Thoughts on Real Estate Marketing…

First, although it has nothing to do with real estate or marketing of any kind, I have to relate some good news I saw this evening: A young Boy Scout who had been missing was found alive and well.

Now… The following is a post I entered on Active Rain last night. It seemed to strike a nerve, judging from the number of comments. So I thought I’d share it here as well.

Every time I log in to e-mail lately I get assaulted with bad news.

• The stock market is going to fall by 90%.
• Inflation is going to double.
• Unemployment is going to triple.
• 60% of all homeowners are going to be foreclosed upon.
• Home prices will continue to fall.
• No one can get a home loan

It just goes on and on. And what bothers me is that people react.

I feel like the media is leading the American public around by the nose. People are taking action based on what the media tells them is going to happen. And then… their predictions come true!

If they say it’s simply too scary to hire more employees, employers scratch their chins and say “Hmmm. Maybe so. I’d better not.”

If they say “No one can get a loan,” then thousands won’t even try.

And of course, what the media predicts about housing prices continuing to fall can do nothing but hurt your business.Yours – and mortgage lenders’ and appraisers’ and inspectors’ and stagers’. The list goes on.

It hurts mine as well, because real estate agents who think there’s no hope aren’t going to spend money improving their marketing copy.

What are you doing to counteract this negative media effect?

I’m starting with me. I delete those emails and I take time to unsubscribe to a couple of them each day. (It takes a while with a satellite connection, or I’d do it all in one day.)

I’ve quit watching TV almost entirely.

As a strong believer in the Law of Attraction, I’m choosing to ignore the doom and gloom and focus on the good news I see and read. Happily, much of that good news is right here on Active Rain!

I know, next year I’ll need to watch and pay attention in order to make a (somewhat) informed decision when it’s time to vote. But for now, there’s nothing I can do to make Congress shape up, or to make the banks keep better books or behave ethically. Nor can I push independent businesses into hiring more people, or the government into closing any of it’s redundant agencies.

So why should I fill my mind with all that?

I shouldn’t.

Meanwhile… I KNOW some people will keep on buying homes.

There will always be someone with money and/or credit and there will always be agents who are working hard, helping those folks.

I also know that there will always be agents, lenders, and others in the real estate industry who have enough confidence in the future to use copywriting services.

I choose to focus on those positive truths.I’m not giving any energy to the negatives.

But since so many are worried…

The other thing I’m doing is working on a new e-book. I have SO many struggling agents write me asking what they can do to build their business without spending money.

I do try to address any specific questions they have, but for me to try to answer the whole question of “What can I do?” in an email is impossible. There is no one “magic” thing you can do to build a real estate business. Success comes as the cumulative effect of a whole lot of actions both large and small.

It involves being the best agent you can be – doing an exceptional job for both buyers and sellers. It also involves reaching out and making yourself known – and there are simply dozens of ways to do that.

The great part is, most of them don’t cost a thing except time and effort. (And perhaps a tank of gasoline now and then.) The only “set in stone” expense is ownership of a website – and I firmly believe that every agent should have his or her own site – independent of anything offered by the brokerage.

Even that doesn’t need to cost a lot if you’re willing to do the work yourself.

My new book will be ready in a few days… So far I’m at 13 pages, and 103 ways to build a real estate business. But I’m not finished writing quite yet.

When I’m finished, I think I can safely say that any working real estate agent who reads the book can have only one valid excuse for not “making it,” because it contains a variety steps. Everyone can do at least some of them. No, make that most, if not all of them.

The only excuse would be if the real estate market in their community completely died – if NO ONE was buying homes or land. And I can’t see that happening anywhere.