The document discusses target markets for real estate agents. It emphasizes the importance of clearly defining an ideal client in order to effectively market properties. The document recommends agents choose a niche target market based on factors like life stage, income level, age, location preferences, and whether they have a warm market of referrals. Defining the target market guides agents on where to find prospects and how to tailor their marketing. Some potential niche target markets discussed include first-time home buyers, luxury buyers, seniors, and investors.

1. Target Market Basics for Real Estate
Any good marketer or business owner knows the foundations on which they must
build. One of them is a clear and accurate picture of who their ideal client is.
Without knowing who you are selling to, how can you sell?
If a Realtor® is strategic, he or she may decide upon a target market before
starting up their business. This is ideal, but it doesn’t always happen. And of
course, the target market may change as a business progresses. That’s fine, but it
does require ‘going back to the foundations’ and making any necessary changes.
The real estate industry is no different than any other industry, and today’s society
is one that loves experts and specialists. Choosing a niche is the first step towards
establishing a specialty and therefore an expertise. In the highly competitive real
estate industry, an expert or specialist will be chosen over a generalist every time.
Choosing a target market also guides you agents in what prospects to focus on,
where to find these prospects and how to communicate with them. It’s
exhausting, expensive and fruitless to be pitching to everyone and their dog.

2. You can tailor content and marketing efforts to your target niche
with a minimum of expense and a lot of common sense. You will
need some advertising, but a little can go a long way.
How do you set about identifying your target market? First, start
where you are. What segment are you drawn to? What niche do
you understand? Where does you experience and expertise lie?
Niche Ideas to Consider
Stage of Life and Income Levels
• First time buyers / sellers. They are probably seeking the ‘starter
home’, looking to get into the real estate market and then work
their way up the property ladder as their family, income and needs
grow.

3. • Second home purchasers who are looking to upsize or downsize. These may be
people with growing families or they may be empty nesters.
•
• The high end luxury buyer / seller. Bigger prices mean bigger commissions, but
they also mean a lot more personal involvement, hand-holding, and more
expensive marketing collaterals.
•
• Investors and Recreational Buyers. Unique and highly specialized areas of focus.
Age Demographic
• Seniors (65 and over)
• These are the baby boomers, and may be ‘empty-nesters’ too. Their beliefs and
ethics were developed in a very different era.
•
• Gen X
• Born between the mid-1960s and early 1980s.
• Gen Y
• Born between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s. Be prepared for some entitlement
thinking and technological savvy.

4. Each of these age groups has different collective memories, cultural icons and other touchstones that you
can work with if you clearly understand them.
Warm market, referrals, or cold market.
• If you have a warm market, that’s great because people who already know you are the most likely to
do business with you. That is, as long as they like you, trust you and believe that you have the skills
and experience and expertise to deliver what you say you will.
Lifestyle and philosophy
• City or country
• Condo or fully detached
• Eco-friendly or full amenities
Other considerations:
• Education Level
• Current Location
The list above is meant as a starting point, something to stimulate ideas. Get as clear and specific as
possible: you can’t hit a target that you can’t see. Once you know who your ideal prospect is then you
can educate yourself on their interests, needs, and motivations.
Tune into our next Blog for Part Two. We’ll explore where to find your target audience, how to market to
them, and what to say when you do.