Category Archives for "Advertising"

BEFORE YOU START ADVERTISING ON ZILLOW

read this before you start advertising on zillow

This article was inspired by a coaching client who asked me if they should start advertising on Zillow because $200 was open in a zip code they would like to be in. 

It all started because Zillow has been contacting agents with the good news that they've opened up spots in popular zip codes. Apparently they're getting more traffic and leads than they expected so they can let more advertisers in. 

But, before you invest, consider what you'll GET for your money. 

For example, if a zip code you want has only $200 available - how many live connections will you receive? 

Probably less than 1 per month.

Is $200 really worth .5 a lead? That's a HALF of a lead. Seriously. 

That means you'll be getting ONE lead every other month. WHAT?!?


Your Zillow rep (aka sales person) will sell you on the "nurture" leads. These are also sometimes called "other" leads. And, while all leads are welcome and nice to have, you need to understand that they are a lower quality leads and they don't convert like the live calls. 

The "Nurture/Other" leads include people that are unresponsive - which means the lead is OLD. Who even knows how long Zillow has attempted to reach this lead. Probably at least a few days, if not more. Those leads look like this:

Then, there's the "Nurture/Other" leads that specifically say they're not ready to talk to an agent. Maybe they said "OMG, DON'T CALL ME!" or maybe they said, "Ooops, I didn't mean to submit that on Zillow." Or, my favorite, "I don't know what you're talking about, I never asked about a property??" Those leads look like this: 

The live calls, or "connections" are the best quality of the paid leads through Zillow.

However, they aren't as amazing as Zillow would have you believe.

To give you some perspective, I spent $1168 on Zillow in the last month. 

With that investment,  in the last 30 days I've received 5 "connections" and this is where they're at today:

1 - was a bonus connection - it wasn't in the zip code we advertise in it. Thank goodness, because turns out she has an agent. She told us on the phone she didn't have an agent, but then when we drove 30 minutes to show her a rural property she mentioned in fact she DOES have an agent. Awesome. 

1 - buyer rescheduled two different appointments with us but did take our advice to get pre-approved. Unfortunately, they don't have enough trade lines to get approved today. Naturally, we'll stay in touch and hopefully convert them to a sale in the future. 

1- showed the buyer one house, her brother is buying it for her family but can't provide a pre-approval letter. After days of inquiring on pre-foreclosures (aka homes NOT for sale) she's ghosted us. We will continue to call, text and email and nurture this lead. 

2 - were decent prospects that aren't ready to buy today, but might be ready to write within the next 6 months. 

SO, in 30 days, we have 2 good prospects. 

What do you think about those leads? Does it seem sort of low for the investment? I know a lot of agents in more competitive cities and they're paying THOUSANDS more, for basically the same results.

Now, imagine if you're spending $200. That half a lead isn't going to get you very far, is it? 

So, before you invest your hard earned dollars - be very clear about what you can expect in return for that investment.


Please note that if you're a brand new advertiser with Zillow, you can probably expect to be in a 6 month contract. Maybe even a year contract.

It's no fun spending money when you're not getting much of anything in return.

So, if you've been wondering if you should start advertising on Zillow (or any other online portal) I hope you take some time to analyze what you can expect to get for your investment. 

While I'm not against investing in Zillow or other online lead strategies (obviously, since I do!) I firmly believe you should have a SOLID STRATEGY to help grow your business. And paying for half a lead a month isn't a very good strategy. Paying for online leads without a solid strategy isn't going to help you grow.

While you're here, why don't you grab our FREE social media graphics and amp up your social posts to reach your online audience - maybe they need your help buying or selling a house! 

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Designed exclusively for real estate agents, we've got 20 free graphics (just like these!) that you can use to promote your real estate business on social media. Grab yours!

how to spy on your competition in real estate

How to Spy on Your Competition in Real Estate

How to Spy on Your Competition in Real Estate

You know those agents that tell you how they get SO MUCH business from Facebook?

But, when you ask them HOW they’re getting all this business, they don’t really give an answer?

Yah, I know those agents too. And here’s a tip to SPY on them – and find out exactly what kind of ads they’re running!

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Download FREE Social Media Graphics

Designed exclusively for real estate agents, we've got 20 free graphics (just like these!) that you can use to promote your real estate business on social media. Grab yours!

better facebook ads strategy

Real Estate Agents Need a Better Facebook Ads Strategy

Real Estate Agents Need a Better Facebook Ads Strategy

This was a Facebook Live video done on the Savvy Agent FB page. 

