100 Real Estate Marketing Ideas, Advertising Tips, and Ways to Market Your Real Estate Business

2.Great Email Signature – If you don’t already have an automated email signature, make one right now. Include every bit of contact information about you like your address, phone numbers, website, twitter, facebook, etc. With each new day comes a new form of communication and everyone has a favorite. Make sure you accommodate all communication preferences for marketing.

3.Search Engine Optimization – If your website isn’t at the top of the Google results don’t expect the phone to ring. Hire a trustworthy SEO firm (not cheap) or do it yourself with a realtor SEO plan. Here’s a tip about hiring a good SEO firm: If they’re cheap they probably won’t deliver and if they’re expensive they might deliver. It’s a necessity for buyers and sellers to find your agency online if you want to have a successful business today and into the future.

4. Referral Marketing Program – Reward past clients for sending you new clients. Don’t be cheap with the referral rewards. Make sure every single person knows about your client referral program and remind them every single interaction. Developing referrals is the best realtor marketing strategy.

5.Get in Their Cell Phone – Encourage clients to program your phone number into their cell phone in case they have a real estate question. They will always be walking around with your contact information. If someone asks them about real estate it will be easier to refer you. Referrals are the most successful real estate marketing strategy.

6.Volunteer– The hand that gives, gathers. There are many opportunites for growing your business while volunteering. You can get great PR in the newspaper, meet other local community members and business owners, and educate people about the values and benefits of your real estate services. Choose a non-profit you have some interest in since the more passion you have, the more benefit.

7.Harness the Power of Facebook – Stop pretending it’s not a huge opportunity or you can’t do it and start making money with Facebook. Be creative, not too self-promotional, and use Facebook to amplify your community presence. And by the way, updating your Facebook page with fresh and interesting content has never been easier.

8.Host a Open Houses – Hosting an open house is  great way to get buyer leads and even the occasional seller. Done have a listing to do an open house in? Many listing agents will permit you to hold an open house on their behalf. It gives them value because you are doing a their open house and go are compensated by meeting potential clients. Find some listings and just ask permission from the listing agent.

9.Door Flyers– Sounds old school, but paying someone to go door to door leaving flyers can be part of your real estate marketing strategy. Arm the person with talking points about your specialties just in case.

10.Good Old Telemarketing – The reason agents still telemarket… is it still works. Focus telemarketing in the evening, give your telemarketer lots of talkpaths to use and conduct role plays periodically to keep your telemarketer sharp. Build strong lists of targeted phone numbers. Respecting the prospects, making a positive impression, and relationship building are key.

11.Keychain Tags – Yes,  the thin plastic tags that the grocery store, gym, and credit card companies give members. Include your real estate contact information. Customers will want it so they can call you if they have a question. Now they will always have your contact information for when they refer you.

12.Get Your Own Website – In today’s marketplace, not having a website is like not having business cards. In addition to looking unprofessional, it also prohibits you from doing any legitimate online marketing.You can get a professional real estate website in three days for under $100 so why haven’t you done it already?

13. TV Advertising – If you get an opportunity for some cheap exposure it may be worthwhile. The best television marketing opportunities would be cable access and during programs specifically aimed at your target prospects while they are thinking about your services – like during a program about home improvement. In my opinion, TV ads still do not offer the same ROI as other real estate marketing strategies.

14. Agency Mascot – You can buy a decent mascot costume on eBay or Amazon for a few hundred dollars. Throw an business T-shirt on it and walk around at public places and community events. Don’t forget to get some video of all your character’s appearances and post them to your social media accounts. It’s a fun idea.

15. Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Advertising – These are sponsored results that show to the right when you search on Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. This can be an excellent real estate marketing opportunity because it drives traffic to your personal website only from people actively interested in real estate. You choose who views your ads by location and demographics.
Google Adwords – MSN AdCenter (includes Yahoo.)

