Listings are the name of the game in real estate....

listings are found offline(direct mail marketing).... buyers are found online (wordpress website)

What bullseye are you aiming at -- that is the real question!

Make sure your website is the best in the market.

Follow the advice of Barbara Todaro for a post card campaign that never ends.

Janeen,

I'm an independent agent in my family's brokerage.  I'm the sole agent and in charge of the office, marketing, online, etc.  Our primary focus is on selling listings that come from our investors and my sphere and our past clients.  Buyers, we do not recruit but we work with them when they get referred to us or if we pick them up from a listing.

I do a lot of the "leg work" myself because that's how my brain works, so for me I'm more likely to spend TIME rather than MONEY.  With all that said here is where I spend my TIME and MONEY:

1. SEO - This is mostly a time effort, researching, writing content, building links, creating or acquiring worthy content.  For example two of my best pulling pages are my listing of area employers and a blog post about collecting short-term occupancy taxes for Air BNB.  It actually outranks AirBnB's website for "Airbnb Ventura County"!!!
   The best resource for SEO and a lot of virtual admin/marketing tasks is Katerina Gasset 
2. Website - This is mostly time (because of SEO).  The money spend is $15/yr for the domain name and around $9/mo for hosting.  I do the design, updates, server maintenance.  I'm a retired computer geek with a Masters in Computer Science, so that kind of stuff makes me happy.  :)   We do not do an IDX because it does not fit our business model.
3. Facebook Ads - This is the largest money spend we do.  We'll run ads to generate buyers for our listings.  Usual spend is $20-$40 over a 5 day period.
4. Printing - Flyers for listings and other marketing needs, printed at the local Kinkos or Office Depot.

What we don't do:

• IDX - since we don't target buyers
• "Community awareness" advertising such as: Shopping carts, school sports team, golf courses, etc. - These typically have no direct ROI.
• Radio/TV/Newspaper advertising - Dead mediums in my view
• Paid business directories - been there, done that, never again
• Paid backlink networks - Frowned upon by search engines.

I am a solo independent broker.  My budget and most of my time is spent on my WordPress sites.  I do not pay for leads or ads.  I may budget for ads at some point in the future but to date, I have not spend any money on ads. I integrate IDX on my WordPress site.  It works for me. 

Google would be where I'd start.  Popping up first would be great.

1. Google

2. Networking

Start with Google Adwords and SEO.

When the leads start coming in via the SEO efforts, decrease your Adwords and concentrate on SEO only.

Eventually you'll have plenty of leads via organic results, and won't need Adwords. Depending on your website's current status, it could take up to a year or more to see a steady number of leads.

When I say website, I mean a website with IDX.

Hardcore blogging, sharing the posts to other social media, and possibly boosting the posts on FB.

Keep in mind your target demographic and purpose with each post, especially those that get a boost.

    Direct mail postcards for sellers.  Trade-size, large print, branded, consistent.  Use EDDM from USPS.  @Barbara Todaro already answered this question, she will have the 411 on direct mailing.

    Internet for Buyers.  Katerina Gasset or Debbie Gartner or Tammy Emineth or Anita Clark will have good advice for you.  Search out their blog posts; read their articles.

    If you plan to spend money on ZTR or other lead buying sites, scroll through this question thread, look for the answer by Richard L. McKinney P.A. who has a lot experience with this.

Have a dynamite website that has active lead capture. 

List More, Sell More. Barbara Todaro Is Right.

On a website.

Are you talking advertising or marketing?

Roy Kelley got here first! And he nailed it!

Hi, Janeen Fisk,

Great question! The company I represent (PropertyMinder) offers a fully loaded website and marketing suite that's helping agents boost their online marketing exposure and, more specifically, sell more homes (most notably in Silicon Valley where inventory is at an all-time low). 

We don't really like to be too "salesy" in our approach. So, if you'd like a quick evaluation of your current marketing technology and/or website, and how ours can empower you, please let me know. We'll keep it short and sweet. Our web specialists are all standing by ready to for a quick one-on-one. 

Hope we can connect sometime!
- Tim

Entertaining your sphere and direct mail...don't waste money on online leads!

Janeen Fisk - target specific neighborhood for direct mail.

Boosting AR Blog Posts to a very specific FB audience 

Janeen,

I have no idea, and I would have to research your marketplace to tell you exactly where your $$$ should be spent.  However you have good advice from the membership.  A

Facebook leads to their website.

Past clients.  Ask them for new business , ask them to give you a referral , ask ask ask 

Internet juice.  Maximize exposure on the Internet because that is where the buyers and sellers are these days!

Very locally, I woud think, with strong community ties.

Ryan Huggins - Thousand Oaks, CA  provided a generous and through response to your question.  Some really actionable stuff.

I would add an additional dimension. 

Small, local, independent real estate company?  Let me play the devils advocate. "Why would ANYONE want to do business  with a company no one knows?"

The answer to that question must be demonstrated on your website. Then commit to 'feeding' your website. At first, paid traffic, then funnel, content with pillar posts ending with conversion.

I suggest, instead of broadcast marketing, you embrace 'inbound' marketing principles. The cost per conversion is more but the number targeted is much smaller resulting in lower cost and incredible conversion rates.

Barbara Todaro nailed this one!

Depends on your business model. I am investments only so that is all I target.

Depends.

We are a small independent real estate company and we use BoomTown and adwords. We do quite well. -Kasey

You need for sale signs in front of house to bring in calls. Then those listings will be put online and that will bring in listings. Work on getting inventory, reaching out to sellers.

I'm with Barbara Todaro ..listings are the name of the game in real estate!

Past customers

I use small local paper in my area. Also some target ads in larger papers

I always been a beleiver in ones own backyard...Go from there

The answer to that would very much depend on where you are located, what kind of competion you face in your market.