Nobody wants to be sold, but that doesn’t meant you shouldn’t be trying to sell your service, it just means you need to change how you sell it. Story telling in real estate is how you can constantly market your real estate business WITHOUT necessarily having to talk about real estate or give market reports. It is a skill that makes content creation easy. Once content creation becomes easy, then so does attracting vs. chasing clients.

On this week’s podcast we feature master story teller Robert Kennedy III. Robert is story telling in real estate building a locally famous brand people know, like, trust, and refer.

How Do You Get Started With Storytelling In Real Estate?

If you feel slimy advertising your business, we’re going to show you how to market it WITHOUT EVER having to talk about real estate.  Many real estate agents default to all their marketing efforts be full of real estate related content, but do you really need to do that?  No.

Storytelling in real estate is about marketing that reminds people you’re in real estate vs tell them, but it begins with embracing  your personal brand.

The truth is…

• • Your database doesn’t care how many houses you sold this month!

• • Your database doesn’t want your turn back the clock emails!

• • Your database doesn’t want to hear about today’s interest rates!

• • Your database doesn’t want to hear about real estate until they are in the market to buy or sell themselves!

So quit talking about real estate and start storytelling in real estate creating content people would actually look forward to receiving.  The problem most people have is in “how” they market their business.  I’m going to walk you through the steps necessary to adapt a content strategy for storytelling in real estate.

Let’s walk through the process of identifying your personal brand, creating a marketing message, and then a consistent strategy going forward. The key here is creating a marketing strategy that is authentic, fun, and doesn’t rely on regurgitating boring real estate information people don’t care about.

Step 1: Identify Your Brand Message

First, it begins by realizing you are a brand.  Yes, that’s right you’re a brand.

It was reported only 4% of consumers used the agent because of the brand they were affiliated with.  This means 96% of consumers chose the agent over the brand.  So quit marketing your broker’s brand and start marketing your own!

Your personal brand is your “story” to tell.  It’s how people know you and remember you. Can you imagine any new business becoming successful without identifying who they are or what they represent?  Every business has a “why” behind them or something they stand for.

How Do I Find My Message?

As in any business, the first place to start focus your craft your content strategy with where the majority of business comes from, that’s your database.

In real estate your database is your audience.

Over 80% of  home buyers and sellers find their agent from referral, repeat client, or they personally met them.    This means the vast majority of business comes from the people we already know not strangers.   The reason it’s so important to stay in communication with your entire database is because 10-15% of them are moving this year and 100% of them have a potential referral for you.

If I had 100 people in my world who knew what I did for a living about 10-15 of them are moving.  At the same time all 100 of them knows at least one person who is moving this year they can refer me to.

Generating referrals from your database is much easier than you think, but it requires consistency in communication to do it. You will begin attracting referrals just by staying in touch with your database.  Often times we overthink the mechanics of how to market your database, but it’s very simple.

We overthink our branding strategy, but it’s just being you.  If you’re a doctor, then be the real estate doctor.  If you’re brand is your name, then build a visual storyline around it that reflects whom you are as a person. The best part about this is that every agent has a brand unique to them! God only made one of you!

At the end of the day your brand is nothing more than a visual reminder and consistent story of what you do and how you roll.  Make sense?

I’m a dude.  Thats my brand.   I wish I cold be a luxury agent, but I can’t. A long time ago I realized the “Dude” is how my network remembers me.

Your brand needs to do the same thing. It has to be authentic and should reflect whom you really are.  Don’t overthink this as it’s really that simple. This is the single mindset shift needed when learning how to begin storytelling in real estate.

Step 2: Create Consistent Content

The first goal of storytelling in real estate is to create impact.  When I create marketing content, I am not doing it to generate a lead, I’m doing it to generate attention.  My only goal is name brand recognition.  This is the first mental mind shift that occurs with learning how to market your database using your personal brand.

People remember stories, they do not remember statements. Become good at storytelling in real estate and focus on reminding vs telling people you’re in real estate. 

You want to market your database through direct mail, email, and social media.  I’ve tried this with countless agents all with different levels of experience and it has worked every time.  The only time it does not work is when and if people don’t like you. Real estate is one giant popularity contest and when you have the RIGHT branding strategy, you become unforgettable.

Everybody lives somewhere and has the potential to refer you business too, but it’s not their job to do so, it’s your job to remind them. If you’d like to learn more in depth about the marketing your database with direct mail, video email, and social media, then check out this article.

The name of this game is TOP OF MIND BRAND AWARENESS!

Once you define your brand there is no shortage of content to create around it.  Just don’t sharing your story.