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As with any other industry, the strategies for real estate marketing are constantly evolving. While some stay more or less the same throughout the years, others change slightly, and completely new strategies arrive.
Explore some of the best real estate marketing strategies examples to get some ideas you can incorporate into your plan for 2023 and beyond. You will notice that most of the strategies focus on digital advertising in this digital age, although there are still plenty of offline strategies.
After you have explored all the strategies in this guide, you will be ready to sit down and create your real estate marketing plan.
To do this, you will have to consider several important factors.
It can be helpful to start thinking about these things as you read through the examples of strategies, as that can help you determine how you can use each strategy to your advantage.
Have Numbers to Track
As with any other type of marketing plan, you need to be able to measure the success of your real estate marketing. This requires having a general idea of your current numbers, so you can see if there is any growth. Look at numbers such as the total sales volume, number of clients (divided by sellers and buyers), average listing prices, how many deals you close, your marketing costs, net income, and any other figure that could be important to track.
You will also want to pay close attention to some marketing-specific metrics, including the ROI, conversion rate, and cost per lead.
Know Your Marketing Budget
In addition to helping you track your success, you can use the above figures to help you figure out a good marketing budget. To make the most of your marketing budget, start by focusing on a few strategies or platforms. Otherwise, you may spread the budget too thin.
Create Personas to Understand Your Clients
No matter which of the following strategies you plan on using in your marketing, you will need to make sure you understand your clients. Think about who your customers are and create as many personas as necessary to represent all of them.
Think about factors like age, income, family size, location, hobbies and interests, and anything else that is relevant. You also want to take these personas a bit further in 2023, if you have not already done so. Consider factors such as what they are looking for in a home and how they go about looking for homes. You should also consider their activity on your website.
Creating a Marketing Calendar
Part of your marketing plan should involve creating a marketing calendar. This will include all of the strategies that you plan on using. Start by focusing on a handful of marketing channels. Only expand to include more once you are confident that you have a handle on the existing ones, as well as the resources needed to maintain them.
Remember that many of the following strategies work across several channels. The various strategies related to social media, for example, typically work well on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms.
As you look at strong real estate marketing strategies examples, you will notice that the most successful planners take the time to look at their competitors. You can learn a lot by looking at their marketing strategies. This will give you an idea of what works in your market and let you know what direction to take with your marketing strategy to stand out.
In today’s digital world, you need to have a strong website if you want to stand out from other real estate companies. But what is a strong website? It should be well-optimized, informative, eye-catching, and help convince visitors that they want to work with you. The following are just some of the aspects of your website that you will want to focus on.
Call to Action
When creating your website, make sure that you include a call to action (CTA) on every page. These can be subtle if you want, but you should always include them. It will not only encourage clients to take action, but it will also make it easy for them to do so.
Having a CTA on every page prevents a situation where someone looks at your website and loves it but doesn’t know how to get in touch with you.
Your Story
One of the most important real estate marketing strategies examples is creating a compelling page about you on your website. This should feature a picture of you, preferably taken by a professional photographer or of similar quality.
Use this page to let visitors know your story. How did you decide to enter real estate? Why do you love what you do? This is a great way to showcase your expertise as well as your personality and what sets you apart from other realtors.
As you create your website, keep mobile users in mind. Nearly all of your potential clients have smartphones, so they are likely to search for properties or realtors using them. If your website doesn’t load properly or fast enough, you will end up with a high bounce rate.
Most websites opt for a responsive design that adapts to various screen sizes. There is also the option of creating a separate mobile website, but this can be more time-consuming.
Any marketing strategy for real estate should include SEO. SEO will help you drive traffic to your website by organically increasing your ranking on the search results page.
A higher ranking means people searching for a realtor or real estate company in your area are more likely to see your page before that of your competitors. That, in turn, increases the chances that they will choose to visit your website over others.
Keep in mind that it will take some time to see results from SEO, but your efforts last a long time. Once you put in the initial effort, you just need to maintain your ranking, which is frequently less daunting.
