REthinking Your Marketing Plan

By Lynn Minnick

If there’s one thing you take away from my post today, let it be this: Change is good. No, change is great. How do I know? Well, I recently made some changes to my business practices and I can already see the positive results. Let me explain …

I write a marketing plan each year as part of my strategic business planning but it’s a good idea every once in a while to revisit it and see what improvements I can make. I recently took a hard look at my goals and decided to make some much-needed changes. Here they are:

Identify or focus on my niche. I write for three blogs but I felt like I was running out of things to say about my niche after so many years. It was time to dig in and do more research to keep my topics fresh and informative. Turns out that getting out into cyberspace to find new source material has been refreshing! I’m learning new things and figuring out the best way to share these ideas with others.

Amp up the photos. Photos have long been critical to the real estate industry but with the popularity of social media as a marketing tool, photos are more important than ever before. Because International Real Estate is one of my niche areas, I’ve got to focus on quality photography; not all buyers can read the details but a great photo speaks a thousand words in any language. This idea of amping up my photos also translated into getting busy with my Instagram and Pinterest accounts. Now, when I take property photos, I’m looking for the perfect perspective that will resonate online. A change of perspective is important. So is take the time to find the perfect light, angle or shot. Suddenly we’re not just real estate agents, we’re artists!

Tap into the insight of industry thought leaders. Whether you’re looking for information, relevant ideas, motivation, paths to explore … choose your thought leaders wisely and listen to what they are saying.

Be consistent. Set up systems that work for you to keep your marketing consistent and organized. Create a marketing calendar if that’s what you need and be sure to use various types of marketing mediums to get out your message.

Don’t be afraid to create a group or niche of your own. If you want to create a Facebook group about your community or neighborhood, or if you want to start a hashtag campaign for your business, go ahead and do it! Invite people to get involved and start the buzz! Individuality can drive business so don’t be afraid to be yourself and embrace the exciting changes happening all around you. As I said from the beginning, change is great, so start that change today.

LYNN MINNICK is a REALTOR® with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties. She also is the author of the popular blog, www.mygreenlifeandrealestate.com. Tweet to her @LynnMinnick.