19 Actionable Strategies to Real Estate Marketing in 2021
Real estate is a fiercely fought industry, and if you are in the business, it is imperative to bring your business to your customers rather than wait for them to come after you. A few years ago, a robust offline marketing campaign would be more than enough to pass for marketing, but your business has to grow with the times, and it is now a need, and not a want that your real estate marketing find its way online. More than 3/4th of the hunt for new properties begin online, and it is a good idea to leave an attractive digital imprint before you close the deal with your good old charisma. Here are a few tips to help you with real estate marketing, both online and off.
Table of Contents
19 Real Estate Marketing Strategies
1. What makes you Different?
The market is flooded with different options, and to drive customers your way, you need to have something to set yourself apart. In marketing terms, this is called a Unique Selling Point or USP, and a well defined USP can do wonders to attract potential business. You could be the cheapest in the business, or maybe promise the fastest result. Or you could simply boast a better after sales service compared to your competitors. In the real estate front, selling custom furnished homes or taking care of maintenance for a timeframe could be viable USPs.
2. Linkedin Marketing
Linkedin is the largest professional network on the internet. It can help you build your professional profile, letting you network with the top professionals in your field. Use it to increase the visibility of your business, and garner recommendations from your clients. Linkedin is a professional network, and having a presence on it gives a certain credibility to your business. In this age when most people have access to a digital device, they are more likely to look up your credentials online before placing their trust in you.
3. Build an Attractive Website
If you run a business, no other digital tool is as important as your website. It is the hub of all information, and is where all your other digital marketing aids should connect to in order to create a complete experience. A good website should be appealing to the eye, and create a lasting image on one’s mind. Include interactive content, and running a blog with topics relevant to real estate is a big plus when your aim is real estate marketing. Pop ups might be a good way to gain attention, but remember that too many can be irritating. One thing many companies overlook while developing their website is to optimize their site for mobile. In this digital age, more and more people are likely to begin their search with their handheld device, and a poorly optimized website will put them off.
4. Get on Social Media
As soon as your website is up and running, you should get your business on social media. There are different sites out there, and they all cater to different age groups and lifestyles, so to reach them all, it is important that you have a presence in all the popular sites. Instagram is popular among the youth, but in real estate marketing, it is wiser to cater to an age group of around mid-twenties to thirties because they are more likely to buy property. In this case, Facebook is a better bet.
5. Get Better Photos
When selling property, nothing is more important than photos. With hundreds of listings online, you need eye-catching pictures to stand out from the crowd. Even if you are decently skilled at photography, it is best to hire a professional photographer for your real estate marketing needs. They know how to make the features of the building stand out, and even edit them a bit to better suit your needs.
6. Record Virtual Tours
In today’s world, time is of the essence. Not a lot of people would like to step out in the scorching hot sun and do a lot of house visits. Virtual tours are a great way to give customers a taste of what to expect from a property. Of course, it is no substitute for a traditional house visit, but it can help your customers narrow down their lists further online and save both your time and theirs.
7. Sell the Package, not just the Home
When you do real estate marketing, it’s always a good idea to market the whole deal; the locality, terrain and nearby attractions. The nearby waterfall? Put it on the list as a potential picnic spot. Is the community pet friendly? Make sure to mention it as this might be a make or break factor for some. Some might prefer to live in an active, loud neighborhood with a thriving nightlife, and some may just be looking for a peaceful gated community.
8. Create Promotional Content
People love small snippets of cute or funny content. It can be an animated video of a cat explaining why they should do business with you, or a cleverly written article promoting your brand that you slip into your website. Not all marketing has to be serious, sometimes it’s better to use good old laughter and smiles!
9. Make Use of Email Marketing
Now, you have your website set up with amazing pictures and videos and all the other things required to hook your customers. Your social feeds are already directing customers to your site, but you can’t solely depend on them to get you all the traffic you require. Email marketing is an efficient way to do this. But keep in mind not to spam, and never buy your email lists; it’s always better to build your own, even if it takes some effort at the start.
10. Get on Google
The first thing anyone does when they’re looking for a service or even just some information is Google it. Getting a Google My Business Page is of utmost importance for real estate marketing. Your rivals are all probably on it already, and you could be losing out on business. While you are it, make sure you also make a profile on real estate marketing specific websites like CommonFloor.
11. Make a Handy Business Card
The times of cluttered business cards with too much information are over. The biggest aim of a business card should be to be memorable. It should be elegant and minimalistic. Your potential customers just need to know what your business is about, and where to find you on the web or reach you on the phone. Real estate marketing through business cards might not sound appealing because not everyone is in the market for a house, but remember you just need a single sale to make it worth it. Hand them out as much as possible, because they’re cheap.
12. Partner Locally
There are a lot of ways to make your presence felt in the locality. Sponsor a few events for the local club, or offer to fund that school basketball team that everyone is fond of. Make sure to get your flexes up at these events and to give out business cards and pamphlets. An emotional connection can later turn into business. In short, make your name well heard around town, so if a family is looking for a bigger property in the locality or is helping a friend find a place in the area, yours is the first name that comes to mind.