Because SEO takes a while to see results and requires some regular effort, it is best to supplement it with a PPC (pay-per-click) strategy. With PPC, you bid on keywords, and if you win the bid, your link appears at the very top of the page, above the organic search results.
As mentioned, appearing higher up on the page dramatically improves your chances of people clicking on your link and visiting your website. The only thing to remember with PPC advertising is that as soon as you stop paying, you will stop appearing there.
That is why it is best used in conjunction with SEO. The PPC strategy provides immediate and pay-based benefits, while the SEO strategy provides long-term benefits that only cost you the effort that you put into it, such as hiring someone to create content.
No real estate marketing strategy should be complete without incorporating Google Display Ads. The Google Display Network is vast, so this is a great way to easily have your ads appear across various Google-owned websites without having to set up multiple programs.
Google Display Ads have a great deal of versatility and can include video ads or banner ads, among other options. You pay for the ads based on either the number of clicks or impressions they generate. As with PPC advertising, Google Display Ads are auction-based, so you bid against others.
No matter the goals of your real estate marketing, you want to make sure to claim your listings across directories. These include real-estate-specific directories, like Zillow, and general ones, such as Google My Business and Yelp.
Claiming these listings delivers several benefits. You increase the places that potential clients can find your information, making yourself easier to contact. It also improves your SEO ranking, as you will be mentioned more online.
Many of your correspondences with clients will occur via email, making your email signature an important part of real estate marketing. Use your signature to encourage potential clients to contact you. You obviously want to include a link to your website and your phone number, as well as any social media pages. Take it a step further and incorporate some of your most recent Instagram photos.
In addition to that, use your email signature to add value to recipients and engage with them. Maybe include a video, PDF, or link to a home checklist or a unique guide you created.
Most email marketing strategies have room for improvement, so see what you can do to incorporate this into your real estate marketing. Start by confirming you have at least some sort of strategy. You want to be sending regular emails with information, such as new listings in the area or advice for buying or selling a home.
From there, see what sub-strategies you need to incorporate to get the most from your email campaigns.
Segment Your Email Lists
If you just have a single email list and send everyone the same content, you are not using email campaigns to their full advantage. At the very least, segment the emails based on whether someone is buying, selling, or doing both. This can help you decide whether you share advice on preparing for an open house or on getting a home loan.
You can also use it in other ways. After all, those selling homes without any interest in buying probably don’t want to receive listings.
From there, you can segment your email list in nearly any way you can think of. Segment based on budget, location, currently active clients vs. past clients, lifestyle choices, or anything else relevant.
The most important reason to segment your email list is to ensure that the emails you send are relevant to the recipients. Irrelevant emails will have lower read and click-through rates. They can also lead to people unsubscribing.
If your emails are relevant, people will want to keep receiving them. Even if they don’t always read the full email, you remain present in their minds.
Encourage Email Subscribers Via Free Materials
You always want to grow your email list. One of the best ways to do so is to offer something in exchange for signing up. The most common and effective options include short e-books, guides, checklists, and infographics.
Make a landing page on your website dedicated to getting emails and letting people know what they will receive in exchange for it. Consider a pop-up on your home page as well, or at least a mention of it there.
Send Newsletters
Using your email list to send out regular newsletters is a strong strategy for educating your clients, showing your expertise and helping your leads remember your name. A newsletter may even help convince recipients that they need a realtor or to choose you, thanks to your knowledge and communication skills.
If you don’t have a presence on at least the major social media platforms, you are missing out on business opportunities. The best real estate marketing strategies examples incorporate social media in some way.
At the very least, have a profile on both Twitter and Facebook. Each of these should share basic information and have both a link to your website and phone number.
Post Regularly
Remember that consistency is key in marketing. You want to try to post as regularly as you can on social media. Set yourself up for posts at whatever frequency works for you, whether that is once or twice a day or a few times a week. Pick something feasible, so you can be successful.
