Engaging with both new and established clients year-round can pose a challenge, as your marketing endeavors might get lost amidst their busy schedules and obligations. However, during the summer months, life tends to ease up a bit. With longer days and ample sunshine, people find more time to unwind outdoors. Additionally, with children out of school, schedules often become more flexible. This presents a perfect opportunity to host real estate client appreciation events, fostering connections and strengthening relationships in a relaxed setting.
Friends, neighbors and co-workers are taking summer vacations. Altogether, summer is a relaxed season that is filled with fun. As a real estate agent, this presents you with a great opportunity to connect with your clients.
While you can and should continue your year-round marketing efforts throughout the summer months, the long, warm days and laid-back vibe of the season give you more opportunities to get in front of your clients.
In fact, when you work in some of these summer client events with your regular marketing efforts, you can reap the benefits throughout the rest of the year and beyond.
The Many Benefits of Hosting Summer Real Estate Client Appreciation Events
Unlike an Open House, real estate client appreciation events may require a significant allocation from your marketing budget. However, the bright side is that the return on investment for summer client appreciation events can be reaped in both the short term and the long term.
You may have the opportunity to meet with dozens of potential and established clients in person at your next summer client event. Many of these individuals may have questions about the current market, and they may be planning to buy or sell a home soon. Because of this, your event could open the door to client presentation meetings, home tours and more. You may even set appointments on the spot.
In addition, your responses to market-related questions could elevate their level of confidence and inspire them to move forward.
A summer client event also has substantial long-term benefits. For example, your next event gives you the exciting opportunity to reinforce the strength of established client relationships. These may be clients who you have not seen in months or even years, so the ability to stay in touch in a personal way is truly valuable.
Your summer client event also enables you to meet new clients, such as those from your area. By doing so, clients can put a name to a face. Your marketing postcards and other efforts have undoubtedly established name recognition, so putting a name to face enables you to make a personal connection.
Through a summer client event, you may also connect with various industry professionals and businesses throughout the community. For example, a title company or mortgage company may be interested in co-sponsoring your event. Building community connections is critical for growing your real estate business, so building a source of referrals and achieving other essential goals.
Fun Client Events for the Summer
With so many incredible benefits associated with hosting a client event this summer, you should start planning your next event about 4-6 months in advance. There are many fun and effective client event ideas that are well-suited for the summer months. What are some ideas that could work well for you?
A Pool Party
Hosting a summer pool party is a laid-back affair that provides ample opportunities for socializing with real estate clients. Even if you don’t have a swimming pool in your backyard, you can still explore this idea. Many community pools and even country club pools offer options for private events, making it an accessible choice for real estate client appreciation events.
Regardless of the setting for your pool party, there may be ample room available for dozens of potential and established clients to attend. As you plan your pool party, keep in mind that this type of event is generally considered to be family-friendly.
There are a few must-haves for a successful pool party. If your venue permits it, music is essential. Choose an upbeat playlist with songs that appeal to your specific attendees. Food and drinks are also essential. Barbecue is commonly associated with pool parties.
If your venue does not have a grill nearby, you can consider catered food or even alternatives. Great alternatives are pizza, sandwiches, summer fruits and other foods that can easily be enjoyed from a poolside lounge chair.
Socializing with guests is a must at your pool party, but you also want to give your guests something special to take home. You can prepare small goodie bags ahead of time that contain a few freebies, such as a branded koozie, a branded fridge magnet and other items. Because guests may come and go leisurely, place the goodie bags on a table near the exit.
There are a few types of businesses that you could strategically connect with for co-sponsoring opportunities. For example, a local restaurant may be willing to offer discounted catering in exchange for the opportunity to set up signage on the food table. You could also invite a lawn care expert and others whose services may be used by homeowners.
An Ice Cream or Shaved Ice Social
Are you looking for a more low-key event that your clients will really appreciate? An ice cream or shaved ice social gives you the perfect opportunity to help your clients beat the summer heat and to stay connected with them in a personal way.
Generally, clients will simply drop by to enjoy their treat and to chat with you for a few minutes, so you may potentially enjoy a higher attendance overall. More than that, this could be a very affordable option with a great return on investment.
Attendance may be specifically tied to the location and time of your event. For example, you may get a much higher turnout if you host the event at a neighborhood pool on a weekend afternoon than you would on a weekday morning.
If you are geo farming a family community, a late-morning event at the neighborhood park may garner ample interest.
However, you may only have a few minutes available to chat with each guest, so you need to make the most of each opportunity. Because many guests may arrive with children, consider offering a branded stress ball or balloons that kids may enjoy.
In addition, plan to give something special to the adults as well. For example, you could hand out a newsletter with market data or even a pamphlet with buyers’ and sellers’ tips.
Because of the nature of this type of event, you may find it more difficult to partner with many other types of businesses. However, you could work with a local ice cream shop, snow cone food truck or a similar type of business.
In exchange for the promotional opportunity that the event creates for them, you could receive a discounted rate for the treats.