16. Local Networking Events –Chambers of commerce and many professional organizations host networking events so businesspeople can meet other businesspeople. Make as many contacts as possible and follow up with people that will assist your real estate marketing with referrals. These events are always loaded with salespeople, focus on how you can help everyone you meet and have fun. Help others be successful and the karma will come back to help your real estate marketing.

17. Host Seminars – It requires promotion, but you can host seminars about selling a home, understanding real estate, buying a home etc. Invite people to your real estate office, use a meeting room at a local chamber, use space from a community center, or rent a location. Present a topic that is time sensitive and enticing. “Learning about investing in real estate”.”

18. Give Free Donuts to Mortgage Offices – Go to mortgage offices and tell the loan officers that if they give you qualified buyers then you will stay on top of the buyer day and night until the deal closes. Loan officers also want to hear that you will act as their liaison when they aren’t around to keep the buyer loyal to them and not switch to another lender.

19. Email Newsletters – Capture your clients’ email and develop an real estate marketing email newsletter. Online email marketing providers can help you produce professional looking newsletters and track who opened emails, what they clicked on, and how long they viewed the message. Make sure to send useful information. People receive too much spam and you don’t want to be that type of email marketing sender. Sending sales emails can be illegal. CAN SPAM Act. For our real estate marketing ideas newsletter, we use a service called Aweber but we’ve also had good results from another provider named MailChimp.

20. Door-to-door Relationship Building– It’s not easy, but it might be the cheapest and most effective real estate marketing strategies. To be successful with face-to-face real estate marketing orient all conversation around how you can help the organization (with referrals and promotion, not just real estate). Have a non-sales conversation prepared, like a local community event you are organizing and recruiting help for. Be respectful and make an impression without interfering or coming across as a typical salesperson. You will be surprised how many leads you get.

21. Online Yellow Pages For Leads. Superpages is a great way to find phone contacts for real estate marketing. Focus on a particular markets (home sellers in X zip code etc.) at a time so you can perfect your sales strategy toward each different industry.

22. Sponsor a garage sale – Offering free garage sale signs and/or free help is not only  wonderful way to build relationship with home sellers but also a chance to meet neighbors.

23. Improve Your Google Ranking – According to their website, Google ranks local businesses based on three things: location, relevance, and prominence. Location means you’ll only show for searches near your physical location. Relevance means you’ll only show for search terms related to real estate (not locksmiths, hotels, hairdressers, etc.) and prominence means how often Google comes across your business name address and phone number when they surf the entire web.

24. Press Releases – Have something interesting going on with your agency? Hire someone new? Open a new location? Get appointed with a new broker? Change the air freshener in your bathroom? It doesn’t matter how important the news is, you can write up a little blurb about it and publish it online. Be sure to reach out to your local community newspaper but you can also use an online service like this one make sure to include a link back to your website and use lots of location terms like your city/village/town name to help you with search engine optimization.

25. Reach Out to Contacts Every Day – Make friends and increase referrals without looking like a salesperson by asking questions. Strong relationships within the community are perhaps the most powerful marketing tool an agent can possess. Strengthen these relationships by calling other professionals in the community and asking them questions as often as possible. You can ask things you may already know! Over time the relationship will develop and they will send you referrals. Referrals are the sweetest real estate agency marketing.

26. Smoke Detector Batteries Use smoke detector batteries as handouts at community events or as an incentive for prospects to visit your agency. You could also make an event out of it and invite people to visit your agency for free batteries. Promote the event on your Facebook page and invite all your friends and clients to swing by for a free 9-volt.

27. Carry Blank Business Cards – Have you ever made a really great professional contact and they don’t have a card to give you? Sure you can give them your card but then you’re dependent on them getting back to you. Carry blank business cards with you and when you meet someone without a card pull out a pen and one of your blanks and say something like, “Oh, don’t worry. I’m always prepared so I carry blank business cards with me everywhere. What’s your phone number?”. They’ll never forget you.

