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If the answer’s no, this is how to get started.

With the end of the year just a few short weeks away, many of our clients are busy developing their 2016 marketing plans.

The two print tools we see agents relying on most heavily are trusty DL cards and newsletters. Both are effective marketing pieces if used strategically. But the mistake we see again and again is that these pieces often aren’t planned and scheduled ahead of time, meaning that homeowners in some areas are hit with a deluge of drops every few months, then get nothing at all for long stretches of time. This kind of haphazard approach to marketing does absolutely nothing to build strong brands.

A carefully thought out marketing plan allows you plot how messages can be delivered at strategic times to ensure that they generate as much attention, enquiries and appraisal opportunities as possible. Here’s how to do it.

Learn from this year

What worked and what didn’t? If you need to change your marketing approach, now is the time to think about how more effective marketing habits can be implemented in the New Year.

Work backwards

Start with a blank 2016 calendar and mark public holidays, major events and school holidays. Now plan your major campaigns around these dates  – there’s no point dropping something over the Easter long weekend, for example, just when everyone’s heading off on holidays. You can also make educated guesses about any Super Saturdays and factor those into your scheduling. Aim to be sending something roughly every couple of weeks, whether that’s DL card, a market report or a blog post. 

Planning your campaigns this way means you can quickly see how the most relevant message can be delivered at the most effective time.

Plot deadlines

Choosing the dates that you want to distribute drops or newsletters is a start, but be sure to work backwards and allow time to put each item together. If you’re going to update your blog weekly, make sure you’re setting aside three or four hours a week to create each post (or have a copywriter on standby to deliver regular content). Letterbox drops need to be started a couple of weeks before the drop date to allow time for artwork and printing,and some distributors require printed material to be delivered up to a week prior to the scheduled drop date. Newsletters are even more involved, so leave yourself enough time for a quality job (or  or you’ll find your spring update turning into a summer one). 

Choose your medium

Generally, you want a mix or short and sharp promotional messages and some more engaging, longform content to really showcase expertise and experience. Mix it up – people will quickly tire of constant drop cards, but you can hold their interest with a mix of drops, newsletters, paper advertising and digital content. 

It’s important not to think of print and digital as two separate channels and instead think about how they can support and promote each other. For example, drops can push people to your website, or an email newsletter can prompt people to get in touch for a copy of a suburb report or a flyer on home presentation advice. Your print and digital marketing should complement each other, rather than compete.  A multi-channel approach is the most effective strategy. 

Select messages

What message do you want to promote with each campaign? It’s a good idea to have a clear idea of what you want to say, even if you don’t fully develop the content until closer to the actual date. We do see some clients who actually do all of the content and artwork for the upcoming year’s drops in December, and then just print as required. However, doing artwork progressively throughout the year gives you a little more flexibility to adapt and change your messages if required. But knowing what you want to say – even if you haven’t quite decided how to say it – means you can avoid the last minute scramble for ideas. 

Project manage

It’s a good idea to appoint one person to manage your marketing throughout the year – someone to keep track of deadlines, organise print and distribution, set blog posts to go live, and get final sign off on artwork. Directors and listers are generally too busy listing and selling property to allocate enough time for this. If you don’t have a dedicated marketing manager, choose a member of the admin team with top notch organisational skills. 

What are your plans for marketing in 2016?