Real Estate Marketing

There's no doubt that 2009 will be an interesting year for the real estate industry. The economy is still on shaky ground, buyers are having a hard time getting financing, and foreclosures continue at record numbers across the United States.

The question is, how do you plan to adjust your real estate marketing strategy to reflect this new economy we are facing? And beyond that, how will you adjust your business as a whole?

These are tough questions, but they are questions you must start asking yourself. A few agents already are making some serious changes to their real estate marketing strategies in order to survive and thrive in 2009. It's beyond the scope and possibility to offer specific advice on marketing strategy -- that's something you must develop for yourself.

In the near future, those real estate agents who take an educational approach to their marketing are going to get the biggest share of business in their market areas. It's not enough anymore to say: "I'm an agent in your area and I can help you. Give me a call." Actually, that was never a good marketing strategy, but it's even weaker in the new economy. Home buyers and sellers have more questions today than ever before. So if you want to sustain your real estate marketing program in that kind of environment, you have to adjust the strategies you use.

For example, home buyers today have a lot of questions about financing -- more so than in the past. They have heard about people making mortgage mistakes and getting foreclosed on. And they know it's harder to get approved for a mortgage loan these days. So the best real estate marketing strategies are those that address these burning questions.