Common Marketing Mistakes

by Marc Jablon, president

Imagine That Promo

321-236-0240

marc@imaginethatpromo.com • imaginethatpromo.com


Screen Shot 2016-08-04 at 11.39.05 AMSo you’re a proud independent agent. Maybe you bought a franchise or you were hired to work for one of the major brokerage firms, real estate agencies or perhaps you even sell insurance. There are major benefits of being an independent agent for a big-name company such as Century 21 Real Estate or State Farm Insurance. Regardless of your actual experience, you get to immediately tout the reputation of your firm, you receive tried-and-true training with the best agents in the country, and you get the benefit of a multimillion dollar marketing budget.

That sounds great, but don’t forget that as an independent agent, you pay for those benefits, so make sure you use them. You need to make the best of the corporate benefits you receive and avoid making the marketing mistakes below:

Marketing Mistake No. 1 — Failure to use your company’s marketing resources. Perhaps you think, I’m an independent agent, I’m responsible for marketing myself. Well, your company has already spent considerable resources on marketing. It has hired the top advertising agencies and produced great spots. Use them! If I was an independent Nationwide Insurance agent, Peyton Manning would be all over my social media pages, mail-outs and other company-approved advertisements.

Marketing Mistake No. 2 — Using your few-thousand-dollar marketing budget to benefit other agents. As mentioned above, the benefits of working for a major agency is that you get the backing of a multimillion dollar advertising campaign. However, the big mistake that many local agents make is they contribute to the multimillion dollar budget with their hard-earned money. No big deal, right? Wrong! Let’s say you decided to sponsor a local golf tournament and hand out Century 21 promotional products. What are the chances your potential clients will go home after a day of drinking on the course and visit century21.com? What are the chances that they even remember your name? Enter your zip code in the site. I entered mine, and I came up with 311 agents, and five of them were named Michael. Do you want your marketing dollars to go to a 1 in 311 chance of receiving business? How about a 1 in 5?

Marketing Mistake No. 3 — Failure to showcase your personal assets. As an independent agent, I’m sure you were taught during training that ultimately it’s up to you to sell the company’s products or services, and the client will buy because he or she likes or trusts you. Well, considering personal likeability and trust are major factors in your success, then you need to make sure your marketing budget goes toward showcasing your personal assets. This might mean spending more money on entertainment, social media exposure and personal promotional products. I would recommend that you allow the company to spend its dollars on larger campaigns that promote corporate brand awareness, while you spend your resources on building your own personal brand.💓