Pick a Niche Real Estate Market and Become the Expert

If you ask any real estate coach or marketing expert what you should do to stay competitive as a real estate agent, they will likely tell you the same thing – choose a segment of the market that you are most familiar with, and become the expert.

Ubertor blog posed this question in a recent interview with Seth Godin -internet marketing expert and frequent speaker at real estate conferences.

Ubertor: If you were a Realtor what one way would you market yourself differently?

Seth Godin: I would specialize obsessively. On a neighborhood or a market segment. (For example), I’d only sell restaurants, or condos, or to the gay community.

According to the marketing professionals over at the MarketingLaunch.com blog, market segmentation involves dividing your market into smaller (and more manageable) sets of prospects who share certain characteristics.

Here are some types of market segmentation for today’s real estate professionals:

Demographic segmentation: Target age, gender, socioeconomic status or education

Lifecycle segmentation: Target different stages of life (young singles, married couples, families with kids, empty nesters, or active retirees).

Specialty segmentation:  Target a narrowly defined market (i.e. luxury homes)

Geographic segmentation:  Target specific neighbourhoods or communities.

Vertical Industry segmentation: Target a defined group in the real estate industry (i.e. FSBO’s or new homes)

Job segmentation: Target migratory or temporary or out-of-town workers.  

Taking this idea a step further, blogging is a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your chosen market segment.

See our recent posting, entitled ‘Knowing Your Audience is Key for Real Estate Bloggers‘ for tips on how to get started.