Marketing yourself as a real estate agent can be challenging. There are a lot of agents out there, and most of them offer roughly the same services. And what’s worse, prospective clients often don’t know what to look for in a real estate professional, and are essentially flying blind when it comes to choosing an agent. So how do you stand out in the marketplace and show prospects that you’re the right choice?

You have to tailor your messaging.

Many real estate professionals, particularly newer agents, make the mistake of trying to keep their marketing messages as broad as possible. They don’t want to get too specific for fear of alienating potential clients, so they default to generic messages like, “Come to me for help with all your real estate needs!” for their real estate postcard campaigns.

Unfortunately, messages that are generic enough to appeal to everybody end up appealing to nobody. The world we live in is so saturated with advertising that most people have learned to tune out everything that doesn’t appeal to them specifically.

There’s a reason that the HomeVestors team went all in on the “We Buy Ugly Houses” slogan. The message certainly doesn’t appeal to everyone – there are a lot of people who don’t think of their home as ugly. But for the audience it does appeal to, it’s extremely effective messaging. It’s an unexpected, attention-grabbing slogan, and it also addresses a real fear: that their house is so ugly (or in such disrepair) that it will never sell.

If you want your real estate marketing to stand out, you have to figure out who you’re marketing to, and then craft your marketing messages in a way that really appeals to that person. Suddenly, you’ll be able to create specific campaigns targeted at your desired customers.

Once you have an ideal audience in mind, you can send out farming postcards that say, “Just got your PCS orders? I can help sell your home quickly,” and immediately show military prospects that you’re speaking directly to their needs. Even something as simple as choosing the best yard sign riders for a property is easy once you know who you’re marketing to.