28. Guerilla Marketing Kit – Create a kit of marketing materials to keep in your car so you’ll always be prepared for a promotional opportunity. Your kit should contain a wide array of materials and mediums. Here’s some ideas for what to include in your kit: business cards, pens, brochures, postcards, 8″x11″ flyers, tear-off flyers, safety information, signs, stickers, t-shirts etc. The idea is that if a marketing opportunity pops up you want to be able to embrace it. And if you do anything creative and cool take a picture and share it through your social media accounts.

29. Target Distressed Homeowners –  Services like ForeclosureRadar offer tons of ways to search people that have just received a notice of default or of trustee sale. Do a search of people that need an agent’s help and call them, mail to them, or stop by their house. By the way CAR members get a discount on foreclosure radar

30. Advertise on Pizza Boxes – I know several agents who purchase pizza boxes with their real estate marketing in exchange for buying the boxes. Many pizza shops need to cut expenses and will make a deal. Some pizzerias will allow you to attach a flyer on the top.  Boxes are under 50 cents each. Another option is to pay for plastic pizza cutters. They are more expensive but people keep them.

31. Speak at High Schools – Give a talk about how kids can buy their first home or investment property after high school.  Also, teaching a brief class about real estate could be a great opportunity for the students in a “life skills” class. You may just make a nice business connection with someone that works at the school.

32. Consumer Review Websites – Websites like Yelp.com and MerchantCircle allow you to set up a profile about your business. Visitors can write recommendations about your agency and home shoppers will use these services to decide who to call.

33. Sponsor the Fire or Police Department– What says community involvement and protection better than the fire and police departments? Firemen and police officers generally have very wide social networks within your local community. Find a way to get some publicity in the paper and develop strong friendships with the members.

34. Chamber of Commerce – To make it worth your time and money, you must develog stronger relationships within and contribute to the community. Chambers of Commerce are full of salespeople…be a resource by helping others and you will reap the greatest real estate marketing benefits.

35. Facebook Advertising – Ever notice those links on the right hand side of your Facebook page that usually have catchy pictures and text? Those are advertisements and they’re the reason Mark Zuckerberg is a billionare. You can pay to have your own ads show there and it’s amazing how specific you can get with your target audience, but be warned: if you can’t get a high ratio of people to click and you don’t change your ads frequently, Facebook will not show them regardless of your how much money you have. If you’re too busy selling real estate to spend too much time on your Facebook page it’s still easy to provide engaging real estate related content for a Facebook page using the Facebook Content Dashboard.

36. Wrap Your Car – Consider the possibility of having your vehicle professionally wrapped with your real estate agency logo. It facilitates more conversations than you expect and traffic won’t bother you as much. You could also purchase an inexpensive car magnet to put on your car when it is parked in highly visible locations or in your parking lot closer to the main road. Always be marketing.

37. Burn Through Business Cards – At some point, every one of us has been embarrassed to say, “Sorry, I don’t have a business card on me right now”. That’s unacceptable. From this point on, if you ever say that again you should turn in your real estate license. Instead make sure you always have at least a hundred on you at any time. Leave them in fishbowls, post them on bulletin boards, leave them with a generous tip if you have great service in a restaurant. Give everyone you meet at least two and don’t ever run out…

38. Create a Google+ Agency Page – I get it, you’re already tired of all the social media stuff. Between Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and whatever the flavor of the week is next month it’s hard to keep up. But there’s one reason you really need to play along with this one – it’s Google and even if no one uses Google+, it can benefit your search results. Set up your Google+ page here.

39. Hire Commission-Only Salespeople – Not many agents have the spare cash to bring on another full-time (or even part-time) agent right now, but you may be able to bring on a commission-only salesman. Ads on Craigslist are free and there’s plenty of people in the market for a job right now.

40. Customer Video Testimonials – No one can sell the benefits of doing business with your agency better than an actual customer. Most agencies have a client or two that is bananas about you, ask them a few questions and film it with your iPhone. Shoot with the client and camera in a standing position away from a wall – it will have a more candid appearance and the lack of quality will be less noticeable.

