Caucasian mid-adult woman passing phone to Caucasian mid-adult man wearing sunglasses sitting on sofa.

The 60s had bouffant hair, mod style, and groovy patterns.

The 70s had bell bottoms, shag carpets, and avocado green refrigerators.

The 80s had big hair, popped collars, and fanny packs.

You would never show a property with wall-to-wall shag carpeting and harvest gold appliances to a buyer who was interested in modern, minimalist design. Every season has a style. It’s as true for marketing materials as it is for fashion and interior design.

Good real estate marketing hinges on good communication. If your prospects are going to trust you with a hugely important transaction, one that will define their lives and their living situation for years to come, they have to trust that you’re speaking their language.

Hopefully you’ve already given some thought to your target market: those clients who you most enjoy working with, and who are the most likely to have a need for your specific services. When you’re defining your target market, it helps to be as specific as possible, so that you can tailor your marketing approach to their needs and preferences.

If you have a couple of ideal markets with differing needs, it often makes sense to approach them in different ways, with different materials. For example, many professionals have different real estate business cards for their residential and commercial clients. Some agents use square real estate business cards when they’re targeting a younger or more modern audience, and stick with a traditional business card with headshot for networking or more traditional markets.

Staying in touch with your target market goes beyond the business card. It means looking at communication preferences: do your prospects prefer email marketing for ease of communication, or do they prefer receiving real estate postcards because their email inboxes are overwhelmed? What kind of information do they want to see on a For Sale flyer? How involved do they want their real estate agent to be in the process?

Times, trends, and tastes change. But good marketing principles are eternal: Know your customer. Give them great service. Keep them coming back.