If you aren’t sure what to post about, take a look at industry news for inspiration. You can also post to share your blogs, infographics, and other shareable content. Or, think back on your recent conversations with clients. If they asked something that is a common point of confusion, make a quick educational post clarifying it.
Connect With Current Events and Trends
To keep your posts relevant, do what you can to connect with relevant current events and trends. If there is a current viral meme, for example, consider adjusting it to work for the real estate industry. Join in on popular hashtags, as well.
The trick with this is to never try to make the connections feel forced. You want them to seem natural as this will boost engagement and make you seem more relatable.
Consider In-platform Advertising
You may also want to consider whether in-platform advertising is for you, such as boosting Facebook posts. Depending on your target audience, this can work very well.
Don’t Forget About Slide Share
Slide Share is often overlooked, but creating a presentation on it can help set you apart from the competition and bring more people to your website. Use it to share guides that answer questions your clients want to know, such as about home insurance, the appraisal process, or the process of getting a mortgage. Just remember to include your contact information and a link to your website.
Create the Right Videos
Many realtors still make the mistake of creating boring videos that just feature a slideshow of images and some music. While this does show off some of the properties you have sold in the past, it is far from what current audiences want.
Try to get creative and make videos that appeal to a range of people. Some examples of great video ideas include:
To provide some more ideas, homebuyers commonly use videos to research communities as well as to take video tours of properties.
Videos for Marketing Specific Properties
In real estate, you will have two main categories of videos: those that draw in potential clients and those used to sell specific homes. Most of the other real estate marketing strategies on this list focus on bringing in potential clients, but it’s worth a quick mention of how to market your properties with videos.
We already established that videos that just show static images of a property are boring. Instead, consider a video tour of the property. Moving images are much more engaging than static ones.
You can even get creative with the tour and have it be guided by the homeowner’s pet (or your canine assistant, if you have one). Use a drone to get an aerial shot at the beginning. Get a video of people playing in the spacious backyard or cooking up a feast in the large kitchen.
It is also typically worthwhile to include pets in listings for real estate, whether it is a video or an image. This is a great way to bring more attention to the images.
Where to Share the Videos
Once you create the videos, you should share them as much as possible. Some digital algorithms, including social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, prioritize videos, giving you an extra boost.
Include the videos on your website as well as on YouTube. Don’t forget to also include videos on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms.
Webinars and online or in-person workshops can also be an excellent way to share knowledge with your clients and market yourself. Webinars can be on any topic that your clients might be interested in and should include a question-and-answer session at the end. That will help clients feel more connected to you.
Hosting a webinar or workshop is a win-win situation for you and your clients. Your clients get to increase their knowledge and find answers to their questions. At the same time, you get to show your industry knowledge and confirm your reputation. You will also likely get many new leads that you can hopefully convert in the future.
One of the best methods of real estate marketing is to create shareable content online. As people share it, your name recognition improves, and you get more viewers. Just including a single link to a dedicated landing page on your website or your contact page can generate a great deal of traffic.
Shareable content also results in an increase in backlinks, something that helps your SEO efforts. As a bonus, it also helps show your authority and knowledge in the industry, building your reputation.
Some examples of shareable content include blog posts, guides, e-books, graphs, infographics, charts, or even maps. Another great option is a resource guide that features links that those buying or selling their home would likely find useful.
Speaking of shareable content, a great starting point for content marketing is a blog. Your blog should help with all of the same benefits, including bringing in traffic, building backlinks, and showing your expertise. It is also a very important part of your SEO strategy, as it lets you incorporate keywords.
Just remember that the best blogs post content regularly. Choose posting intervals that you can keep up with. If you don’t have the time to write your own blog posts, you can also easily outsource this.
A key element of any real estate marketing strategy is planning ahead, which is where that marketing calendar you created comes in handy. Try to have content ready for at least a few months out, whether for your blog, newsletters, or social media posts. This way, you never have to worry about rushing to complete a deadline or missing it.
