3 Easy Steps to Incorporate Buyer Personas into Your Real Estate Marketing Strategy [with Free Template]
3 Easy Steps to Incorporate Buyer Personas into Your Real Estate Marketing Strategy [with Free Template]
You’ve heard it said that every buyer is different, and we won’t argue with you on that. When it comes to purchasing a home, each homebuyer you work with has a different journey to finding their perfect place to live.
It’s true you can’t get to know each potential customer in the neighborhood personally, but what if you could get close? By dividing your customers up into groups based on common characteristics, you can figure out what factors drive your prospects to seek out a new home, and you can make sure your marketing reaches them where they are.
Step 1: Identify and Group Your Customers
No matter how individual each person seems, there is always a way to group them with others to help identify products and services that might interest them. This is called customer segmentation.
Create a list of your current customers that have successfully bought a home. Group them by demographics, such as such as married couples with kids, single buyers, young buyers, etc. (Hint: The National Association of Realtors has produced some great Buyer Bios based on research to get you started.)
Think about what your customers who fit these groups wanted in a home, and why they ended up choosing their home. What kinds of motivations did each group have to purchase in a certain area? (For example, buyers with kids wanting to purchase near a school.) Were there any barriers, such as timing or price point, that got in the way for any of the groups?
Step 2: Get Specific with Buyer Personas
Once you’ve identified your groups, you can turn them into a tool called a buyer persona, which is a representation of an ideal customer from each group. Buyer personas can help you have a deeper understanding of what each customer needs based on their values, goals, likes, dislikes, and desires.
For the buyer personas to really work for you, look at them like you’re writing a story about a specific person in your market of buyers. Get specific by giving the persona a name, like “Mark the Millennial” or “Ruth the Retiree.” Identify the dwelling types or neighborhoods that appeal to the different personas and their needs. Note any trends you find when you grouped your customers in Step 1 to help you flesh out the details.
To help you get started, download our buyer persona template we created for agents like you.
Step 3: Use the Personas to Guide Your Marketing
Once you create your buyer personas, put them into action. They will help you give a face to the people you are trying to market to – people with real goals, values, and preferences. This can help you be more intentional about your marketing strategy and answer the questions of where and how to market yourself to attract new buyers (and sellers, too!)
What magazines, websites, and social platforms would you advertise on to attract a retiree buyer like Ruth? How would that differ from the media you would utilize to attract a millennial seller? Think about the community and networking events you might attend or sponsor to meet more potential buyers and sellers in your target groups. Then test out your theories. If you learn something new about the motivations of your clients, don’t be afraid to edit your buyer persona templates. They should be a flexible tool.
About Xpressdocs
Has this blog got you hooked on categorizing your customer base? Don’t let us stop you – check out our resources on target markets. Then, find out how Xpressdocs can help you market to your segmented groups with our mailing list services. Xpressdocs has been providing marketing technology, solutions, and products to the real estate industry for over 20 years. For more real estate marketing how-to’s, check out our 2022 Real Estate Guide.