When many real estate professionals think of marketing they think of items like getting an ad in a magazine or newspaper.  Some even consider taking out a small billboard or bus bench as a form of marketing.While these may be considered marketing items for many professionals there are some substantial challenges with them.  Popular traditional forms of advertising like magazines, bus benches, or worse yet telephone booths can have the following challenges:

Expensive to start with
Expensive to test with until you get a winning ad
Difficult to track it’s success (how many eyeballs looked at your ad? or called?)
Sometimes you can get these forms of marketing/advertising to work, unfortunately by the time you get them to work you might have already spent an entire commission!  There are free methods that you can put into place for marketing for your real estate business that DON’T involve traditional practices like door knocking or cold calling.Consider the following two items that you can put into place immediately with no out of pocket expenses.

Social Networking
Craigslist
Blogging
Social networking can help you to establish a powerful referral network (or grow your existing one stronger) while Craigslist will allow you to reach eager buyers who are often searching daily to find the right home.  Before you start with either Craigslist or Social Networking, I invite you to consider the following to achieve success.Have a PlanToo often because something is “free” there is little thought into the approach that one should take.  Your time is extremely valuable!  Create a basic plan that outlines how much time you can invest, what your goals are, and even what tasks you need to accomplish to make your marketing work (meaning it needs to generate leads). This plan doesn’t need to be fancy, it can be as simple as 1 page, just write it down and put it in front of you so you know what you are tackling.Give Your Plan Time To WorkTrying Craigslist for a couple of days or Social networking for a few days isn’t going to give you a chance to succeed.  Give yourself a week or two to really put your plan into action.  If that is posting ads to Craigslist consider setting a goal of the number of ads you will post (like 50 or 60) before you make a change.  Setting a specific timeline will help you to get your real estate marketing done efficiently as you reach towards your goal.Document Your ResultsToo many people launch new marketing and when it doesn’t generate sales, they simply state “it takes time”.  While some marketing does take time, it is important to hold any marketing you do to a standard.   When an ad, website, or your time on Social Networking isn’t generating any calls or prospects it may be time to cut that activity.  Count the number of emails and phone calls you get from your efforts.  After your ads are generating leads then track the number of appointments and closings from those.  After just a couple of months you will be able to see which form of marketing to invest more time in!Most of All Take ActionWhether you decide to jump into Social Networking, Craigslist, Blogging, or another type of FREE marketing make sure to hold your results accountable and give yourself a chance to see your success.  Discover how to get your Real Estate Marketing generating leads and closed trasactions today with our free Marketing Ebook.