A common but unfortunate trend I noticed was the overburdening of marketing messages. In other words, many of the marketers wanted their messages to do more than they were capable of doing.

I'll elaborate. But first, a quick marketing primer:

Creating an effective marketing message usually calls for a three-step approach. You must define your audience, your goal and, ultimately, your message - in that order.

1. Define your audience

Who are you marketing your services to? Who are you hoping to motivate and persuade? Sure, you want to reach homeowners or homebuyers - but get more specific than that.

Go beyond the obvious. Take notes about each client you work with and then compile the notes. Review them prior to each marketing project you undertake.

Create a mental picture of your typical prospects. Visualize them in your mind's eye. What do they look like? What do they want? What fears wake them in the night? What happiness do they seek?

When you can answer all of these questions, you can move on to the next step, defining your goal.

2. Define your goal

Under this step you might add the sub-steps of clarifying and simplifying your goal. The clear part is obvious -- a clearly defined goal is a goal more easily attained. By "simplify", I don't mean making your goal trivial or unworthy of pursuit. I mean reducing the goal to its purest form.

Strip away anything that's not critical to the precise objective you want your reader to take. If you have several goals for your marketing message to accomplish, you haven't simplified enough! Boil it down to one specific action (like the example that follows later).

3. Define your message

Based on your audience and your goal, what must your message do to bridge the gap? What should you say or write to get your audience to move toward the desired action?

Process in Practice:

I've simplified the above process, but all the fundamentals are there. Now it's time to get specific. Let's look at how these real estate marketing factors might come together to drive an actual message geared toward an actual audience.

Let's say you're primarily a buyer's agent, so your audience would obviously be people shopping for homes. You've done some research on homebuyer demographics in your area, you've got a good mental picture of your audience, and you've made a list of things that are important to them.

Now it's time to define your goal.

The Key to Goal Definition:

Don't confuse your ultimate goal with your messaging goal. In other words, don't define a messaging goal that your message can't deliver. Instead, go for the low-hanging fruit.

Let your real estate marketing message do what it's good at. Let it move the reader one step closer to a larger, more ultimate goal. That's what marketing messages have been doing effectively for decades, moving readers toward specific, achievable actions.

For instance, if your ultimate goal is to gain a new client, the goal of your messaging might be to initiate first contact (a phone call or email) from that prospective client. This would be an excellent messaging goal for two reasons:

First, it's a goal your message can actually accomplish.

Secondly, it's a goal that can support your overall goal of client acquisition. Here's why: An NAR survey sponsored by the Gooder Group found that 74% of people shopping for a real estate professional go with the first one they call. That means if you earn that first call from a prospect, you have a 74% chance of turning them into a client.

Think of It This Way:

You're not selling a toaster. You're selling the real estate services you provide - services that have an impact on the finances and ultimate happiness (or unhappiness) of your clients. Those are weighty issues.

Words on paper can sell a toaster. Words on paper cannot sell your prospects on your ability to deliver. Words can, however, sell your prospects on the next step they might take (in this case, calling or emailing you). After that first contact, there's plenty of time to show them your ability to deliver.

Give your real estate marketing message a break from unreasonable expectations. Let it do what it's best at. Let it move the reader forward in your ultimate plan.

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Brandon Cornett teaches real estate Internet marketing to agents across the U.S. and Canada. He is the author of many articles and books on real estate web design, search engine optimization, real estate blogging and more. Visit the author at http://www.armingyourfarming.com