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Jess Lenouvel

Real Estate Marketing 101: 7 Fundamentals You Need To Grow Your Business

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When it comes to real estate marketing, everyone wants to start with the fancy stuff.

Setting up Facebook ads, developing an Instagram strategy, or even starting a TikTok channel.

But if you ever want to scale your real estate business, you’ve GOT to start with the basics.

I’m seeing a ton of agents who still haven’t gotten clear on certain marketing fundamentals. And it’s holding them back. 

If you don’t understand how marketing works, all the work spent on your Instagram strategy and money poured into FB ads is going to be one big waste of time. 

So to save you a whole lot of frustration, let’s make sure you understand the core real estate marketing principles to grow your business to seven figures. Sound good?

Let’s go!

Niche

We can’t talk about marketing 101 without talking about niching.

A lot of agents are generalists. They’re trying to speak to everyone.

And because of that, they end up speaking to no one. 

I want you to think about it this way…

Imagine you were standing in a crowded train station.

If you were to stand up on a bench and start shouting at the crowd, “Hey everyone! Hey all!” 

…nobody would even look at you.

But if you were to stand up on a bench and yell, “Hey Bob!”

SOMEONE would turn around. Someone’s name would be Bob.

The lesson here is that the bigger the group you’re trying to speak to, the more generalized your message becomes. You become vague and saturated, and because of that, you don’t resonate with anyone. 

But when you decide to niche down, you create a connection. And connection leads to conversion. 

Ideal Client Avatar 

Choosing your niche all comes down to nailing down your ideal client avatar.

You want to get clear on the pain points, problems, fears, and desires of the person you’re speaking to. 

Doing this will help you attract a specific type of person in your real estate marketing. 

A lot of ideal client avatar exercises will have you make up an imaginary person.

But what I like to do is choose a REAL person that belongs to this group of people.

My ideal client avatar is someone I know in real life. So whenever I’m creating content, I have one specific person in mind. 

This allows me to tap into my ideal client’s psyche.

I’m able to ask myself…“What does she need to hear from me today?”

Notice how I didn’t ask myself what I want to talk about today?

Having a business isn’t about building a platform where you get to talk about whatever’s on your mind. It’s about building a platform where you get to serve your ideal clients.

Because marketing is all about service. 

Messaging

If you want to master real estate marketing fundamentals, you’ve got to master your messaging.

So what exactly is messaging, you ask? 

Messaging is what you speak about to attract and help that person you’re trying to serve in your business. 

It’s about delivering the messages that are going to help them connect with you. 

Many people think of messaging as tag-lines or one-liners. But messaging is so much more than that.

I’m not a big believer in tag-lines and one-liners. They used to make sense back in the day when we were more limited by print marketing.

But nowadays, your messaging has the ability to be much more robust. 

Your messaging should revolve around the pain points, problems, fears, and desires of your niche.

An important note: As mentioned above, your niche should be based on your ideal client avatar. 

I am NOT talking about farm area.

The farm area model was imperative when we didn’t have the technology. We didn’t have the internet. 

The only way an agent could be consistently successful was is if they had a farm area. All marketing was done manually – cold calling, knocking on doors, handing out flyers.

Now, we’re able to market at scale. And because of that, it makes much more sense to niche down by human being, or by life transition. 

Some examples might be: 

  • First-time buyers
  • Up-sizers
  • Down-sizers
  • Corporate women
  • The LGBTQ Community

These are all people who you can speak to directly – in terms of who they are as humans, and what they need in terms of their current situation.

Your messaging should address your ideal clients and take them from being a total stranger all the way up to feeling like they know you, trust you, and want to work with you. 

Video Content 

If you feel like videos are everywhere these days, there’s a reason why.

And it’s NOT because everyone loves looking at themselves in the camera (in fact, most people hate that part of video marketing!).

The reason video marketing for real estate has skyrocketed in the past couple of years is that video is the best way to create connection. 

You can have the most aesthetically pleasing photo and the best-written caption…

But nothing helps your audience feel like they know you more than video. 

When people can hear your laugh, the cadence of your voice, and see your facial expressions it allows them to connect with you as a human being. 

It accelerates the trust-building process.

And at the end of the day, creating trust is what marketing is all about. 

So even if you hate video, even if you’re terrified…push past your comfort zone and give it a try. 

Start small with a quick Instagram story. After all, it disappears after 24 hours anyway!

