Every REALTOR Needs Real Estate Marketing
Every real estate agent wants to grow his or her business, and in theory, it should be easy enough. In 2018, the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) reported that 87% of homebuyers went through a real estate agent to purchase their homes. So it goes, nearly, without saying that every REALTOR needs real estate marketing.
But on the other hand, there are a lot of real estate agents and thus a lot of competition for business. Effective real estate marketing can make all the difference when it comes to bringing in new clients. Accordingly, Happy Grasshopper is pleased to offer these twelve fantastic tips for effective marketing.
Real Estate Marketing Tip #1: Build a Website
Today, it’s a rare consumer who doesn’t frequently search the Internet for goods and services. Odds are, you’ve done it yourself. Your website is your way to connect with all those potential homebuyers.
Put your listings on the site and update regularly. Once people see that new information keeps appearing, they’ll keep coming back.
It’s also a good idea to add a little something extra and useful to help your site stand out from the crowd. Something like a mortgage calculator, just for an example.
Real Estate Marketing Tip #2: Write a Blog
Just as your site creates a connection with the potential customers searching the Internet, a blog can make the connection personal. Incorporate search terms and keywords to make sure the blog shows up easily in searches. The keywords can suggest new topics to write about as well. Optimize for SEO and be sure to link to your website and profile (and possibly other real estate sites.) Add images and infographics to make your posts that much more interesting.
Real Estate Marketing Tip #3: Email Marketing
Create a monthly newsletter collecting your blog posts, and reach out to prospective clients when new listings open up. When you notify them of new listings, you should include images and links to full listings, a video walkthrough of the property, and/or a virtual staging of the home.
That said, essential as email marketing is, it can be a hefty undertaking with a steep learning curve for a realtor who’s already contending with all the other aspects of running his or her business. Fortunately, there are companies that specialize in proving email marketing. Happy Grasshopper is just such a company, and we’ll be happy to help you out if you need us. Our many testimonials from delighted customers attest to our energy and expertise.
Real Estate Marketing Tip #4: Virtual Staging
We alluded to virtual staging in the previous section. You can provide a look at the property via the use of a virtual staging website and cut down on the time and expense required for physical staging. Staging is important because a 2018 study of 200+ homes found that staged homes sold for 6-25% more than comparable unstaged homes.
Real Estate Marketing Tip #5: Experiential Marketing
Experiential marketing creates a bond with potential customers by giving them the opportunity to interact with your real estate operation in a real-world situation. Examples include teaching a seminar to help people learn about the process of buying a home, hosting an open house, or conducting a tour of the area in which you’re selling a property.
Real Estate Marketing Tip #6: Paid Instagram Promotions
Instagram is another way to increase your presence online, and a paid promotion will bring your best images to more potential homebuyers.
With Instagram advertising, you can work within your budget, designate a target audience and use targeted hashtags, choose among image, carousel, and video presentations, and determine the length of your promotion.
Real Estate Marketing Tip #7: Drone Photography
Drone photography can provide a different and impressive view of a property. You can buy your own drone or use a professional drone service to capture the perfect visual.
Real Estate Marketing Tip #8: Your Zillow Profile
Over 188 million people visit Zillow every month. That translates to thousands of new prospects hoping to buy homes in your area. Set up a Zillow profile and share your listings with them.
Real Estate Marketing Tip #9: Partnership with Local Businesses
You can partner with coffee shops, clothing boutiques, and home décor showrooms to promote your listings. When you host an open house, you can invite them to set up pop-up shops in the various rooms. That will encourage visitors to check out every room.
You can also work with your local business partners to provide discounts to homebuyers.
Real Estate Marketing Tip #10: Make Your Own Videos
Videos are a powerful marketing tool, and they don’t have to cost a lot although you can certainly use a professional video production company if it suits your purposes. But a simple video recorded from your laptop can be an effective tool as well, especially when addressed to one particular individual. Client testimonials often provide useful material for a video.
Real Estate Marketing Tip #11: Referrals
39% of those people who use a REALTOR connected with that agent thanks to a referral from family or friends. It follows, then, that you shouldn’t be shy about asking for referrals from former clients.
The catch is that you don’t want the request to be annoying or obnoxious. Wait a few months to give the new homeowners a chance to settle in, and when you do contact them, be pleasant and not pushy. Some real estate agents find that offering to host a housewarming party if an effective way to meet a former client’s social circle.
Real Estate Marketing Tip #12: The Webinar
This is another way to connect with prospective homebuyers online. You can work with a lender, title company, or a staging service to cover a topic of interest, perhaps the current local real estate market.
The Real Estate Marketing Plan
The tips above can do a lot to help you grow your business, but only if you use them within the context of a well thought out marketing plan.
To create one, follow the steps below.
- Create a vision statement. This is a statement that encompasses both your short- and long-term goals.
Identify your target customer. Just saying “Anybody who wants to buy a house” won’t help. Decide if you’re primarily attempting to market to sellers, first-time homebuyers, renters, or some other group. - Develop your goals. You already laid them out in general terms in your vision statement. Now it’s time to define them in more detail, connect them to specific marketing strategies, and determine the criteria by which you’ll evaluate whether the strategies were successful.
- Determine your unique selling proposition. There should be things that set your real estate agency apart from the competition. Think about how your unique personality or way of working creates value, what the latest trends are in your market, how you can explain the trends to potential customers, and in general, what you have to offer that others don’t.
- Decide on the tools and budget for each marketing strategy. Measure performance. If you don’t know whether a marketing plan succeeded or failed, you can’t decide what to keep, tweak, or dump next time around. Apply the metrics you decided on when developing your goals.
We hope this information has been helpful. For more advice on real estate marketing, we invite you to visit Happy Grasshopper’s blog.
I love all these ideas you shared! Virtual staging, Drone Photography, Normal Photography and paid instagram promotions really work. Haven’t tried zillow yet. Will give it a try. Thank you so much for sharing!