Recently CNN Money profiled Oregon in an article called What's so great about Oregon? Everyone's moving there. Of course, it doesn't hurt that they have a great football team and an ongoing hit show about their biggest city (Portlandia). But your real estate market has just enough going for it, and you're the one to communicate that message to your customers and potential clients. For many people relocating to your area, the real estate agent is going to be the key to understanding the neighborhoods, schools, job market and so on. This will be enacted through a content strategy on your blog and social sites.

But before you dive headfirst into your real estate content strategy, it's important to know what your audience is looking for, particularly at different stages of the buying and selling process. Customers have a fairly one-track mind when it comes to their real estate path. Buyers want home listings, sellers want to know the value of their home, and neither are really interested in you as a person, but rather what you can do for them. It's as simple as that, and that realization should shape your real estate agent marketing.

So how do you stand out from the crowd? Too many real estate agents make the mistake of talking about themselves in a sales meeting or real estate agent marketing instead of directly addressing and offering solutions to a prospect's needs.

An agent's content strategy should be the following:

1. Who do I want to reach?
2. What do they want?
3. How do I get what I want by giving them what they want?

So what about your content strategy? One way to achieve this is to view local media producers as the competition—instead of other agents—and generate local-level content and subsequently become an authority on a particular neighborhood or area. People want content before they want a pitch. That's the main underlying philosophy of Internet marketing.

Therefore your approach is to sell not just a house but a lifestyle, and provide content that no one else is providing on that neighborhood level. What makes the community you serve special and inviting? What's happening down the street and around the corner? These stories can get passed around and shared and, before you know it, a prospect is contacting you because the comfort level has already been established. Content is great word-of-mouth marketing, and if you think like a media company, as opposed to a Realtor, it can generate great leads.

So how do you begin? Start a real estate blog. And generate unique content.

And next? Promote your real estate agent reviews on ReachFactor, because you still want to be promoting your skills and experience.

To view the original article, visit the ReachFactor blog.

Further Reading

• Hyperlocal and the Real World: 5 Strategies to Dominate the National Portals
• How to Localize Your Marketing Strategy to Sell More Homes
• SEO Battles With Big Real Estate Websites? Kill Them With Local Niche Content.