Real Estate Internet Marketing Rule #1: Don't Think Outside the Box... Smash It and Build a New One

I’m sure you’ve heard the old cliche, “Think outside the box.”

It’s one of those corporate phrases that people say when they’re
trying to force someone to be creative or just to sound good
without conveying any real meaning.

Just “think outside the box.” Step outside your skin and view
the situation from a new angle.

I think there is something wrong with that phrase. And I believe
it is forcing a lot of Realtors® to work too hard and to spend
too much for too little on the internet.

Marketing your real estate business on the internet is really,
really, hard work… IF you decide to jump in the stream with
everyone else and try to beat them at their own game…

You can get a good website… You can spend money for Google
Adwords… You can spend money to buy leads… You can spend
money for search engine optimization… You can spend money to
buy links…

But someone else in your market can always do more, spend more.

And deeper pockets often win.

On the internet, when most people say “Think outside the box,”
they are usually selling the newest technique of the week to
boost your search engine rankings or somehow trick the system
into giving you more results… for a limited time.

So here’s something to consider that will help you, even if you
are brand new to internet marketing:

There are extremely savvy and effective marketing ideas that are just waiting for you to uncover them.

Want to know where they are?

They are hidden in the successful businesses of bakers, insurance agents, carpet cleaning services, doctors and more.

In other words, one of the best places to get marketing ideas for
your real estate business is from completely unrelated businesses.

Think it sounds crazy?

You know where the idea for roll-on deodorant came from?

The ball point pen.

The idea for Fed-Ex?

The hub and spoke model of the airline system.

Yes, taking your real estate business online does require certain
skills and techniques. You need to have basic marketing and
writing skills, an understanding of who your market is and the
places that you can find them online.

If you are without those skills, you need to pick up a copy of my
book, The Real Estate Professional’s Quick Guide to Smart
Marketing on the Internet and get up to speed. If you go forward unprepared, I guarantee you will not fare well against your competition online.

Once you get the basics under your belt, the real “secrets” are
few and far between. It’s just smart marketing.

So let’s take Jane Realtor as an example. She loves dogs. I
mean she REALLY love dogs (she’s got the blinking poodle pin to
prove it).

So rather than spending her marketing dollars buying real estate
clicks on the internet at $3.00 a piece, she can buy a few of the
mailing lists to dog magazines (like Poodle Review) and start
aiming where no one else is aiming: at dog lovers in her market.

She can contact her prospects by letter telling them about a new
book on Poodles that has just been published. That starts the
relationship… offline… with a common bond between her and her
market. Eventually, Jane can send them to her website to go
through her prospect “filtering process.”

And the best part?

Her competitors will have no idea how she is finding her
prospects!

I am not talking about reinventing the wheel here. This is more
like taking apart a few wheels from different cars and putting
them back together in new and interesting ways.

So I wouldn’t really classify it as being creative, because you
are using parts that already exist. You aren’t really
creating… you are just rearranging.

And on the internet, sometimes that is all you need to really
break through all of the noise and attract the prospects that are
going to jump at the chance to work with you.

Don’t think outside the box. Smash the box and build your own.