Real Estate Marketing Plan | PDF | Word | RTF
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A Real Estate Marketing Plan is a vital component of any Real Estate Firm’s Business plan. A real estate company may be residential, commercial, or industrial but all three types of firms will have one thing in common; a good Real Estate Marketing Plan included in its Business Plan. Basically this is a set of written documents which will act as a guide for a company’s growth and behavior in the market. There is no set format however several topics are usually expected be included; Executive Summary, Company Description, Market Analysis, SWOT Analysis, Marketing Strategy, Budgeting, and Projections. There should be a logical progression in the way these sections are organized since this will act as a roadmap for the company’s direction and will likely be viewed by everyone from management, financial institutions, and those involved in the firm’s ability to be profitable.
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Developing a Real Estate Marketing Plan
The topics presented are meant to be comprehensive and as accurate as possible. A significant amount of time and planning must go into the development of any good marketing plan and a certain care must be taken for it to be realistic and in complete accordance with other areas of the business plan. Some firms will develop an abridged version of their marketing plan to be presented with their business plan. This is usually due to the sensitive information within a Real Estate Marketing Plan. For instance, a business plan is appropriate to show to investors and it is customary for a good business plan to contain a good marketing plan however; some information regarding advertising tactics or internal factors may be deemed too sensitive to present to anyone outside a company.
The first part of a Real Estate Marketing Plan is usually an Executive Summary. This should state the purpose of the marketing plan in no uncertain terms and name the creators of the marketing plan. A very short synopsis mentioning the company’s history and its future goals in the market should also be included.
It is a good idea to follow this with a Company Description. This is a brief description of the firm and the employees there. It may go a bit more into the history of how the firm was founded and by whom. Additionally, it should give a brief description of its current standing in the market, refer to the company’s mission statement [usually in the business plan], and go into slightly more specific information as to the company’s future goals. For instance, here is the appropriate section to introduce the idea that the firm will make a 25% profit in the next two years or that it will focus on reaching a specific segment of the population. This is meant to be brief and such concepts will be fully explained in subsequent areas of the marketing plan.
A Market Analysis is an all-inclusive description of the environment a firm operates in. Obviously, it’s important to understand the market environment one is operating in. This gives the company the ability to know exactly what or who to focus on. There may be several subtopics here as this will be a section which answers major questions about the client population. For instance, who is the target population of clients, what are they looking for in the real estate market, where are they located, how do they decide on what to buy. These are just examples of the issues which need to be covered and a good Market Analysis will provide the answers to these questions and several others. The demographics presented in a good market analysis must be based on solid numbers and facts as this section should provide a solid base for the next sections of the Real Estate Marketing Plan and will act as a knowledge base for a firm’s efforts to reach potential clients. It should be noted that an accurate Market Analysis should not have to change too much over the years however; if there are major changes in the facts presented it should be revised on paper to adapt. A good Marketing Plan will be accurate enough to change very little over the course of time yet still be adaptive if the facts within it change drastically.
The Market Analysis must also look beyond the current client population. It must look at external factors such as laws, tax codes, the stock market, and, in the Real Estate Market, the physical environment where the property is located such as crime rate, schools, neighborhood population, transit, and even natural disasters. The subjects in this subtopic should deal directly with the effects on present and potential clients’ decision making. For instance, addressing whether the higher property values of a recently rebuilt area of the city have the target client reluctant to purchase property in that area or competing to buy. Naturally, this section too must be very accurate in its assessment and extrapolations.
Now that a description of the company and its environment have been defined it is time to take a look at the competitors in the market. A Competitive Analysis is a logical choice for the next segment of this plan and focuses the attention on other real estate agents or firms. This should be as complete as possible. It should list the competitors of the firm, their status in the market, how they have dealt with threatening situations, how they have excelled in their niche, and how they may deal with future challenges. This is just as important as the previous sections which focus on description as this section should clearly show similar challenges one’s company may face and which competitor may become a direct threat.
Every good Real Estate Marketing plan will have a SWOT analysis. This will examine the company itself and how it interacts with the market environment. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. That is, the status report provided by the strengths and weaknesses should show what the firm should play up to and what the firm needs to attempt to correct or minimize. The opportunities and threats in the present and future market are defined in this section as well. All four of subsections of this assessment should be as accurate as possible. They should draw from the information of the previous sections and integrate concrete facts when addressing possible opportunities and threats.
A Marketing Strategy will explain what needs to be done to for the company to be profitable. It may be broken down into several subtopics or if preferable each segment may be its own topic. Here, one defines the objectives, strategies, and implementation of their marketing plan and future goals. This section will present precisely what the goals are and how they will be reached. It will cover when and how each step will be taken in matters such as advertising, public relations, possible investors and internal development. The company’s resources should be taken into account and the goal of this strategy should fall in line with the mission statement of the company.
Budgeting is an integral part of any marketing plan and every marketing strategy. This is necessary simply because a firm should never spend more than it makes. This basic tenet of a business plan is solidified here in this section. It should answer the question of how much is available when. This is directly tied to any Marketing Strategy, SWOT analysis, as well as the general health of the Real Estate Firm.
Projections are the final part of the marketing plan. This will outline what the executives of the firm expect of the marketing plan they have developed and where they can give very solid numbers. This section is not to be taken lightly and it is generally a good idea to steer away from being overly optimism or pessimistic when writing it. Regardless of what parts are included in the Real Estate Marketing Plan the projections section will always be expected and will generally gain a lot of attention from the reader.
One may decide to include all of these topics or only some of them when developing a Real Estate Marketing Plan. In order to facilitate easy referencing or a smooth presentation a Table of Contents should be included. In addition, in today’s multimedia age one can choose to use a variety of media when presenting a marketing plan however; this does not replace a written plan nor should it. The most important aspect of a Real Estate Marketing Plan is to be accurate, concise, and comprehensive.
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