Marketing for New Real Estate Agents: The First 90 Days

On this page (8 questions)

1. What should a brand-new agent set up in week one?
2. What does a 90-day realtor marketing plan look like for a new real estate agent?
3. What is worth paying for in the first 90 days, and what is not?
4. Which marketing strategies for realtors are worth a new agent’s time?
5. How does a new agent get the first five reviews honestly?
6. When does a new agent's Google profile start ranking?
7. When should a new agent move from doing it themselves to done-for-you?
8. Where do the facts on this page come from?

This guide is a starting realtor marketing plan for a new real estate agent: what to set up in week one, what to pay for, how to earn the first reviews and when to hand the work off. The same marketing for real estate agents works at any stage; a new agent has to do it in the right order, because there is no sales history yet to fall back on. Early success in real estate comes from being easy to check at the moment a buyer or seller starts the home buying or selling process.

What should a brand-new agent set up in week one?

A new agent should set up four things. First, the state license lookup entry, so the agent appears when a client checks. Second, a Google Business Profile in the agent’s own name, with “Real estate agent” as the category and a service area set. Third, complete profiles on Zillow and Realtor.com with the same name, brokerage and phone. Fourth, a review link saved in the phone. Google's guidelines name real estate agents as individual practitioners who may hold their own profile, separate from the brokerage.

The profile matters most. The National Association of REALTORS 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers found 76 percent of repeat buyers and 67 percent of first-time buyers interviewed only one agent. That means the check before that one interview is the whole contest, and the check happens on Google. Setup is in the Google Business Profile for realtors hub.

Marketing for a new real estate agent: the first 90 days

1. Google profileIn the agent's own name.
2. Real reviewsA handful, asked honestly.
3. One-page websiteWho they are and where they work.
4. LaterPaid leads, custom site, ads.

What does a 90-day realtor marketing plan look like for a new real estate agent?

A simple 90-day realtor marketing plan for a new real estate agent has three phases. Days 1 to 30 build the foundation: the Google Business Profile, matching Zillow and Realtor.com profiles, a one-page website and a saved review link. Days 31 to 60 build trust: ask every past client and every person in the agent’s sphere for an honest review, send one short email announcing the license, and offer to host open houses for colleagues at the brokerage. Days 61 to 90 build momentum: post to the Google profile every week, add photos from real showings and closings, and note which marketing efforts started a conversation.

Each phase depends on the one before it. An email or an open house sends potential clients to look the agent up, and the profile, reviews and website are what they find. That is why the foundation comes first in marketing for real estate agents at any stage, and why it matters most for an agent with no sales history yet. In the real estate industry, that order is often the difference between a lead who calls and a lead who keeps scrolling.

What is worth paying for in the first 90 days, and what is not?

Worth it: a domain in the agent’s name, a simple site with an about page and a contact page, and professional headshots. Add either an hour a week of the agent’s own time on the profile, or a starter plan that audits it every month and says what to fix. Not yet: portal lead programs, a custom website, Google Ads and anything with a 12-month term. Those all work better once the profile has reviews and the site has something to say.

The reason: a lead that checks a new agent and finds an empty profile with no reviews moves on, and the money that bought the lead is gone. Spend the first quarter making the check come out well. The same goes for real estate websites: a new agent needs one clear page that names the area and the brokerage, not a large site with nothing on it yet.

Which marketing strategies for realtors are worth a new agent’s time?

The marketing strategies for realtors that pay off first cost time, not money: telling the people who already know you, hosting an open house, and making sure buyers and sellers find a complete profile when they search. Good real estate agent marketing in year one is mostly follow-through. Business cards and simple email marketing to the agent’s sphere still work, because they reach people who already trust the agent. Social media marketing helps when it shows real work, such as a listing, an open house or a closing, rather than generic real estate marketing ideas.

Paid digital marketing comes later. Google Ads, portal leads and paid posts on social media platforms send potential buyers to the agent’s profile and website. If those are empty, the money is spent before the agent has anything that builds trust. For marketing for realtors who are new to the business, the order matters more than the budget: a complete online presence first, then the ads that point to it. A sound real estate marketing strategy treats every paid marketing tool as a way to send people to that foundation, not a replacement for it.

How does a new agent get the first five reviews honestly?

By asking every person they have done real work for, with a direct review link, no incentives and no filtering. That includes the first closed client and buyers who were shown homes but did not buy. It also includes a seller who was helped even though the listing appointment did not convert. Google’s review policy prohibits incentives and selective solicitation. The FTC’s consumer review rule makes fake or paid reviews a federal matter. The rules are in Google review rules for real estate agents.

The method that works is consistency: the same text, with the same link, sent at the same point every time. Five honest reviews in the first quarter is a realistic target for an agent who asks everyone.

When does a new agent's Google profile start ranking?

Google's SEO Starter Guide says changes can take “a few hours” to “several months.” A new profile is at the slow end because Google has little to work with yet: no reviews, no history, no mentions. In Top Real Estate Systems' client work, a new profile that is complete, posted to weekly and collecting reviews usually appears for the agent’s own name within days. It appears for area searches over weeks to a few months. That is experience, not a promise.

What speeds it up is steady activity, not bursts: one post a week every week beats ten posts in January and none until June. The Get Started plan follows the same logic. Every month TRES audits the profile against the TRES Standard and sends a step-by-step game plan, so the agent, or an assistant, always knows the next thing to do.

When should a new agent move from doing it themselves to done-for-you?

When the profile is ranking and the agent’s time is worth more than the hour a week the work takes. Or when the agent admits the hour is not happening. At Top Real Estate Systems the move is the agent’s call: Get Started is month to month with no minimum, and an agent can move up to Get Found, where the profile is run for them, at any time.

The second case is just as common. Take an agent with three closings a month and no time to post. Paying $399 a month to have the profile run serves that agent better than letting it go quiet. The plans are on the pricing page. The plan built for the first 90 days is Get Started, $199 a month, with no setup fee and no minimum.

Where do the facts on this page come from?

Buyer statistics are from the National Association of REALTORS 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Statements about Google's rules and ranking are quoted from Google's guidelines and help pages. Plan terms are Top Real Estate Systems' own, published on its pricing page.

• National Association of REALTORS — Highlights from the 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers
• Google Business Profile Help — Guidelines for representing your business on Google
• Google Business Profile Help — Prohibited and restricted content (reviews policy)
• Google Search Central — SEO Starter Guide