Marketing Time-Savers for Part-Time Real Estate Agents

Real estate is hard enough when you have a full workweek. As a part-time real estate agent, getting everything done may feel next to impossible. First, you need to get leads, and then follow-up with those leads. You juggle showings, listing presentations, closings, and so much more.

Even with so much to do, no agent can afford not to market themselves. So how can we make time for marketing without making ourselves crazy? Simply put, we have to work smarter. Today, we’ll explore ways part-time real estate agents can save time on their marketing.

Important Tasks for Part-Time Real Estate Agents

Since part-time agents have limited time, they must prioritize. Some tasks accomplish essential marketing goals while others simply suck up your time with little to show for it. Knowing which is which frees you to plan your time more wisely. So what’s essential?

A well done Facebook page communicates your brand to visitors.

Build Consumer Awareness

First of all, agents need to build awareness. After all, no one can use your services unless they know you exist. Even better, successful agents create a strong connection to a particular quality or niche. For instance, I bet you could name an agent known as the go-to for a particular neighborhood in your area or an agent known for making quick sales.

Lead Generation and Lead Nurture

Next, you need some way to find new prospects. Lead generation can be active or passive. For example, you could actively seek leads by sending mailers to properties for sale by owner (FSBOs). On the other hand, you could provide something of value at low or no cost such as a home search tool so the leads come to you. Guess which requires more time…

You’ll also need to consider how to handle incoming leads efficiently. If you wait too long to respond to your leads, they may become someone else’s clients. Similarly, many leads require several attempts before you can connect. On the other hand, you can’t always be available either, so you need a system for handling customer interactions.

Create Brand Advocates

Once you’ve made a sale, your work hasn’t ended. The best real estate agents use past sales to drive future sales, too. You need a system for maintaining relationships with past and potential clients, so they can refer you to others buying or selling a home. The effort helps you stay top of mind for the next time they move as well.

With these goals in mind, you’re ready to make a plan of action.

Make a Marketing Plan

Your marketing plan ensures you address important goals with the least effort. By making decisions upfront, you save time and energy because you don’t have to make decisions about what to do over and over. Instead, you get straight to the action.

Start your marketing plan by listing the marketing goals we just outlined. Leave plenty of space to list the details of how you’ll accomplish each goal. You may also want to use the free marketing plan template we’ve created for you.

Set Up Routines

For each marketing goal, we want to create a system to make it easy to consistently address that goal. For instance, since we know it’s important to follow up, we want to set aside some time daily to call or e-mail leads.

You can plan for longer intervals of time for less critical tasks. For instance, posting to Facebook may happen one or two days a week while updating your Facebook cover photo may only happen once a quarter.

Software can help you keep track of your routines. Most calendar apps allow you to create recurring events that can remind you when it’s time to complete a task. If you need a more robust management system, free tools like Trello and ClickUp allow you to create tasks and enter additional notes and info that you can refer back to later.

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To use our Trello board template:

1. Visit https://trello.com/b/rfkRCpI6/real-estate-marketing
2. Click “Show Menu” in the top right corner.
3. Then click “Copy Board.”

Go to Trello Board

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Batch Tasks

As you schedule tasks, also look for groups of similar tasks that can be handled together instead of separately. Experts call this technique “batching.” This trick saves you time by allowing you to put your focus on one thing and reducing the lag that comes with starting and stopping tasks.

Responding to comments on Facebook posts offer a perfect opportunity for batching. Instead of responding to individual comments as they come, try responding to all of them at a scheduled time of day. This saves you from having to get your device, log in, and read your notification multiple times during the day.

Automate Tasks

As a part-time real estate agent, you probably can’t hire a personal assistant, but you can use technology to free up your time. Automation works especially well for time-consuming, low priority tasks such as posting Facebook content. Services like Page Engage save you from having to find and post content on your own by automatically doing it for you.

Software like Contact Junkie also lets you follow up with potential leads automatically, so they don’t go cold while you’re working your day job. Since sales conversations often start the same way, you can create premade voicemails, texts, and e-mails with your message, and Contact Junkie will send them to your lead according to the schedule you set until they respond.

Contact Junkie lets you automate your lead follow-up.

Stay Fresh

For part-time real estate agents, your long to-do list may make you feel like you can’t take a break, but, in truth, you can’t afford to skip resting. According to Psychology Today, taking breaks actually boosts your productivity and helps your decision making. So be sure to schedule in some short breaks during your work time such as taking a walk or having a snack.

Outsource to Experts

Sometimes you need to admit that your time and energy are limited resources. Rather than run yourself ragged, you can delegate some jobs to an expert. Typically, you’ll want to hire people to complete the tasks from earlier stages of the buying process such as advertising and lead generation. That way you can give personal attention to closing deals and relationship building.

For instance, many agents purchase Turnkey Suite to handle building and maintaining Facebook ad campaigns, and then they simply follow-up with the leads. This saves them the hassle of keeping up with changes to ad policies and learning how the platform works. Plus, they get the benefit of having an experienced account manager to optimize performance.

Conclusion

As a part-time agent, your time is precious, but successful agents find time for good marketing. Otherwise, you’re leaving your business to chance. So whether you plan on batching tasks or totally outsourcing them, the important thing is to do something. Having a system for how you handle marketing will ultimately save you time, and it just might save your sanity, too!

We’re required by law to let you know that Home ASAP receives a small commission from Contact Junkie whenever someone buys their service through the link we provided. Home ASAP has no affiliation with Trello or ClickUp. All trademarks are owned by their respective holders.

Meet the Author

Jonathan earned his Masters in Mass Communications from the University of Florida. He specializes in online communications and web design. When he’s not developing marketing strategies, he enjoys hiking and playing the guitar.