And if you want more help, check out our post on five tips for embracing video marketing for real estate.

Pro Tip: If you want your videos to convert, keep them short and sweet. While longer videos might perform well on YouTube, on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, ~2 minutes is the sweet spot. 

Personal Content 

There’s one type of real estate content for social media that can skyrocket your business results…but SO many agents are neglecting it. 

That content type is personal content.

One of the biggest reasons people resist creating personal content is because they’re stuck in an old-school sales mindset that business and personal are separate. 

But that is NOT the case anymore.

People don’t want to see you as a faceless brand. They want to see you as a human being.

More now than ever, we’re craving connection. We’re craving vulnerability.

We’re all tired of polished perfection. Give your audience something real!

The other reason personal content is so incredibly important is because your average ideal client only moves once every three to seven years.

So if you’re ONLY posting business and real estate content, you’re only going to be relevant to them every three to seven years. Which means they’re going to hit that ‘unfollow’ button.

It will be nearly impossible to grow an audience if you’re 100% business, 100% of the time. 

When you create personal content, don’t be afraid to go deep.

Your captions should almost be like mini-blogs. Not one or two-line captions with a blurb of hashtags.

Hashtags will do very little if your content doesn’t resonate.

So make sure you’re focusing on the right things – creating content that drives connection and conversation with your audience. 

Get Clear on The Problem & Solution 

This basic sales principle is key to a successful real estate marketing plan. 

You *must* be super clear on the problem you solve and the solution you offer.

You need to be able to answer the questions:

  • What problems do you solve?
  • What are your ideal client’s pain points?
  • What is their biggest struggle?

I don’t want you to guess. I don’t want you to take a stab in the dark.

I want you to go out there and TALK to your ideal clients. Start having more market research conversations! 

People never move for fun.

They move because their current situation is no longer serving them.

It’s up to you to get clear on the specifics of why their situation is no longer serving them, and what they’re desiring in its place.

Once you get clear on:

  • Their current situation (or problem)
  • Their desired situation (or solution)
  • And how YOUR services are the bridge to get them from Point A to Point B…

You have the fundamentals needed to create compelling real estate marketing. 

This is not just about peddling your services. Too many agents are too transactionally focused in their marketing. 

Focus more on the client and their desires rather than yourself.

Your client is the hero of your story. They want to see themselves on top. 

So be sure to paint that picture in your marketing!

Social Proof

The last thing you absolutely need when it comes to real estate marketing is solid social proof. 

And no…I don’t mean a constant string of those, “Just listed, just sold” type of posts.

Instead, I’m talking about case studies, testimonials, and PR features.

And not just any testimonials, but in-depth testimonials. 

In order to get these powerful testimonials, you often have to guide your clients. 

Rather than just asking them, “Hey! Can you write me a testimonial?”

You can ask them strategic questions to get powerful marketing material. Ask them what the experience was like, what kind of results they achieved, and how they felt before and after working with you. 

When you take the time to master these real estate marketing fundamentals, you’ll create a solid foundation from which you can scale your real estate business to seven figures.

Before you move on to ads or social media strategies, you’ve got to go back to basics.

Otherwise, you’re building your business on a house of cards.

If you want deeper support with building a truly scalable real estate business, be sure to download our free guide, The Listings Lab Method, where we walk you through marketing fundamentals to consistently fill your calendar with appointments.

Download It For Free Here 

Master Real Estate Content For Social Media With These 3 Types Of High-Converting Posts

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Are you feeling overwhelmed by social media? While social media can be a powerful tool to grow your real estate business, many agents feel lost on what type of real estate content for social media works best.

You might end up feeling like you’re spinning your wheels. You post and post…but nothing seems to bring in results.

Or maybe you’ve gotten so fed up with the ‘gram you just stopped posting altogether.

Sound familiar?

If so, you’re not alone. 

But today I want to show you how you can take your social media content from feeling like a giant waste of time to being your biggest lead generator.

It all starts with figuring out the right type of real estate content for social media. A lot of agents are currently getting the content piece wrong. and wonder why their social media isn’t converting any followers into clients.

Keep reading to know exactly what to post on social media to grow your real estate business. 

Why It’s Hard To Show Up on Social Media

Tell me if this sounds familiar…

You follow a ton of other agents on social media.

You see them promoting their services, and it feels sleazy, icky even.

And you think to yourself, “I so don’t want to look like that!”

