Beware Of Brokerage 'Freebies'

Christopher Leo of Leading Agent shares this article on his blog. As you read on, one thing to keep in mind is that some brokerages have stricter guidelines about their agents' marketing materials. We recommend that you always check with your broker and ensure that your marketing decisions are not violating any company policies.

As the owner of a marketing agency that mostly deals directly with REALTORS® and not necessarily always with the brokerages, there is one thing that comes up time and time again. Not a week goes by that we meet with someone in person, or talk to them on the phone, and when asked about what they are doing for their print marketing, the response we get is some variation of:

“My brokerage has a deal on postcards, so we just use them. They aren’t the best, but they work.”

Let me be clear, I am not writing this article to bash brokerages. Quite the contrary. I think brokerages are a good thing. Many of them we deal with on varying levels are run by top notch people in the industry that really know their stuff.

The thing of it is though, that on an agent level, this is BAD branding and not doing them justice. I get it. Cheap, especially in this economy, is good. But as the adage goes: “You get what you pay for”. To those ends, here are a few reasons I propose that you strongly reconsider just going for “easy” with your marketing, build YOUR OWN brand, and get noticed.

1) Your brokerage’s postcard options may brand the brokerage #1 and you #2
This is perhaps the biggest reason that every agent should take notice and be cautious. The fact is that the postcards from your brokerage’s vendor aren’t cheap because they charge less money than anyone else.  It’s probably because your brokerage is subsidizing the cost of the postcards (trust me on this).