Author Archive
Try Symphony Tools to Sync Your Blog to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for 3 Months for FREE
Posted on May 30, 2015 byI have been using a Facebook app for several years called “Networked Blogs” to sync my blog posts with both Facebook and Twitter. Recently, Network Blogs converted their services over to a new product they call “Symphony Tools” or “Symphony” for short. Whereas Networked Blogs was a free service that is being discontinued over time, Symphony is a brand new paid service that is more powerful and user friendly than Networked blogs ever was.
I use Symphony Tools to sync 4 of my blogs AtlantaREIA.com, TampaREIA.com, CharlotteREIA.com & SavannahREIA.com with their corresponding Facebook and Twitter Pages.
For example, every time a post a new blog post to AtlantaREIA.com, within 5 minutes, my blog post is automatically posted to both Facebook and Twitter. In fact, Symphony automatically checks my blog RSS feed for new posts every 5 minutes, 24/7/365 and posts any new posts or updates to my blog. This means all I have to do is keep my blog updated and Symphony will keep my Facebook and Twitter pages updated for me so that is one thing less I have to worry about doing.
I’ve been using Symphony for the past several months and it has worked flawlessly. Initially, due to the migration from Networked Blogs to Symphony I had a few problems and lots of questions. However, on the bottom of the Symphony app, there is a “Chat with Us” link where you can actually chat with a live person during normal business hours. Their support staff was very helpful and answered my questions and addressed my problems quickly.
Overall, I’ve been very happy with the new Symphony tools and I think you will be too if you are an active blogger and user of Facebook, Twitter and/or LinkedIn. In fact, if you are interested in social media, here is a special link you can use to Try Symphony Tools for 3 Months for FREE! Read More→
What Marketing Methods Will You Use to Promote Your Business?
Posted on February 28, 2014 by
Over the last two months we discussed Step #2 of “Determining Your Marketing Plan in 7 Easy Steps” which was to “Determine Your Market”. We broke Step #2 down into 2 parts which were to determine “Who and What is Your Market?” and “Where is Your Market Place?” This month we’re going to move along to Step #3 which is to “Determine Your Marketing Methods”.
Webster defines a “method” as a careful or organized plan that controls the way something is done. Coming up with an organized marketing plan is exactly what the 7 Steps are all about so we want to put some careful thought into the methods we will use to get our desired results.
In Step #1, you determined how many leads you need to achieve your personal and business financial goals. In Step #2, you determined who you want to market to and where you want to market.
In Step #3, you need to determine what marketing “methods” you will use to promote your real estate investing business to your desired prospects in your market area so you can generate your desired number of leads each and every week/month to reach your financial goals. Read More→
Where is Your Market Place?
Posted on January 24, 2014 by
In last month’s article we discussed Step #2 of “Determining Your Marketing Plan in 7 Easy Steps” which was to “Determine Your Market”. In Step 2 we covered “Who and What is Your Market”. Using Wholesaling as our investment strategy, we determined that our ideal property prospect was a distressed, vacant, ugly house with no mortgage or a low loan balance. Our ideal seller was a motivated seller who needs to sell and often needs to sell quickly. We also determined that our ideal buyers for these distressed properties were other real estate investors such as rehabbers, landlords, wholesalers and hedge funds who can pay all cash and can close quickly.
This month we’re going to pick up where we left off in Step #2 and determine “Where is Your Marketplace?” If we continue using Wholesaling as our investment strategy, you now need to determine:
- Where will you find motivated sellers with distressed properties for sale?
- Will you target your entire metro area to find these properties or only certain counties, townships, zip codes or neighborhoods?
- Will your buyers want to purchase homes in the areas where you have inventory?
- Are there certain areas you should avoid?
By answering questions such as these, you will quickly start to determine the marketplace where you will buy and sell your inventory of distressed homes. To help you answer these questions, click below to download and complete the… Read More→
Who and What is Your Market?
Posted on December 30, 2013 by
In last month’s article we discussed Step #1 of “Determining Your Marketing Plan in 7 Easy Steps” which was to “Determine How Many Leads You Need to Succeed”. This month we’re going to cover Step #2 which is to “Determine Your Market”.
A Market (noun) is defined as “a place or area where products and services are bought and sold”. Your market consists of the area where you do business, the products and services you buy and sell as well as the buyers and sellers of your products and services. To Market (verb) means “to promote products and/or services” to your Market (noun).
So in Step #2, you need to determine the market area where you want to do business, what products and services you will offer, and who the buyers and sellers of your products and services will be.
