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With the end of the year rapidly approaching, many real estate agents are thinking about how they can improve their agent and office marketing strategies in 2017. Listing numbers are lower than they were at their peak in late 2015, and top agents know just how important it is to stay top-of-mind with sellers.

We often find ourselves providing advice on marketing strategy and execution around this time of year. Planning 12 months worth of marketing can seem overwhelming, but it really pays off. Agents who set up a marketing plan are way ahead of agents without one. Those who fail to plan often end up sending out haphazard, inconsistent messaging that does little to assist with brand building and awareness.

A plan doesn’t have to lock you in – it can always be adapted if and when circumstances change. But having a clear, overarching vision for how you want to communicate with your farm area during the next year is a smart move.

Now is the time to begin planning your 2017 real estate marketing strategy.

Here’s how to do it:

Start with a calendar
A blank 2017 calendar can be a great way to visualise and plot your upcoming marketing activities. Make sure you’re reaching out to the market at the right times throughout the year with strong, consistent messaging.

…Speaking of consistency
It’s all important. There’s no point blanketing a suburb with DLs in March and then forgetting the letterbox completely until spring. Consistency is the key to building real brand awareness and staying top-of-mind – a stray drop card here and there isn’t enough to make you more memorable than your competitors.

If you know you’ll be working within time and budget constraints, use that to your advantage. It’s far smarter to run a few, regular campaigns over the course of the year, than to overcommit to marketing and fail to execute anything at all.

Choose your channels
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again; multi-channel marketing campaigns that use a strategic mix of print and digital platforms are always the most effective. There are plenty of options worth looking into – think newspaper advertising, promotional boards, newsletter mailouts, letterbox drops, social media and email newsletters. However:

Audit current marketing activities first
In 2016, what worked and what didn’t? For example, if your PA poured 10 hours a week into Facebook for a paltry handful of likes and no listings, perhaps it’s time to redirect that energy towards more fruitful endeavours. If certain marketing activities aren’t getting the results you need, find out why. Maybe those letterbox drops are going out too late to capture spring listings, or maybe the content in your email newsletter is too broad to be truly useful to your farm area. Find the blind spots and fix them next time around.

Build in timelines
For example, if you want to mail out newsletters in the first week of autumn, allow adequate time to design, write content, print, stuff envelopes and post. A project like this may actually need to begin in February to ensure that it reaches your database at the scheduled time. And speaking of your database…

Make sure you’re reaching out to the market at the right times throughout the year with strong, consistent messaging.

Clean it up
Now is a great time to tidy up your contacts so that you head into the New Year with a clean, effective list. An up-to-date database is invaluable for any agent. If yours needs some attention, prioritise the task before Christmas. It’s a dull job, but one that will really pay off down the track.

Reconsider sales material
Advertising is important, but the quality of material you’re presenting to buyers and potential vendors is also absolutely crucial. Think about the items you use day in and day out, like pre-listing kits, presentation folders, business cards and even your humble letterhead. Now might be a good time to refresh and update these materials so that you’re starting 2017 with a polished and impressive suite of presentation materials.

Don’t forget to budget
This is so important. It’s easy to mark out on a calendar when you’ll conduct marketing campaigns throughout the year, but too many agents neglect to consider all the costs involved. Do you have someone in-house with the skills to design drop cards or write newsletter copy? If not, you’ll need to pay to outsource those tasks. Even a database mailout can become very costly very quickly, given the increased costs of postage. Make sure you’re using your money effectively by putting it into projects that will give you the best returns, increase brand awareness and position you as an agent of choice.

How are you setting yourself and your business up for a successful 2017? Join the conversation on Twitter or LinkedIn.