Most agents recognise the value of refreshing the property descriptions and photographs on listings to avoid them going stale… and the same applies to your prospecting campaigns. In fact, running with the same direct mail all year round is not the most effective marketing strategy. As a result, I’m here to shed some light on why updating your campaigns for the summer can ensure a lucrative few months ahead - creating more valuation and instruction opportunities, a higher engagement rate, and better use of your marketing spend.
This article is the first part of a brand-new two-part series, Is your agency summer ready? The first focuses on why agents should keep their campaigns fresh, and then how to revise them for the upcoming season.
During my time at Street Group, I’ve noticed how prospecting campaigns that aren’t refreshed regularly experience something called ‘campaign fatigue’ (explained below), meaning results and engagement quickly drop. Don’t fret though, the level of refresh doesn’t have to be major if you don’t have the time or resources. While the next part in this series explores ways in which you can update your marketing materials for the summer ahead, I first wanted to explain four reasons why you need to consider mixing things up.
Avoid campaign fatigue
Prospecting is one of the most effective forms of business generation for estate agents and has the potential to bring in lots of instructions if it’s done correctly. However, as I mentioned earlier, a result of not refreshing your campaigns can lead to campaign fatigue - something I helped brands try to avoid during my previous job working at a lead generation marketing agency. Campaign fatigue is when your audience sees your messaging so often they become accustomed to it and stop paying attention. This in turn, causes your campaigns to become less effective - not ideal when you're spending a large chunk of your marketing spend on this.
For agents, campaign fatigue could prevent users from enquiring with your agency or booking valuations - which ultimately will hurt your company's revenue.
Engage homeowners and grow your audience
New campaign messaging keeps homeowners engaged with your marketing, especially for those that could have seen your campaigns many times before. Refreshing your campaigns helps homeowners become engaged again, meaning they are more likely to reach out for a valuation or advice on moving.
Refreshed content also means a higher chance of growing your audience base. This is because different people relate to different things. Updating your campaigns helps your agency reach new consumers who might not have been engaged with your previous content, but are instead engaged with your new campaign.
Make sure your agency stays relevant
Adapting your message to the current market - including the change of pace in the summer season - shows homeowners you’re aligned with what’s happening in estate agency and keeping up with the latest developments. This is an easy way to sell your agency as one that has homeowners’ best interests at heart, and will no doubt encourage new consumers to list with an agency that has proven to stay ahead of the curve.
Maximise marketing spend
The thing that is at the forefront of most agents’ minds… spend and profit. Well, I’m here to tell you that refreshing your campaigns is actually a fantastic way to maximise spend associated with the initial outlay of your prospecting collateral.
By making even small changes to your current messaging (as outlined in the next blog), you can get your summer campaigns out to homeowners on your patch almost immediately, and shake up your engagement levels. Plus, when you revert back to your standard campaign, it will stay fresher for longer - without experiencing fatigue - meaning you can delay spending future money on new content.
On a final note, there is no “right” way to refresh your campaign strategy, but whichever way you go about it, make sure you do! I’ve seen in both my previous role working within lead generation, as well as my current role at Street Group, that the key to delivering good results and making sure your content continues to inspire your audience. The top-performing agents on Spectre don’t ‘set and forget it’ - they undertake ongoing campaign management, evaluation, and refresh.
Found this article interesting or helpful? Keep an eye out for part two in this series: 3 ways agents can refresh their marketing campaigns for the summer. And in the meantime, why not check out our bespoke summer postcard designs from the Street Creative team here? They’re perfect if you want to shake up your marketing quickly, but don’t quite know where to begin…
