6-step launch plan to fit today’s real estate market

Whether it’s refining your business model, mastering new technologies, or discovering strategies to capitalize on the next market surge, Inman Connect New York will prepare you to take bold steps forward. The next chapter is about to begin. Be a part of it. Join us and thousands of real estate agents 22-24. January 2025.

The average number of days on the market is increasing in most markets. This leads to the question: How do you market your ads in a way that makes them stand out from the crowd? Here’s a step-by-step process professional agents can use right now to ensure their listings get the most attention possible to help them sell faster and for the highest price possible.

1. Make the buyer’s agent’s job easy

One of the best ways to make your listing stand out is to make the buyer’s agent’s job as easy as possible. Odds are they will be asked to provide details of several homes their buyer clients view online.

The first step is to have everything the buyer may want in the documentation section of the MLS listing. This may include information on out-of-pocket costs, HOA documents, past surveys, inspections the seller conducted prior to listing the home for sale, and any additional information the prospective buyer may ask their agent to request.

Additionally, I would have all the details in a ready-to-text or email pdf, including whether the seller offers buyer agent compensation. We can debate whether or not the seller should offer compensation, but the bottom line is that every buyer wants to know if the seller offers compensation or if they will be responsible for compensating their agent before they see a home.

Another way to make the buyer’s agent’s job easier is to respond to requests or details about a home you’ve listed as quickly as possible. The sooner you give the buyer’s agent details about your listing, the sooner the buyer will receive them as well. While other agents may drag their feet in response, have your information readily available and provide it as quickly as possible.

2. Take off your agent hat and put on your buyer hat

I had an aha moment a few months ago while listening to a presentation by Mark Stark, former CEO and founder of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Arizona/California/Nevada properties. He said the best way to succeed in real estate is to take off your agent hat and put on your buyer hat.

In other words, stop thinking and marketing like an agent and start delivering marketing that appeals to buyers. This process should include the following three main questions.

Who is the ideal buyer for your listing?

Each home has an “avatar” or a certain type of likely buyer. It could be a newly married couple or empty nesters who are downsizing. It can be a single person or a growing family. Once we have identified who the likely buyer might be, we can begin to shape our marketing strategy.

What information do they want and need?

What details are important to this “avatar” buyer? Is it the living space or are outdoor amenities a highlight they will want? Are there specific landmark amenities such as schools, hospitals or shopping/restaurant areas that the buyer may want to be near? Whatever it is that may be important to the likely buyer of your listing, make it readily available and prominent in your marketing.

Where does this ideal buyer spend time?

Does the potential buyer spend time on Instagram or Facebook? Are they on YouTube or LinkedIn? Wherever your ideal buyer spends time is where your marketing should be focused.

When you are able to think like the buyer, the marketing strategy you implement will be more in line with the buyer’s needs. This type of marketing is much more valuable than the vanity marketing that many agents produce that makes them feel good about themselves but serves very little purpose to potential buyers.

3. Start the list as a movie premiere

Another aha moment for me came when Jimmy Mackin, co-founder of Listing Leads, suggested that ads should be launched into the market like a movie premiere. He gave an example of how the stars of a movie are on all the talk shows, giving teaser videos and interviews about the premiere of the movie weeks before its release.

He then said that marketing is ramped up just before release day and through the first weekend of release. He concluded by saying that the successes from the launch weekend are then used as marketing at the end of the launch weekend to keep the momentum going.

So how can you launch your new listing using this marketing strategy as a model?

Marketing coming soon

Start teasing the release of your new listing a few weeks before the actual launch of your listing. This should focus on creating awareness and anticipation for your new listing to go live. One way to do this is to record a green screen video for Instagram reels with a map of the area behind you.

Teases with a line like:

“I’ve got a new listing on the market in the next few weeks in the area you can see on the map behind me. I can’t give you all the details until it’s live on the MLS, but it will be a four bedroom home in this highly sought after area. If you would like me to share details with you or someone you know as soon as I can, send me a DM and I will send everything to you ASAP so you can be one of the first to know all the details.”