But, you have no idea how to post in a way that feels good AND brings in sales. So you don’t post at all. 

It All Starts With Our Ideal Clients

In reality, your social media channels should be anything BUT constant promo feeds. 

Instead, they’re a place to serve up major value to your ideal client. This is where you want to go back and revisit your ideal client avatar.

You have to get crystal clear on who you’re speaking to. Because if you’re trying to speak to everyone, you’re speaking to no one.

Once you’ve gotten clarity around your ideal client, you can begin to craft content that will resonate with them. 

Whether you’re speaking to first-time buyers, move-up buyers, up-sizers, down-sizers, corporate women, or the LGBTQ community…you want to get specific. 

You want to make content uniquely tailored to their struggles, their desires, and their fears.

Where so many agents go wrong is they forget to put their ideal client at the heart of their content creation. 

Instead, their real estate content for social media is a mix of posts that appeal to them. Rather than thinking about what their ideal clients need to hear, they simply post what’s resonating with them in the moment. 

And what happens next is that instead of attracting ideal clients, they end up attracting other agents to their profile.

To avoid this phenomenon, make sure every time you post, you ask yourself:

Who is this for?
How do I want them to feel while reading this?
What kind of outcome will my ideal client get from consuming this content? 

That way, the real estate content you create for social media will attract perfect-fit clients…instead of your competitors. 

Real Estate Content For Social Media: The 3 Major Content Buckets

By now, you’re probably ready to get into the three types of content that will convert your ideal clients.

These content types are going to work one hundred times better than the typical real estate social media content you see.

Most agents rely on pictures of houses with banners saying “Just listed!” or “Sold!”.

There’s no value in those types of posts. All you’re doing is showing the world you have business in the hopes it’s going to attract more business.

What you need to remember is that social media is meant to be social. 

It’s about connecting with fellow human beings. 

In order to do that, there are three main types of real estate content for social media you want to be posting. 

These three types of social media content will help your followers get to know you, like you, and trust you. Which ultimately leads to them wanting to work with you.

The three content types you absolutely need are: 

  1. Authority-building content
  2. Social proof (case studies, testimonials, PR)
  3. Personal content 

Let’s dive a little deeper into each content type. 

Authority-building content

Authority-building content helps showcase your expertise to your potential clients. 

Think about content that educates and delivers value, as well as shows off your signature process. Your signature process is how you help clients get from point A to point B.

This type of content will help you become the go-to agent in your client’s mind. 

Social proof content 

Social proof content is going to be posts that feature case studies, testimonials, and PR.

When you post this type of real estate content on social media, it shows your followers that you know what you’re doing. You have a list of happy clients for whom you’ve gotten big results for.

It tells them you know how to get them to where they want to go. 

Personal content 

The third content bucket is personal content. 

And this is where so many agents go wrong. 

They don’t include any personal content, so their profile starts to feel very business-like, stiff, and corporate.

And that’s when you lose people. 

You’ve got to remember, when it comes to real estate content for social media, people don’t move 50 times a year. They only move once every 3-7 years.

And if you’re only relevant to your followers during a short period of time, it’s going to be extremely difficult for you to grow an audience. 

That’s where the personal content comes into play.

You want to make sure that you’re continuously relevant to your audience by sharing your personal beliefs, your personal philosophy, and your personal story.

You want to take them behind the scenes are share different things about your life.

Connect with them on a human-to-human level.

Often, I see agents feel a lot of resistance towards sharing their personal life online.

They’ll tell me, “I’m a professional…my lawyer doesn’t show this kind of stuff on social media!” 

And to that I say – one, your lawyer most likely isn’t advertising as much. And two – your lawyer often isn’t dealing with such an important, vulnerable moment in someone’s life. 

Buying a house is one of the most important financial decisions your clients will ever make in their lives. And it’s often stressful, too. 

It’s expensive. It’s time-consuming. You’re packing up your whole life and putting it into boxes. 

You’re supporting your clients through an intensely emotional experience.

So it’s incredibly important that your content helps them get to know you on a personal level.

You only want to go through an experience like that with someone you genuinely like and connect with!

Social Media Imagery Do’s and Don’ts

Now that you know the three main types of real estate content for social media, you’re probably wondering…

But what kind of images should I post with these captions?

So let’s get into a few do’s and don’ts.

✅  DO post lots of pictures of yourself.