Like last month’s article, we’re going to use Wholesaling as our chosen real estate investing strategy to illustrate how to determine your market.
Wholesaling is the business of locating houses (usually the house and/or owner is distressed), putting them under contract for a very low price and quickly selling or assigning (quick turning) them to other investors well below retail price. Wholesaling is the art of finding bargain properties and passing them along to bargain hunters at bargain prices. Read More→
How Many Leads Do You Need to Succeed?
Posted on November 26, 2013 by
Recently I wrote an article on “Determining Your Marketing Plan in 7 Easy Steps”. You can apply these 7 Steps to market your home buying and selling business or pretty much any other business, product or service you wish to promote.
In this article, I want to expand on Step #1: Determine How Many Leads You Need to Succeed at _____________. For the purposes of this article, let’s fill in the blank with Wholesaling. In order to determine how many leads you need to succeed at Wholesaling, you need to begin with the end in mind and ask yourself a few more questions…
1. How many deals do you want to do per month and per year?
You need to set a target number of deals you want to quick turn (put under contract to buy and immediately resell or assign) each month to know if you’re achieving your goals. Let’s say you want to find and flip 1 to 2 deals per month or 12 to 24 deals per year. This is a very, very realistic and achievable goal for any part-time real investor.
2. How much cash do you want to make per month and per year?
You need to set the monthly and annual financial goal you wish to achieve so you know if you’ve succeeded or not. Let’s say your goal is to make $10,000 per month or $120,000 per year wholesaling houses on a part-time basis. Again, this is a very realistic and achievable goal for an investor who is willing to put in the time and effort to get the job done. Yes, wholesaling is like a job. It pays you well if you work it and pays you nothing if you don’t. Read More→
Five Marketing Musts
Posted on October 30, 2013 byWhen it comes to 800 Pound Guerilla Marketing, I have learned that the number of motivated buyer and seller leads I am able to generate only seem to be limited by the time, effort and creativity I put into the marketing process, rather than how much money I spend.
When I put in the time, effort and creativity needed to successfully market my real estate investing business, the leads come pouring in on a steady and predictable basis. When I slack up, the leads often start to dry up rather quickly.
Over the years, as I came to this realization, I created a few personal marketing rules or “marketing musts” to help keep me and my marketing efforts on track so I can consistently generate a steady stream of incoming buyer and seller leads.
I wanted to share these “Five Marketing Musts” with you in hopes they might positively influence your future marketing efforts and real estate investing success… Read More→
Determining Your Marketing Plan in 7 Easy Steps
Posted on October 5, 2013 by
One of the things I have learned over the years about my ongoing marketing efforts is that my results only seem to be limited by how much time, effort and creativity I put into the marketing process and not how much money I spend. The more time and energy I put into the marketing of my real estate investment business, the better my results tend to be. When I decide to slack up, get lazy and not stick to my marketing plan, my results quickly diminish as a result.
This is also true of the people I hire to market my business for me. Their success does not depend on how much I pay them, nor the size of their marketing budget, but how much time, energy and creativity they put into the marketing process.
Remember, 800 Pound Guerilla Marketing is about dominating your local market using a little time, effort, creativity and a relatively low budget using both new and traditional marketing techniques along with the power of the Internet. The more time, effort and creativity you put into the marketing process, the better your results should be.
As real estate investors, one of our most important responsibilities is to generate a steady flow of motivated buyer and seller leads for our business. After all, no leads = no deeds = no profits. If we don’t want to be responsible for personally generating leads ourselves, then we must hire someone competent to generate leads for us. But even if we do hire someone, it is still our responsibility to make sure they are generating the quantity and quality of leads we need to meet our business’s short term and long term financial goals.
If you want to generate all the leads you can handle for your real estate investing business, start by following these 7 easy steps to determine your marketing plan and your marketing budget: Read More→
Marketing to Owners of Vacant Houses
Posted on September 2, 2013 by
Last month’s article was on “Driving for Dollars and Farming with Flyers”. As you are out driving neighborhoods in search of houses to buy, you will soon discover that there are many vacant houses out there. Some of these houses are obviously for sale or rent as indicated by a sign in the yard, but many are not so obvious. These houses are just sitting empty, often deteriorating, waiting for someone like you to come along and buy them. Many of these houses appear to have been abandoned and unkept.
Vacant houses often provide some of the best opportunities to create some killer deals. After all, many of the houses have mortgages, taxes and other expenses that the owner is responsible for paying, even as the house sites vacant and unused. Even houses that are free and clear have expenses the owner must pay to avoid tax liens and code enforcement violations. Since the owner doesn’t live in the house, they are often highly motivated and more than willing to do just about anything to get rid of it.
