A Real Estate Farm versus Real Estate Niche
Marketing
I wanted to follow-up on Jim Hirschhorn’s post from a few weeks ago regarding niches. Jim brings up some great points and I think this is an important topic that many agents really over look or often confuse with a farm area. A farm area, is just that an “area”, geographic in nature; and marketing to a farm typically involves an agent saturating a neighborhood with just listed and just sold cards, newsletter, recipe cards, school calendars, etc.
In contrast, a niche is not limited geographically; Wikipedia defines a niche as “a focused, targetable portion (subset) of a market sector”.
By definition, then, a business that focuses on a niche market is addressing a need for a product or service that is not being addressed by mainstream providers. A niche market may be thought of as a narrowly defined group of potential customers.”
That’s not to say a farm area can’t be a niche, a farm area is a subset of the broader market. But if you’re choosing a farm area to narrow the focus of your just listed postcards, are you really “addressing the need for a service that is not being addressed by mainstream providers.”? Now if you choose a farm area because of your specialized knowledge, for example, if your farm area is downtown, high rise condo’s, and you’re an expert on each of those buildings, knowledgeable with the condominium associations, amenities, floor plans, parking, etc., that’s a great niche.
A niche is great way to position yourself as the expert in your field and in this era of instant information, where a consumer with a few taps of the keyboard can access truckloads of data, agents need to continually prove their value in the transaction. A niche should be about using a specialized knowledge or expertise to differentiate yourself from the competition. Here are few key items to consider when deciding on a niche:
- It should be a segment of the market that is not currently being served, or is being poorly served.
- It should be large enough to support your business, if it’s too narrow there may not be enough business there to support your efforts.
- Choose something that interests you. If you want your passion and enthusiasm to show through to your clients choose something you enjoy.
Here are some potential niches:
- Family Relocation Specialist
- Luxury Golf Homes
- Condo Specialist
- Condo Investment Specialist , see Real Living Agent Luchas Lechuga
- Newlyweds
- Divorce situations
- Single women
- Single men
- First Time Home Buyers
- Waterfront Homes
- Investors
- Green or Eco Friendly, see Real Living Agent Dougas Garbe
- 55 + Communities
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