41. Donations for Quotes – Offer to donate a certain amount of money to a charity for every deal you get. Some of the big companies get this one wrong by donating to a national cause. Donate to local charities and get your quotes from people that are actively engaged with the charity. Get them to post it to their Facebook page and let them do all the marketing for you.

42. Refer-A-Friend Page – Create a page on your website that allows people to enter in the email address of a friend and it sends that person an email with your contact information and a recommendation about the agency. People aren’t going to use this by themselves though. You can email them a link right after you help them with something.

43. Use Fiverr.com – Fiverr.com is an awesome resource where you can hire people to do all sorts of things for only $5. There’s a bunch of ways to use Fiverr for real estate marketing like designing flyers, writing press releases, business card design, content writing, video creation and more. You really wouldn’t believe what you can get for $5.

44. Google Alerts – Google Alerts is a free service from Google that sends you an email anytime they find a new website with information you’re interested in. You can set it up to notify you anytime someone mentions your agency or to make sure you’re in the loop about all local insurance and business networking news. Learn more about Google Alerts for real estate marketing here.

45. Twitter – I know that a lot of insurance agents don’t “get” Twitter.  This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t set up a Twitter page though. Just having the page for your agency gives Google a more robust picture of your business’helpadreport.com

online profile which should help search results. It’s not hard to set it up to just regurgitate your Facebook posts automatically either.

46. Get Free PR – HelpAReporter.com is a free service that connects reporters with experts to interview. When you sign up for an account as an expert you’ll recieve 3 emails a day filled with opportunities to be the “industry expert” for a reporter who needs to interview someone to write a story. If you want to be interviewed, respond quickly and sell hard on why you’d be the best expert to interview.

47. Downloadable Whitepapers – A Whitepaper is basically just a fancy term for an informational report. You can turn it into a PDF and put it on your website either to generate leads or to give out for free. Keep it simple and create something highly relevant to a real estate shopper like, The top 10 Home Buyer Mistakes How to Avoid Them.

48. Dominate Online Maps – People find local businesses using their mobile devices more and more. And if they’re already looking on a map, it’s a pretty good indication they’re serious about finding a local company too. Following the standard practices of local search engine optimization will also improve your visibility with online maps and smartphone apps.

49. Discount Blanket Mailers – The post office has a service that allows you to direct mail general areas at a discount. This means that you can choose a zip code, a block, or even a street and send your flyers to each house at a lower rate than normal bulk mail.

50. Post Client Letters – If someone writes a letter, sends an email, or posts a positive comment online about your agency, print it out and post it in a visible location. Shoppers look to others for guidance. Reading many letters from others about the knowledge, care, and protection your provide will only improve their impression of your business.

51. Buy a Closing Agency’s Phone Number – If you know any local agents that are closing down their business or moving it may be possible to purchase their phone number after they close. It can generate a lot of phone calls from people who have the agent’s information. Sure people will be calling in for the other agent, but you can still help them with any of their needs just as well. (and probably better, right?)

52. Photograph Local Events – I imagine you’re already going to local community events in order to meet more people and gain local connections. Start taking pictures of the events and post them to your website or your social media accounts. It can draw lots of people to connect with you on social media or to visit your website. This is really great for developing your connection with the local community. Have fun with it.

53. Sponsor the Highway – Highways will allow businesses to sponsor cleanup efforts in exchange for a sign advertising their service. Sponsor a section near the exit toward your agency. If there are no nearby openings, propose sponsoring another road in town. Maybe they’ll let you put up a sign to market your real estate bsuiness if you agree to clean up trash along the roadside.

54. Referral Marketing Exchange– Build a referral basis with all professionals that come in contact with potential homeowners and buyers. Ask contractors that may be fixing up a home to sell to refer you. As loan officers that prequalify buyers to refer you. Think of all the people that can refer you business because their job puts them in front of a lead.

