Received email from my friend with the following message:
“I want to really expand my home sales program at my company. I realize I need a proper marketing system. And I realize I have no idea where to begin. I know there are several components:
- A website that is strategically designed
- An email marketing campaign (and ways to get emails)
- A text marketing campaign?
- Brand strategy so the whole team knows who we are/how to speak, etc.
- CRM software
- Ways of running campaigns and testings ads on this system so we can keep updating and trying new things
- An understanding of how to operate this entire thing
Where do you recommend I begin with something like this?
- Do I read a book?
- Do I hire an agency that does everything?
- Do I hire a consultant who subcontracts each piece of this out?
Thanks for your thoughts.
And here is my response
Those are loaded questions 🙂 but I will do my best to answer them.
A website that is strategically designed
There are two routes. First one to start from scratch but I do not recommend it since it will take a lot of money and time.
The second option, pick a theme which you like and adjust it per your needs. Here is themes from property management companies
https://themeforest.net/category/wordpress/real-estate?term=property%20management
You pay one time fee which is minimal + you pay developers to adjust it based on your needs. Approximately $1-2k for the fully designed website.
An email marketing campaign (and ways to get emails)
You know the guy 😉 so I can help you here as long as somebody from your team will do the work.
I will come up with the strategy, guidelines for content and steps for implementation. If design or copy required, I will leverage my team to do it at the cost of what it costs me to pay them for their work.
A text marketing campaign?
Hmmm. This might be good only for those who are on the waiting list to buy a house in your community. It is not good for nurturing.
Brand strategy so the whole team knows who we are/how to speak, etc.
We have a course about it here https://flowium.teachable.com/p/brand-voice . My COO developed it.
If you want I can talk to her and she can develop it for you. She did it for my company. See the attached document. Design was not included. Our designer did the design of the document.
CRM software
I can help you pick one based on your needs and sales process.
Ways of running campaigns and testings ads on this system so we can keep updating and trying new things
Ads. Hmmm. Personally, I would not recommend this route. In other words, I don’t have much experience with it.
I spent over $30k on ads and got nothing in return. However, It might work perfect for you because there is limited competition in your market. It looks like the estimated click on google is around $1 while I paid close to $60 for one click to be competitive.
For google ads, you should talk to Emilio Garcia – egarcia@boundify.io . His retainer starts at $3k per month + ads spend.
Another option for you is SEO. It looks like it is not very hard to rank for HIGH INTENT KEYWORD (aka keywords which shows people interest in buying homes in your community) and create content around it. It takes time to rank for it but it is worth it. You can contact Vincent and talk about SEO strategies with him. His agency provide my company service for almost 2 years now. I am extremely happy – vince@seotherapy.io – https://youtu.be/wJsWyz_ttZA
An understanding of how to operate this entire thing
I would strongly recommend starting from the basics. There are 4 stages of marketing:
- Awareness.
How people get to know about you and what you have to offer. It can be social media, paid ads, ads in newspapers, etc. - Interest and Intent
This is when they request more information from you, signup for your newsletter and etc. - Convert.
This is when they buy from you. - Loyalty
is when your current customers promote you to their friends and family.
What it sounds like to me your step #3 works, you just need to focus on the other 3 steps :).
- Do I read a book?
No you should not. Marketing is my industry and I read zero books about marketing 🙂 lol. Just make money with what you know how to do. - Do I hire an agency that does everything?
No. No, you shouldn’t. If you don’t mind spending a lot of money and getting mediocre results. - Do I hire a consultant who subcontracts each piece of this out?
Yes. However, I would strongly recommend hiring an internal marketing manager.
The person should have a general understanding of everything and be able to manage contractors, freelancers, agencies, and internal marketing employees.
I am not sure about local prices but I would pay somewhere $25-30 per hour for the full time marketing manager.
Please watch this video about your marketing team structure. It is 1 hour long but it is worth it and will give you perfect understanding of how to operate things. –
Happy to jump on zoom or meet in person to discuss it further.