Some background:

So, I was on a call with a couple of agents earlier this week and they’re spending pretty decent money with Facebook doing some lead generation ads, I assume, or I guess I shouldn’t assume because it sounded like they didn’t really know what they were doing. One of the real estate agents said, “Well, how do I know if my ads are working? I’m spending $1500 a month, how do I know if it’s working?”

There are many different answers to that question.

This particular person had a marketing person that was in charge of that. The answer for her was, “You need to go to your marketing person and have them explain what the strategy is and if it’s working.”

Personally, I don’t spend $1500 a month on Facebook ads. Actually, I have three or four ads running right now, just promoting listings. It’s a really simple strategy. In the last seven days, I’ve gotten 97 leads and I’ve spent $58.65. That’s pretty good return for the money spent.

But my strategy on that ad is very simple. The ad is basically exactly what I wrote on the MLS listing and it takes them to my IDX website. So, when the visitor is on my website, if they look at more than one picture, it forces them to register. Forced registration and I have their contact info!

Never spend money for someone to go nowhere.

In order for that ad to be profitable, and for me to say, “Yes, my Facebook ads are working,” then I need to get something for that ad.

Before you start any ad campaign, you need to know what you want in the end.

  • Do you want to get people to go to your website?
  • What do you want them to do once they’re on your website?
  • Do you want them to join a buyers group that you have on Facebook?
  • Do you want them to download a guide?
  • What is your ultimate goal?

In this example, my goal was super simple: I want leads on my listings for my team to work.

But, the other agent that we were talking to said, “Well, you know, I do videos, I do this, that, blah, blah, blah.” (Blah’s inserted to abbreviate the conversation.)

Also, she wasn’t really sure of what her overall strategy was. I said, “Oh my God, you have got to stop.” And then I drew a terrible picture. And that terrible picture looked, well, frankly, like female anatomy. It looked like Fallopian tubes!

In the video above, I pre-drew the picture so it’s a much better drawing. This is essentially a funnel: 

Better Facebook Ads Strategy

Not to be confused with a funnel cake, but it’s a SALES funnel.

A sales funnel is essentially the process of you getting strangers into your sales funnel and moving them down the sales pipeline to ultimately buying real estate. This sales funnel is going to be what helps you have a better Facebook ads strategy. It works for all advertising strategies too – not just Facebook ads. 

For example, think of strangers being above the sales funnel. All the people in the world that don’t know you are outside the top of your funnel. So, maybe you upload a real estate video to your Facebook business page.

You want people to watch the video because you want to show them that you’re amazing, naturally. In this example, you would target cold traffic to get people INTO the top of your sales funnel. And, because the people who already know you deserve a different message, right? It’s all in the strategy.

What do you do with someone once they watch a video?

Well, you don’t just forget them. You want them in a video views audience. Then you can serve them another ad after they watch the video. 

And that’s how it goes. You serve another ad to that audience and move them further down the funnel. The whole point is to get strangers into your sales funnel (or what I like to call the circle of trust) and the people interested in doing business with are pushed to the bottom of the sales funnel when they make a purchase. The funnel gets smaller toward the bottom because not every person that gets into your funnel is going to turn into a sale.

And, it’s possible that someone who enters your funnel in 2018 might buy or sell a house with you in 2022. But, you have to have a good strategy to stay at the top of their mind for when they’re ready to do business with you.  

A simple sales funnel example:

Ad 1 – Serve your video as an ad to a cold audience (strangers).

Ad 2 – Then, anyone that watched at least 25% of your video you’re going to serve them a home value ad.

So, if they watch 25% of your initial real estate video, then that might be a sign they’re pretty interested in real estate. Then you want to serve them a very specific ad that has the opportunity for them to take action. In this case we used a home value ad. Once they register with your home value ad – you’ve got their contact info and you’ll work them until they sell! (Or at least put them on a drip campaign.)

This is a pay to play world.

Be strategic with your sales funnel and how you’re going to get them further down the pipeline. Now, of course, not everybody’s going to make it to the bottom of the funnel, so that’s why it gets a little bit smaller, but you can get so much more targeted as you get closer to this buying decision part of the funnel. Once you have this strategy in place, then you can actually say with confidence whether or not you know if you Facebook ads are working.

