Conquering The Fear of Putting Yourself Out There

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Everyone in real estate knows they need to create content for real estate marketing, but many are still holding back, why? Conquering the fear of putting yourself out there doesn’t require skill, it requires determination. Attracting clients vs. chasing leads is what every agent wants, but without having a personal brand or a lot of notoriety, it’s near impossible to build an attraction based business.

Guess what holds people back 99% of the time? The fear of putting yourself out there.

(Listen to this week’s podcast with Chan Weber From Agile & Co… Here’s a sneak peak…)

Why Every Agent Needs To Start Creating Content Immediately

In order to understand how this works, you need to understand how and why people refer or use Realtors.
I have a more in-depth article you can read here about the psychology of whats makes someone refer you, but let me summarize it for you.
People refer and use Realtors they know, like, trust, and… REMEMBER!

When you create content for real estate marketing that you distribute you more referable. As you do this consistently over time, you become unforgettable.

In my opinion, the number one goal in real estate marketing is to remain top of mind to the people who already know, like, and trust you. This is where content comes into play. Content allows you to stay relevant WITHOUT always having to feel like you are selling something. The more content you create and the more people who see it, the more referable you become.

“10-15% of the people who see your content this year will be moving, but 100% of them have a referral for you!”

Why Conquering The Fear of Putting Yourself Out There Is So Important

Over recent years, many “shiny objects” have infiltrated the real estate marketing industry and although they sound really cool, the vast majority of business will STILL come from people you already know.

However if you cannot get over the master conquering the fear of putting yourself out there, then how can you ever create content consistently?
In this article, I want to show you why conquering your fear of putting yourself out there is key to the future of your real estate business.

Who Are You Creating Content For?

The best people to share your content with is your database of relationships. You don’t need you content to get seen by millions of people, you need it to get seen by the ones who will send you referral business or use you directly for their services. Everyone lives somewhere making everyone a future potential client or referral source. The database I’m talking about is nothing more than a collection of people you would invite to your wedding or funeral if you had an unlimited budget. Your database is NOT a collection of Zillow leads, opt ins, or other people you have no personal relationship with. Your database is comprised of your best friends, neighbors, family, parents at your kid’s school, and anyone else you would say “hi” to in the grocery store. If you would be angry to learn they bought or sold without you they are part of your database. Here’s the question. If you’re creating content for people you already know then why are you scared to show it to them? That would be like running away from someone you knew at the grocery store? Step 1 to conquering the fear of putting yourself out there is realizing who you are creating content for. Your best sources of business are through relationships, which include your friends, past clients, and family. Quite often, real estate agents shy away from “marketing” their closest relationships.

What Kind of Content Should You Create?

The key to overcoming the fear of putting yourself out there is being a great storyteller. You don’t want to send your database sales related messages talking about interest rates or bragging about how many houses you sold, you want to add value. You don’t have to talk about real estate, you need to remind them you’re in real estate. Attracting new clients from your database is not about generating a lead, it’s about generating their attention.

Why ATTENTION is So Important…

Having the attention of your database creates top of mind brand awareness. Top of mind brand awareness creates a higher likelihood of you being the first person they speak to about making a real estate decision.

10-15% of your database is moving this year.
100% of them can refer you to someone who is moving this year.

Past clients don’t want you real estate related content when they are not in the market, but they do want your relationship.

How To Distribute Your Content

You want to not just create content on social media, but through multiple channels. This is about taking a multi-channel approach to marketing your database so your brand is everywhere all the time. Every social media platform you’re on is just as an additional channel to market your brand. Your “friends” on Facebook are part of your database because they live somewhere and have the potential to refer or/and do business with you. Think about how many people you don’t have time to keep in contact with anymore, but know what they are up to because you see them on social media. If you want attract more clients from social media, they have to know what you do, which is why step one to conquering the fear of putting yourself out there is you need to know how and why it works. We create content that reminds people we’re in real estate vs. annoy people with spammy like messages. If you would you expect your social media friends to hire or refer you business, then you need to keep reminding them that you’re in real estate vs. telling them.

Social media is not meant to be a classified ad section!

The proper way to do this is by sharing content through images and video about your community, life, or business that remind them you’re in real estate. It’s not about screaming you’re in real estate, but gently reminding them while sharing cool stories or content that they engage with. Once people realize that they do not need to always talk about real estate or work, the conquering the fear of putting yourself out there is much easier.

Conquering The Fear If Putting Yourself Out There With Email

Social media isn’t the only place to put yourself out there. Email marketing is also necessary to keeping a consistent presence amongst your database, but I highly recommend doing it with video email. You should have an email list comprised of all the relationships you currently have. The key to email marketing is not having the largest list, but one made up of quality relationships. To have an effective email referral marketing strategy, the content of your emails SHOULD NOT be generic. The key to having referral success from your email marketing is to nurture your audience with very personal messages so that your content is more engaging. How good is your marketing if it never gets read or opened and feels like more of a nuisance receiving? We’ve seen open rates average over 50% using video based emails and creativity, which turns into a whole lot more referrals.