Thoughts on Real Estate Marketing…

When a fisherman drops his (or her) line into the water, he hopes that a fish swimming by will see the bait and grab it. Then he hopes that he can reel in the line with just enough pressure to keep the fish on the hook until he gets it to the shore or into the boat.

An inexperienced fisherman will bait that hook with something he thinks might work, or something that someone else recommended. He’ll choose a spot on the lake or along the river or creek and hope that it’s the spot where the fish happen to be.

Sometimes he’ll get lucky – just like a marketer will sometimes get lucky by sending a message out to an unknown audience. Someone might just be passing by, see the bait, and take it.

But what if there is no bait and no lure? What if the message doesn’t offer any reason why that prospective customer should be interested? That’s kind of like dropping a bare hook into the lake and hoping that it will interest a fish.

Smart fishermen take the time to learn where the fish are most likely to be. They study the area and pay attention to fish habitat. Lake fishermen use depth finders to “see” the bottom of the lake and they look for ledges where fish like to congregate. They use fish finders to spot the schools and see how deep they are. They look up and down rivers and streams for pools and submerged logs where fish like to hide.

Smart marketers make the effort to learn who their customers really are and where they can be found. They find out where their target audience hangs out. The young guy interested in high definition stereo sound probably isn’t reading a magazine called “Quilting Today,” or “Western Horseman.” And he probably isn’t spending time on internet forums that focus on those subjects, either. So a smart marketer who sells stereos goes to forums where the participants discuss stereos.

After the fisherman learns where they fish are hanging out, they try to learn what kind of lure or bait those fish want. An avid fisherman will have a tackle box full of different colors and shapes of lures, plus different kinds of bait to put on the hooks.

Then they test. They try different things and then keep track of what worked in different places and at different times of day. They know what works in summer or in winter.

And that’s exactly what smart marketers do. They test. They try different headlines to attract attention. Then they try different offers as “bait” to get customers to call. Some customers might want advice and information. Others might be interested in a discount or a free widget.

Then they keep track of the response from each headline and each kind of bait.

And one more thing: Good fishermen have patience. They don’t try a lure or a spot for just a minute or two and quit. They wait a while. If they’ve found the spot where the fish live, they try different lures and different bait. They never just toss in a line and reel in 10 minutes later if they haven’t gotten a bite.

Good marketers need a little patience too. If you’ve found your target audience, keep trying a different offer or a different headline. They’re there – you just need to find out what you can offer them that they really want.