Marketing push launch day

Maximize the day of marketing launch to generate as much exposure to the new listing as possible. Like a movie launch, I’ve always preferred to take a new listing live on the MLS on a Thursday. It’s the busiest day for our local real estate sites and by launching it then we have our new listing at the top of the search portals (new listings are at the top for 48 hours after they’re on the market) for the busiest day of the week for traffic, and it stays on top through Saturday morning.

I suggest using AI during this part of the marketing and it is detailed in point #4 below.

Highlight the successes

If the home doesn’t sell during the first weekend, highlight any successes, like a well-attended open house or share how many showings you had. These are highlights that will help you continue the momentum for weeks after launch.

If the home sells during the first weekend, tell the story of the successful contract. By doing so, you position yourself to list the next home to come on the market in that neighborhood. Sellers are watching your marketing and this is the opportunity to share the steps and processes you used to help your realtors get their homes sold fast.

4. Use AI to optimize marketing reach

As I mentioned above, maximizing launch day marketing is critical to success. I love using ChatGPT to maximize the reach that marketing can have on launch day. I invented this “Chick-Fil-A on Sunday” marketing plan. That means if you use it, like Chick-Fil-A on Sunday, your listing will be closed.

The first step is to prompt ChatGPT with the following:

Please act as an expert real estate marketer specializing in maximizing exposure for a listing coming to market. Please write an SEO-optimized Facebook post advertising the property located at (address) as a new listing that has just come on the market. Please add a call to action at the end of the post encouraging the viewer to contact me for additional information and to schedule a showing of the home. To help you write this, please use the following MLS description to highlight details that an ideal buyer for this home might be interested in knowing.

This is the MLS description for the home: [Insert MLS description].

ChatGPT will provide the SEO optimized Facebook post with hashtags and emojis. Make the necessary changes and you’ll have a post ready to use for Facebook on launch day. Right below the Facebook post it provides, ChatGPT asks for the following:

Now convert this into an SEO optimized Instagram [post or Reel script] advertises the home as a new listing.

Again, make the necessary adjustments and submit it to Instagram on launch day. Right below the Instagram post or scrolling script, ChatGPT prompts the following:

Now convert this into an SEO optimized LinkedIn 500 word blog post advertising the home as a new listing.

Verify that it is acceptable and submit the blog post to LinkedIn on launch day. Then query ChatGPT with the following:

Now give me an SEO optimized short YouTube script advertising this home as a new listing.

Finally, ask ChatGPT to give you 25 unique ways to market your new listing to get as much exposure as possible. While you may not implement them all, there are usually a few strategies you may not have thought of that can make a difference in getting the home sold.

5. Maximize exposure via a 4-point focus

Marketing a home effectively involves messaging to several different groups of people. Each is unique and the style and delivery of that marketing should be tailored to each group. This is a list of the four groups of people I like to focus on with custom marketing.

Sphere of influence

Many times the ideal buyer for our new ads is only a few degrees of separation from ourselves or the people closest to us. When I market new listings to my sphere of influence, I like to use text and phone calls to make sure they are aware of the new listing if they know someone who might be looking.

I filter the people in my sphere that I text or call by the ad being a home like the one they own or the next logical home for them to buy (larger or smaller depending on their situation as a growing family or potentially their next move is to downsize). This increases the likelihood that one of their friends might be looking for one of these two options.

• Neighbors – Letting the neighbors know about your listing may lead to them having a friend who wants to move into the neighborhood. It also gives you the opportunity to talk to other owners who could be your next listing.
• Agents – Many of the potential buyers for your listings have signed buyer brokerage agreements with other agents. By marketing the listing to other agents, you expand the reach of your marketing and exposure of the listing to as many potential buyers as possible.
• Consumers – This is where most of our marketing is focused. These are the potential buyers discussed in point #2 above.

6. Build more and better agent relationships

I started this article with ways to make the buyer’s agent easier and how it will help you sell your listings. I would like to end this article with the value and need to have good relationships with other agents.

Yes, we represent our clients and negotiate on their behalf as professionally as possible. But this business takes a buyer and a seller. In most transactions, this means you will be working with other agents. Diligently represent your clients, but be fair. Your reputation with other agents affects your business and in turn your listings.

The better your business marketing plan, the better the results and the more listing opportunities you will have in the future. Develop your marketing plan. Execute your marketing plan and you will reap the rewards of more sales and more listings.