Becoming a Better Business Broker Day 11: Marketing Strategies for Listings

Welcome back to Becoming a Better Business Broker in 30 Days!

This concise series title describes exactly what we hope you get out it - becoming a broker that can close more deals with less work.

If you missed yesterday, check out Becoming a Better Business Broker Day 10: Utilizing Technology & Tools.

Today, we're exposing the mysterious (for many of us) world of marketing, starting with Marketing Strategies for Listings.

1. Digital Presence is Key

When we talk about 'digital presence' this doesn't mean hiring your nephew to post on LinkedIn 3x a month. It also means more than just having a website - that's table stakes today.

To create a lasting impression in our modern world, your marketing strategy needs to include social media, online marketplaces, paid advertising, and email marketing. Here's how to leverage each:

• Website: Ensure your website is user-friendly, mobile-responsive (bold for importance), and updated with your latest listings. Incorporate SEO strategies to improve visibility on search engines. Want to incorporate your listings directly into your website? Speak to our friends at Deal Studio.
• Social Media: The vanilla advice here is 'share your listings on Facebook and LinkedIn' but that's obvious. What is less obvious is creating 'teaser' content that drives high intent interest to your platform messages (DMs). Why DMs? Because you can track the leads very easily and they take a certain amount of effort.

• Online Marketplaces: In addition to the DealBuilder Marketplace, platforms like BizBuySell or BusinessesForSale.com are frequented by potential buyers. Ensure your listings are well-presented and detailed.
• Email Marketing: Utilize tools like Apollo.io to quickly generate buyer lists within their sell-side client's industry. Grow your list by adding every inquiry from online marketplaces to your email list or newsletter.  

Here's an example of teaser content: 

And here's the result:

An example of a long-form post (the key is it is not an article), that showcases the unique skillset of your firm with a real example of success. 

3. Email Newsletter

We would say (with confidence) that newsletters are the most underused asset at the disposal of business brokers.

Here's what makes us so bullish on newsletters:

• No platform risk - Facebook, Google, or Twitter (X) can't shut off your access to your email list. This is one of the few sacred direct relationships we control with our customers in today's world.
• Ability to Enrich Data - if you haven't already, send out a Google Form or Type Form to your entire buyer email list with a series of questions about their goals, EBITDA target, geographic preferences, etc. This will give you a ton of insight into your buyer pool, further, if you sync this data to your CRM (using the team at Deal Studio), you can start marketing your deals directly to your buyer list, perhaps never needing to list your client's business online (a win-win).
• Alternative Revenue Streams - if you do it right, your newsletter could actually help produce some alternative revenue for your brokerage. For example, perhaps your local SBA banker would like to do some targeted advertising to all 2,000 buyers in your newsletter.

4. Co-Brokering (oooh controversial choice)

Ah yes, co-brokering, a business broker debate as old as time. We actually need to apologize to a few brokers right now - we forgot our 'trigger warning' label for this last recommendation ⚠️

Okay, that's enough teasing. But seriously, if you are an adamant 'NO!!' to co-brokering, you can skip this section. If you are open to co-brokering, however, you should consider using online marketplaces like DealBuilder or BizBuySell where you can state what buy-side commission split you're willing to offer. This will give you access to buyers you might never connect with. In our humble opinion, this is in the best interest of the client, even if the buy-side broker turns out as useful as a square wheel.

Conclusion: A Strategic Approach to Marketing

When it comes to marketing your listings, you need to stand out. This starts with creating a lasting digital presence by sharing the very unique perspective we all share as business brokers. People are fascinated by our secretive industry - use this to your advantage and build a loyal following, converting these people to your company newsletter.

Building a strong following on social media + newsletter creates a flywheel effect. The better content you create --> more likes/followers --> algorithm recommends it to their network --> more likes/followers --> more motivation to put out even better content.

Use this flywheel to your advantage and start enhancing your marketing presence today! And if you're like us and need some (or a lot) of help - that's okay too - just go talk to the team at Deal Studio to get you sorted.

Stay tuned for Day 12, where we'll explore Managing Client Expectations (we might be asking you guys for advice on this one 😂).

If you want to learn more about automating your business brokerage with DealBuilder, please visit our site or book a demo here.