Now, I know this might feel weird, or even a little egotistical. I’ve felt the exact same way in the past. But when it comes to social media, people want to see YOU.

They don’t want to just see pictures of pretty houses. There are already dozens of massive inspo accounts devoted solely to posting pictures of beautiful homes.

People want to see you, they want to get to know you, and they want to build a relationship with you. 

Think about your favorite influencers. The people you feel you have a real connection with – even though you’ve never met them.

When you look at their profiles, they’re posting pictures, they’re showing up in videos, and they’re being themselves. 

✅   DO edit and brighten your photos

You don’t want to just snap a photo and post it. Instead, you want to brighten it so it shows up nicely in your followers’ feeds. 

Your visuals are often the first thing your followers notice before they even begin reading your caption.

So if your visuals aren’t captivating, they’ll simply scroll past. 

You want to make sure that your photos are light, bright, and airy.

It’s super easy to achieve this effect by using any kind of editing app, such as VSCO or Lightroom.

✅  DO take up as much space as possible within the feed 

When it comes to the orientation of your photos, you always want to make sure your photo is vertical.

If you’re scrolling through your feed, whether on Facebook or on Instagram, 99% of the time, you’re doing it on your phone. 

So from an imagery perspective, you want to try to take up as much space as possible. 

On Instagram, the ideal size for this is 4×5.

❌  DON’T post overly branded images 

I’ve said this many times before, and I’ll say it again: 

If your photo looks like an ad, people are just going to be repelled by it and scroll past. We don’t like being advertised to, especially when it comes to organic social media content. 

So many agents add a branded banner, design elements, or their logo onto their photos. 

Instead, you want to keep them as clean and natural as possible. 

That way, people will simply feel like they’re connecting with you…rather than being advertised to. 

Branding will only hurt your reach. 

Social Media Post Formatting Tips

When it comes to real estate content for social media, not only is your message important…but so is how you format it.

First things first, you want to make sure you’re using the appropriate hashtags.

Specifically, I’m talking about Instagram. Skip the hashtags on Facebook. Facebook tried to make them a thing a few years back and they didn’t take off. So if you include a blurb of hashtags at the bottom of your post on Facebook it will look a little spammy.

When using hashtags on Instagram, be sure to include some spaces after your caption so that they don’t distract from the main body of your post. 

Next, you want to make sure you’re using appropriate spacing for your captions.

No one wants to read lengthy paragraphs of text when it comes to social media. 

While you absolutely want to be creating long-form captions (think mini-blogs!) it’s so important that you space out your text so it’s scannable and easy on the eyes. 

And lastly, don’t forget to include a catchy hook to grab people’s attention.

The hook, or the first line of your piece of content, is by far the most important part of the whole caption.

The headline needs to entice your followers to hit that “Read More” button on Instagram and consume the rest of your content. 

So take some time to think of a hook that’ll have your potential clients thinking, “I’ve GOT to know what they’re going to say!” 

Next time you’re sitting around trying to brainstorm what type of real estate content to post on social media, use one of these 3 types of content. You’ll notice an immediate uptick in interaction and conversion from your ideal clients!

And if you’re ready to dive deeper into building an automated marketing system for your real estate business, you’ll want to learn more about The Listings Lab Method. Get all the details in our free guide, The Listings Lab Guide. 

5 Tips To Embrace Video Marketing For Real Estate

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So you know you’ve got to start embracing video marketing for real estate…but you’re letting your fear hold you back.

I talk to so many agents who tell me the exact same thing.

But intimidated or not, you *need* to start showing up on video if you want to grow your real estate business. In fact, Cisco estimates that video will drive 82% of all internet traffic this year, in 2022. 

Marketing is all about capturing the attention of your ideal clients. And video content gets them hooked. 

If you feel resistant or uncomfortable about using video for real estate, don’t take it as a sign that you’re not cut out for video marketing. 

Instead, read on to learn about some tips and mindset shifts that helped me go from a scared, shy newbie to a video maven who’s 100% comfortable doing everything from IG stories, to live streams to video collabs and so much more. 

Everyone Feels Like An Imposter

Here’s what you need to remember when you start to feel like an imposter:

We all felt that way at some point in time. 

The other day, I thought back to the first live stream I ever did.

Oh boy…did I ever feel nervous! 

The sweaty palms, the feeling that I might be sick, and the absolute dread were intense.

While you might now know me as someone who’s completely comfortable in front of the camera, that wasn’t always the case. 

