Authority through video in Estate Agency Marketing

RAT 140 (Rawlings Agency Tip)

Authority in your estate agency marketing does not mean authoritarianism or control. It means informed credibility, and the right to communicate your expert opinion. If you attended any of my recent training seminars you’ll remember (if you remained awake) that my buzz-phrase of the moment concerns the importance of being the “passionate expert”.

Hopefully you are indeed the expert in your field in terms of property marketing - you understand your market and you no doubt have a great handle on local property values. But does everyone know this, or are you hiding your talent behind British modesty?

Many agents are great at marketing the properties they are selling but in my view they don’t always get their own estate agency marketing right. You may, for example, have an amazing reputation among the 1,000 people who have had the pleasure of dealing with you over the past few years, but what about the other 90,000 residents who haven’t? How do you get your message out there? Leaflets asking for business? Maybe. Local newspaper? Probably not, if you are just using this to promote your instructions. Twitter/Facebook? Possibly, as long as you are engaging your followers, not just dumping your stock on them. Email marketing? Probably, but once again this should be really engaging - not just some sort of advert asking for business before you have earned the right to it.

The acid test of whether such communications are likely to be effective is to ask the question “Will the recipient look forward to receiving the next one?” If the answer is “NO” then think again about how you are engaging them.

And this is where AUTHORITY MARKETING comes in. If you are clearly the authority in your field, then you have the right to offer your opinion, advice and commentary on local property matters, just as someone like Henry Pryor has become at national level. He is among the first people that the BBC turns to when they need a property-related quote. And you can/should be the same locally. The difference is - you have to do your own promotion until you have the media’s ear.

How? There are four primary routes to market on this:

1. Write informative, interesting and engaging property-related articles in your local property newspaper. Retain control and a strong association with your brand by inserting these in place of one or two of your ad pages - not in the main editorial section of the paper. Make yours the first page people turn to each week.
   
   
2. Frequently paste these pieces on your website. This not only makes for a more intelligent and informative site, but also does wonders for your SEO, especially when you combine this with an 'ask-the-expert' blog.
   
   
3. Organise a regular trackable drip feed email marketing campaign to the thousands of email addresses you have no doubt captured over the years. You can also get smart with this and send relevant pieces to the right people, eg segmented by expected property type or location.
   
   
4. Best of all, use video - the fastest-growing and most engaging communication medium! Smart agents are now using video-based market commentary and 'how to' pieces across their email campaigns, social media and on their website. It’s now really easy for you to do. I have just recorded a national post-election market report for VOX users which you can see below as an example of the type of thing I’m suggesting.

Why not do your own Market Report for the local market and instantly become THE expert yourself? Do let me know if you need a hand with scripting or distribution. Plus if you’d like to feature my national market report on your website, or send it to your database within your own branded email then you’d be welcome to do so, free of charge, by taking a free 14-day trial of AgentVOX.co.uk . I think you'll find it takes your estate agency marketing to new heights.