Why sharing trade secrets is the power move for estate agents in 2022
I am often asked how to start preparing content.
What to write about and how to come up with new ideas.
The truth is that the possibilities are endless. All businesses and all industries can use a content marketing strategy. And they SHOULD!
The most successful content marketing strategies come from things that members of the public search online for.
And property is the perfect industry for content marketing.
Estate agency is somewhat of a dark art to the general public.
Many people do not understand what is involved in selling a property. The average person only moves house a handful of times in their whole lives. There will be changes in legislation, innovation, technology, and techniques between each move.
So they start to search online for answers to their questions about selling their home long before booking a valuation.
But unfortunately, estate agents have kept the details of what is involved in selling a property a secret.
The tactics and techniques, the rules and regulations, have all been kept under wraps.
It is little wonder that the general public struggle to trust estate agents.
In fact, estate agents are still in the top 10 list of the least trusted professions in the UK.
It's hard to trust something that you fundamentally don't understand. As the estate agent, you know what you are doing, but you unintentionally create a barrier and increase that DIS-trust by not explaining things openly.
And so, the general public has concluded that all estate agents are the same and have allowed online estate agencies to come to the fore.
Why pay someone 1.5% + VAT when you can get the exact same thing for £999?
And why wouldn't they think that? Estate agents have not shown how valuable they are in the moving process!
You know that there is a world of difference between those two fee structures.
But the public doesn't know that - because you haven't shown them!
In the UK, we are fascinated with the property market. It is our favourite thing to talk about after the weather, and you will have a database full of people searching for property.
Moving house is such a huge undertaking that often people lurk on your website years before they ever make contact. So although you may think many of the people registered with you are not active, they are really just not active yet.
So use your platform to show your knowledge and share information with your audience.
Give the lurkers something interesting to read.
Show them why they should pay your 1.5% fee rather than going for the cheapest option.
We all know that sellers get what they pay for.
You know that you statistically sell for a higher price and your sales progression means fewer sales fall through.
But the general public has no idea.
And showing them the figures is good, but it is all about YOU and not about them.
Content marketing is a subtle way of showing how good you are at what you do whilst focusing on the reader, your potential new vendor.
Show that you understand your clients' worries and concerns. Show that you are the authority voice in your area. Show that you have the answers to their questions. Show that you can be trusted to get them through this tricky process.
Most people will begin their research long before choosing an estate agent, and they start with searching the internet for answers to their long list of questions.
Imagine starting to think about moving and realising that you are lost, and endless questions remain unanswered. You make a few phone calls and are simply badgered into having a valuation appointment.
You reluctantly agree.
Then you have a stream of different estate agents that come through your home, each with a nice suit and a polished presentation about how good they are and the awards that they have won.
But really, you are none the wiser, so you think you will go for either the most impressive on paper or the cheapest option.
This is a typical journey for most sellers to put their property on the market for sale.
Now imagine an agent who understands you and your nerves about selling your home. They are an authority, they are knowledgable, they relate to you. They explain the processes that you will go through. They share that they are experienced, but they don't bang on about themselves.
How powerful if one of the agents in their local town answered their questions on their website?
And the research is done BEFORE the valuation appointment is booked. Before the seller has even made a call to the office. In fact, this is shown to them at the research stage, when they are lurking.
Which agent are they likely to call for a valuation?
The one with all of the answers!
This is building a rapport but supercharged.
The chances are that if you get this across to your potential clients clearly, they may not even bother with the nice suit agents!
You are the obvious choice, and the client has spent so long with you (digitally) consuming your content that they feel as if they already know you.
Why would they bother speaking to anyone else?
And they are probably not even going to contemplate the online agents because how does sponsoring the Olympics GB team affect the average home seller? It doesn't at all. Not even if you are an Olympic athlete!
Purple Bricks are a huge company, and they are advertising to increase brand awareness. They are not showing how they can help the average home seller. Because let's be honest, we as estate agents know that they DON'T really do anything to help the average home seller.
But, if you are looking to sell your home, how would you see them compared to traditional, independent estate agents. Probably just that they are bigger and cheaper.
Why wouldn't you go for cheaper if all estate agents are the same?
So, unless you have the budget to put adverts on TV, use content marketing to show your audience what you know.
You are probably nurturing HUNDREDS of sellers without even knowing it because people generally research for a few YEARS before calling you for a valuation.
Show them that you are the experts, that you do an incredible job and that you can relate to them so that when they decide to put their property on the market, they already know which agent they want to use.
Every month, I create content for many estate agents, both on a monthly subscription and some bespoke pieces.
If you have any questions about getting started, drop me an email.
I have also created an e-book, just for estate agents - click here to download for FREE.