55. Join the School Board – The school board is obviously a fantastic way to meet both the big players and families in the community. Being on the school board will give you easier access to marketing opportunities to parents. Marketing your services to young families is an ideal situation.

56. Leads Fishbowl – Leave a fishbowl on the counter at a business where potential customers shop with a sign indicating you will be drawing for a gift card to the establishment. Use the cards for leads. Add all the e-mail addresses to your mailing list. If you like this idea and want to buy one right this instant here’s a link to fish bowls on Amazon.

57. Wear Your Business – Invest in some nice shirts with your business name clearly visible. Wear them everywhere, especially to school and community events. Include your staff and you can have a powerful real estate marketing effect. Shirts are expensive, so if you’re going to hand them out, give them only to people you think have friends that would make good clients.

58.Customer Surveys – Surveying people about service quality has marketing benefits. You can identify opportunities for improvement and you let clients know you value the quality of their experience. Another benefit is that many people will feel obliged to say good things and forcing them to do so will imprint the value of your agency into their minds. You can do this by email with most email marketing services.

59. Messaging on Hold – Being on hold sucks. It sucks a lot less when there’s something to listen to. Having a service that provides information about other products will give callers something to listen to and expose them to a much wider array of your services. Customers will be unaware your services if you don’t constantly market to them.

60. Write in the Local Papers – Even if you pay for it, writing content for the local paper can be much more valuable than real estate advertising. Most papers are struggling right now and will be more open than ever to allow you to pay to write content. If you cannot your real estate business contact information in the article purchase a visible ad near it.

61. Business Networking Groups – Although there are many like it, BNI is one of the most prominent business networking groups. Unfortunately, they often limit membership to one person per industry and real estate is often filled. Take advantage if you get an opportunity to join BNI or another group like it.

62. Coach Youth Sports – Coaching a youth sports team allows you to meet many young families within the community. You should take every opportunity to get to know the league coordinators as they are often very well-known individuals within the community. Get some additional marketing by hanging a team picture in the office. It’s also a lot of fun, just ask the guys on my middle school lacrosse team.

63. Designate a Referral Specialist – Choose one person on your team and assign them to develop and support a referral process. Track referred business and pay extra commission on it. When one person takes ownership of the referral program you’ll get their buy in, and your other staff won’t be hearing about referrals from only you. Referrals are key to real estate marketing.

64. Send Marketing Materials With Every Customer Communication – Always include some sort of insurance product marketing material. This holds true for mail, email, phone calls, text messages, whatever.

65. Bring Donuts to Apartment Managers – Talk to apartment manger about referring you to renters that are looking to purchase a home. Ask if you can leave information for them to make available for their tenants. NOTE: apartment managers will forget you if you don’t bring something to eat once a month.

66. Customer Discount Cards – Team up with a few other local businesses to create a discount card for each other’s services. Each member can give their own customers the discount card that offers discounts to all the different businesses.

67. Golf Tournament – Hosting a golf tournament can be a great way to meet and attract power players in your local business community. Even if hosting a tournament is well outside your marketing budget, participating in other golf tournaments can be an opportunity to meet and network with more influential people. Just don’t drink too much and if you’re not a frequent golfer you might want to hit the driving range beforehand.

68. Advertise In Church Bulletins – Church bulletins tend not to be huge real estate lead generators, but use your financial support to speak with the church leadership. Offer to conduct seminars about home purchase and investment planning etc. Your good intentions will lead to higher commissions.

69. Coupon Mailers – Consider the readers of these materials and make sure any advertising you do provides some sort of coupon, free gift, or call to action. People read through these specifically to find coupons and discounts. Val-Pak is one.

70. Customer Appreciation Party – Let your best clients and leads know how important they are by inviting them to a nice dinner. Use this time to encourage referrals and strengthen relationships.

71. Real Estate Lead Lists – It can be expensive, but purchasing lists of real estate prospects is a starting point for many of the offices looking to get off the ground quickly. Narrow down prospects with demographics, location, etc.

