In itself, marketing that is consistent is effective. But it takes more than just a brilliant marketing campaign to convert prospects into clients.
The best way to keep your marketing consistent is to have a marketing strategy in place. Without a sound marketing strategy, it is likely that the various marketing initiatives you engage in won’t yield the desired results.
Real estate agents tend to have disjointed marketing initiatives because they buy into several different advertising opportunities. But none of those form part of an actual strategy made to yield awareness and keep the brand top of mind.
The result is usually a loss of faith in marketing and a belief that marketing doesn’t work. When I hear agents say that marketing doesn’t work — it’s the strategy that didn’t work. Once I probe further, I discover that there was no strategy in place.
The reason marketing works can be summed up in one word: consistency.
If your marketing is consistent the following will be true:
- The branding is uniform, coherent and works together in harmony.
- All the marketing pieces work in unity and do not feel disjointed. The goals and message are the same.
- The marketing execution is regularly done; in other words, there is a set frequency.
If the above is true, great. If not, these are the causes:
- Lack of the time and thus the marketing falls through the cracks.
- Lack of money necessary to invest in a professional marketing agency.
If lack of time is the issue, a professional marketing agency or an in-house staff could handle the marketing. To keep the momentum going and generate more revenue, real estate agents must invest.
A professional marketing agency or an in-house team will help create a marketing strategy and ensure that it’s followed. They will also overlook the brand and make sure that it is always consistent from a design and messaging standpoint so that any marketing that goes out the door has the greatest impact possible.
They will also take charge of the marketing execution so that the agent won’t have to. That means writing blogs, sending press releases, maintaining the agent’s website and more.
Now, when real estate agents lack the funds, they must invest time. The agent will have to pay careful attention to the brand and make sure that it is consistent.
This is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of the marketing plan, but keeping the logo and brand simple will help. The logo should be plain and iconic — there is no need to add a dozen effects, colors or illustrations. Less is more.
It will also help to keep the brand uniform throughout various media. The time will need to be taken to establish colors, fonts and images to be consistently used — with no changes.
The creation of a budget and a corresponding marketing strategy should not be skipped. This plan will include goals, objectives and the strategies to achieve them.
In regards to execution, you will need to set weekly time for the marketing strategy to carry out the various facets of a marketing plan.
Bottom line: Consistency will be the deciding factor in the success of your marketing — or its failure.
Laura Ure is the CEO of Keenability, a marketing agency specializing in lifestyle marketing that targets the affluent buyer. Follow her on Facebook or Twitter.
