A real estate marketing plan does not need to be long. It needs to say what you want, who you want it from, where those people will come from and what you will do each week to reach them. One page you follow beats twenty pages you file away.
Marketing For Realtor is an independent referral service, not a marketing agency. When you send the form, your details go to an independent marketing agency that prepares any proposal and does any work.
Start with the goal
Write down how many transactions you want this year, and how many of them you want to be listings. That second number shapes everything: listings come from sellers who know you or find you, while buyers come from listings, searches and open houses. A plan aimed at listings looks different from a plan aimed at buyers.
Describe your market
- The towns and neighborhoods you sell, and the ones you want to sell more in.
- The price points and kinds of homes you know best.
- Who your clients are by situation, such as first purchase, moving up, downsizing or relocating, never by a protected characteristic.
- Who else markets heavily in those areas, and what they do.
Look at where your business comes from now
Go through last year’s closings and write down where each one started: a past client, a referral, an open house, your website, Google, social, an ad, a bought lead. The pattern tells you what to protect and what to grow. It is easy to neglect the sources that already work while chasing new ones.
Choose the channels
| Goal | Channels that fit | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| More listings | Home value page, area pages, just sold posts, seller ads, past-client email | Lead generation |
| More buyers | IDX site, listing ads, open houses, saved searches | Website design |
| Long-term search | Google Business Profile, area pages, guides | Real estate SEO |
| Reach while ads run | Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram ads | Facebook ads |
| Staying known | Social, video, monthly email | Video marketing |
Pick the few you will keep up with. Two channels done every week do more than six done once.
Set a budget method, not a guess
Decide what share of your income from closings goes back into marketing, then split it between the sources that already work and one or two you are testing. For Google Ads, Google says to divide a monthly budget by 30.4 to get the daily figure, and daily budgets can be changed at any time, so a test can start small. Keep ad spend and any agency fee as separate lines so you can see each.
Build a calendar
- Every week: follow up every new lead, post at least once, ask one past client how they are.
- Every listing: photos, video, a listing page, an email to buyers who saved a search, a just listed post, an open house.
- Every month: a market note by email, one new area guide or page, a look at where leads came from.
- Every quarter: review the plan, drop what is not working, and ask every recent client for an honest review.
Rules to build in
Every ad, post and email is housing advertising under the Fair Housing rule (24 CFR 100.75). Marketing emails follow CAN-SPAM. Reviews must be honest and unpaid under the FTC’s rule on consumer reviews. Write these into the plan so they are checked every time.
Measure what each source produces
Put every lead into one CRM with where it came from. At the end of each quarter, count conversations, appointments and closings by source, and compare them with what each source cost in money and in time. That is the plan for next year.
If you want help putting the plan into action, an independent agency can turn it into a written proposal for your market.
Have a plan and want help running it? Get a written proposal.
Questions agents ask
What should a real estate marketing plan include?
Your goal, your market, where your business comes from now, the channels you will use, a budget method, a calendar and how you will measure each source.
How much should an agent spend on marketing?
This site publishes no figures. Decide a share of income from closings, split it between proven sources and tests, and review it every quarter.
How often should I review my marketing plan?
Once a quarter is a good rhythm: look at leads, appointments and closings by source, drop what is not working and give more to what is.
Can an agency write the plan for me?
It can help, but the goal and the market should come from you. Ask any agency to set its plan out in writing, with the work itemized and how each part will be measured.
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