Congratulations, you have a new listing! Your sellers have signed on the dotted line of the listing agreement and the home is going through staging and photography. So now what? It’s time to spread the word about this new home beyond just inputting into the MLS. Time to market this listing to the masses online and offline. At List to Close Inc, we like to break it down into stages.
There are several stages over the lifecycle of real estate listings and you can focus your marketing efforts on each of these stages that will help you generate different types of leads. We’ve arranged these the most common stages together and this is what we like to call the 7 Point Real Estate Listing Lifecycle Plan. Below is how we like to break it down.
Real Estate Listing Lifecycle
Coming Soon Campaign
To build anticipation and get a jump on marketing your coming new listings, the use of a Coming Soon campaign not only generates buzz about a property but can generate leads. This is an especially popular strategy in today’s hot markets where properties are going under contract within days. This “coming soon” stage usually includes a mix of social media postings, digital ads, and email messages that promote a new listing to come. Your overall marketing message is a teaser consisting of a great picture or two and scant information on the property to and an enticement to contact you to get an exclusive sneak peek “before it hits the market!” It generates anticipation for the listing and people generally like to try and see “exclusive” info before everyone else. This campaign works best when you have a landing page for this coming soon listing to capture their info.
*This coming soon tactic may not be allowed or acceptable in all real estate markets. We recommend that you check with your broker or local real estate board if this is allowed, or if MLS waivers are necessary to use coming soon marketing.
Just Listed
The Just Listed stage is typically where the race is on to start heavily marketing the property. So it’s time to shout out this new listing from the rooftops! Once you have your property live in the MLS, it is time to make sure you have these Day 1 items handled: social media graphics, Facebook ads, email blast messages, Video tours, print flyers/brochures, print ads, etc.
Open House
Not every region or market uses the traditional tactic of Open Houses as part of their marketing strategy, but they are resurging in popularity in many markets. Open Houses are another opportunity to reach out and market the property, which Sellers LOVE, but it is also a great way to build brand awareness and capture potential buyer leads. And don’t forget to make it a Facebook Event and even do some live streaming from your Open with Facebook Live to drive more views and possibly more foot traffic.
30 Days Listed
If still on market at 30 days, it’s time to do a little refresher. Time to do some fresh social media postings highlighting a different feature of the home and add to “Featured Listings” on your monthly newsletter, just to give a little reminder about this great house. It may be also a great time to do another open house.
Price Reduction
This is a stage that might move around in order, or happen multiple times in the lifecycle of the real estate listing, depending on how long it stays on the market. It is always great to build in price reductions into your marketing plans at regular intervals, whether it be every 30 days or more. But is also another great marketing opportunity do new social media postings or email blasts announcing the new price.
60+ Days Listed
Now that we ‘ve gotten to this point of the listing, 60 days or more, here’s another opportunity to freshen up the listing. To keep from getting stale, it may be a good idea to freshen up the images, particularly if seasons have changed and you may want to have a sunnier with green grass scene rather than a snow-covered one. And don’t forget to update the video/virtual tour. A perfect way to get more mileage for your marketing is at this time to add either a drone neighborhood tour or a walking neighborhood tour if you are in the right location. Showing people the amenities that are within just a short distance from the home can make a huge difference.
This is also a great time for price reductions, additions of bonuses or buyer incentives. Then blast it out on social with enhanced images, Facebook ads, email blast and more.
Under Contract/Sold
When you have the home Under Contract or Sold, time to do your happy dance! But the marketing opportunities are not over. Now you get to showcase how awesome of a listing agent you are because you have sold this property. So make a new image of the front of the home with a sold banner across it or the SOLD sign. Then use that on your Just Sold social media campaigns, create geo-targeted Facebook ads, and send a Just Sold postcard to the surrounding area. This strategy is targeted towards potential home sellers, informing that a home the home in their neighborhood has recently sold.
Bonus Just Sold secrets to entice seller leads:
If home went under contract quickly, you can use the marketing message “this home sold in only 2 Days! Yours could be next.” Creates urgency
Try to hook them with property values. Use messaging like “This home Sold for $10k over list price. How much MORE is your home worth?” Many are very curious about their home values, or are nosy and want to find out how much the home down the street sold for.
Now, of course, the Listing Lifecycle may be longer or shorter than the seven stages outlined above depending on your market. Some agents do not hold Open Houses, and in some markets, real estate listings go under contract quickly and never get to 60 or even 30 days on market. This is why at List To Close Inc, our listing marketing plans and listing coordination checklists are custom tailored to the needs of each of our agents and their teams. We don’t think a cookie cutter listing coordination plan will suit any real estate business.
Are you ready to discuss your specific needs so that we can tailor a plan for servicing your real estate listings and clients? Schedule an appointment today with RevStaffing and see what we can take off of your to-do list.
