15 Innovative Real Estate Marketing Tricks That the Pros Use
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has 1.36 million members. To say that competition is fierce would be a gross understatement.
As if that wasn’t enough, real estate buyers are now taking a more proactive approach to homeownership and doing a lot of the leg work themselves using the internet to scout for deals. With these odds stacked against you, you're probably wondering how to market yourself as a real estate agent.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. With the right real estate marketing techniques, you can set yourself apart from the pack and bring home the big bucks.
Here are the top 15 real estate marketing ideas that the pros use. Read on.
1. Real Estate Marketing 101: Create a Website
At the risk of stating the obvious, you need to create a website for your real estate business so that potential clients can be able to find you. Use it as an avenue to include available real estate listings in the area and keep it updated.
It’s also a great place to show off your accolades, certifications and anything else that would build your prospective clients’ confidence in your abilities. Most consumers do a quick online search to investigate products and services they are about to purchase.
2. Build a Blog
Once you have a website, start a blog there to post content that’s optimized for SEO. There are lots of tools available to help you optimize your posts. The whole idea here is for your real estate website to rank well on Google.
This will ensure that it shows up on the search results for prospective clients looking for real estate agents. Make it easy for them to navigate through your website. You can also place backlinks in real estate profile sites that link back to your main website.
3. Find Your Niche
With the fierce competition out there, the first thing you need to establish is: What differentiates you from all the other real estate agents out there? What do you bring to the table?
What’s your area of expertise in the real estate market? These are all critical questions you need to be candid about if you hope to gain some traction as one of the top agents in the country.
For instance, you could design your business model to offer exclusive discounts to senior citizens, military servicemen or veteran soldiers. Perhaps you could cater to the members of your community who usually have a bit of a harder time footing the initial costs of buying a home.
You make it easier for them by entering into a partnership with credit financing institution that is willing to get into long term payment arrangements with your clients. The possibilities are virtually limited. Take the time to decide what you want to be known for.
4. Invest in a Chat Service
In today’s fast-paced world, people are no longer constrained to operating between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The country is a 24-hour economy. The last thing you want is for someone to go to your web page only to be met with a “Closed for Business” sign.
You need a system that’s always on call to answer any inquiries potential clients may have. That’s where a Live Chat service comes in handy.
Since you’re not awake 24 hours a day to help interested customers, a chat service will ensure that the conversation keeps going during the hours you’re unavailable. That way, you can have peace of mind that you’re not leaving money on the table when you’re sleeping!
5. Video Content
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. How many words then would you say a video is worth? It must be a whole lot, right?
Then why not incorporate video marketing into your strategy? According to a study done by Wyzowl, 72% of people say that when confronted with video or text on the same page, they would rather use video to learn about a product or service.
What’s more the same study revealed that 78% of marketers say video gives them an excellent ROI. In short, if you’re not leveraging video content to market yourself, you’ll spend the rest of your days playing catch-up with the competition.
Start with what you have. Use your phone camera to record footage of a home tour when you’re having an open house, and upload this to your socials and website.
You can also position yourself as an expert in your industry by filming short 1-minute long videos answering a FAQ from your clients. You get the idea.
6. Get the Influencers Talking
Most brands nowadays look to influencers to get exposure. This is a great real estate marketing strategy you can employ to put yourself out there.
“Influencers” in this case can be defined in many ways. It could be someone with a large online social following.
Or it could be a real estate industry-adjacent professional who would be considered influential in their space. Essentially, it’s anyone with high-visibility that you can rope into a joint marketing campaign to let everyone know you’re there.
7. Quality over Quantity Always
Customers today are constantly bombarded with content. The sheer volume of it is dizzying. So, it’s important to make sure that the content you put out isn’t drowned out by all the noise.
For starters, you could be tempted to Share, Retweet or Repost every single real-estate related content that comes your way. Doing that will inadvertently overwhelm your audience.
Worst case scenario: They could respond by clicking the “Unfollow” button faster than a bat out of hell.
That would be counterproductive. Instead, schedule your content and post meaningful things that your audience will enjoy.
8. Develop Email Marketing Campaigns
As the owner of a real estate company marketing itself, you should endeavor to build an email list. You can then create and mail out a weekly or monthly newsletter that has a roundup of new property listings alongside their respective images.
Attach links to the full listing, a video tour and/or a virtual staging of the property. It’s also a great opportunity to include some of your blog content in there.
9. Virtual Staging
Physically staging a home can be a tedious and time-consuming affair especially if you have to keep doing it for every potential buyer who shows some interest in the property. Luckily, there's an alternative.
You can use a virtual staging website to save you the time and money you would have otherwise spent physically staging the home. What’s more, you’re able to reach a larger number of people.
10. Run a Paid Instagram Promotion
Use Instagram ads to display the most compelling pictures or videos of your listings. You’ll be able to engage with potential property buyers on a wider scale.
Simply pick your target audience, select a budget and post your ad content. Make sure your ads are highly-targeted to boost your ROI.
11. Create a Zillow Profile
Zillow is the largest real estate and rental online market place that connects buyers with real estate agents in their area. It’s basically the Yelp of the real estate industry boasting 36 million unique visitors every month.
If you want a piece of that action, you’re in luck. The site allows for real estate agent advertising on their platform. A website with that kind of traffic will certainly give you the exposure you need. Advertising your services on Trulia is another awesome alternative.
12. Social Media Presence
Believe it or not, people spend on average 135 minutes per day plugged into social networking sites. It’s therefore important to ensure that you’ve signed up on all the major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.
It's a great way to interact with users and share good press. Don't forget to add social sharing icons to your property pages. Your audience may want to share some of their favorite housing pics with their family and friends.
13. Create an Unforgettable Business Card
Hire a talented graphics designer to create business cards that will leave an indelible impression on prospective clients. Be sure to hand them out at any social or networking event you may be at.
14. Sponsor Local Events
If there’s an event coming up at your kid’s school, local festival or sporting event, don’t miss the chance to sign up as a local sponsor. It a great chance to hand out your branded merchandise to attendees of the events. These could be anything from branded t-shirts, branded program pamphlets, to flyers with your information printed on them.
15. Build a Google My Business Page
Create your profile on Google My Business so that it appears when people are searching for real estate businesses on Google Maps of Search. The sign-up process is quick, easy and free.
The Bottom Line
The real estate business today is drastically different from what it was a decade ago. It’s been full of ups and downs but ultimately, your personal goal should be to stand out and make some decent money. Use the real estate marketing tips outlined here to make a name for yourself.
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