SPRING IS COMING!!!

February 7, 2010 caroltraversecity

Remember the old saying “Hope springs eternal” (from the 1733 poem by Alexander Pope)– well, there’s something about Spring that brings hope.  Not sure why – maybe with all of the new growth in the trees & the flowers, it makes us feel like there’s a chance for new growth for ourselves as well.

So maybe instead of New Year resolutions we should do some Spring resolutions because with the increase in sunshine & nicer weather, we seem to have more energy to take on new projects than we do in the grey, dismal doldrums of the winter months.

The tricky part is figuring out what direction to go & which one of many possible options to choose for re-inventing ourselves, freshening our images, expanding our market exposure and/or strengthening our already existing ties to our past & current client base  (and this applies to all businesses as well,  in this current economic climate!)

One important factor for all of us is cost & thankfully with most everything going  by way of the internet, there are some pretty good options out there that can be relatively painless for realtors.

A good one that’s free is Trulia, where you can create your own presence there & post all of your listings for free  (Zillow charges realtors, but it’s free for Brokers – so maybe mention it to your Broker if you’re not already on Zillow).

Craig’s List & YouTube both offer free exposure for you & your listings as well (and there’s a lot of flexibility with YouTube sites).  And fyi – if you’re running Windows on your computer – you can use the Windows Movie Maker software that typically comes free on the computer to  make free slide show videos from your still photos & post them on YouTube & use them as your listing virtual tour links (if you want to see an example of what you can do with Windows Movie Maker, go to my  YouTube site & check them out – all free & Sellers love seeing their properties on YouTube!)

For a relatively affordable extra service, I have been using  Listing Launch Service for $5/month to automatically download all of my listings (unlimited amount) to all of the major real estate search sites (yahoo/google/trulia/zillow/oodle/cyberhomes & a few more) & I do get a fair amount of hits from the exposure on those sites.

There are numerous opportunities out there for free exposure & marketing if you spend some time doing a little bit of research.  Google & read up on realtor marketing and/or customer relationship management & anything else that you can think of.  Again – this applies to any & all types of businesses – so do your research & stay on top of what’s going on in your markets!

With e-mail quickly becoming a normal occurrence with all age groups, it makes it a lot easier to stay in touch with your warm market – for FREE.  The trick is not to send stupid, worthless or annoying stuff to them where they end up auto deleting any messages from you.
Take advantage the non-denominational holiday opportunities to send out a light hearted greeting to them (like Valentines Day that’s coming up very quickly!!) or an important local occurrence, like a tax issue that will be voted on or when a local governmental agency is having a free hazardous waste drop-off day.    Create a mailing list from your e-mail list of people that wouldn’t be offended and/or would be applicable to local vs. more universal (like Valentine greetings) & get in the habit of sending out 2-4 e-mails a year to keep your name fresh in their minds (don’t overdo it!).

If you really want to get organized on things, send out e-mails for the anniversaries of when your Buyer clients purchased (set it up on your online calendar to remind you that Joe/Jane Smith purchased their house on March 1, 2003  & send them a lighthearted “Can you believe that it has been 7 years already?  Hope that everybody is doing great!  Please don’t ever hesitate to give me a shout anytime if you or your friends/family ever need anything at all!  Happy Anniversary, Charlie Tuna, Realtor, e-mail address, phone number, company name It’s cheap & pretty darned ez to maximize that kind of exposure.  Again, keep it lighthearted & be careful how you solicit.   Remember that the true gift of giving means that you are willing to help without expecting anything back & people are typically shocked when somebody is willing to help them just for the sake of helping them.

Spring brings eternal hope, so put the pep back in your step &  get excited about the possibilities that await you!

Entry Filed under: Northwestern Michigan,Real Estate,Traverse City,Uncategorized

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