Watch for these top signs that it’s time to move marketing off of your own plate.
Working as a luxury real estate agent involves marketing your services in the same way any small business owner or service provider would. Even when you’re part of a brokerage, you’re responsible for getting your name in front of the right people and for sourcing a steady stream of clients.
Many realtors do this all on their own. From their luxury real estate websites to their Instagram real estate marketing, they dedicate time and energy to staying on top of each element of their marketing plans. This do-it-yourself approach is quite common with those first starting out. Many professionals prefer to try to do all of their marketing in-house and learn the ropes before evaluating whether an outside team is needed. Especially early on in their careers, real estate agents often wonder whether outsourcing their marketing is really worth the investment.
If you’ve been tackling marketing on your own, look for these five signs that the time has come to outsource your marketing efforts.
1. You’re not seeing results
Whether you’re new to real estate marketing or you’ve been in the game for years, it’s extremely frustrating to put time and effort into your marketing strategy and still not see new leads or a positive response in return. Unfortunately, the world of marketing can move so quickly that as soon as you’ve mastered one aspect of it, the logistics and best practices seem to change.
For most real estate agents, a huge bulk of marketing takes place online. From creating a high-end real estate website with strong SEO, to connecting with your community on social media, to reaching out to your leads with an email newsletter, many of your marketing efforts take place from behind your computer screen. These approaches can be extremely effective, but they also shift in strategy more quickly than print and more traditional marketing mediums tend to.
For example, learning how to run ads on social media can take weeks or months of online courses and hands-on experimenting. However, each time Facebook comes out with a new update or nationwide regulations arise that change audience targeting and bidding, you’ll likely have to relearn a few steps and weather a drop in your ad performance. Likewise, some of the same strategies that used to be the go-to industry standard for SEO three years ago are now dragging SEO rankings downward for many sites. Constantly learning and relearning the same few skills can get discouraging and take your energy away from your current clients.
If you’re not seeing the results you need and expect from your marketing efforts, it’s likely time to bring in an outside team. This way, you get the benefit of working with people whose entire careers are in marketing, meaning they can dedicate the time needed to keep up with the ever-shifting landscape and bring in the results to help your business grow.
2. You’re burning out
Have you begun to dread the workday and the tasks you know you need to complete? If you’re feeling drained of energy because you’re dedicating too much overtime to your business, marketing may be the culprit.
At the start, most marketing tasks can appear easy and minimal. A post to Instagram here, an email newsletter there, a day to make some follow-up calls…easy, right? However, when you compound these small tasks with all of the moving parts you’re already juggling in order to best serve your existing clients, your to-do list begins to look insurmountable.
If you’re finding yourself exhausted and missing out on events in your personal life because of your career as a luxury real estate professional, look into where you’re spending your time. Track your hours to investigate where you’re going overboard, and take time to consider whether your current workload is sustainable. Is this the life you imagined when you set out to grow your luxury real estate business? Are you still finding balance, joy, and fulfillment in this career path?
If not, then outsourcing your marketing efforts is a great way to cut down on your workload. Once you have help with marketing, you can focus your energy on taking care of yourself, maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and showing up as the best real estate agent you can be for your current clients.
3. Your efforts are inconsistent
Instead of working overtime and entering burnout territory, many professionals instead allow their online marketing tasks to fall lower and lower on their priority list until they’re barely on the mind at all. It’s very common for luxury real estate professionals to take weeks or even months away from their websites, email lists, and social media channels, only to revisit them and become active again once they have extra time — or worse, as a last-ditch effort once their leads have dried up.
Unfortunately, you likely won’t see overnight improvement by getting active with your marketing after ignoring it for months and after your leads have slowed down. Online marketing efforts like making connections on social media or posting helpful blogs and videos are long-term strategies; they help you build trust and community over time, so when someone who’s been watching is ready to buy a home, they think of you first. While these methods are extremely powerful for creating a steady flow of leads over time if you’re consistent with them, they generally don’t produce quick results. Plus, posting or emailing sporadically or only to ask for referrals is a surefire way to lose the trust of your audience.
Instead of waiting until you have more time and letting it fall off your to-do list, outsource your real estate marketing in order to show up consistently for your community and establish your expertise for anyone who finds you online. Hiring out your marketing efforts allows you to invest in a consistent strategy, instead of spotty and random bursts of online activity.
4. You don’t have time for the rest of your business
Maybe you’ve taken the time to learn online ads and SEO, you’re putting in the work to keep up with the ever-changing requirements, and you’re maintaining a consistent presence online. Awesome! But, stop to ask yourself…at what cost?
Could you have spent the ten hours it took to learn how to set up a Facebook ad to go out for some pop-bys instead? Could you have made a few phone calls to follow up with warm leads rather than tweaking your website all morning? Could you have reached out to a current client more quickly about a new home on the market that meets their wishlist perfectly?
There are only so many hours in a day, and you only have so much energy. As a luxury real estate professional, your role involves many nuances and many moving parts already. Your top priority should lie in honing your skills as an agent and soaking up all the real estate knowledge you possibly can! Showing up for your clients is a full-time job as it is. Is it in your — or your clients’ — best interest to spend such a large fraction of your own time on your marketing?
5. You’re ready to level up
Helping your clients buy and sell luxury properties is what you do best. Your knowledge, skill, experience, and expertise all come together to make you the ideal person for the job, and your clients need your full attention in order to achieve their goals and land their dream homes. The work you do is important, and getting in front of the right people so you can serve them is important too.
Even if you’re not seeing anything particularly wrong with your current marketing strategy or your overall workflow, outsourcing your marketing efforts can open doors to a stronger stream of business. With the right marketing team at your side, you’ll be connected with your dream clients more easily and more consistently. Take advantage of the newest tools, best strategies, and smartest resources and watch your business flourish.
Making an investment in marketing for your luxury real estate business means placing a bet on yourself and your own expertise. Get your name out there and get ready to welcome your ideal clients. We buy houses in Baltimore