Real Estate is a Red Ocean in 2021 (Here’s What to Do)
2021, for most real estate agents, has been a really challenging year. There’s a lack of inventory and many buyers out there that can’t get their offers accepted. Basically, it’s a tough market.
I feel your pain. There’s a lot going on in the industry right now, and everybody’s competing for the same clients.
There are listing agents out there that may be undercutting you and offering lower commission amounts to win a listing client over. On the other hand, many buyers are making multiple offers yet not getting any accepted.
Imagine driving endless hours with a particular client showing them houses, only for them to call three months later and say they’re just going to continue renting?
We all know this is not your fault, but the market’s. The consumer, however, doesn’t know that. They just see that they’re getting beat out on house after house. They get aggravated and might switch up on you and decide to work with another agent. You know this can cost you a hefty commission.
In this article, we’re going to break down exactly what’s going on and how to find success in this low inventory real estate market.
What’s a Red Ocean Environment?
Think about the ocean. What would happen if you dropped a piece of red meat right in the middle of the ocean? You’d have sharks, whales and other fish all jumping and fighting for the piece of meat and creating bloody waters.
That’s what’s happening in real estate right now. We’re in a red ocean environment.
Red ocean environments are really tough places to thrive in and become successful in. Regardless of what business you’re doing. Competition is stiff and crowded. Many people are competing for a larger share of a limited market.
The opposite of the red ocean environment is the blue ocean.
The blue ocean environment doesn’t have a lot of cut-throat competition as we’ve seen in the red ocean. The waters are vast and deep, with a lot of opportunities for growth and success.
In real estate, there’s always going to be competition. Real estate is, in fact, one of the most competitive markets in the entire business sector. There’s a lot of money exchanging hands on a daily basis.
Because of this, a lot of smart people and big companies come into this space trying to figure out a way to pull capital out of the market and provide great services.
The competition comes with the territory, but in 2021 it’s especially competitive.
Did you know you can swim towards the blue waters? Here’s how
Blue Water Strategy
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Content Marketing for Realtors
You need to realize that we’re going into a content-driven market.
Look at the big players; they’re all trying to provide valuable content and data to the consumer. The consumers, on the other hand, are hungry for data, information and content.
Millennial buyers especially want to know everything before they make a decision. This is awesome as every home buyer and home seller should be educated before making any big home buying choices.
As a real estate agent, this is the perfect opportunity to be able to provide this service, free content and education to your audience.
If you do that, they’re going to see you as a credible source, trusted authority and an expert in this field.
Big companies that are going for and generating leads have big teams and can create awesome content. Think about the Zillow commercial that aired on Saturday Night Live. The piece of content was so awesome that real estate agents were sharing it all over social media.
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How to win content marketing as a agent
As a local real estate agent, you can create hyper local content that’s relevant to your market. You can focus on content that big players and big content producers are not focused on.
You can break into tiny niche markets within your city that big companies aren’t investing their time to create content about. You can stand out as the expert.
If you create enough pieces of valuable content, these things are going to be working for you in the background while you’re out there selling real estate. That is powerful!
It’s going to take an investment upfront to be able to produce these pieces of content, but they’re going to work for you day in and day out for the next few years to come, especially if you’re creating evergreen content and doing keyword research.
Here are a couple of different ways you can start doing this:
YouTube Channel for real estate agents
It’s super easy to set up a YouTube channel. All you need to do is:
- Startup a Gmail account
- Open a YouTube channel
- Start uploading videos
There are a couple of things that you need to learn, but they’ll come with time.
The most important thing is getting on YouTube and uploading content. That way, you can learn exactly what works and what doesn’t. Don’t be one of those people that procrastinate and upload one video every three months. That’s not going to work.
You need to create a posting schedule and post valuable content consistently. Here’s the thing; your first videos probably won’t get much traction. Nobody will watch them, and they’ll probably not be that great.
However, learn that even your favorite content creator’s first videos weren’t that great. They improve and get better every single day. Even after 100 videos on your channel, you’ll still feel there’s a long way to go to get better at it.
