You wouldn’t go to an Ophthalmologist for a problem with knee pain or an Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist for a pregnancy check up. These examples might sound kind of obvious but what about when it comes to Real Estate? Professional Realtors know there is a difference in real estate, an important distinction between commercial, residential and even condominium transactions. It’s crucial your potential customers understand these differences too and that’s why it’s also crucial you spend some time finding, and defining, your niche. When it comes to real estate – not just the transaction itself but your style, philosophy and approach – make sure you’ve clearly defined your niche market. Then, and only then, can you effectively target your ideal clients. What’s your niche?
As an adjective, niche is defined as: “denoting or relating to products, services, or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population.” Now – reading this you might think; “I want to saturate the market broadly, attracting as many people as I can. I don’t want to sound too specialized.” However, perhaps you’re also familiar with this expression: “Jack of all trades, master of none?” When you attempt to be all things to all people it’s the rare person who can do so confidently, with skill, precision and expert knowledge. Far better, in a business like real estate where there are distinct differences in law, taxation, policy and procedures between commercial, residential and condominium ownership, to choose to specialize in one, becoming known as the cutting edge industry leading expert. Establishing your expertise in a particular real estate niche market provides you the opportunity to hone your skills and become a sought after agent of record. Far better to be the ophthalmologist, trusted with returning clarity of vision to patients experiencing vision loss, than a residential real estate agent struggling to help a client through a complicated Condo Property Management Agreement.
Four Fantastic Rules for Establishing Your Niche In the Real Estate Industry:
- Be honest about your skill sets. What are you good at? What are you passionate about? If it’s helping a small entrepreneur find the idea location for a restaurant or spa, perhaps commercial real estate is your niche. If helping families find a home of their dreams, where they can establish roots and flourish – chances are residential real estate is where you should focus your efforts.
- Where is the market for your niche?Once you’ve decided on a niche, DO YOUR HOMEWORK! If you’re focussed on residential real estate for families, make sure you know about the best communities for families to live. That means researching libraries, schools, community centres – becoming an expert on what families will want to know about an area. If your target market is young couples, ensure familiarity with commuting routes, public transit, local nightlife and restaurants- things they’ll want to do when they get home from work. You get the idea, establish your niche then become the expert in it.
- Narrow it (your niche) down and work on establishing your market presence. Many residential real estate agents, for example, will focus on specific neighbourhoods and become market-leading experts in targeting sales messages to like-minded buyers who seek out those neighbourhoods. They might choose to sponsor a soccer team from that community, help support local area businesses and fundraisers and explore other avenues to ensure their name is known in their chosen niche market. Wouldn’t it be a perfect world if, whenever folks talked about selling, it was your name that became synonymous with successful real estate transactions in that particular community? Of course it would!
- Know Your competition and DIFFERENTIATE! Part of your marketing platform must include getting to know your competition and more importantly, how you are different. Perhaps you donate a portion of every home sale to Sick Kids Hospital or The Children’s Miracle Network? Maybe you’re environmentally conscious and plant a tree for every home sold or guarantee to provide all transactions in electronic format only, eliminating paper waste. Find out what is important to your potential customer and then offer that as part of your complete sales package. Stand out from the crowd while standing firmly in your niche!
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, the real estate market is a crowded one. Separating yourself from the pack requires ingenuity, great marketing, determination and a solid understanding of your niche market. At realspace Media OUR niche market is YOU! We empower real estate agents to maximize exposure to your listings. We do this by offering excellent real estate photography, video and virtual tour technology, HDR, 3D and complete website development, marketing and branding services. We know our niche and we can help you establish yours – call or send us an email today!