How you schedule your estate agency’s marketing collateral will play a big part in the successful execution of campaigns, helping them to have the desired effect. There certainly isn’t a shortage of estate agents across England and Wales and most will have similar campaigns, using certain times of the year to launch relevant material.
Creating a schedule is more than just looking at seasonal patterns and releasing material around them. If you are able to make small tweaks to your schedules then you stand a good chance of getting a foothold over your local market. It’s not easy, but it is effective. That’s why we have provided some tips to help you better schedule your estate agency’s marketing campaigns.
Understand exactly what a marketing calendar is
You need to understand what a marketing calendar is in order to create a successful one. The purpose of a marketing calendar is to detail specific activities over the coming year that would be beneficial from a marketing point of view.
A marketing calendar will also help you to save time and money while making the marketing process less stressful because you will already have a pre plan of action. It will help to ensure that your content will reach its intended audience – you stand a stronger chance of getting desired results.
How do I store my calendar?
The continued advancement of technology means it is easier than ever to create and store your marketing calendar. In the past, something as in-depth as a schedule for the year ahead would have taken a considerable amount of time.
Now, thanks to Google Docs, Google Calendar, Excel and PDFs, you can easily create targeted calendars and edit them with ease. Cloud storage even allows you to edit your calendar from multiple devices with no need to worry about saving a copy and taking it with you to other computers via a USB.
Here is an example in Google Docs
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Think about your budget
We all have ideas that we think will make a big difference. Unfortunately, most of the time those ideas are out of reach because of budget constraints. It is important to really think about how much of your resources can be committed to a campaign. You don’t want to prepare events, promotions and advertising that you are not able to see through because of a lack of funds.
You will be able to better plan and schedule ahead of time if you have a more realistic idea of your budget. It will help you decide what areas require the most attention and where you can possibly cut back if needed.
12-month plan v quarterly
How you decide to implement your plan is entirely up to you and your marketing team. Some agencies prefer to work on a month-by-month basis, which they feel gives them greater control over their schedule.
However, other agents, especially smaller ones without marketing departments, will often be pushed for time. They may prefer to draw out a broader campaign that runs quarterly, rather than on a monthly basis.
There isn’t a right or wrong way; it’s about understanding what works best for your agency and using that to your strengths. It is always good to remember that a marketing schedule is a living document and you can add, remove or move marketing around when required.
What should it include?
Understanding what to include in your calendar is an important part of the process of making sure that you get it right. The calendar needs to identify how and when you plan to release campaigns, whether it is by the medium of print, social media, press releases, events, blogs, promotions or any other type of method you choose.
You may not necessarily have all the details worked out when you’re just starting out, but it is important to include a few key points from the start. These include events and promotion dates, your set dates to execute campaigns, contact information for assignees, details of all those associated with the projects, what their roles will include, and an area to create notes relating to each campaign.
It is always best to start with a simple overview. If you send out a weekly or monthly newsletter, mark which day it will be sent out in your calendar. From there you can start to add in other forms of marketing, such as current media and press advertising.
Focus on specific times of the year
One of the main reasons you will be making a calendar is because you want to maximise your time for events happening throughout the year in your area. Some of these events will be in relation to the whole of the U.K – events like Easter, Halloween, Guy Fawkes, Christmas and school terms.
There may also be certain events that are specific to your patch, a time of year where there are markets, get togethers, fun fairs etc. You will want to make sure that you have some form of presence at these events, which is why planning in advance is so important.
Use it to target patterns in the year
If you have considerable knowledge of your area, there is a good chance that you will know what times of the year are best for people to buy, sell and let property. While the whole of the UK has certain times and seasons that are perceived as popular for property – New Year, spring, summer – you may be aware of other times of the year in your patch that prove to be more popular than others.
Use your knowledge to implement this into your calendar so you can fully prepare to maximise that period. These are the times when you can do your strongest marketing pushes and perhaps dedicate larger budgets to campaigns.
Enhance quieter times of the year
Planning in advance helps you to identify the times of year when the market is usually slow. You can use this to ramp up your marketing when the quieter periods are in effect. Instead of being caught cold by slow periods, have a plan ready to tackle times of stagnation.
If Christmas is perceived to be a quiet time of year, start preparing for it at the end of the summer, working on something to try and change the mindsets of buyers and sellers in the area. By having everything noted in the calendar from day one, you won’t have to worry about dealing with last-minute surprises, potentially losing out on an opportunity.
Be more strategic with your estate agent marketing
Having a marketing calendar also helps with budgeting and strategy, as it makes you plan ahead rather than rushing something off to the printers and hoping it will work.
If you know you are heading to a quieter part of the year, use cheaper media and hold off on the expensive printing for a month. Cheaper medias include things like pay per click (PPC) focusing more attention on blog posts. This way you still have a presence but are not spending as much, allowing you to have something in the kitty when the market is busier. This is also a great way to test newer cheaper alternatives that can be part of your marketing mix.
Planning ahead is always the safest way to successfully execute any strategies – it is no different with your marketing. Whether you are tackling it monthly, or have planned it quarterly, by having an effective campaign in place, you are positioning yourself to get the most out of your market and create a stronger brand.
Summary section
- Brings consistency
- Better budgeting
- More effective marketing
- Can be done in 10 minutes (use our template as a starting point)
- Planned rather reactive
Here is our simplified checklist for your estate agent’s marketing calendar
- Create the calendar in the the appropriate program
- Add existing marketing for the next 12 months; use a simple system e.g. different colours mean different media
- Add special, local events or holidays that you can send related messages to in a certain media
- Define periods of the year you need to boost activity or want to be more competitive with media activity
- Make sure the spacing is appropriate; you don’t want people getting bombarded one weekend then no contact for a couple of weeks. Make sure it is balanced
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