Unless you won that huge Powerball, then you're probably in the same boat as me.
You don't have a jackpot to spend on Real Estate marketing.
Where and how you spend your money is crucial to the success of not only your marketing but also your career. Many agents don't have formal marketing budgets because they're overwhelmed by options and unsure what will get them the greatest return. Not even lotto winners want to waste money!
The '60-30-10 Rule' is about to change all of that.
The Principles
The '60-30-10 Rule' is a system that will give you the confidence to create a successful marketing plan.
It starts with self-analysis. What are you doing that is already working? Create a spreadsheet of your closings from last year and the source of the business. Try to be as specific as possible. If the closing was a result of social media, note if the customer came from a paid ad or through your network. The same goes for any traditional farming, print ads, and the paid efforts you made to connect with your sphere that led to closings.
Once you've established what was working last year, you can apply the 60% rule.
We want to fuel where you're already generating a positive ROI. So, plan to spend 60% of your budget on what's already successful. Real Estate is constantly evolving, and it's crucial to continually improve your marketing along with it. The 60% will allow you to keep the momentum going while allowing room for innovation.
Our next goal is to discover what will give you an even better return on your marketing dollars.
Take 30% of your budget and apply it towards 1-2 new forms of marketing. It might be tempting to spread out this 30% over several new marketing ideas. Don't. Money and time are limited resources. You don't want to spread them too thinly. To give your new marketing idea the best shot and to establish the level of effectiveness, you'll need to pour your available resources into it.
Monitor new ideas and proven tactics equally to determine which marketing effort is having the greatest impact on your business. This might take some time, but it's essential to the next step.
And that last step is my favorite.
This is your bonus money. Your reserve. Take the remaining 10% and re-invest it back into what's working the best. This 10% might go towards the new marketing efforts that you're trying. If those were a dud, the 10% boosts what works back up to 70% of your budget.
The 10% rewards new avenues that are successful. It's also a safety net. You can rest assured. If something new doesn't work as well as you hoped, you'll still have 70% of your budget going towards what has the greatest ROI.
Tip: A newer agent can adapt the '60-30-10 Rule' to a '70-30 Rule.' The first 70% of your budget will be built on proven ideas. If you're an ERA Grizzard agent, reach out to your Director of Sales or us in marketing (hi there!) for input on where we're seeing success. Use that intel to customize your first 70% and leave 30% as your reserve.
Keep Going
The '60-30-10 Rule' is a guideline to help optimize your Real Estate marketing, and that experiment should be an ongoing evaluation. Test new avenues and perfect what's already working. Eventually, you'll figure out the shape of your budget, but always account for new avenues and a reserve. There's no set end date as the concept should help you determine how to spend your money moving forward throughout time and number of closings.
Real Estate is constantly evolving.
The customer today is unlike the customer yesterday. Stay on the forefront of the industry by creating a budget that allows for innovative tactics. The '60-30-10 Rule' is designed to give you the flexibility that you need for not only a successful marketing plan but also a successful career!
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