Today, I have a very simple strategy because I was too lazy to set up a complicated funnel. And well, frankly, maybe it’s not even me being lazy. Maybe it’s just that I’m so darn busy, all I had time for was to throw up those ads.

I want leads on my listings.

Just like you and every other real estate agent out there. And there is nothing wrong with that. It’s effective. I can say that 97 leads for less than $60 in seven days is worth the money.

Before you give Facebook any more money… actually, this rule actually applies for everything.

Before you give Google AdWords money…

Before you give ANY VENDOR any money, make sure you know what you want in return for that money. And then you have something to judge the performance by. You have your baseline expectation and with a little more experience, you’ll have cost per lead, cost per sale, you’ll figure all of those things out. 

The very basic minimum thing that you have to have…

…is a strategy of what you want to happen. Then, you can grade your performance and know ultimately if that money is worth your time or not. You can get a lot more advanced and nerdy about the numbers later, but please: If you don’t know if your ads are working, STOP.

Stop spending that money right now or talk to the marketing person who’s in charge of those ads. Somebody knows. And if that somebody is supposed to be you, shut the ads down and think through it, look at the numbers. You’re a business owner and you deserve to know that your money is being spent wisely so that you know if you should spend more of it or not.

We teach a lot about funnels in Savvy Agent Club. But, if you make sure you have a STRATEGY before spending any advertising dollars, that’s half the battle right there.

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relevance score

Do You Know Your Relevance Score?

Do You Know Your Relevance Score?

Do you run ads on Facebook? How do you judge if they work or not? What about boosts? How do you know if they were effective? One quick way to grade an ad is to check the relevance score that Facebook assigns it.

But first, what is a relevance score?

You can read in detail about it here.

The short explanation is that FB will grade your ad based on consumer response. If your ad gets a lot of interaction with likes, loves, and click throughs, that’s going to be a good relevance score.

However, if your ad is causing people to hit the HIDE button, that’s going to hurt your relevance score.

In my experience with Savvy Agent, the posts that are more fun and social in nature, with no clear call to action, get a higher relevance score. This makes perfect sense since Facebook is a social media platform and people like to have fun so responding to a fun post is natural.

Facebook ranks your relevance score on a scale of 1-10.

On this scale, a 10 is the best and 1 is the worst. Ideally, you want your ads to rank at a 7 or higher. Let’s look at some Savvy Agent examples.

This is one of my favorite Savvy Agent posts and it’s relevance score is a 10.

It’s really fun, most agents can relate (although, how gross to put wine in your coffee, ew!) and it got lots of likes, loves and laugh emojis.

But, the posts advertising Savvy Agent Club, for example – those usually have a mid-range relevance score. Which makes sense because those posts are going to be relevant to a smaller portion of the whole audience. Here’s an example:

The cost per acquisition on this ad was good, but the relevance score was a 4, which is low. But, it was a pitch. And, people just don’t love sales pitches! There are some things I can do to improve the ad – stay tuned for that when we open Savvy Agent Club again.

So, why should you care about this?

Having a high relevance score should be important to you because

  • Your cost will be lower
  • Your audience is happier
  • Your ad will do better

Having a low relevance score is basically the opposite. You’ll pay more to reach your audience. Your audience isn’t going to care much for your ad, and your ad is probably going to be a big fat flop.

How do you find your relevance score?

Go to your Ads Manager or Power Editor.

Click on the Ads tab.

Make sure your columns are set to either Performance (Default) or Performance and Clicks.

And, you’ll want to make sure the time frame is set to a time when your ad was running. Often when I go into ads manager, it’s default setting is Today and none of my ads have a relevance score. If you switch that to Lifetime, or any other time frame, your score will appear.

Search for the Relevance score column:

And start evaluating your ads!

 

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Open House Marketing Strategy

How to Create a Marketing Strategy for Your Open House

How to Create a Marketing Strategy for Your Open House

In today’s competitive real estate market, the only way to best your competition and make it out on top is to have a solid strategy in place to gain new customers, while keeping your existing customers delighted. Open houses are a great way to meet new clients AND visit with your existing customers. If you don’t already have an open house marketing strategy, you’ll want to keep reading.

What does this look like?

A holistic campaign strategy. NOT a series of “one-off” ads.