Staying on track is important, as consistency is key in any digital marketing strategy, something we will go into more detail.
Even if you end up meeting your deadlines, rushing to complete content right before posting it increases the risk of mistakes. It also reduces your opportunities to spot those issues and correct them.
You don’t have to be overwhelmed by the idea of planning ahead. It is as simple as choosing a day per quarter or per month to create the marketing calendar. This would also be the time to assign the content creation within the calendar to team members or to outsource and hire someone to create it.
As mentioned, you want to be consistent across your digital marketing, whether in real estate or another industry. To a potential client, consistency shows that you are reliable. They are likely to take the leap and assume that if you can post content as scheduled, you will be on time for meetings and completing paperwork.
Essentially, being consistent with your marketing strategy and online posts shows clients that you are trustworthy and reliable in your real estate dealings.
No matter the method that a client or potential client uses to contact you, make it a point to respond to them promptly. Most people expect quick response times with smartphones and do not like waiting until the next business day.
The faster you can respond to clients, the more reputable you will seem. This applies to all types of communication, including phone calls, texts, emails, and messages on social media.
Remarketing is common when selling products and services, and real estate is no exception. Of course, real estate is slightly different, as people tend to buy properties not that frequent. However, that does not mean that remarketing is useless.
Some people are always searching for a new home, and this lets you take advantage of that. It can also help somewhat with referrals. After all, remarketing keeps your real estate business fresh in the minds of past clients. This increases the chances that they will recommend you to someone in search of a realtor.
Just like in any other industry, realtors can benefit from a customer relationship management (CRM) program. These make it incredibly easy to organize your clients and leads, including contact information.
One of the most effective ways to bring in new clients is via word-of-mouth. Take advantage of this by encouraging your clients to refer you to other people they know. People tend to place more value in referrals than online reviews due to the personal connections with the person making the suggestion.
Reviews are the online version of referrals and reach an even larger audience. The other great thing about reviews is that you can encourage your clients to leave them at any point; they aren’t limited by whether they know anyone looking to buy or sell their home.
Encourage reviews regardless of where your clients leave them. Some of the most important spots for real estate reviews are Google, Facebook, and Zillow, but getting more reviews on any website helps.
Word of mouth and reputation are crucial to your success at attracting clients in the real estate industry. Because of this, you want to create some sort of online reputation management strategy. At the very least, it would include the above plan of encouraging clients to leave reviews.
Other aspects of online reputation management include ensuring you are the top search result for your brand name, monitoring your brand mentions, managing negative reviews, and creating shareable content to spread your name. You will notice that some of those overlap with other real estate marketing strategies examples on this list.
As a realtor, you definitely want to have a business card, but you don’t necessarily want it to get lost in wallets or forgotten about. Avoid this by doing something unique with your business card.
If you want to keep things simple, just get creative with its imagery and overall design. Put something useful on the back. A traditional option would be a calendar, but with smartphones, everyone has one in their pocket. Think back on your personas and what they would want. Would they like information about median home prices in the area? Or a list of local contractors to help get their new home ready?
If you want to get creative, consider a business card that can fold into a house or one made of metal or fabric.
To connect with leads and increase your chances of converting them into clients, consider incorporating some personal touches into your marketing strategy. Personalization is a major trend across all industries, and there are plenty of ways to incorporate it into real estate.
Consider Thank You Notes
One great example of a personal touch is to write thank you cards after talking to potential clients. Let them know that you enjoyed talking to them and hope to be in touch in the future.
The key to this strategy is to hand write the notes. It shows that you cared enough to take the time to write out an individual note for them, instead of just printing off a bunch of notes from your computer. This type of personalized touch is an old-school method that can lead to a great ROI, especially given the low cost of stationery and stamps.
Whether your goal is to spread brand awareness, bring in new clients, or sell specific properties, it helps to have a strong real estate marketing strategy. At the very least, you want your strategy to include a strong website and plans for email, social media, SEO, and reviews. With the right marketing strategy, you can set your real estate business up for success.
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