Businesswoman presents ideas on how to market your appraisal business

6 Ways to Market Your Appraisal Business (Besides Word of Mouth)

 

If you are self-employed or own your own real estate appraisal business, you know how crucial it is to maintain a steady stream of new assignments. We asked our appraisal community, “What’s your PRIMARY method for marketing your appraisal services?” While many appraisers reported that they rely heavily on referrals, others shared some interesting alternatives to the traditional word-of-mouth marketing method. Keep reading for helpful ideas on how to market your appraisal business.

What’s your PRIMARY method for marketing your appraisal services?

What's your PRIMARY method for marketing your appraisal services?

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Referrals/Word of mouth (42%)

“I network with realtors all the time and, by their word of mouth, they send me referrals, which leads to more lenders, which leads to market appraisals and so on.”

“I have built a network of real estate agents who all know they can call on me.”

“I establish relationships I can trust and market myself as an honest, straight-shooting, no nonsense appraiser.”

Website (18%)

“Having a website that people can easily access, phone number, email and order form is invaluable to attracting clients.”

“SEO helped with our very basic website.”

Email (12%)

“We email a monthly newsletter to our clients and subscribers. We have had positive feedback from our newsletter. This newsletter is also published on our blog.”

Social media (6%)

“I watch for Facebook Friends that complain about real estate woes and offer to help. I have several classmates that are local Realtors, so I occasionally post helpful info on my page or on their page to stir up potential work.”

Networking events (6%)

“Face to face meetups are always good. It’s good to have a face to a name while talking later in the career.”

“Bank panels are the only source of my work.”

Other (16%)

Other ways to generate business include doing “contract work with a local bank” or working with one or more AMCs. One smart way to market your appraisal services to these types of clients is by getting on their lists of approved vendors. In a previous survey, respondents identified “getting onto approved rosters (lender, AMC, FHA, VA)” as the number one way to get new appraisal customers and bring in business.

Another creative idea is to market your appraisal business using car magnets. One appraiser said that, in addition to a website, “I also have car magnets. Though I do a lot of AMC work, I don’t always want to ‘just’ do AMC work. The magnets help identify me as a professional and I get other types of business from it such as home measurement and non-AMC assignments.”

For additional marketing tips and ideas, read our article: Top Appraisers Advise on How to Generate New Business.

How do you market your appraisal business? Have you discovered any effective marketing methods not listed here? Join the conversation! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Or, sign up for our newsletter to get a new survey question in your inbox each month.

 

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on December 10, 2019 and updated in November 2023.