I’ve been mildly obsessed lately with the traditional meets digital mix.

Especially now because tougher markets create new opportunities. This is when market share is gained. More visible, not less.

So, the unconventional approach is to increase the volume of communication, such as marketing, sales, service, etc.

Not wasting resources (time, money & energy).

Just more conversations. More activity.

Yet there’s only a handful of people who really get old-school & new-school marketing.

That’s why I couldn’t be happier to share today’s playbook with Wilson.

He’s literally built his entire business and brand on getting attention, both traditionally and digitally (without losing all of his profit to referral fees). He really gets it.

His focus is on generating his own leads and controlling the market (he is #1 in South SF and owns 10% of all transactions).

(Btw many asked for more data, so this one’s for you, lol)

So, whether you have time, money, or just the ambition to do more, these are systems anyone can implement today to win listings.

— Andrew

Playbook

When many think of farming, they think of mail, but it’s way more than that. It’s actually one of the few proven ways to get listing leads.

• Farming is Wilson's primary method for consistently getting listings in a specific geographic area

• He targets single-family resale home neighborhoods, avoiding condos/townhomes due to solicitation restrictions

• His current farm is in South San Francisco, which he's been working for 7-8 years

• He's now expanding to new areas in San Mateo County

So, how does Wilson evaluate a market he wants to enter?

So these are the 3 key numbers he looks at:

• Analyzes competition - looks for areas where top 3 agents don't have over 10% market share each

• Considers turnover rate - aims for about 3% annual turnover (typical rate)

• Evaluates owner-occupancy rates - prefers 80-90% owner-occupied

• Assesses geographic challenges - chooses hilly areas other agents avoid

But once he’s chose a market, what does he expect?

He goes in with these expectations and commitments:

• Monthly: 14 hours - visiting each door in the farm once a month, which means committing to those 14 hours every month.

• Weekly: 4 hours - committing 10% of a full-time work week to farming (assuming a 40-hour work week)

• Daily: He suggests splitting this into two 2-hour sessions per week

Results: Wilson mentions that it typically takes about 9 months to see the first paycheck from farming.

“You'll have a handful of listing opportunities in your farm."

He’s now bumping that up to 2x a month based on Andy Tse’s (#2 in the state of California) advice.

So, what’s the message and the content?

Campaign example:

• 1 newsletter a month

• 1 market update / recently sold a month

• 1 call-to-action angle like Rent vs. Sell

• 1 sold story / recently sold a month

Goals (Calls to Action):

1. request - home value, rent vs sell, keep or sell, maximize your value

2. get to an event

3. get on the newsletter list

4. etc.

What you can roughly expect for the cost (I ran this digitally, so if you use more local methods, then this will be lower)

How?

• Click2mail

• Lofty direct mail

• Vistaprint

• Mailshark

• Postcardmania

• Express Docs

• Canva

• EDDM

• Local print

So, how can you combine traditional with digital like Wilson?

Wilson focused heavily on search based platforms like Googly My Business (100+ reviews), Yelp, his website, YouTube and then went big on social.

He focuses heavily on social proof on his social, ads, etc.

Script:

But he hired a “D-Rock,” aka a videographer, on staff, so they always had someone (for events, listings, content… anything).

Even when the market dipped he kept their videographer.

Wilson’s Monthly Calendar example:

The team:

• Daily: Team huddle, share wins and gratitude on Instagram Stories

• Mon-Fri: 2-hour farming sessions (twice a week, 4 hours total)

• Wednesday: Coaching day, live stream portions of coaching sessions

Weekly:

• Create and schedule social media content (property journeys, market updates, testimonials)

• Monitor and respond to online reviews (Google, Yelp)

• Update website content and optimize SEO

Bi-weekly:

• Send postcards to farm area (1,000 doors)

• Convert postcard content to email format and send

Monthly:

• Send newsletter to email list

• Send market update / recently sold to farm area

• Create and share Rent vs. Sell comparison content

• Feature a local South San Francisco or San Mate County business

• Share San Mateo County area updates

• Create and share a sold story / recently sold property highlight

• Aim to add 8 quality contacts to database from digital outreach

• Create long-form educational YouTube video

• Repurpose YouTube content for Instagram and Facebook

• Review and adjust Google Ads for local searches

This is what the content looks like:

1. Video Strategy

   • YouTube focus: Long-form educational content

   • Topics: Market updates, home improvement tips, local area insights

   • Goal: Repurpose content across platforms (Instagram, Facebook)

2. Client Education

   • Repurpose home buying workshop recording for lead nurturing

   • Create content addressing market changes (e.g., interest rates, lawsuits)

3. Event Marketing

   • Digital promotion for annual events: a) 2 neighborhood picnics b) 1 shred day (post-tax season) c) 1 movie day (Disney/Pixar, 290-seat theater booking) d) Educational events (e.g., home buying workshop)

4. Email Marketing

   • Monthly market updates to farm area (1,000 doors)

   • Bi-weekly postcards converted to email format

5. Advertising

   • Minimal spend on traditional social media ads

   • Focus on Google Ads for local "South City" and "San Bruno" searches

So this is an example how you can turn it into quarterly campaigns & KPI’s to hit:

Database building goals:

• Goal: Add 1-2 quality contacts per hour of farming

• Potential: 8 new contacts per month, nearly 100 per year

Conversion metrics:

• Aims for 10% market share in his farm area

• Acknowledges “losing” 90% is normal and not a failure

Want to learn more about Wilson’s social media content strategy that helps him go viral locally? Then check out the “Coming Soon” (local development & area update) content playbook.

It’s the same playbook Ken runs with the Orlando Real (169,000+ followers).

But if you want to dive deeper into Wilson’s playbooks then check out his recent podcast on Breaking and Building Leaders!