How to Market Yourself During a Pandemic or Other Crisis: A Guide for Agents

Most of the country is in a coronavirus state of alert. With residents being told to stay at home, and some states severely limiting agent marketing activity, we’ve collected advice about how to best market your services and tastefully continue promoting your listings during a pandemic. Because you don’t want to emerge from this pandemic as a pariah.

DON’T: Position coronavirus as a “unique opportunity”

While it is true that certain businesses can thrive in crisis — Procter and Gamble became the giant they are by pursuing marketing and advertising during the Great Depression — you could do irreparable damage to your brand by treating a health crisis that has killed thousands and sickened hundreds of thousands in the United States alone as a chance to make money.

You have to be genuine, and you have to show your audience that you’re in this with them. This isn’t a good time to tell clients who are already scared and unsure about the future that they’ll be missing a huge opportunity if they don’t make an enormous life decision right now.

DO: Create 100% original content

Everyone’s life has been upended by coronavirus. How are you and your family members coping with different situations that might be new to you?

Working from home is a popular one. Homeschooling your kids while trying to do your job. Maybe you’ve picked up a long-forgotten hobby.

Being human during a crisis is not only okay, but highly recommended. Valerie Garcia, a speaker and consultant who specializes in storytelling and real estate, encourages agents to explore their human side while stuck at home.

“There is sometimes humor when you take into account we’re all sharing the same space, and maybe your kid is going to walk in on the conference call. That’s okay, it happens … it’s also funny and 100% original,” Garcia says.

DON’T: Politicize the crisis

Kimberly Grogan, a top agent in Arlington, Texas, says “Emotions are running really high right now, and agents don’t need to get involved in politicizing a health crisis.”

Whether you’re posting political memes or thoughts on your business profiles, or simply commenting on other posts under your name — your personal opinions can leave a bad taste in your audience’s mouth.

DO: Share how you plan to keep yourself and others safe

Prevention is the name of the game. Most of the regulations that limit movement in the United States right now are aimed at flattening the curve so as to not overwhelm the medical system. If your market is still allowing you to pursue real estate activities, it is smart to be proactive and communicate what you’re actively doing to protect yourself and your clients during showings.

“Things like asking buyers to leave their kids at home during a showing; providing gloves, sanitizers and masks during showings; or asking sellers to leave all the doors open inside the property, and all the lights on, to prevent touching any surfaces can and should be shared. It shows we’re doing our due diligence to help during the crisis, while still doing our jobs,” Grogan says.

DON’T: Use coronavirus as an opportunity to sell yourself

It’s easy to panic when you’re sitting at home by yourself. Desperation can creep up while you’re at home alone, isolated from your business.

“Every message I read that says an agent is doing ‘business as usual’ leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Because this could not be further away from ‘business as usual.’ People around us are getting sick or losing their jobs,” Garcia says.

And, before you ask, she adds: “No home is beautiful enough to be quarantined in.”

DO: Think outside the box

Figure out how your services can be used to help businesses around you stay solvent and even thriving during what amounts to a very difficult time. Forget about being salesy and putting out your message about buying or selling real estate, and focus instead on what is going on in your community and how you can participate and make things better for others.

DON’T: Send direct mail or leave things at people’s doors

The CDC recommends special care when receiving the mail or doorstep deliveries — including social distancing. This is not the time for glossy postcards, door hangers, or other mail solicitations.

“People are actively having to disinfect or isolate their mail before opening it, and you’re just making it difficult for them to get to the important mail pieces by sending them unwanted direct mail,” notes Garcia.

DO: Check in with everyone

Isolation can be hard.

Pick up the phone and talk to your loved ones. Send a quick personal note via email or text message to let someone know you’re thinking of them.

Also welcome? Requested care packages featuring goods from small businesses. For Gina Candelario, who’s worked with 78% more single-family homes than the average agent in San Antonio, this means “reaching out to past and present clients and contacts, whether they are personal or business, on their preferred method — whether it’s a voicemail, or an email, or even a text — to see how they’re doing, if they are safe, if they need help or need groceries.”

DON’T: Share tasteless humor

Garcia says, “Agents and brokers are consistently sharing humor that misses the mark, or making fun of what is a hard situation for many out there.”

Her suggestion? “If you’re not 100% sure if something is really funny, check with someone else.” Preferably someone who isn’t a real estate agent and can give you a true consumer’s opinion of your joke.

Also, Garcia advises, “Don’t just slap your logo or your hashtag on any content other agents are sharing.” It might be, well, tasteless.

DO: Check your marketing settings

Go back and double-check the content of all your automated drips, nurture campaigns, and other scheduled content that’s going out and hitting people’s inboxes or computers.

You should probably consider turning off all your campaigns until things calm down, but at the very least, you should look at what you’re planning to publish or send out and tweak it for the times.

DON’T: Invite every single person in your network to your virtual open house

You’re spamming people who might not be interested; you’re going to be blocked or reported.

Yes, your virtual open house is probably amazing — but people are really in-tune with their “unfriend” and “unfollow” triggers during this time of social distancing. You might be harming your business instead of helping it by bombarding your network with these virtual events.

DO: Ask yourself if your message is about you — or your community

Before hitting “post,” ask yourself who this message talks about. Is it talking about you and your business? “Then it’s probably not the right time to share it,” Garcia says, adding: “This is not the time to be talking about how this was the largest quarter of your career, or how big a deal you are about to close.”

DON’T: Lose focus

Real estate is regulated to different degrees, depending on where in the country you’re located. The range goes from “essential” (and therefore still active in certain markets) to “non-essential” and basically shut down in others.

If you’re posting on your social media channels, where people all over the country can read your posts, you might be coming across as tone-deaf and you won’t even know it. Keep that in mind when you’re planning your posts.

DO: Become a trusted resource

Garcia says agents are creating Facebook groups and organizing communities to do all sorts of things: sew and donate masks; organize delivery and pickup for groceries for elderly or infirm neighbors; collect and donate to food banks.

None of those are marketing or self-promotion activities, but they will all be remembered in a positive light after the crisis is over.

Candelario mentions some agents in her market have put together lists of restaurants that are providing take-out and delivery services, and shared those lists with their networks in an effort to help small businesses.

DON’T: Share dubious information

Magic cures, conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus, or unconfirmed rumors about the current situation in your city or state are not helpful — and can actually be harmful to your audience.

Limit yourself to sharing information that has been confirmed by your local government, the CDC, or the National Association of Realtors.

DO: Educate your sellers and buyers

This is uncharted territory for all of us, so imagine how your buyers and sellers feel right now. There’s a lot you can do to help them navigate their decisions.

The pandemic has likely reduced how many showings are happening in different areas, so you should explain to your sellers what this means for finding a buyer, and to buyers how they can still look at homes.

Talk to them about any showing limitations and explain how to get showings done anyway. Offer the most updated trends for your specific market. Go the extra mile to explain which tools you will be using to promote their listing virtually, or how you will use tools to let buyers view listings from the safety of their home.

Also, walk them through what the closing process will look like and how it will be different than normal times. “Some title agencies are doing closings like a Sonic Drive-In by bringing papers out directly into the cars,” Grogan says.

Most importantly: Don’t panic

Candelario says her market is still active — even with shelter-in-place rules. And they expect to bounce back up after the movement limitations are lifted.

“The best way to be a good resource to our clients is to keep a cool head, look at the data and the numbers, and make recommendations based on how we know the market will react, based on our experience,” she says. “I’m trying to send the message that if you have no choice but to move right now, there’s a house out there for you and an opportunity for you to still be able to move if you really need to.”

Header Image Source: (Štefan Štefančík / Unsplash)

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