Have you ever seen a car commercial on TV that attempted to sell a sleek sports car to single young men? It probably featured speed, exotic settings, and perhaps an attractive model. That's because the professional marketers behind the ad understand the power of targeting. Successful targeting means providing the right message to the right audience at the right time.

Seems straightforward enough, doesn't it? Yet this simple principle of targeting a niche market is all but lost on the vast majority of professional real estate salespeople.  All you have to do is look at most sales associates' Web sites to see that they're trying to "speak" too broad a range of prospects. "Serving buyers in the Chicago," for example, tries to serve too many demographic factors to be a viable target market. 

If you've thought the same thing, but didn't know how to refine your approach, here are three, simple, yet powerful, rules that will help you make your online marketing more effective.

Rule 1 - If you try to "speak" to everyone online, you'll end up talking to no one. Each target market, whether it's first-time buyers, investors, or affluent sellers, has its own unique wants, needs, fears, and financial capabilities. Unless you address these in ways specific to your chosen target market, you won't be able to connect in a way that will consistently have them want to do business with you. That's why instead of targeting all Detroit buyers, in our example above, you'd want to choose first-time buyers in the western suburbs. Then you'd fill your site with tips for new buyers and neighborhood information for that geographic area. 

Rule 2 - Less is more. Interestingly, many sales associates are reluctant to focus on a specific niche because they're afraid they will miss out on prospects who don't fit a specific target market. The reality is quite the opposite. It's much easier to standout when you specialize rather than commoditize your services. And by narrowing your focus to specific target markets or specialties, you effectively eliminate about 98 percent of your competition—the people who've chosen not to specialize. Of course, to ensure compliance with fair housing laws and the REALTOR®  Code of Ethics, you'll want to provide equal professional services to all customers.

Rule 3 - Choose a target market you can be excited and passionate about serving and that makes economic sense in your market. For example, one of my students liked helping first-time buyers, but many new buyers couldn't afford to buy in her high-priced market area. Then she told me how she thoroughly enjoyed helping a group of young attorneys from the same firm purchase homes. So I suggested she narrow her scope to "professional first-time buyers." With that target, she got the emotional payback of helping new homeowners and avoided the frustration of not being able to find affordable product for her clients.

Once you've selected your chosen niche, you need to understand how they think and feel. To get this data, hold informal conversations and formal focus sessions with members of your target group. Find out what about homeownership appeals to them—security, status, etc. Also hone in on what types of information each group needs. For example, our professional first-time buyers may be more concerned about the capital-gains benefits of selling a home than the typical first-time buyers. Then model your Web site content accordingly.

Is targeting really worth the effort?  You bet! There's a huge payoff any time you can eliminate 98 percent of your competition and in gaining the specialized skills to serve the clients that you enjoy helping.

Published: October 19, 2004

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Michael J. Russer (a.k.a. Mr. Internet®) is an internationally acclaimed speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry and small business. He is also the exclusive Internet columnist for REALTOR® Magazine, the architect of the revolutionary e-ProductivityTM system and leading voice for the use of Virtual Assistants in small business. You can subscribe to his free monthly leading-edge newsletter ePOWER NEWS by going to ePowerNews.com.