I got so nervous and uncomfortable about making videos, I’d actually go and record them on the roof of my building so nobody could see me. Not even my husband!

The whole reason I started reflecting back on my first live stream that day, was because I was actually going live in my friend Erica’s Facebook group, which has a massive audience. 

And you know what?

I didn’t even think about it. I didn’t even bat an eye.

It was just another meeting on my calendar.

Looking back at my video marketing journey, I realized just how far I’ve come. So if you’re feeling major imposter syndrome as you try to embrace video content, know you’re not alone.

You absolutely can push past these fraud-like feelings and experience the incredible business wins video marketing provides. 

Start Small

If you’re terrified of the idea of showing your face in any capacity, it’s probably not the best idea to jump straight into live video.

Instead, you want to gradually push past your comfort zone and start small. 

For me, this looked like getting into the habit of doing short Instagram stories.

Every single morning before my workout, I’d do a quick face-to-camera story. In the beginning, my primary goal was just to get used to speaking to the camera. 

After a while of doing daily Instagram stories, this soon led to me being able to record videos. Then it progressed into being able to record trainings. And fairly soon after that, I had built up the confidence to do live video.

Work on being 1% better than you were yesterday, and pretty soon you’ll find you’ve successfully mastered video for real estate!

Remember…Your Community Wants To Hear From You

When I talk to agents in The Listings Lab community, live video is the content type that scares them the most. 

But here’s what you need to remember about live video:

The people tuning into your videos are your most engaged community members. They’re your loyal fans!

They’ve quite literally signed up to hear from you. Rather than thinking of these people as an audience there to judge you, think of them as friends. These are your people. Of everyone on the internet, the people listening to your lives are going to be the least judgmental. 

When you begin to see video as a tool to create a deeper connection with your community and love on your people…everything begins to shift.

Stop Focusing on Yourself And Focus on Your People

We can have a tendency to get so caught up in our own insecurities. Our own fears.

We forget that this really isn’t about us. In fact, it has nothing to do with us, and everything to do with our community. 

Creating videos is about being of service. 

It’s about delivering value and nurturing your people. 

If I didn’t:

  • Go live and share my knowledge

  • Hop on stories and share wisdom

  • Host video trainings so that agents get the info they need to grow

Then I’m not giving my people what they want, and what they ultimately need.

If I refused to show up out of my own fear of being judged, at the end of the day, I’d be acting from a selfish place.

While of course, embracing video for real estate will drive massive business growth, it’s always an act of service, first and foremost. 

Practice, Practice, Practice

The next time you open up your phone to hit record, and instead you feel that gut-wrench in your stomach and close your camera app – I want you to remember:

It DOES get easier with practice. 

Confidence comes with competence. 

And if you’re not feeling confident, often it’s simply because you haven’t practiced enough. 

Mastering video marketing for your real estate business is just like any other skill.

If you were learning basketball, you wouldn’t be competing in the NBA on day one.

So why are you expecting yourself to be a pro before you’ve even recorded your first video?

You’ve got to continually practice, show up and build your video marketing skills. 

It’s easy to get caught up in perfectionism. But allow your video journey to be messy. Done is better than perfect!

Whenever we find ourselves holding back or procrastinating, it’s most likely perfectionism trying to rear its ugly head.

I challenge you to take one tiny action today to help you embrace video for marketing your real estate business.

Even if that just means recording a 1-minute video. 

The whole idea is to get comfortable talking to the camera. 

And the more you take these small steps, the easier it will become.

Pretty soon, video marketing will feel normal. 

The more that you normalize it, the less resistance you’ll feel, the less fear you’ll experience, and the less you’ll hold yourself back. 

Leave a comment on this post if these tips have encouraged you to start embracing video for real estate!

And if you want to dive deeper into marketing for your real estate business, be sure to download The Listings Lab Guide where we teach you the strategies to continuously fill your pipeline and scale to seven figures. Download it here. 

Instagram For Real Estate Agents: How To Grow Your Business Without Spamming

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Do you want to know how to successfully use Instagram to scale your real estate business? 

Instagram marketing can be an incredible organic marketing tool for real estate agents. If you use it correctly, you can quickly build a community filled with ideal clients and become their go-to agent.

But if you focus too much on the wrong things when it comes to Instagram, your account will start to go downhill very quickly. Rather than being a lead generation machine, the only thing Instagram will be is a massive waste of time. 

