I hear many Realtors speak of “niche marketing” on a regular basis and the fact is that few agents truly know how to set up and market to a niche.
A niche is defined by Webster as a special area of demand for a product or service.
How does a Realtor start a new niche?
First, a niche should not be too large. It is best to start small and build. For example, start with a database of a Sunday School class and build it up to include the entire church.
One could also start with a geographic farm as a niche. Begin with one street and each month, add another street to the database. By breaking up the task, it makes it much more manageable and less daunting.
Remember that most niches will take between six and twelve months to start seeing the rewards so one should be ready to commit to at least a year of marketing to the niche selected.
Ideally, if a Realtor adds a new niche to his/her system every year, business will boom over time.
Identifying the niche is the hardest thing for most agents. It is best to start with people who are like minded with one’s thinking. Going back to neighborhood farming, become the expert and deliver information to the niche while growing it.
Create a Facebook group or a hashtag for use to follow posts on social media. This will allow communication with the niche on a permission base. The consumers choose to follow the social media presence rather than being “advertising targets.”
There are eight things an agent should know about their niche:
- Needs and wants
- How do they think? Like minded people think in similar ways.
- What services can be marketed to the niche?
- What are their financial resources?
- What are the challenges you would face with the niche?
- Where would they expect you to advertise your listings?
- Would they expect you to do an open house and when?
- Are the people in the niche high touch or high tech?
It is important to communicate with your niche in multiple formats. Social media is the easiest to use, yet it is also the easiest for the consumer to avoid. Mailings, sponsorship of events within the niche and taking advantage of every opportunity to become the known area expert, will require an investment of time. However, it will return rewards tenfold if practiced consistently.