In today’s cluttered real estate marketing environment, consumers are trained to tune out messages that don’t seem to address their real and unfulfilled wants and needs. In other words, if your message doesn’t clearly deliver a solution to exactly what your prospect is looking for – if it doesn’t slot into an open position in your prospect’s mind – then your efforts and dollars and time will go down the marketing drain.
Why Positioning is Important
Positioning is the marketing art of knowing what available space or position you and your offering fill in the market and then getting that message to exactly the people who want what you’re offering.
By first figuring out the position your offering fills you can easily figure who you want to talk, what you want to say, and what marketing vehicles – from advertising to direct mail to online to personal calls – you should use to reach the people you’re targeting.
For example, say that you’re offering a lower-priced home in a neighborhood that primarily attracts first-time buyers. Your product position is lower end. With that knowledge, you’d hardly want to craft a message geared to the interests and motivations of high-income buyers. Nor would you want to deliver your message using media channels that lower-income prospects don’t read, tune into, or sign onto.
Understanding your product position can make the difference between reaching your prospect or not, between motivating interest and action or not, and between making a sale or not.
Real Estate Marketing Tip:
By knowing your product position and the nature of your likely buyer you’re in a better position to select the right media vehicles to carry your message to your market. Consider the following generalities in your planning:
Positioning the Property You’re Selling
In real estate, price is the cornerstone of positioning. In my experience, 85% of your marketing strategy is set during the listing presentation when you and the seller agree on the right price and therefore the right market position for their home.
The Importance of Setting the Right Price
Once you’ve worked with a seller to agree upon the right listing price, your marketing strategy unfolds naturally following these steps:
Using Positioning to Your Competitive Sales Advantage
Real Estate Marketing Tip:
Take time to look inside some of the other homes that compete for the same product position as your listing in terms of price and location. See how their features and benefits compare. Especially when handling ad and sign calls this comparative information will be valuable in two ways:
The Danger of Overpricing
Warning!
If you give into a seller’s desire to set an unreasonably high listing price, your marketing task will be vastly more difficult because with an overpriced home:
When you list an overpriced property you have only two hopes for success. You can hope that the marketplace will heat up dramatically and lead to escalating prices that bring your listing price into line, or you can hope that your seller will agree to a rapid price reduction.
Positioning Yourself
Contrary to the opinions of consumers and a good many agents, not all agents offer the same or even similar services. It’s safe to say that all agents work to bring real estate transactions to successful closings, but from there the differences in approach, style, and effectiveness vary wildly.
As the owner of a real estate business you must help prospects and clients realize the unique and beneficial position you hold in the marketplace. People need to know clearly why they should hire you. Chapter 14 is full of information that will help you define and claim your market position. As you communicate your position through your marketing efforts, remember these three points: