Real Estate Marketing: What is an Item of Value?
Did you know the real estate market is expected to grow by about 10% next year? Catch all the groundbreaking insights of Brian Buffini’s Bold Predictions, 2025 Real Estate Market Outlook, now available on-demand. Watch now.
If you want to succeed in real estate, great marketing is essential. The best real estate marketing strategies focus on keeping the agent top of mind with clients. That way, whenever clients hear that a friend or family member is trying to buy or sell a home, they think to refer you!
To really make an impression, you’ll need to do more than send a postcard with your photo and information on it — you have to provide value as well. When you provide value to your clients, even when you’re not currently working with them on a transaction, you build strong relationships with them.
What is an Item of Value?
One great way to provide consistent value to your clients is by sending an Item of Value (IOV). This is a real estate marketing flyer that goes out to your database on the first of each month. If you have a larger database, send these to the top 100 clients. Otherwise, only send to those who already refer you frequently, or are likely to refer you in the future.
Items of Value are an essential part of the three Cs of a successful real estate lead generation strategy: contact, care and community. These marketing flyers allow you to maintain consistent contact with clients while also showing your care for their well-being.
What Should They Say?
These monthly mailers should cover a variety of topics, including real estate, home improvement, finance, personal growth and more. When you talk about more than just real estate, you establish yourself as a well-rounded professional who has an interest in helping clients succeed in all areas of life. These flyers should demonstrate your competence as a businessperson as well as your shining character.
With each Item of Value you send, add a typed cover letter specific to that flyer to provide an overview of the content. Summarize the key points and get the client excited for the information to come! This also gives the Item of Value a more personal touch while adding a bit of context.
The Follow Up
After sending your Item of Value, it’s important to follow up with a call or handwritten note to talk about it. This call is another opportunity to keep yourself front and center with clients. Get their thoughts on the piece and remind them that you are never too busy for their referrals! They will appreciate the check in and keep you top of mind for any real estate needs.
Buffini & Company offers membership programs and training courses that produce Items of Value for you, so you have one less thing to worry about as you build your business. Learn more about Buffini & Company solutions for real estate coaching, training and marketing!
