You need a great marketing strategy to keep referrals coming in, but that’s a lot easier said than done. Why do so many let go of something that’s critically important to their ultimate success and decide to go the DIY marketing route instead? While you can certainly DIY your marketing with some success, here are a few reasons why you may want to think twice and leave it to the pros instead.
Opportunity Cost (Both Time and Money)
On its surface, DIY marketing is appealing because, well, it’s cheap. But is it cost effective? That’s an entirely different question. What if the time you spent saving $300 on marketing could have been spent getting you a new $300,000 listing (and a $9,000 commission to go with it)?
Even if you spend just a couple of hours a week on your own marketing (which is hardly enough time to succeed), those are hours you could spend elsewhere. That can have a negative impact on your bottom line. Hiring a pro means that you have more time to focus on the activities that are most important for you to do.
Lack of Expertise
Full-time marketers have jobs for a reason. They know how to craft compelling content, which is much more about creating a connection with clients than it is about the services you offer. Is that something you have the know-how to do?
Plus, do you know how to build and maintain a website, design graphics, and write relevant emails? These things all take a lot of technical skill, and knowing how to do those things isn’t part of your job description.
When someone lists their house as a FSBO, you have some pretty compelling reasons why you can do a better job than they can at selling their house. You know why it’s worth it for them to pay your commission—your expertise is very likely to give them more money and help them sell their home faster. Plus, your expertise prevents all kinds of possible problems throughout the transaction.
Lack of Consistency
One of the biggest problems with DIY-ing your marketing is that it is incredibly hard to be consistent. And consistent contact is the name of the game for those who are successful at referral marketing.
You have a lot of things to do, and before you know it, you haven’t sent an email to your database for six months. Marketing isn’t your only responsibility, or even your most important. And when you don’t market consistently, you’re losing opportunities to grow your business.
Lack of Experience
One of the hardest parts of going the DIY marketing route is that you may not know what’s effective and what’s not. After all, you don’t know what you don’t know. And what you don’t know can hurt you.
If you spend a lot of time posting on Instagram but don’t know that doing so is pointless, you’re wasting your time. If you pour time into an SEO strategy that won’t reach your audience, you’re wasting your time.
And if you don’t know how all the parts work together to create more referrals for you, you may not be doing the right combination of things that actually works.
Lack of Design Appeal
Think about how it looks when you send people DIY marketing (which usually looks DIY, in our experience). It can send a couple of messages that you probably don’t want to send.
First, people may think that you aren’t doing well and that’s why you can’t afford to hire professionals to do your marketing. Professional marketing portrays an aura of success that you can’t get any other way.
Second, people may assume that your DIY marketing means that you don’t take your business seriously and that’s why you’re not hiring it out. People who truly are successful aren’t doing their own marketing because they’re working on higher-value activities.
Don’t Fall for DIY Marketing
We get that DIY marketing is a tempting prospect! But trust us, it’s better to have an expert take that off your plate. In fact, we think it’s something you can’t afford to do without.
If we can help answer any of your marketing questions, email us! We’re happy to help. We also have a great product, Sidekick, that could be the answer to all of your marketing problems. It’s an affordable way to get everything you need to lose the dread that comes with mortgage marketing and completely rock it instead.
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