strategies to promote your brand. For example, real estate farming postcards are highly effective at reaching a group of people in a specific neighborhood with a personal and physical message. But you’ll also want to follow up with SEO, social media marketing, and other digital marketing approaches.
3. Establish a consistent personal brand. Your personal brand is going to be at the center of your real estate farming campaign, so it’s important to spend significant time researching and building it. Who are you? What do you represent? What’s your style and how do you want to present yourself? Keep this consistent across all your channels.
4. Meet as many people as possible. Networking is fundamental in any real estate business, so try to meet as many people as possible. Get to know some of the residents and locals of the area you’re serving. Introduce yourself to peer real estate agents (including competitors and non-competitors). Find a mentor and learn from them as well.
5. Use content to build your expertise. Content is one of the best ways to build your perceived expertise, especially if you promote that content actively. Consider putting together local real estate reports on a quarterly, or even monthly basis, and distributing them via an automated email campaign.
6. Keep track of your leads. After a few months of steady marketing, you’ll start enjoying a stream of incoming leads for your real estate business. If you want to manage those leads effectively, without dropping potential clients in the process, use a CRM and a consistent process to do it.
7. Target your audience specifically. When marketing yourself, make sure to speak to your audience directly. Whom are you trying to reach? What are these people’s values, perspectives, and opinions? What’s going to make them interested in your services, rather than someone else’s?
8. Learn from your mistakes and adapt. Nobody executes real estate farming perfectly, especially with minimal preexisting experience. That’s perfectly okay. Just make it a point to learn from your mistakes, adjust your habits, and move on.
One of the few downsides of real estate farming is the length of time it takes to establish yourself. If you’re new to an area, or if you don’t have much previous experience, it can take months, or even years to become the foremost neighborhood expert. Remain patient and keep cycling through tactics until you find an approach that works.