72. Market in Ethnic Publications – Studies show certain minority populations can be more loyal to businesses that advertise and market within their cultural media. If you speak a foreign language or someone in your company does, selling to that community can open the door to loads of referred leads.

73. Local Forum Websites – Many local communities have online forums where members communicate about community events, concerns, businesses, etc. Become an avid poster and you will develop friends and real estate leads. If possible, use a link to your real estate website in your signature so it shows up every time you write. Since your online reputation is nearly as important nowadays as your actual one, make sure to make relavent posts rather than blatant realtor advertisements.

74. T-shirts – Give them out to clients who will wear them. It will be tempting to buy the cheapest white shirts. Remember, if your shirt can work itself into the regular rotation of someone’s wardrobe, you’ll have residual real estate advertising. Make sure the business name and service is clear.

75. Online News Comments– After reading articles on the local news website make a post and try to include a link to your website. Link a theme in the article to your services. Ad the articles to your blog. Remember, incoming links to your website from a reliable source like the local newspaper can help the search rankings of your website and drive targeted traffic.

76. Advertise Your Greenness – Offer information about how to drive more efficiently or reduce energy costs in the home. Send email newsletters, mail to your clients, or host educational sessions in your office for your customers. Include real estate marketing material in anything you provide.

77. Leave Pens Everywhere – When you sign a credit card receipt, when you fill out a deposit slip at the bank, when you are addressing a letter at the post office. Consciously leave your pens everywhere. Consider pens that have some cool feature like an unusual clicking mechanism. That will improve their lifespan and assist your insurance marketing efforts.

78. Leverage LinkedIn – I don’t know too many agents who use LinkedIn well for sales or marketing but it can be a great resource for building your network. Here’s a hint for real estate agents: The value of LinkedIn doesn’t come from networking with people you already know as much as from connecting with the people they know.

79. Host a Blood Drive – Raise awareness of your location by getting people to come to give blood, and it will also give you a reason to contact your policyholders besides billing.

80. Caricature Artist – Looking for a way to get people to your booth at local events? Hire a caricature artist to draw people while you’re gathering their information. You might have to train your artist to create each drawing in the same amount of time it takes you to finish the questions. If you brand the paper with your agency information somewhere you’ll get extra promotion when they show all their friends.

81. A List of Past Sales – Create a list of all the homes you have sold in a comprehensive and informative flyer. Add this flyer to your marketing materials and on the webpage. Advertise your success and volume. Clients are drawn to busy realtors, even if they offer worse service. That is simply the reality of it.

82. Attend Community Meetings – Read your local newspaper or website to learn when community meetings are happening. Do good for the community and business will follow. Wear your agency shirt. (a nice golf shirt, not a T-shirt)

83. Produce a Viral Video – I can’t tell you how to do it, but if you can come up with something related to real estate, your staff, your community or something that people will want to watch and send to their friends, release it on YouTube and let it go viral. Here’s a free suggestion… put together bunch of extreme sports bloopers with a real estate advertisement.

84. Start a Community Organization – It’s not hard and you won’t need to win an election to be the president. Identify a social need in the community and start it. Combine a group of people and a cause like Softballers Against Cancer or Baby Boomers For the Environment. You can get it started on a site like MeetUp.com.

85. Publish a Blog – Publishing an online real estate blog is a great way to drive traffic. A general blog about real estate will be lost in the shuffle but a blog about a specific type of real estate in a particular area it could be a great opportunity to find actual clients. It will add to your credibility as an industry expert. Although challenging to a newbie, creating a WordPress blog in a subdomain of your website (www.blog.yourdomain.com) can be done.

86. Sports Schedule Magnets – I’ve seen just about every promotional product for real estate agents and a key factor for how well it works is whether it provides value. Whether it’s for the local professional sports team or your local high school teams, giving people a magnet with the game schedule can be very valuable for anyone who follows the team. Since a sports season doesn’t last too long the value of your magnets is ephemeral. Try to time it so you’ve given out all your magnets before the first game happens. You don’t want to be heading into playoffs with a box of 500 schedules to give out.

