How Do You Spend Your Marketing Dollars?

Where do most of your advertising dollars go?

On average, Realtors® spend $5,873 on advertising each year, according to RISMedia’s report, Don’t Sell Yourself Short: Follow the Money in Marketing. The most popular place to spend marketing money is social media, according to 25%, followed by direct mail at 17% and digital marketing and print, both at 13%. Brokers spent $50,000 on average in a year, focusing on social media (22%), digital marketing (19%) and direct mail (10%). Brokers who have been in the industry for at least 15 years spent $53,000 on average on marketing, compared to their peers who have 15 years or less of broker experience, who spent just $18,300 on marketing annually. Those with longevity in the broker business also spent nearly $25,000 yearly on recruiting agents and retaining them, while those with less time in the business spent $6,857. However, 31% of brokers reported they spend nothing or next to nothing on recruiting and retaining agents.

When marketing a home, agents reported spending 3.2% on average of the list price. However, 67% reported spending 1% or less of the listing price on advertising. Female agents spent more than their male counterparts, at 3.45% of the list price, compared to 2.74%. Male agents were more likely to spend their marketing dollars on their personal brand, at $6,400 per year, while females spent $5,600 annually on average.

But it’s not just money. Time is also something many agents are devoting to marketing. On average, agents spend more than eight hours per week working on marketing their personal brand, with 12% reporting spending at least 20 hours a week, if not more. New agents, those who have only been in the business three years or less, were more likely to spend more time on marketing; 56% reported they spend 10 or more hours a week, with 20% spending 20 or more hours per week.