Put unprofitable marketing activities out of their misery.

Reevaluate your marketing plans and advertising spending to ensure that you’re achieving the best return on your investment. Rank all of your marketing activities by their return on investment and eliminate at least 1/3 of the “bottom dwellers.” In order to effectively do this, you’ll need to get rid of the emotional attachments to ineffective programs that you’re fond of. Why repeat what hasn’t been working? It’s a waste of time and money.

Join the most popular ‘social’ scene: Social networking.

Social networking isn’t just for kids on MySpace. Networking sites geared toward a wide range of demographics are popping up all over the Internet. For example, Eons.com focuses on the 55+ crowd. LinkedIn is an enormously popular business networking hub. Adding your own simple profile to a business networking site gives you the opportunity to spread the word about who you’re working for and what you’re selling not only to your own network, but also to your network’s network and so on.

Hire a publicist to heighten your public presence.

Who does an actor turn to when they need to boost their exposure and shape their public image? A publicist. The same premise holds true for the real estate industry. When no one’s talking about you, PR can help get you noticed. When your competition is quoted in magazine articles and you’re not, PR can promote you to the media so they seek out your input first. PR can help multiply your Internet presence with credible exposure. It can help influence the media in creative ways that empower the public to make positive decisions. Think about it...for the price of a single full-page ad that runs for just one month in a popular lifestyle magazine, you can engage the ongoing services of a professional to publicize your offering for 12 continuous months resulting in much wider information distribution and visibility. What’s the best use of your marketing dollars?

Go back to the future – focus once again on opportunistic investors.

Start marketing to investors again. Even though many people feel we haven’t yet hit bottom, experts agree that the investment market is starting to heat up again. Many real estate investors are looking for that next great deal. Remember what the great business investor Warren Buffett once said, “The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy...”

Evolve your marketing plan to ensure you’re where consumers are... online.

There’s a strong growth spurt in interactive marketing geared toward all demographics. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 93% of people with household incomes of $75K+ actively use the Internet, 91% of Internet users use a search engine to find information and 78% research a product or service on the Internet before buying it. What does this mean for you? If you don’t have a significant presence online, you’re missing out on reaching a large chunk of the potential homebuyer market. This is the time to re-evaluate your Internet presence and integrate your off-line and on-line marketing campaigns.

Dig to the bottom of the file cabinet and revisit expired leads.

This is an obvious opportunity that’s often overlooked. Old leads are generally considered “dead.” They’re never dead. Re-contacting expired leads with a thoughtful approach and message can result in reignited interest or new referrals.

Knock your personal networking out of the ballpark.

Good sales people network. It’s a given. But, how far do you network beyond those people that you already know? Every sales person on your team should focus on the goal of increasing their personal network by at least 25% in 2008. Focus beyond who you know and concentrate more on who you want to know. Set a “Top 5 Channels” target list, identifying the people that can best help you spread the word about your offering.

Be Madonna. Reinvent yourself.

You’re using the same marketing materials and message that you did before the market dropped. People have been seeing it over and over as you struggle to promote yourself in a tough market. You need to change things up. Now’s the time to repackage yourself. Maybe your entire marketing campaign needs a facelift. Maybe it’s a matter of changing up a single brochure, letter campaign or your website. Have a marketing firm assess your campaign for new opportunities that you can take advantage of. A fresh approach to your brand and messaging can easily generate a second look from potential buyers.

Zero in on your target before you shoot.

Take another look at your target homebuyers. Do you know what their main interests and concerns are? Are you prepared for the questions they’ll be asking you? Now is the time to re-evaluate your sales base and their priorities. Understand how to customize your approach to the differing needs of each person that you talk with. Take control of the process.

Got a question about what you’ve read? Contact us at askus@maximumdesign.com

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