When I am out driving neighborhoods and spot a vacant house, I stop and take pictures and write down the address. If the house is for sale by owner or for rent, I write down the number on the sign and call the owner later. I will even call Realtors from time to time if I know the house has been sitting vacant for a while since the owner might be motivated and eager to sell. Read More→
Driving for Dollars and Farming with Flyers
Posted on July 31, 2013 by
One of our favorite and most cost effective ways to market our home buying business is through the frequent use of flyers. In fact, flyers are one most versatile and low cost forms of advertising we use at One Hour Homebuyers to generate leads on a regular basis.
Flyers can be used in a variety of formats such as handouts, posters, mini bandit signs, over sized business cards, postcards, free reports, brochures, door hangers, newspaper inserts, tear off flyers, etc.
We like to use full size 8.5” x 11” (or 9” x 12”) or half size 8.5” x 5.5” (or 8” x 6”), double sided, full color, UV coated, card stock flyers for our ongoing marketing efforts. We can get 5000 of these full color, double sided, UV coated, 9” x 12” flyers for $480 or .096 cents each. We can also get 5000 of the same flyers in 8” x 6” size for only $190 or .038 cents each! This can give us a lot of bang for our buck, depending on how we use these flyers.
When it comes to using these flyers, there are many ways to distribute them. Two of our favorite distribution methods are “Driving for Dollars” and “Farming”. Read More→
Choosing a Great Domain Name for Your Business
Posted on June 27, 2013 by
Choosing a great domain name (aka “web address” or “URL”) for your business and company website can be just as important as choosing your company name. In fact, when I am thinking about starting a new company or online venture, I often choose my domain name first since finding an excellent domain name that is not taken is often more difficult than choosing a good company name. Additionally, a well-chosen domain name is often more recognizable and memorable than my company names which may not be the same as my domain names.
If you plan on putting your domain name on all of your online and offline marketing material as I suggest, your domain name will often be the first thing people see and remember when viewing your marketing material and visiting your website. Therefore, your domain name is a crucial part of your business’s unique brand and identity online. So choosing the right domain name for your business is very important, so choose wisely.
For the purposes of this article, you need to choose a domain name you can use to establish your business’s unique identity and allow your prospects and customers to easily find you online. Read More→
Can I Have Your Business Card?
Posted on May 31, 2013 byDo you have a business card? Do you keep them with you at all times since you never know when or where you’re going to meet someone important such as a potential buyer, seller, joint venture partner or private money lender?
It never ceases to amaze me how many investors I meet at seminars, conventions or local REIA meetings that I ask for a card only to be told that they don’t have one, haven’t had them printed yet, or forgot them at home!
What’s almost as bad, is when investors hand me crummy business cards with perforated edges that they printed at home or the ones they were too cheap to pay for that say “Business cards are FREE at Vista Print” on the back.
Many investors don’t realize how important business cards can be. They think business cards are made for one reason only… to give people the ability to contact you at some later date.
Most investors overlook the importance of having a professional business card that accurately reflects their brand. After all, business cards are often the first item prospects receive from you and are your first opportunity to make a strong first impression on them – positive OR negative.
Your image, reputation and credibility are everything in this business!
Your Brand is Your Business’s Promise to Your Customer
Posted on May 1, 2013 byBranding is the marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates your business, product or service from any and all other competitors. Put another way… your brand is your business’s promise to your customer.
Your brand tells your customer what they can expect from your company, products and services. Your brand should uniquely differentiate your business and what you are offering from that of all your competitors. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who you’re your prospects and customers perceive you to be.
In the real estate investing industry, Homevestors® is the number one home buying brand in America. They have embraced the “ugly home buyer” concept and made “We Buy Ugly Houses®” their registered trademark, identity and brand. Their mascot is “Ug” the ugly little caveman that helps owners of “ugly houses” out of “ugly situations”. Homevestors® is a great example of the power of branding for any real estate investing company, large or small.
Like Homevestors, I too appreciate the power of branding and have attempted to do some branding of my own at a local level with my real estate investment company, One Hour Homebuyers. We have embraced the “pretty home buyer” concept and have made “We Buy Pretty Houses®”, “Sell Your Houses in One Hour®” and “We Can Buy Your House in One Hour or Less, Guaranteed™” part of our trademarks, identity and brand. Our mascot is the “One Hour Man”, a handsome “super homebuyer” hero who “rescues” home owners from “unwanted houses” and “unwanted situations” fast, one hour fast. Read More→
