One of the few things I learned in college that was actually beneficial and useful in my real estate investment business is the SWOT analysis.  A SWOT Analysis is nothing more than a method for looking at your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, And Threats as you enter the marketplace.

By doing this little exercise it will help you to find competitive advantage to the marketplace and guide your real estate investor marketing.

One thing is for certain – we as investors can’t be everything to everybody – so it’s important to look at your marketing strategically and see what’s being done.

So, I want you to look at your competitors and see what they’re doing -

Analyze their Strengths, Weaknesses, the Opportunities, And the Threats.

And you’ll probably see that most of them are doing the same things – ie- running classified ads in the newspaper, going to the courthouse steps, maybe doing some bandit signs, etc.

Do they have a real estate investor website?

What is their offering?

Do they offer a free report?

Do they offer a free consultation?

How is their website ranking using keywords that someone in your local market would type in?

Are they partnering with other investors?

Do they offer any kind of free education (this could be free real estate investing info on teaching them wholesaling in order to get more bird dogs or how to stop foreclosure to homeowners, etc)

Are they using other businesses as a source for their leads?

What all forms of media are they using?

Are they using free press from authority sources like newspaper and tv?

And by looking at what they’re doing – how can you stand out?

Where is your opportunity in the market?

And if you go one step further and start calling some of your competitors when you get a deal, you’ll see how much competition that you really have.

Put on the shoes of a motivated seller and just sit back and observe at how they present themselves and how many look like they’ve just completed the weekend “get rich” quick seminar.

Ask yourself “how you can add more value” and how can you separate yourself from the rest of the ‘we buy houses’ crowd.

By taking a step back and looking at your real estate market strategically, I’m certain you’ll find a way to not only tap into the market but dominate it.

Ok maybe this wasn’t so ‘down and dirty’ after all, but will help you gain the needed edge your looking for.