The Marketing Journey: Part 3-Communication Objectives

Real Estate Communication Objectives

In the first two posts of this 6-part series, we discussed:

• The importance of setting S.M.A.R.T. business objectives (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, time-bound) as a prelude to developing a personal brand marketing program.
• Defining what role marketing will play in the process of achieving your business objectives.

With today's post, we move into communication: what you say about your brand and how to say it.As we said in the previous posts and bears repeating here: the goal of marketing communication is to help turn a cold call into a warm lead. In other words, brand awareness can improve the chances of converting cold leads. A 1990 Hoyer and Brown study validated the relationship between marketing/brand awareness and sales conversion. The study showed that consumers, when faced with multiple choices, gravitate to the known brand as opposed to the unfamiliar brand. Moreover, as familiarity with other brands increases, consumers tend to stick with the high awareness brand they initially chose.Which leads to our topic today: communication objectives. The question we ask:"What must communication do to achieve the marketing goal?"Marketing communication or your brand messaging should do one or a combination of the following:

• Create advocates by speaking to passion points
• Incite interest
• Encourage curiosity

Another way to look at this is, what kind of consumer response do we want because of our marketing communication, for example:

• "I want to work with her." (something connects emotionally)
• "This is something/someone I want to share with my tribe." (something credible or authoritative)
• "I made the right decision by choosing him." (validation)
• "Maybe now IS the time to sell? (inspire action)

Let's take a look at potential communication objectives real estate agents might adopt:

• Create brand awareness: This is the broadest and most common communication objective. You want to explore how consumers get to know you and become familiar with your story. Perhaps more than any other communication objective, stronger personal brand awareness moves leads from cold to warm ("Yes, I remember reading something about him/her")
• Impart knowledge: Perhaps you become the ultimate expert of a part of town or even one neighborhood. You are immersed in every aspect of that neighborhood, knowing the businesses, services, and residents. You become the go-to person for anyone looking to buy or sell a home in that area.
• Projecting an image: In its purest sense, branding is about image. Consumers are drawn to confidence, so maybe your marketing communication and branding is all about building your story and credibility in a compelling way. If you want to specialize in an area such as luxury homes, it's absolutely critical you hone your brand image.
• Shaping attitudes: Marketing communication can be helpful in changing attitudes. In the world of real estate, perhaps you become the expert in a neighborhood that is on the move, but not quite there. You can be the advocate for that neighborhood and work to influence community attitudes regarding living in that neighborhood.
• Effecting sales: Perhaps you are the agent who "owns" a unique commission or service model? If so, you can build your communication objective plan around exploiting what it is that makes your offering unique. Many agents are adopting the "guaranteed sale" strategy to differentiate themselves. Being the first to "brand" this idea might prove to be a powerful, long-term strategy.

These are five generic communication objectives. There may be others to explore once you're ready to begin your marketing journey.How do you want consumers in your area to react when they hear your name/team/company mentioned?Next week, we move from communication objectives to strategies: how do you build the framework for a brand marketing campaign?