A Block Party or BBQ
Another great idea for a summertime client event is a block party or a barbecue. While a block party is generally hosted in front of your house, a barbecue may be hosted in the community park, at the community clubhouse or even at a country club nearby. With a block party, you may be able to section off part of the residential street for the event. This gives you space for a kids’ bounce house. You could also have yard games, such as yard darts and cornhole.
Music is essential for both a barbecue and a block party. As is the case with a pool party, the music should appeal to the guests who are in attendance. On your invitations, ask your guests to bring a lawn chair and to invite a friend.
There are many party gift ideas for this type of event. For example, branded plastic cups and koozies fall within the theme of the event. Kids’ balloons, balls and other fun items may also be appreciated. Not only is this event a great opportunity to socialize with clients, you also want to have some marketing material on hand. For example, you may set up a small table with pamphlets specifically for buyers and sellers, a detailed handout with market data, and more.
This type of event may be as large as you wish it to be. In fact, if you have the budget and space available, you could potentially invite residents from several nearby streets to partake in the fun. With this in mind, you may be able to attract several co-sponsors to join in. Because so many homeowners will be in attendance, everyone from landscapers and pool maintenance companies to title companies, handymen and others may be interested in splitting the cost of the event with you.
They may also invite their own guests, and this gives you the opportunity to expand your reach.
A Networking Mixer
Hosting a networking mixer is also a wonderful idea that has rich benefits. Generally, a mixer is an adult-oriented event. This means that there may not be unnecessary interruptions and distractions from kids as you connect or reconnect with clients. In addition, mixers are often indoor events, so attendance may not be subject to weather conditions.
As a come-and-go event, a mixer may be relatively low-key, but it may still provide you with a great opportunity to communicate one-on-one with attendees. For a different kind of experience, you could plan to present a short seminar on local market news and stats in the middle of the event.
Finding the right venue for your mixer can be a challenge, but some nearby restaurants and nicer bars may be open to hosting your event for a discounted rate. The venue may provide all of the drinks and appetizers for a hassle-free experience. You simply have to show up with your marketing material and be ready to mingle.
If you are expecting a large group, it makes sense to ask other industry professionals to co-sponsor the event with you. They may also invite their own guests to bolster attendance.
Movie Night
At first glance, hosting an outdoor movie night as a summer marketing event may not seem like the best idea. After all, you may assume that your guests would be more interested in watching the movie than in socializing. In reality, however, this type of event can bring together many people in a relaxed setting, and it can provide you with wonderful opportunities for one-on-one conversations with attendees.
A movie night can be a relatively affordable marketing event. Simply rent or purchase a blowup screen and a projector, and select a family-friendly blockbuster to play. Ask attendees to bring their lawn chairs or blankets. Popcorn machines are relatively cheap to rent, and water bottles/soft drinks can either be sold or sponsored by a vendor.
The key to successful marketing during an outdoor movie night is to provide incentive for attendees to arrive before the movie starts. For example, food trucks and drink vendors can arrive 90 minutes before the movie starts and leave once the movie begins, which provides ample time to converse with people once they have their snacks and drinks in hand.
A Holiday-Themed Party
There are a handful of holidays in the summer months, including Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day. Each of these holidays provides you with a wonderful opportunity to host a holiday-themed event. You can fine-tune any of these other summer client events from a holiday perspective. For example, you could host an ice cream or snow cone stand at a community’s Fourth of July party.
You could host a military-themed Memorial Day barbecue or block party. An alternative to a summer holiday theme is to host a back-to-school event, such as a back-to-school pool party over the last weekend of summer vacation.
These are all special times when invitees may be eager to get out of the house and socialize, so you may find that attendance is high.
Because attendance could be higher at these types of events than others that may be held sporadically throughout the summer, you may be able to find several co-sponsors for your event with ease. For example, a restaurant may happily provide its food truck for a Labor Day block party.
Residential service providers, such as landscapers, maids and others, may also be happy to co-sponsor the event in exchange for dedicated booth space or a table.
Summer Client Events: Tips for Success
One of the most important steps that you can take when planning a summer client event is promotion. The bottom line is that clients will not attend if they are unaware of the event or if they are unenthusiastic about it. A great way to promote the event is by sending summer postcards well in advance.
A postcard can conveniently be displayed by clients on their fridges to serve as a reminder. You also should promote your event through social media, via email and in a community newsletter, if applicable.
In addition to others discussed here, solar power providers, daycares, charitable organizations and others may be popular with those who are in attendance.
You must offer take-home items to get the most mileage out of the event. Family-friendly events should include something for the kids as well as the parents. Think about branded merchandise for long-term benefits, but also include timely market reports and other information that clients can benefit from immediately.
Plan Your Summer Real Estate Client Appreciation Events today
It can take several weeks or longer to properly plan an amazing summer client event. With this in mind, we hope this article not only provides inspiration for your next summer event, but also lays the foundation that establishes you as a trusted expert in your area!
