Most real estate pros are well-aware of the potential that doing a great job of digital marketing provides. The ones traditionally that do the best job of it attract new clients and close lots of deals.
Social Media Marketing Remains a Central Strategy
Traditional methods of digital marketing will remain crucial for real estate marketers. Social media marketing on sites like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google My Business, and AdWords plays a vital role in establishing a real estate business as leaders.
Advantages
- On the positive side, social media is an inexpensive way to find new customers and to build brands.
- It doesn’t take any special skills to share, so any member of your team can handle the duties easily.
- It’s easy to create content because of the nature of the industry.
- Social media helps create authority and a credible reputation.
Drawbacks
- Social media is time intensive and chews up much effort.
- Posting on social networks can cause controversy, which is unwanted by most companies.
These days, most realtors also end up posting multiple videos each week. They share anything from walk-throughs on listing through reports on their current market.
Social media marketing makes sense as a core strategy, especially if you have a website that efficiently closes sales. The two together combine to form a powerful digital channel that generates leads. It’s a great deal of effort to get your digital presence to that point, but once everything’s in place, the new contacts come quickly.
Striving for Perfect Word of Mouth Never Goes out of Style
The best asset for anyone who sells real estate is happy clients. They’re the source of testimonials and word of mouth advertising. Your best customers become advocates who help you make sales easier.
Even satisfied customers won’t automatically promote you. That’s why it’s worth working at it by remembering birthdays and sending gifts to past clients. It sometimes takes a small effort to turn someone into a lifetime fan.
Advantages
- The advantage of word of mouth is that it’s a low-cost way to get new clients.
- Customer referrals are strong prospects who are likely to convert.
Drawbacks
You can’t reliably count on word of mouth, and it’s in no way scalable. It’s nice to get referrals, but there will likely be dry periods.
It’s worth working on it all the time because the channel is powerful. However, you can’t force word of mouth. It comes naturally, and when it does, it’s a bonus. The only way to get more of it is to continue to do the best job possible for existing clients. After that, they’ll take care of the rest with a bit of prompting.
Email Marketing Is Always an Option
Email is always a smart choice. Email marketing lists do the bulk of heavy lifting for many online businesses, and they work well for real estate pros as well. There’s an art to building lists and keeping people’s interest, but the rewards make any effort to do that worthwhile.
Pros
- Email is the most convenient way to keep in touch with your customers and prospects.
- Email marketing empowers you to send offers to a large group of people quickly.
Disadvantages
- Email marketing gets pricey, especially as the list grows.
- Email addresses go wrong all the time, meaning the list gets smaller unless you actively grow it.
Email is well known as a primary channel, so there’s tons of competition to get your offer seen. However, almost all realtors benefit from maintaining lists. Once the initial hard work of setting everything up is over, keeping up with the maintenance and sending the mails won’t take long. Sending email as a practice will never die, but the channel is drying up a bit in terms of response and open rates. Most of the largest email providers now filter almost all bulk emails, so it’s harder to get delivery.
Direct Mail is a Powerful Option
One neglected method for most realtors and real estate agencies is direct mail marketing. Some people in real estate are so focused on digital that they overlook the fact that the best way to target the people who are most likely to buy from them is with a mailer. On realdigiads.com you can see more marketing real estate ideas.
Mailers hit the right people at the right time and create instant brand awareness. Not only that, direct mail pieces are high-quality and attractive, and many enjoy receiving them. There’s no reason to send out junk mail when informative, value-added mailers are the key to getting new customers. If this is a form you are interested in we couldn’t recommend wisepelican.com more.
Pros
- You don’t pay for sending ads to people who are outside of your area.
- It’s possible to make small ad buys. Use a site like Wisepelican.com, which allows for lower minimum purchases. That way, you can test your offer without spending too much on one campaign.
- There’s less competition that there is for purchasing digital ads, so costs are lower.
Drawbacks
Unfamiliarity with handling campaigns may be the most significant disadvantage for most realtors. However, when they think about the medium, they’ll come up with some decent ideas to get opens and responses.
There are many excellent ways to send direct mail that get attention. One is a mail where you do a market study and give homeowners an idea of how much their house and others in the area are worth. That will get them excited about your mailings, so they lookout for the next one.
You might also decide to offer them a free valuation of their house. That’s an ideal opener that can lead to a commission. It takes some creativity to craft a strategy for direct mail, but there are many excellent hooks to use.
Real estate is a vast subject, and most people have an interest in it. Sending mail to people living in houses already tells you a few things about them. With a bit of polish on presentation and a firm offer, direct mail may become one of your most robust channels in no time. Many realtors are neglecting this market, which leaves it wide open for those who want to reap the rewards.
Do Everything It Takes to Succeed
There’s no good reason to rely on one method to bring all your results. Instead, a multichannel approach that taps into social, email, direct mail, and more means all at once is the best way to go. All enterprises that do tons of business online cover all their bases. According to GMBGorilla, it’s worth following their lead and realizing that it takes consistent time and effort to get the customers.
It’s human nature to focus on the channels that bring success. If you’re good at one type of marketing, you tend to keep on doing the same thing. That’s fine, but it can be a problem if you’re not willing to expand into other areas, at least to experiment. Offline advertising methods are catching on due to the increase in costs for digital marketing. Bidding on PPC ads and other social ads is high, and it takes a big, sustained budget to get traction.
Since the internet is overflowing with your competitors, it’s worth looking at building your reputation directly with the local market. Direct mail and other forms of targeted advertising will deliver a high ROI because the bidding is not as high to gain their attention. Combining the best of offline and digital methods is the road forward that will bring the highest returns overall. With the proper motivation and the right marketing toolsets, there are few limits.
