Market share is the portion of a market controlled by a particular company or product. For example, if there are ten real estate agencies in the location you wish to service, and two other real estate photographers are servicing eight of these agencies, then you would have the potential to secure the trust of these two agents and start your real estate photography business with a 20% share of the market. Your medium term goal may be to secure 30% of the market in the first nine months of operation by marketing your services to the other agents and convince at least one of them that you can provide a better service than their current real estate photographer.
To establish your share of the market you need to select the real estate sectors you plan to focus on (i.e. residential real estate, commercial real estate or both) and then compile the list of competitors and potential clients currently working in the chosen sectors. It can be time-consuming, so it is best to hire a freelancer to complete this task while you focus on sharpening your skills in the field.
Compiling a list of target agents in your region will provide a good indication of your total market size.
Completing a competitor analysis will help give you an even better understanding of your potential
share of the market and how you compare to other real estate photographers in your area.
The easiest way to compile a list of potential clients is to spend time on the most popular real estate platform in your country, search for listings in the locations you wish to service and then record the details of each agent that shows in your search results. Once you know the company each agent represents you can visit their agency website, add their team’s names, and contact details to your potential client list before reaching out via phone, social media and/or email. Make sure you thoroughly research the laws around emailing or cold-calling people in your country, as many countries have legislation that restrict this practice or have rules around how this can be done legally.
Keep in mind that the agents that have the most real estate listings on the property platforms are of course your key potential clients as they will most likely understand the importance of professional photography and would be able to bring you highest volume of photo shoot orders if you can secure them as a client.
However, real estate agents that are clearly not using a professional real estate photographer to shoot their listings, may need some more education on the benefits or they simply have not had the opportunity (budget or found the right photographer) yet and are willing to eventually use a professional. They may also be worth pursuing as a future client for your business if you can convince them of the benefits of professional real estate photography.
Note: This article is an extract from the resources on the Education page on this website.
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