Here’s what so many real estate agents get WRONG when it comes to Instagram. 

They focus on quantity > quality 

They believe they should focus all of their efforts on growing a massive following (oftentimes, at any cost). 

But having the wrong type of followers on Instagram (or any non-ideal followers for that matter!) is probably one of the worst things you could do when using Instagram for real estate. 

It’s not about having more followers, it’s about having the correct followers. 

If your followers are not relevant, they’ll only hurt your account. 

A big part of that has to do with the Instagram algorithm.  Let me explain!

How The Instagram Algorithm Works 

Here’s what happens when you post on Instagram. 

When Instagram first pushes out your post, it only gets shown to 10% of your followers. 

If your followers react to it (i.e. through likes, comments, saves, shares), then Instagram will show your post to the next 10% of your followers. It’s kind of like a sliding scale.

So what happens when you don’t have the correct followers? 

If you have irrelevant followers, people that aren’t actually interested in your services and will probably never work with you, your post will get zero engagement.

That first 10% of people your post is shown to won’t like, comment, or share because ultimately your content is relevant to them. 

And after that, your post’s reach tanks. Instagram stops showing your post to any new followers. 

But on the other hand, if you have fewer followers that are highly relevant followers, then your post gets picked up, and more and more people will actually SEE that piece of content. 

When you build a highly engaged following, it signals to Instagram that your content is valuable and pushes it out to new people. 

4 Ways To Use Instagram For Real Estate And Build An Authentic Following

So how can you build a genuine community of clients online? How can you use Instagram for real estate in a way that helps you connect with real potential clients?

Here are some tips you, as a real estate agent, can use to leverage Instagram.

Do Not Buy Followers

The fastest way to kill your reach on Instagram is to buy followers. This is the epitome of non-ideal clients. And because buying followers is against Instagram’s regulations, it could even result in getting your account banned. 

If your ultimate goal is to get more eyes on your content, you have to remember that it’s not about the numbers. 

While seeing a large following on someone’s Instagram profile might provide a little bit of social proof, at the end of the day the number of followers you have is a vanity metric.

Vanity metrics make us feel good. They make us feel like we’ve made it. 

But when all is said and done, a large following does nothing beneficial for our real estate business. All it does is kill our reach and prevent us from reaching the people we actually need to be reaching. 

So make sure to ditch any spammy practices to increase your following, especially if those practices include buying followers. Killing your reach on Instagram is very hard to come back from. There’s not much that can revive a dead account, and you may even need to start over from scratch.

Instead, stop obsessing over your numbers and focus on building a community of highly relevant, local followers in your area. You know, the type of people who might actually HIRE you one day! 

Delete Ghosts or Bots

Even if you’ve been super careful with curating an intentional following, it’s highly likely that you could still have some suspicious characters in your following.

I go through my account on a regular basis to delete ghosts, bots, and irrelevant followers. If they look like they’re not real people, or they look like they wouldn’t be a part of my target audience, I’ll remove them.

I do this because it’s so important to me that my content reaches the right people. I’d rather have fewer followers have 100,000 followers that don’t truly support me and my mission.

Remember, it’s about creating a curated community that’s going to interact with your content. 

Create Content to Attract the Right Followers

In order to build a truly authentic community, it’s important you create content that’s super targeted.

Your posts aren’t random. They’re not just ‘whatever you feel like posting’ that day. 

In order to create posts that will resonate, go back and revisit your ideal client avatar.

Create content that speaks to your ideal client’s hopes, dreams, fears, and struggles. Be a valuable resource for them and you’ll quickly find them engaging with your posts, tuning into your stories, and connecting with you in your DMs! 

Don’t Play The Follow For Follow Game

One of the spammiest ways you could use Instagram for your real estate business is playing the follow-for-follow game. 

Again, people who use this tactic are of the mindset that bigger is better when it comes to their Instagram following.

Follow-for-follow doesn’t make sense for any business, but it’s especially ridiculous for real estate agents. 

If you’re selling to a New York market and someone from Georgia follows you, why on earth would you follow them back?

This person will never become a client and is only interested in their own superficial growth on the platform. 

When you’re using Instagram for real estate, you need to focus your efforts on growing a local community. 

Instead of aimlessly following just about anyone, be sure to build relationships with potential clients in your market. You can find these people by searching for locations, on local hashtags, or just by checking out your followers and seeing where they’re from. 

