It looks like every real estate professional on the planet is looking for fresh marketing ideas! At any one time we have a number of ideas and concepts in play to make sure our clients keep the edge in their local area. So I made some notes and want to share some thoughts and ideas with you that you can begin using today to attract more business.I’m continually astounded at the lack of quality marketing produced by our industry to promote real estate services.The amount of money wasted each year must be in the hundreds of millions. I notice Radio, Television, Billboard, Newspaper and Internet ads that cost a fortune but generate little or no response and this is before we consider the dismal quality of most letter drops and marketing cards.Advertising experts all agree that the power of re-stating a message is a whole lot more effective than introducing a new message at every opportunity.Notice how a new ad on TV gets played and replayed until the advertiser is sure we get the message? It’s not ten different ads in ten different spots. Corporations spend millions testing their marketing messages to make sure they work. Why don’t we just save our money and copy the giants by using a consistent response driven message?Here are the 7 Mistakes of Real Estate Marketing
They confuse the target market (I don’t know what they stand for. They just want me to list with them)

They fail (dismally) to create any connection between each message. Each ad carries a different message and the time lapse between messages is too great.

They are mostly without any design element or layout and look dreadful. Too much copy no image.

They have no definable point-of-difference or Unique Selling Proposition that sets them apart from other real estate agents.

They are too ‘busy’ and have obviously never heard of the power of white space and cram not one but two sides of the flyer. White space is our friend not our enemy.

The communication is all about the agent not the target (fatal) Remember our favourite radio station; WIIFM?

They have no call-to-action. They give me no reason to want to call them so they can ‘capture’ my details and begin a relationship.
Let’s consider what MUST happen to boost the effectiveness of communication and get a serious return on our marketing investment.Here are The 7 Secrets of Real Estate Marketing Success(They must be secrets because so few people actually do them!)1. Establish a dynamic point of difference. This is what you stand for and what you believe in. If you were a country it would be your national anthem.2. Repeat your message consistently at every opportunity. (Don’t chop and change) From your office, in your emails, your on-hold message, at your opens, on your webpage. It needs to be compelling and interesting. Create a can’t-say-no offer!3. Develop your personal marketing plan for 12 months (Printing and all advertising is cheaper if you do it bulk)4. Use a call to action at every opportunity so you can…5. Take names. A contact base is currency in real estate. Used correctly, every name on you database is worth hundreds of dollars. This will allow you to…6. Initiate ‘value contact’ with your database so when they think of real estate, they will think of you. This is top-of-mind marketing. We need to give them enough reasons to call us when they’re thinking of selling or know whom to recommend when someone asks. (Referral business is the best business)7. Develop your professional contacts as well and include them in your marketing. (Your local mortgage broker or finance professional probably has hundreds of clients who would benefit from your expertise. Why don’t you look at doing a joint venture promotion?)These 7 ‘Secrets’ actually define relationship marketing. People do business with people they know and like. We need to build a relationship with potential clients before we can expect them to call us.One final word of warning; Putting your logo on everything is not going to help. In fact, I’m convinced it will work against you. It’s not about you. It’s about them! There will be plenty of opportunity to ‘logo up’ with For Sale signs and local paper ads once you have a heap of fresh listings as a result of your dynamic lead generating campaigns.Advertisers love to tell us how we need to constantly promote our brand. They call it ‘brand awareness’ and commit us to expensive advertising by convincing us that it’s the only way to go. (Sound familiar?) Relationship marketing is a whole lot more effective and a fraction of the price which allows individual real estate salespeople as well as real estate companies to build personal marketing profiles with a very affordable investment.As you read these words, there is someone in your target market ready to list their property for sale. Have you given them enough reasons to call you?

Are you losing money in all kind of speculative instruments like share, bonds and forex and am wondering what asset class to invest in? Why not consider real estate investment with its traditionally higher yields as compared to leaving your money in your bank account. This article will highlight four common strategies that real estate investors use to make money in property investment.Money Making Method #1 – Purchase run down property and spruce it up
This method involves finding a run down property in a good area that you think has promise for resale and sprucing it up like some of the shows where people do an extreme makeover on the property. Bring along a good structural engineer or architect when you do look for such properties so as to ensure that the renovation works that you have to do will not be so extensive that it does not become worth your while to purchase the property. Since the property is may be rather run down, you need to redecorate and repair it and then you can resell this real estate for a much higher price. The key consideration when investing in this kind of real estate is to keep your renovation costs low but ensure that the basic utilities like the electricity , water and gas pipes are in good working condition. Thus this buy at undervalue and upgrade real investment strategy requires good investment property valuation skills and the ability to keep your costs low.Money Making Method #2 – Find places with high rentals
Find areas with traditionally high rental returns that outperform the national average and then spend time looking for them and make money from the rentals. Here in this area of real estate investment, spending some time to find the real estate investment that is a bargain is a good idea so that you can get better return on investment.Some people do not seem to get it that high rental yields are important to a real estate investor and think that most of their customers would pay anything to get a winter residence. I was at a property exhibition recently and spoke to a Spanish Real Estate Agent and when I asked her what the Return on Investment was on a piece of Bulgarian property that she was selling. Not only could she not even understand the concept of ROI but she even laughed off the question of rental yield when I asked her. I am sure she is not alone in his mistaken belief that people buy just because they like the real estate. Thus rental yields or return on investment is critical when you decide what type of real estate investment property to purchase.Money Making Method #3- Purchase foreclosed property
Most people will know that foreclosed property usually fetches a lower price than the market value since banks are often eager to sell at a price that covers their mortgages or sometimes they just want to liquidate the property. Such properties tend to be auctioned off and you can then resell them for a higher value subsequently. However beware of hidden defects in auction properties and always arrange for a visit down to the property just to check it out.Two people you should bring with you when deciding on a real estate investment is your professional engineer and your contractor. You want to check for hidden defects in your real estate investment to avoid buying a defective property that would cost loads of money just to repair. Thus purchasing foreclosed property may be profitable if you find a real bargain for your real estate investment portfolio.Money Making Method #4- Cash Flow Investment
Robert T. Kiyosaki in his book explains this real estate investment strategy. He argues that the best investment you get is when you find a property at a bargain and then purchase it with as much debt as possible and then generate a cash flow from the difference between the monthly rent and the mortgage instalment. This method is highly interesting and requires you to really spend time looking for such a real estate investment that fits in that criteria.Remember that real estate investment is dependent on rental and the higher the proposed rental the better your monthly cash flow is. You could also purchase the property at a lower price and this would mean that your monthly cash flow would improve. Note that once your property is partly paid up, you can refinance your loan and extract out some money and purchase a second property and so on. Soon you would have multiple streams of income from the purchase of one real estate investment property.In conclusion, there are many ways to make money from real estate investment and what’s missing is massive action on your part. Take massive action and start hunting for your ideal real estate investment property today and start generating substantial real estate investment property profits.