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Now that 2016 is officially up and running, it’s time to think about the messages you’ll be communicating to your prospects and clients over the next 12 months. If you haven’t already developed a 2016 marketing plan, it’s not too late to sit down and strategise for the year ahead. Now is the perfect time to evaluate your 2015 marketing efforts and determine what worked, what didn’t, and how to maximise your marketing in the New Year. 

Here are the marketing resolutions you can make now to supercharge your real estate marketing game this year. 

Plan ahead

Great marketers don’t wing it. Our most successful clients are, without exception, those with well thought out marketing plans that outline all their drops, newsletters, emails and mailouts for the coming year. While these plans are definitely flexible and open to change when circumstances call for it, agencies who adopt this approach leave themselves more time to prepare and are better able to plan their marketing collateral to ensure it reaches the marketplace at the most effective time. Unprepared competitors are often left playing catchup. 

So: sit down with a 2016 calendar and choose the dates you’ll be communicating with your database and farm area. Make sure to build in time for things like design, approval, and distribution. 

VPA benefits

A buoyant market in 2015 made selling VPA a breeze, and some agents – especially inexperienced ones – have fallen into bad habits. A changing market could have many vendors tightening the purse strings and it will take a clear, strong sales pitch to demonstrate the importance of a healthy marketing budget in getting a top result for their property. If you’ve got salespeople who struggle to sell VPA, now is the time to train them up into better habits. 

Screen + paper

Without question, agencies who use a combination of digital and print marketing see the best results. Different messages are best suited to different formats, so think about how those you are attempting to reach will prefer to hear from you at different times. 

Social shape-up

Take a week in January to tidy up social media profiles – there are way too many agencies out there with neglected Twitter feeds, forgotten Facebook pages and sporadically updated instagram accounts. Be realistic: if you don’t have the time or resources to maintain a strong, active social media presence, it’s best just to cut ties and delete disused profiles. Alternatively, if your efforts are scattered ineffectively across multiple platforms, choose one to focus on and close the rest. It might also be worth getting a tighter handle on what your staff are doing independently on social media – some can go a little off-message if left to their own devices, so make sure everyone is representing themselves and the brand as effectively as possible. 

Database details

Now is a great time to tidy up your database, ready for mailouts during the year. It’s not about quantity; a smaller list with detailed, up-to-date information is far more valuable than a 1,000 person list that isn’t regularly maintained. Once you’ve got a strong database, use it and create effective direct mail pieces to keep in touch with those valuable contacts. 

How will you be improving the effectiveness of your marketing efforts this year?