Instagram can be a powerful tool for generating leads for your real estate business, but you have to use it intentionally. 

By focusing on quality over quantity, on authentic connections over spammy growth tactics, and by creating targeted content, you’ll be able to develop real relationships on social media. 

You’ll create genuine connections that may even turn into paying clients!

Do you want to learn more about developing a marketing machine that helps you effortlessly attract leads and fills your calendar with appointments?

Download The Listings Lab Guide for Exponential Growth 🚀

3 Steps Every Agent Needs To Be Successful in Real Estate And Grow to 7 Figures

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Are you wondering what it really takes to be successful in real estate? 

No matter where you’re at, it’s never too late to start growing your career in real estate…and scale it to seven figures.

There is so much potential to be successful in real estate. 

So I want you to know, whether you’re trying to scale your real estate career early on in your life or later in your life …

Now is your time to shine.

Having a sustainable career in real estate offers you an opportunity to take control of your life and make it your own.

But to do that, you have to be willing to truly innovate, invest in yourself, and go where no one else is willing to go.

You have to ask yourself…

Do you want to just do “okay” in life?

Or do you want to do great things? To have a real impact? To look back at your life, five or ten years from now, and think, I really did it!

If you want your life to look like the latter, keep reading to learn about three steps to be successful in real estate, hit seven figures, and grow a business that offers you financial freedom and fulfillment. 

Figure Out Your Why 

Whether you’ve been in real estate for a year, five years, ten years or more the first thing you need to figure out is your why. 

Why are you doing this?

Why is real estate important to you?

Why this business in particular?

Why service? Because at the end of the day, that’s what we’re all here for. You may have different reasons for getting into this industry – in the end, you’re a servant to your people. You’re a servant to your clients. And it takes a certain kind of person to be able to do that.

If your reasons for starting your business are superficial, it’s going to be extremely difficult to be successful in real estate. 

Those who create six and seven-figure real estate businesses have a heart for service. 

But here’s what you need to understand.

You can be a servant and a fire-breathing dragon at the same time.

Being of service is not the same as letting people walk all over you. Being a servant leader and being a badass business owner are two sides of the same coin.

Before you start scaling your real estate business, make sure you figure out the intrinsic reasons you want to make it happen. Forget about the money, success, or prestige. What is going to continually motivate you to serve your people – month after month, year after year?

Once you get that piece down pat, you’re ready to move on to step number two. 

Find The Courage to Show Up 

Especially if you’re starting to feel stuck in your real estate business, it’s likely you might feel like a bit of an imposter.

Maybe you *know* you need to be marketing yourself to bring in leads for your business but it feels like every day, you find a new excuse not to show up and put yourself out there.

I need you to know…

Every single day you let go of a piece of your business without promoting yourself, without showing up and sharing how you can help your clients. At the end of the day, you’re doing yourself, your business, and your family a disservice.

You’re helping no one by playing it small.

People need your services, and they need them badly. You’ve got lives to change!

It’s time to find the courage to show up. 

Every single day you’re not building your audience is a day lost. And when you look back on this time, you’re going to think, I really wish I’d started sooner. 

So today, I challenge you!

Whatever it is you need to do to show up, whatever it is you’re putting off because it feels big and scary and uncomfortable, make a commitment to stop procrastinating and take action.

When you’re building your real estate business, everything is going to feel scary. 

  • Live video is going to feel scary
  • Writing content is going to feel scary
  • Putting ads up is scary

But if you don’t do the hard things, how are your people ever going to find you? How are they going to know that you’re the person that they want to work with? That you’re the person that’s going to change their lives by supporting them through the biggest investment they’re ever going to make? 

It’s your time. 

Every day you stay in your comfort zone is another day you put off building the real estate business of your dreams. You must find the courage to show up and do the hard things if you want to be successful in real estate. 

Focus on Impact

The other day, I talked to one of our members in The Listings Lab who got me absolutely fired up.

She knows the kind of impact she wants to have.

She knows where she’s headed.

She knows the exact ideal client she wants to serve and she deeply connects with them. 

Her story was powerful and she had strong personal motivations for wanting to support her clients, something I can strongly relate to. (So much so that hearing her get so passionate about her mission nearly made me cry!)

Because at the end of the day, human connection is what a career in real estate is all about.

It’s about how you, as one human being, are going to have an impact on the lives of others. 

