How Much Should You Spend on Personal Marketing?

By Greg Herder, CRB, Real Estate Business Magazine, December 2006/January 2007

Determining your marketing budget depends on many things — your goals, your competition and your media options — but should never depend on how much money you have to spend.

Every time I conduct a seminar on personal marketing, I am always besieged with questions about how much top agents spend on marketing. Is there a certain percentage of income that is the ideal amount to spend? Can you spend too much or too little?

The answers are straightforward and logical, but they do require you to think. The amount you should be spending on personal marketing is determined by the media costs in your area, the competitive environment and your personal goals.

Determine Your Marketing Mix

First, you must figure out what the media costs are in your farm area. Every farm is different — some farm areas have a number of great publications that effectively reach that target group, while other farms do not have any publications. Therefore, you must rely purely on direct mail.