Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
If you work in real estate, you’re probably well aware of one truth: you’re not selling real estate, you’re selling yourself. How successful you are in your role as a real estate agent depends almost entirely on your ability to convince both buyers and sellers of your ability and experience in facilitating the sale of real estate.
There are a number of ways that you can convince clients of your abilities in this capacity; using the tools of the modern realtor is the best way to do this. Marketing is extremely important, as is carrying yourself in a way that befits your position. Even the car that you drive and the clothes that you wear play a significant role in how you’re perceived!
One of the most important aspects of modern real estate marketing is how you describe yourself in text, both online and in conventional marketing. While this can vary depending on where the description of yourself is published, this generally comes down to a “bio” or short descriptive text containing your qualifications and strengths in selling real estate. In the modern marketing world content is king!
Considering how important the internet is in the current real estate landscape, it’s easy to see why and how a good bio can mean the difference between a professional plateau and exponential growth. This begs one very important question: what does a good bio really look like in the real estate business? Let's find out!
As a real estate agent, writing a good bio will require some skills that might not be in your wheelhouse. This being the case, you’re probably going to need to hone some of these skills to sharper edge before you can really write an effective bio. Before you can do that, however, you’ll need to know what skills you’ll need and why you need them. So how do you write a good bio in real estate? Keep reading to find out!
In an age of autocorrect and word suggestion, writing skills have universally become deemphasized. Across virtually every field, many professionals in a wide variety of roles have grown lax in their ability to transcribe complex or nuanced thoughts in a way that is grammatically correct and utilizes proper spelling.
This widespread decrease in the ability of the general population to write in an academically suitable manner has affected everyone, so there’s no shame in brushing up on your skills. There are a wide variety of courses available locally and online intended to help professionals improve their writing skills; we’d recommend that you take one!
When writing, there are a number of programs and applications available to help you avoid making embarrassing mistakes that can adversely affect your sales. Programs such as Grammarly are an excellent way to prevent such blunders for a minimal monthly fee. There’s no reason not to use such a service!
Another very important thing to remember is that your bio should be catchy and distinctive, but not overly long. If your bio is too short, it will be forgettable and ineffective; if it’s too long and contains too much information, potential clients will likely lose interest before reaching the end. So how does one achieve the right balance between brevity and detail?
The answer to this is simple: write descriptively but concisely. In general, you’ll want to include as much relevant information as possible but avoid long sentences and meandering paragraphs. A good way to do this is to ask yourself what you would expect from a real estate agent when selling a home and only include details that would inform you in such a decision.
Generally speaking, most professional bios are between three and five paragraphs long, with each paragraph containing no more than four to five sentences. If you use descriptive wording, this space should be entirely sufficient to contain all the information you’ll want to provide your clients with. If you have leftover space after you’ve included all the important information, don’t try to fill the extra space; a concise bio is better than an unnecessarily long one.
When writing a bio as someone who works in real estate, it’s also important to include any and all professional certifications, even if they aren’t directly related to real estate. The more well rounded and highly qualified you seem, the more likely clients are to be swayed by your professional merit and personal motivation.
Obviously, you’ll want to include as much about your real estate career as possible, even if it doesn’t seem particularly impressive. Even if you haven’t achieved all that much in comparison to your peers, some creative writing can make your achievements seem highly impressive. Think outside the box and make sure to include any detail that might impress potential clients.
Including your other professional achievements and certifications is also never a bad idea; if you worked in a different field prior to becoming a real estate agent, you can always mention your experience in that role. Don’t make it the focus of your bio, but don’t fail to mention it. The more well rounded you seem in your bio, the better.
One thing that’s important to keep in mind when writing your bio is that it shouldn’t be all business. The people who buy and sell homes are just that: people. It’s important to connect with these clients on a personal level as well as a professional one, and mentioning your hobbies and interests is one of the best ways to do just that.
Do you play guitar? Great! Put it in your bio, and mention some of your favorite genres and songs. Are you an amateur analogue photographer? That’s perfect; after briefly describing what type of pictures you enjoy taking and why you enjoy this hobby, you’re sure to win over potential clients. No matter how you spend your free time, there’s a good chance that your interests will be shared by more potential clients than you previously expected.
Once again, it’s important to remember that this should not be the focus of your bio, merely a helpful detail. You don’t want to tell your whole life story, you just want to tell enough of it to convince the reader that you’re a human as well as a real estate professional. If you talk about yourself too much, you’ll come across as being more interested in your hobbies than your actual profession. That is not what you’re going for here.
After reading this, you might be a bit overwhelmed. Writing an effective bio can be just as difficult as it is crucial! If you find yourself in this predicament, then you might want to consider hiring a digital marketing professional to write your bio for you. A specialist at a company such as RealEstateAgent.com will have the experience and the skills necessary to present you in the best possible light, without making the mistakes that professionals often do when undergoing this task.
Whether you decide to write your bio yourself or hire a professional to do it for you, it’s our hope that we’ve given you the information that you need to know the difference between an effective bio and an ineffective one. With this knowledge you’ll be able to tailor your professional image to be far more attractive and approachable. In real estate, that’s the whole point!