It’s not just about having hundreds of thousands in the bank or buying yourself a Maserati.

That might be a tiny piece of one of your goals. But ultimately, you need to be able to answer the question, what are you going to leave behind? Who are you going to touch during your life? 

And if you continue to resist building a big, powerful, automated business for yourself, you’re going to have less impact. You’re going to touch fewer people. You’re not going to have that kind of influence on the world.

Building a big, powerful, automated business is the best way to have the maximum impact possible. You’ll be able to touch more lives throughout your time here on earth. 

So go out there and change the world!.

Serve your clients. Do the scary things. Push yourself and see just how capable you are of changing your life. 

In five years, you’ll look back on this moment and think, I’m so glad I decided to choose me. 

Being successful in real estate and hitting the 7-figure mark all comes down to the tiny actions you take each day to work towards that better version of yourself. 

When you show up, get uncomfortable, and don’t shy away from hardship, the reward will be so, so sweet. I promise. 

Xo,

Jess

Real Estate Referrals: Are They Really Enough To Grow Your Business?

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Do you rely on real estate referrals to grow your business? 

Referrals are treated like gold in the real estate community.

There’s this tendency to wear a badge of honor if you’ve built your entire real estate business based on referrals.

And don’t get me wrong – happy clients sure are nice. 

But at the same time, there’s a downside to relying too heavily on referrals in order to market your business. 

Here’s a bold statement …If you’re relying on real estate referrals to grow, you’re not treating your business like a real business.

Here are five of the biggest reasons why I believe you need to expand your business beyond word-of-mouth marketing if you want a truly scalable real estate business. 

You’ll Always Be in A State of Stress

I want you to think about it this way.

When you rely on real estate referrals for your marketing, you’re not in control.

You’re always going to be in a state of panic and stress because you never know where your next lead is coming from, or if it’s coming in at all.

Eventually, you may find yourself in a cyclical flow where one month you’re booked and busy and the next month your leads have completely dried up. 

When you build your business 100% on referrals, you’re essentially relying on other people to do your marketing for you. 

You have no control over how much business comes in or the quality of business that comes in. 

So rather than depending on referrals from past clients and your network, instead I want you to think of them as the icing on the cake. 

But your marketing, your predictable lead flow…that’s the cake. 

The referrals are always going to be there if you’re doing a good job for your clients.

The bottom line?

If you’re not taking control of your lead generation and making sure that every single month, you have appointments coming in, your revenue will always be unpredictable and you’ll never feel at ease and comfortable with your business. 

Real Estate Referrals Eventually Dry Up

If you think you can run a sustainable business for years with just your referral sources never drying up, here’s the hard truth,  it won’t work.

People only want to be asked to help build your business for so long.

It might be a bit of tough love for you, but it’s true. While they’ll lend support in the beginning, eventually you need to step it up and get things moving on your own.

And when it comes to your clients, you have to realize, you’re not going to please everyone. You could be an incredibly talented real estate agent who’s absolutely dominating your marketplace, and you’re still going to have the odd client who’s unhappy with your services.

If you have leads coming in from elsewhere, one unhappy client here and there won’t be detrimental to your business. But if you’re relying on every client you work with to spread the word about your services, you could quickly find yourself scrambling to fill your calendar.

Referrals Aren’t Scalable 

Whether or not you rely on real estate referrals to grow your business ultimately depends on your long-term vision.

If your ultimate goal is to build a small business, you might be able to get away with using mostly word-of-mouth marketing. 

But if you know you want more than a small business, if you want a scalable business, it’s time to start taking your marketing seriously.

Coca-Cola, Apple, and the most successful real estate firms worldwide all have referrals.

But at the end of the day, are they relying on their sphere of influence to do their marketing?

No. 

It’s time we stop treating building a referral-based business like it’s a badge of honor.

We have to come to terms with the fact it’s unproductive to rely on others to do your marketing…especially if you have a team.

You can’t scale anything without predictability.

If you aren’t able to predict what’s coming in every month, how can you possibly hire? How can you pay salaries to employees, employees who are putting their livelihood in your hands?

You can’t.

It’s time to say goodbye to the unpredictability of referral-based marketing and instead focus on building a lead-generation machine. 

Are you ready to take control of your marketing so you never have to worry about where your next lead is coming from? 

Learn all about The Listings Lab Method to help you sustainably scale to seven figures and beyond. 

Get your free The Listings Lab Guide here. 

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