You can’t post a single video and expect to get better. It compounds over time, and you’re going to build your skill set up while you build your database of videos and content that people can come back to and find you from.
These videos are really powerful, and it’s a way for people in your community to find you and start viewing you as the local expert.
Why YouTube is a powerful marketing tool.
The most powerful thing about this is that the videos work for you in the background while you’re selling real estate. If you spend two nights a week creating these videos and posting them every week, they’re going to compound.
The more videos you have, the higher the chances for people to find you and start watching the content on your channel. If you create a viral video in your community, people will start clicking on all your other videos.
You’ve already spent so much time creating content and have a big catalog for people to click and start watching.
Think about it, you can start getting calls from people who’ve watched your videos and want you to go see some houses. They already view you as the local real estate expert.
This is why this YouTube strategy is so powerful and important, especially in the red ocean environment that we’re in right now.
Build a Local Real Estate Blog
If you like to write, this might be the perfect strategy for you.
What you ought to start doing is learning SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This will help you learn how to target keywords within your local community.
A good example of this could be “The Five Best Towns Near the Water in Florida.” You can basically go online and see how much traffic that term is getting, and you can work on ranking for that longtail keyword.
You don’t want to make things super complicated, but all you’re going to do is write the content. Try to make the content between 1500 and 2000 words.
Break the content up with different subtitles and make an interesting piece of content that people moving into your local town or area would love to read.
Building a blog takes time.
You can build this over time, too, even if you do one blog post per week. If you do that for a whole year, you’re going to have a really nice blog filled with helpful content.
This is the same thing with YouTube videos. The more you do it, the better you’ll get at it.
Some people are not good at writing, but if you do it on a weekly basis, you’re going to get really good and comfortable with it.
One of the best things you can do is tie these two strategies together and then post YouTube videos on the blog or write blog posts about the YouTube content.
This strategy can be really powerful and can separate you from the thousands of other real estate agents competing for the same clients in your market.
Treat Your Clients Like VIPs
This is something you ought to be doing the first day you set up your business. You should be giving your customers VIP service.
Just doing the bare minimum isn’t enough anymore, especially in an industry like real estate, where competition is super heavy.
Make your clients feel like a million bucks. Go above and beyond, listen to their problems, and go the extra mile for them.
You want to create a service that people want to brag about. You want to hear them say that their agent is the best in town.
Don’t be afraid to do things that other agents aren’t already doing. It might take a little bit more time, but you’ll get an ROI (Return On Investment) on it.
Remember that this is a referral business. If you can get people talking and ranting about you, you’re going to create a big sphere of influence and do really well. Your business will come from people referred to you.
How to stand out as a real estate agent
You don’t want to be like your competition. Do things a little differently and stand out.
If everybody is doing one thing, find another way to do that thing.
A good example of this is prospecting for sale by owners. Everyone else is calling them to try and make them sign a listing agreement . Instead call the owners and offer to help them sell their homes using some of your tools for free.
This will help them get money by selling the home themselves. However, you can help them sell the home and make more money when they quit the FSBO process and decide to hire a Realtor.
With this approach, people will think that you’re a little bit different. You’re not calling them to pressure them and make a commission off their sale. You’re calling to help.
If you use this strategy and build a relationship over the next couple of weeks, you might find that you get a few calls inbound, saying that they need your help and no longer want to sell it by themselves.
If you want to stand out as a real estate agent, the key is to make people realize that you are helpful, trustworthy and different.
Conclusion
The red ocean environment involves a lot of cut-throat competition that makes it difficult to thrive and grow. This has been the state of the real estate market in 2021.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. With a few smart strategies, you can get out of the red ocean and swim towards the blue waters.
First, create remarkable content for your audience as we’re moving into a content-driven market. Create a YouTube channel and a blog. Secondly, treat your clients like VIPs and make them feel special.
Most importantly, stand out in whatever you do. Don’t do what everyone else is doing.
What things are you doing today to move from the red ocean environment and propel yourself towards the blue waters?