13. Work with Other Businesses
While marketing, it is always a good idea to partner with other small businesses that are in complementary fields. This could be in the form of referrals, where you recommend your partner to your customers, or for a bit more reach, use guest blogs. Write an entry that can go in your partner’s company blog and ask them to do the same. This ensures maximum outreach, and is also a token of credibility when a brand a customer trusts, places their trust on you. This in turn places the onus on you to ensure your partner’s credibility. In real estate, you can partner with interior designing firms and rental firms. B2B Marketing is also worth a look
14. Tell Stories, not Features
As mentioned above, emotional connections are important. More so in real estate marketing, because your product – a house, is going to be a part of innumerable memories for the buyer. Got a big backyard with lots of trees? Pitch it as a dog’s heaven and barbecue evenings in the making. A balcony with an expansive view? Call it a picturesque spot for chai and conversation. Listing out features and calling a property great is something that everyone does; show why these features are important to a buyer. Build your brand around something that gives emotional value to the customer.
15. Publish Customer Reviews
Humans are sociable beings, and the best way to sell any product is by word of mouth. This is especially true in the case of real estate marketing because buying a house is a big decision, and a few heartfelt testimonials from previous customers on your website can help swing the business your way. Customers are more likely to give favourable reviews if you give them a few weeks to settle into their new homes first. Ask your customers for reviews without annoying them, which means abrupt phone calls asking for a few sentences in the middle of the day is a strict no. Use a cordial email or schedule a call for this purpose.
16. Keep Up to Date with your Customers
Building from the last point, it is very important to keep your existing customers satisfied to bring in new ones. If you are focused in one city, hold an annual gala or smaller regular meetups if possible to ensure that you are always on the back of their mind. At the very least, send holiday cards and small goodies. This will ensure that they stick with you if they are looking for a bigger or better property, and will make it more likely that they refer you to family and friends.
17. Get Merchandise
For real estate marketing, getting branded merch particularly for your company is a very good idea because you can easily expand your outreach. It works in the same principle as other marketing; more people spotted wearing your merch or displaying it on their case, the more exposure you get. Print t-shirts, pens, watches, mugs and more, which you can either give away to select people or sell for a small price.
18. Rope in Influencers
Instagram influencers, even if you consider them annoying, are here to stay. It is a good idea to get them to market your products, either directly or indirectly. An influencer posting a picture or a video wearing your t-shirt itself can take your real estate marketing to a niche audience. Similarly, getting local celebrities to endorse your business can help your brand grow. When expanding your real estate business to a new city, this is a very good way to bring familiarity.
19. Build a Rapport with the Locals
When you sell property, the trust of the local community as mentioned above is very important. They can talk to prospective clients for you, and even testimonials from them can be useful for your marketing.
Formulate a Plan of Action
Now that you know some effective real estate marketing strategies, it’s time to formulate a plan of action. The plan, while robust, needs to be flexible enough to inculcate learnings from past data. Here are a few steps you can use to perfect your plan of action.
1. Set long and short term goals.
It is important to have short term goals, because you need to gather enough data from their progress to fine-tune your marketing efforts. Digital marketing will take time to show results, since big time companies will dominate SEO statistics at the beginning. Set targets of how many people you expect your digital marketing to reach within time spans of a few weeks.
2. Identify your Target Audience
Before deciding on a strategy for your real estate marketing, you should have a clear idea of who your target audience is. Are you planning to focus on buying houses, or on selling the houses that you already have listed? Do you want to sell a house situated in a quiet countryside, or an apartment in a busy college town? All these situations warrant for different target audiences, and you need to plan accordingly.
3. Perfect a Pitch
Once you have your target audience, you need to perfect a pitch that appeals to this audience. An ideal pitch should be modifiable for use in both offline and digital marketing. A younger target audience generally means packing a lot of content into a really precise package, while the older population will usually need a more detailed pitch. In any case, your pitch must highlight your USP and convey why you are the best choice for your potential customer.
4. Implement your Strategies
From the above listed strategies, choose as many as possible and put them to work promoting your real estate business. There should be a balance between your online and offline marketing initiatives, because both kinds appeal to different kinds of people. The goal is to reach the maximum number of people, and to stay in their minds.
5. Track your Progress
Now that you have set your marketing in motion, you need to constantly keep track of your numbers. Inspect whether you are achieving your short term goals, and if you are on track to reach the bigger ones. For your digital marketing, setting up and using Google Analytics is a good idea to make this tracking easier. You will need to find a suitable method such as surveys to manage your offline marketing.
6. Modify your Strategies
As soon as data is back on your first round of marketing, you need to streamline them to better suit your needs. But do not abandon your plans just because of one round of pure results, just minor modifications can sometimes do wonders in helping you reach your real estate marketing goals.
To Round Off
Well, there you have it. Making yourself stand out from the competition is important, and these tips should help you do effective real estate marketing. It is always a good idea to see what your competition is up to in order to stay ahead of the curve. And always remember, happy customers are the road to more customers, and hence it’s always worth it to keep your customers happy!
