The best thing you can do for your estate agency business in a slower market…
As estate agents, you're experts in the property market.
You likely know more than the economists and analysts on the news each day, predicting what will happen because you are in it, on the front line, so to speak.
You know if you're reducing more properties than before or if you have to be a little more conservative on valuation appointments.
So, if you know, or at least know more than most, what's around the corner, surely you can be prepared?
There is no point having a heads up on what is coming, then burying your head in the sand and simply waiting for it to happen. If you have the inside scoop, use it to your advantage, rather than waiting for it to happen and then trying to hold on for dear life.
The news is reporting the increased cost of living and inflation, rising interest rates and the people of Britain having less available cash in their pockets than before. What can you do to protect yourself from the incoming doom and gloom?
Of course, we can't control the press. But if there are fewer buyers and therefore fewer sales, the likelihood is that you will generate less in fees over the coming years than you have been enjoying recently. Perhaps now is the time to start preparing for a slower market. You know what they say, "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail".
As an advocate of content marketing, I believe that the content you put out as a brand is far more effective than simply posting to social media or sponsoring the kid's football team. Of course, I will say that, but there are reasons.
Buyer behaviour hasn't changed much over the years for people moving house. The decision to sell your home is not taken lightly. In fact, studies show that buyers and sellers will consider moving for over a year before doing anything about it. This year is spent thinking, evaluating and researching.
In years gone by, we would have called these people time wasters. They ask for viewings or request that we post printed brochures, and they never get back to us. After 3 months, we'd archive them from our database and move on. What a waste of time and energy! But this is wrong. Those people were not wasting time; they were simply not ready to move yet-they are still researching.
And we don't get requests for viewings from these people anymore or post out hard copy brochures - they are still doing the same research, only now it is online. This means you don't know who they are until they decide to sell and arrange valuation appointments. By this time, it could be too late.
Hours and hours are spent poring over Rightmove and the local agents' websites. Taking note of for-sale boards as they go up in their town. This is the new way to research leading up to the ultimate decision to sell their home.
These future sellers must find you whilst they are doing this research. This is the chance to reach out to them before they start arranging valuation appointments to ensure that you are their agent of choice. Otherwise, they might only see your competitors, and you've lost that instruction before you even knew it was in the pipeline.
So, how can you ensure that you are on the radar of these potential sellers during the research phase? And how can you keep this marketing cost-effective and time efficient?
The answer is CONTENT!
Useful, informative articles that answer their questions. You are the experts, so show that you know what you are doing while potential sellers are doing their research. They're not ready to speak to you yet, so they won't want to give you their number or register on your database. But what if they find your brand accidentally after a spot of googling? You've answered their questions, and they'll begin to build rapport and trust with your brand.
READ MORE: How most estate agents waste £££ on blogposts for their estate agency that have no impact.
And the best bit, this works for you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You simply post the content, and the internet will do the rest. How good is that?
But, as we begin to tighten our belts when the sales start to slow down, it can be tempting to turn off the marketing, as it is hard to quantify an exact return on investment.
You don't know if people are reading the blog posts. And then you don't know if they are using your company due to spending time on your website.
For those who use Lifesycle, you know the return on investment for your marketing. Because you see each time a person completes an online valuation and when they open blog post articles. Which ones they read and which ones they are skipping. You know who to call for prospecting because you can see the hot leads and who is still researching.
Content marketing doesn't have an immediate impact on sales. It isn't like running an advert for a discount and seeing the sales increase directly. Content marketing is a slow burn. A long game. You need to be consistent month after month to build up an audience. But, once it is up and running, it is virtually automated and will feed new leads into your company regularly, with hardly any input from you.
So, if we are looking at a market slowdown, you don't want to start when we are in a slower market. You need to start now, so it's up and running and working for you before the market slows down.
And don't forget, the articles will sit on your website permanently. A library of helpful information for prospective clients to read through and research to their heart's content.
They will spend time on your website, clicking from page to page. This will significantly impact your website rating on google and improve your SEO, too.
So, if you're beginning to think about how you will survive through a slower market, consider unnecessary costs and cut your cloth to suit. But, marketing is the last thing that you should cut. If you reduce your marketing budget, you will reduce your exposure. This will result in fewer instructions and less income in the long run.
When fewer properties are coming to the market, you want to ensure that you reach the potential sellers, not hiding from them because you decided to reduce the marketing spend.
As Henry Ford famously said, "stopping good quality marketing to save money when times are hard is like stopping your watch to try and save time."
