This column, which details the benefits of attraction marketing, is the second in a six-part series explaining key strategies that will put you in control of your agency.

Marketing is a term that’s thrown around quite a bit in this industry. In my experience, most people do not know what it is—they just know they must have it.

The easiest way to understand marketing is to imagine a pie, with each slice—market analysis, pricing, customer service, advertising, public relations and community involvement—representing a subset of the overall pie.

The real estate industry understands marketing better than just about any other industry, and the most successful realtors use a written process to ensure they serve the whole pie every single time.

Attracting Your Target Prospect

Creating a customer is an attraction marketing strategy, while keeping a customer is a retention strategy. So first, be clear on whom you are attracting—something car dealers have down to a science. If you are selling Jaguars, you don’t want to spend your money attracting Hyundai buyers, right? Car dealers understand that buyers are typically price sensitive in their own ways. Each price point attracts a particular buyer. While the Hyundai dealer may advertise $0 down and $199 a month, the Jag dealer will advertise $4,999 down and only $700 a month.

Your advertising strategy is the first step in qualifying a prospect. Instead of promoting Carnival for $599 per person, try Seabourn for $5,999. The phone may not ring as often but when it does, it will be your target prospect.

Strategic Attraction

Strategic marketing is about positioning and building rapport with your targeted prospects, and this takes time. Many experts contend that it’s about “advertising exposure” (I hate these words and so should you). When you hear the term, run away fast. You are better off lighting a fire with your money—at least you will stay warm for a while.

Most consortia and host agency advertising is strategic and typically funded by suppliers, so the cost to you is usually little or nothing. So use them!

Tactical Marketing

Like most kids, I learned to fish by baiting the hook, tossing the line in the water and waiting for a bite—and often left empty handed. However, if you cast your line with the right bait in front of where the fish feed, the odds of catching something are much greater.

Tactical promotions are all about fishing with the right bait. Although most are price driven, that doesn’t mean the products themselves have to be inexpensive If you want to sell world cruises, the lead-in price may be $75,000—a relative bargain that will attract the right buyer.

When combined with proactive prospecting and sales initiatives, an attraction marketing strategy will help you take control of your business, providing you with more leads than you can handle.