Growing a garden can be an incredibly rewarding and an incredibly frustrating process. You choose your seeds carefully, making sure that they are well suited for your environment and growing season. You plant the seeds, tend them carefully, water them regularly, and do your best to prevent weeds and insects from overrunning your plot. Eventually, with a lot of work and care and a little luck, your seeds will begin to sprout, and then to bloom and bear fruit.

The metaphor here is pretty clear. Real estate marketing – from networking to seminars to direct mail – requires effort and careful tending and a little bit of luck to show results. But more importantly: if you don’t plant your seeds at the beginning of the season, you’ll have nothing to harvest at season’s end.

All too commonly, real estate agents get busy, get focused on their current client load, and neglect their marketing efforts. The problem with that is that once your listings sell through and your buyers close, your business will slow to a crawl.

Getting simple systems in place that you know you can follow through with is the only way to ensure you don’t let your marketing garden wither away. The system will be different depending on what works best for your business – it might mean cultivating at least 10 new LinkedIn connections a week, or touching base with one former client every day, or attending one new networking event a month, or sending a real estate postcard campaign to a new market every other month. Whatever system you choose, the important thing is that you have to stick with it to see results.

In order to maintain a steady influx of new business, you have to plant the seeds for you own success all year long – even when you’re already busy. Take advantage of your current success by sending plenty of “Just sold!” and “Just listed!” postcards. Spread your business cards wide, especially if you’re able to continue attending networking meetings. Nurture your relationships with past and potential clients. With a little work and some careful tending, your marketing efforts will bear fruit all year long.