87. Sidewalk Chalk – Does your business have a lot of foot traffic passing by? Get a cheap box of children’s sidewalk chalk and use it to write messages for the passers-by.  If it’s always the same people walking past your agency you might want to get creative and vary your messaging. If it’s always new people walking by find one good call to action that works best.

88. Internet Real Estate Leads – The leads that you generate from your website will always be superior. There are companies that sell all different types of leads that you can buy. However, before you ever buy leads try to read on forums about other agents’ experiences with them. Activerain is a good start

89. Send Holiday or Birthday Cards – For some customers, a card from you might be the only greeting on their birthday. Set yourself apart with less popular holiday greetings like Halloween or Thanksgiving. Send Memorial Day cards to proud veterans or ethnic holiday cards to clients. Building relationships is a great way to market your real estate agency.

90. Handwritten Letters For Best Customers – We spend too much time with customers that pay us the least amount of money. Take a look at your commission statements and make sure you are going the extra mile for the people that support you the most. Guess who your best customers hang out with… people just like them who’d be great referrals for you.

91. 800 Number Tracking– Use 800 numbers to track the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Kall8 provides a number for around 2 dollars a month. You can tell the marketing source using caller ID. If you invest thousands for grocery cart ads, it’s worth paying 25 dollars a year to track the return? Although, my bet is you will spend your grocery cart money in online marketing the following year.

92. Promote Your Clients – What goes around comes around so encourage clients to leave promotional material with your business and try to refer them clients. Entrepreneurs are often our best clients, and they are most likely to refer your services if they see the value in what you do.

93. Improve Your Signage – When’s the last time you thought about your outside agency signage? When it was installed? Your agency signage provides one of the first impressions people get about your business and first impressions are important. What about your listing signage. Does it market you properly? Is your website and phone number on it?  Can you offer something like a free list of homes s a call to action?

94. Offer Free Business Coaching – Looking to make more connections in your local business community? Offer free business coaching for new entrepreneurs. The people that will take you up on an offer like that are likely to be some of the most ambitious local business owners and building a strong connection with them will help you make lots of other local connections too. It’s also a great way to build clout and reputation as a trustworthy business owner in your community.

95. Encourage Positive Online Reviews – When policy holders have a positive experience with your agency, encourage them to go online to sites like Yelp.com or MerchantCircle.com and write about their experience. I recommend agents build a page on their website with links to their different profiles on review websites. When people are happy with their service they simply email them a link to that page and it makes things much easier for the customer. The easier you make it, the more likely they are to give you a review.

96. Put Your Picture on a Billboard – If you are an attractive woman this might work. For the guys – putting your picture on a billboard does not make you a local celebrity, it just proves you are vain and good at wasting marketing dollars.

97. Corporate Lunch Room Quote Event – If you have any clients, friends, or business connections who work at large local businesses suggest holding a special event where you bring in lunch and give a presentation about your real estate services.

98. TV or Radio Interviews – When real estate related news happens locally, contact the media and offer your opinion. News reporters are just folks like us trying to meet deadlines so if they can get a quote without working hard, many will take advantage. Use your twitter account to send them a message.

99. Put Balloons Outside – Flags, balloons, streamers, whatever…Do something to draw some attention to your business. Ask yourself if there is anything at all drawing attention to your business.

100.  Get Listed in GPS Devices – Wouldn’t it be nice if people could pull up your real estate office when they did a search on their handheld or factory installed GPS device? Some GPS manufacturers let you go to their website and submit a business profile. It might take you a little while though… You might consider a service to list your agency in almost every GPS device in one fell swoop. If someone’s searching for real estate on their GPS device you will come up, even your home office!

101.Overdeliver– Always deliver more than you promise with everything that you do. In a marketplace where most companies overpromise and underdeliver try to be the opposite. For example, if you’ve promised 100 marketing ideas, give 101 instead!