Real Estate Marketing for Farms
Marketing to a region that is full of farms is no different than marketing to an area full of condominiums. You have simply selected an area or location that has these real estate possibilities. Being a specialist in the farming market is easy if you have a familiarity of the lifestyle and the economics of the business operations.
As a real estate representative for farmers wishing to sell, your physical area of representation will be much larger than a neighborhood developed within the city limits. And the density of farms is much less than that city subdivision! You will need to accept the fact that you will be driving acreage and miles. Some statics to consider before you take on this region is how many sales are there per year in this farm country and what will your marketing costs be. There will be higher costs for selling multi million dollar properties in a limited market. Your pool of buyers will be much lower than in that city subdivision and the turnover rate is miniscule! It is best if you have a broad knowledge of farming, possess a strong network of ag business contacts and understand the benefits of managing a piece of agricultural ground for future generations
To find buyers, you can create many different search avenues. It is important to know total acres, cultivatable acres, timber acres, pasture acres, pond sizes, etc. Other important characteristics may include irrigation. Many potential buyers will want to know when a well was installed, depth, pump size, casing size, and pumping capacity. Other important issues may include knowing the type, quantity, and value of timber on the property. A professional forester can evaluate your timber and give you an estimate on the type, quantity, and value.
First, each of your farm listings can collaborate with the other farms that are listed for sale. A tour of showings can be printed up with maps on each farm’s sales brochure. Promote open houses for the farms on the same day. This is a way to meet the neighbors and to get their contact information. Tell them that you have a great email neighborhood newsletter and get their email address! Once you have a number of emails you can send your hard copy newsletter quarterly and the email newsletter on the off months.
Advertising can be done in the same publications with each farm ad lined up next to each other. And when someone calls on one of the farm ads, you can cross market the other farms. You can develop email and mailing lists for the area that the farms are located. You can create a community image with descriptions of the lovely backroads, pictures of the beautiful seasons and any events that take place in the area. Send out just listed or just sold postcards for not only your farm listings but for all of the listings in the area. Publish a “neighborhood” newsletter even though the neighborhood is huge. People still want to know what is going on in the area.
Put together a brochure that shows the special features of each farm. Some may be timber farms others could be cow farms. Does the farm have the original home renovated with a swimming pool? Is there a special grove of fruit trees or developed pathways through woods landing in a cozy creekside picnic area? Game cameras can help market to clients who are interested in the land for hunting. Let the characteristics of the farms come through in the brochures, the online listings and in your postcards. Also do videos of the area. Records the country drive and point out interesting landmarks and places of interest. These videos can be posted on YouTube.com, Twitter, Facebook and your blog.
Direct Mail Marketing is one of the best advertising strategies you or your business could utilize to reach customers and prospective clients. It is cost-effective, versatile, highly customizable, quick and easy to set up, reliable and helps you stand out from the typical marketing routines of your competitors. At Everest Direct Mail & Marketing, the advantages of direct mail marketing are limitless! Also, the results of your marketing efforts can be measured and tracked easily when using direct mail – no more complicated analytics or time wasted wondering what works and what doesn’t. Using highly-target mailing lists, coupled with unique letters and envelopes, direct mail campaigns ensure your potential customers heed your message by putting your advertisements directly into their hands. In the spam-riddled world of today’s online marketing, using direct mail to publicize yourself makes every cent of your marketing budget count with a high chance for a strong return on your investment.
