Get Creative with Your Marketing
Many agents think marketing is sending postcards into a specific neighborhood, or posting to social media every day, but it goes far beyond that. The more creative you are to capture a specific segment of the market, the better return you can expect.
I had an interesting phone call with one of my students this week. He is a full-time agent, but he also teaches a technology course at the local College every week. He wanted to tap into the college as a niche market, but he wasn’t sure of the best way to do that. Before we get into the specifics of the advice I gave him, let’s take a few minutes to talk about the critical questions you need to ask yourself before embarking on a new marketing campaign.
Where do you get most of your business from now?
I am a strong believer in playing to your ace, so if you have an area where you are getting a lot of business from now, that is the first place you should focus on to extend your reach.
What do you have in common with this market?
Who do you connect well with? People like working with people who are like them. It is easier to build rapport with someone who has similar interests or a similar lifestyle to you. Perhaps you are a baby boomer and you connect well with seniors because you understand their challenges. Perhaps you are a millennial and you connect well with first-time homebuyers because you understand how difficult it is to buy their first house. Perhaps you have a background in construction and you connect well with builders and contractors because you can speak their language. Decide what your superpower is and identify a niche market that you would connect well with.
What are the specific challenges these clients have?
Baby boomers are often challenged with trying to put kids through college, pay off their house, and save enough to retire. Understanding their challenges allows you to tailor your marketing message to solve their problems (like how downsizing can uncomplicate their life, or how their investing in real estate can set them up for financial freedom in retirement. First-time homebuyers are often challenged with saving a down payment and affording monthly mortgage payments. Understanding their challenges allows you to tailor your marketing message to speak about the advantages of owning over renting, and how creative financing options can make owning a home more affordable.
Is the niche market big enough to warrant your time, money, and effort?
You may find a niche market that you connect well with, but there either aren’t enough of them, they are too difficult to find, or they don’t have enough money to warrant your effort. Before you decide on which market to go after, you need to do your homework to find out if you can make a profit. As they say in Florida, you need to make sure the juice is worth the squeeze.
How can you best reach them?
When you consider marketing to a specific niche, which media will you use to connect with them? Social media, online ads, printed postcards, e-newsletters, market reports, email campaigns, networking at social events, radio, television … the secret is to fish where the fish are.
To go back to the agent who wanted to tap into the college market as a niche, here are some of the suggestions I gave him:
There are 25,000 students who attend the college, so there is a significant population base to start with. You may be thinking to yourself that students don’t have money to buy houses, and in most cases, you are correct; however, their parents have money. Their parents are paying for student lodging already, so why not buy a house, rent out a few rooms to other students to reduce their carrying costs, and build their own equity rather than throwing rent money away. Knowing this, I suggested he go after the off-campus housing market.
FIRST OPPORTUNITY – PARENTS
- First, he needs to be familiar with the best areas for student housing, including zoning, fire codes, building codes, parking, distance to college campus, accessibility to shopping and transportation.
- Next, he needs to understand the average sale price in these areas as well as average student rents.
- He will need to understand overall carrying costs for these properties like property taxes, utilities, insurance, ongoing maintenance, and upkeep, so that he can help parents understand why it is better to buy than rent.
- Next, he needs to have a detailed understanding of how student rental leases work and what needs to be included (like having parents co-sign for their kids).
- Finally, he will need to know what inventory is on the market in these areas at any given time.
Armed with this information, he is now an expert in this area, and he can feel confident marketing to potential clients. Marketing must take place through the students to get to the parents.
I would start by creating a website specifically designed for student housing options around the college, the benefits of buying over renting, things parents should consider, etc. and I would buy google ads and Facebook ads to promote it. He should offer to do student rental investment workshops delivered by Zoom to the parents. He can put flyers around the college campus. He can advertise in the student newspaper and social media groups. He can reach out to the economics classes to see if they are interested in an evening class on how to invest in real estate. Lastly, he can notify the student rental office about his workshops and ask them to promote it to parents.
SECOND OPPORTUNITY – INVESTORS
Similar to parents, there is a unique rental business that exists around the perimeter of most colleges and universities. Off-campus student housing is a unique piece of the residential income-producing market.
- Students typically commit to a one-year lease; however, in certain circumstances, they may sign a three or four-year lease depending on the length of their program.
- Be aware that typically students occupy the units for 10 months out of 12, even though they pay for a full year. Usually, the students go home over the summer break, and this gives investors time to refresh the units.
- Leases are typically signed by the parents to guarantee protection from damage issues.
- As investment units go, student housing typically pays a positive cashflow and a great cap rate, but students bring their own challenges to the experience and investors must be prepared to be hands-on with managing the properties.
Armed with this information, I suggested he should start by looking up absentee owners to see if there is anyone who already owns more than one property in the area. This is a good indicator that they may be in the market for more investment properties. The best thing he can do is to prospect for listings around the college (either by phone, email, letter, or door knocking) and then advertise those listings to find investors. Once investors start calling, he can build a database of investors that he can reach out to with good deals.
THIRD OPPORTUNITY – FACULTY
- There are fewer of them than students, but he is part of the faculty, so he has common ground with them.
- Professors have well-paying, secure jobs and there is always turnover.
- There are typically one or two areas near the college that cater to faculty. These houses are better than student housing, the floor plans are designed for single occupants, and the price point is higher. Again, it is a unique piece of the market.
He can put up flyers and market reports in the faculty lounge. He can advertise in faculty social media groups. He can talk to the college recruiter and offer to assist with hiring new professors by touring them around the community. He can sponsor faculty social events, and he can distribute “cheaper-keepers” to faculty members like phone chargers and mouse pads with his name and logo. I suggested sending a postcard campaign into the areas where faculty members like to live to prospect for listings.
Marketing opportunities are endless if you put your thinking cap on. This is just one example of how to creatively market to a specific niche. I’m an advocate for being a subject-matter expert for specific segments of the market rather than being a general practitioner. With the right time and money invested into a unique corner of the market, your business gets easier because clients come to you for your expertise rather than you always having to hunt for your next client.
Doing some self-reflection, which segment of the real estate market do you find yourself most comfortable with? Which clients do you enjoy working the most with? Once you identify the unique segment you want to go after, ask yourself the five questions we covered to ensure the juice is worth the squeeze.
Chris Leader
President
Leader’s Edge Training