Many real estate agents instinctively send postcards or emails to their customers to start. Often times on a whim. Disconnected from a master plan. The problem with this strategy is that a single postcard or e-mail won’t have much of an impact. Here’s a refresher on frequency, in case you missed it.

On the other hand, a campaign that sends out well-timed (and regular) communications with a strategic and consistent message is WAY more likely to catch eyes and make a noticeable impact. Don’t forget to apply your SMART goal strategy to this campaign.

Obviously, for an open house you want to have an awesome turnout and pick up some leads.

With that in mind, you know you want to get as much exposure for your open house as possible. And, relying on a newspaper ad or a directional sign isn’t going to cut it. Here’s what a strategic and consistent campaign might look like:

  • Send a “save the date” postcard
  • Follow up with an event invitation
  • Event reminder card
  • Another event reminder card
  • Promote the event on your social media sites
    • Boosted post
    • Ad to enter a drawing
    • Event reminder dark post (paid ad)

This is a great plan for an expensive listing or a mega open house. But, maybe it’s a little much for a regular old open house. An alternative campaign could be:

  • Knocking on the neighbors doors 5 days before the open house
    • Give them an open house flyer
    • Invite them to the open house
    • Ask if you can put a sign in their yard (if applicable)
  • If it’s in your budget, host a neighbors only brunch 2 hours before the open house
  • Send an email to your database
  • Promote the open house on Facebook

Don’t forget…

With each and every one of your communications, it is essential to include a clear call to action.

Tell your audience what you want them to do. Maybe it’s to visit your website and RSVP. Or maybe it’s to call your office. Or register for your drawing.

Whatever the goal is with that marketing piece, make sure you clearly state what you want your reader to do.

Hopefully, your open house is fabulous and the listing sells for top dollar. You can then expand on your open house campaign to stay in touch with that same audience, and generate more leads. For example:

  • Send a “just sold/under contract” postcard
  • Knock on the neighbors doors with an under contract flyer
  • Promote the sale on your social media sites
    • Boosted post targeted to buyers
    • Dark post targeted to sellers

Ideally, you would get another listing in the neighborhood and then you just rinse and repeat. But, maybe you have more buyers for that neighborhood? No problem! Just adjust your campaign to be a quest to find your buyer a house.

These are just some examples you might use. Marketing is getting more complex by the second (thanks, technology!), and you can certainly create and execute an effective open house marketing strategy yourself. After all, you ARE a Savvy Agent!

 

 

advertising frequency matters

Advertising Frequency Matters

Advertising Frequency Matters

Have you ever mailed a postcard advertising an event, open house or promoting a free CMA and received less than amazing results? Your advertising frequency could be to blame.

Advertising Frequency Matters

Thomas Smith wrote a guide called Successful Advertising in 1885. His observation on human behavior and response to advertising still holds true today:

  • The first time people look at any given ad, they don’t even see it.
  • The second time, they don’t notice it.
  • The third time, they are aware that it is there.
  • The fourth time, they have a fleeting sense that they’ve seen it somewhere before.
  • The fifth time, they actually read the ad.
  • The sixth time they thumb their nose at it.
  • The seventh time, they start to get a little irritated with it.
  • The eighth time, they start to think, “Here’s that confounded ad again.”
  • The ninth time, they start to wonder if they’re missing out on something.
  • The tenth time, they ask their friends and neighbors if they’ve tried it.
  • The eleventh time, they wonder how the company is paying for all these ads.
  • The twelfth time, they start to think that it must be a good product.
  • The thirteenth time, they start to feel the product has value.
  • The fourteenth time, they start to remember wanting a product exactly like this for a long time.
  • The fifteenth time, they start to yearn for it because they can’t afford to buy it.
  • The sixteenth time, they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future.
  • The seventeenth time, they make a note to buy the product.
  • The eighteenth time, they curse their poverty for not allowing them to buy this terrific product.
  • The nineteenth time, they count their money very carefully.
  • The twentieth time prospects see the ad, they buy what is offering.

Frequency sells, especially in advertising. We recommend developing a specific strategy to reach your campaign goals. Perhaps instead of trying to reach as many people as your budget allows, you could target a narrower audience with multiple messages. Imagine if you caught them on multiple platforms – direct mail, Facebook, Instagram, a phone call and/or even word of mouth!

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