Saving Money in Challenging Times From Jim Stevenson

As you begin to execute your 2009 business and marketing plans, you might want to consider all of the no cost items that are at your disposal!

1. Use what you already have. A full-service broker, boards of realty and other associations offer great tools, networking and engagement opportunities and chances are you already paid for them.
2. Don't reinvent. "Off-the-shelf" products might not be 100% of what you want, but even if they are 90% of what you are looking for, it is worth the reduced expense to use them, and spend the time that you could have redesigning a piece or a tool on the phone with your clients.
3. Shrink to grow! The old practices of having to get to 3,000 people to be effective is over. The "find me, sell me era" is over, and the the "know me, help me" era is in full swing. So it is far better to know everything about 100 people than nothing about 1,000! Revisit the bull's eye on your target and make personal touches.
4. Warm touches can be the most cost-effective and the most impactful Hand written notes to your bull's eye are really affordable since the list will be smaller, and they are feel "special".
5. Community service is always the right thing to do, but now more than ever. Not only will you feel good about it, but the organizations provide learning, networking and promotional opportunities. Younger generations (a.k.a. first-time home buyers) want a sense of purpose and are engaged in the community.
6. Free space online! Take advantage of your full-service broker's profile pages and build profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn and Active Rain. But make sure to link them together. Even though this has been a best practice for over a year, it is amazing how many associates still are absent from social networking. Latest studies imply that over 35% of adults maintain at least one social networking site.
7. Blog. While it seems over done in a lot of places, real estate is still relatively slow to adopt this powerful and free way to communicate with niche markets and stay in touch with your audience. Blog about your business, your community, your charities, whatever. Just get engaged and again make sure you tie all of your social networking to your blog.
8. Multiple quality photos on every listing with really robust and interesting property descriptions! You may never sell a listing online, but you certainly can keep it from selling by how you present it online.
9. Video is easier than ever to integrate into your online presence and will soon become the standard. YouTube has allowed us to get past needing ultra-slick production, so grab a camcorder or digital video device, post it to a YouTube account (free!) and link the video to your blogs and social networks.
10. Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate! There are other business that want to market to the same audience that you do. If you have common interests, team up to share in any expenses. You will meet new businesses and people, and create more warm touches for your bull's eye!