Real estate marketing strategy is a series of tactics and internal planning that essentially aims to generate sales within the business. These strategies drive the movement of people from prospects to leads, and when nurtured correctly, can convert into customers.
Marketing tactics for real estate range from building deep community and collective awareness of the brand, to cruxes that can make the company a threatening opponent against its competitors. So how does one become an expert in the field of real estate marketing? It all starts with building a successful marketing strategy.
How do companies build their marketing strategy?
Who and what?
In order to successfully build these strategies, real estate companies need to establish what it is they want to achieve, and by what timelines. Clear goals and outlines are vital to any company’s success. This is specifically important to the overall marketing initiatives.
Consider how many monthly appraisals and buyers it will take to reach the company’s financial goals of expansion and develop a marketing plan, breaking down the goals into a step-by-step process of achievement. Once a clear mission is in place, this can be followed through with clear guidelines on how these goals need to be met.
When company goals are in place, it’s important to know who the clients are and what drives them. Identifying the market and audience, and understanding their personas allow target-specific marketing campaigns to go to the right people.
Identify with the prospects by discovering their demographics and delve even deeper by uncovering their psychographics. A person’s motivations can drastically change the selling tactic between each prospect; a home buyer might be looking to make an emotional decision based on comfort and convenience, whereas an investor would be considering the economy and value when making a purchase. Hence, targeting each property marketing campaign to the right audience is imperative.
Consider automation software
Given the large number of varying platforms that real estate marketing cover, appropriately replicating the company brand image can prove quite a challenge. Online automation software grants access to consistently-managed branding across varying channels including virtual, print, presentations, email and social media. It reduces the intricacies of brand management that arise from using multiple touch-points, thus keeping up with production demand.
Track and report
Finally, it is vital to track and measure the performance of the company’s marketing strategies. What is the return on investment (ROI) from the different campaigns and content across each platform? Review factors such as brand awareness, customer engagement, lead generation, and sales. Ensure all tactics still align with the company’s goals and marketing plan, and delve into the analytics of what seems to be working (or not), and why.
With a combination of these marketing tools, a solid real estate marketing strategy can be put in place. Implementing a clear marketing plan and gathering an understanding and identifying with the company’s proposition and product, are the very foundation for success. Ensuring product demand is being met via an automated software program will eliminate time-sapping small requests and improve production. Tracking the ROI from different campaigns will keep the company on track, and on the road to success. So, what does this look like in motion?
What assets help drive sales?
With more people turning to realtors to purchase/sell/rent their home, there's certainly no scarcenessof real estate marketing materials and advertising. However, in this vastly competitive industry, successfully attracting the right customers is proving more and more difficult. In a world moving towards digital, strategies that drive sales are largely based in the virtual world.
A strong digital presence
As a real estate company, a professional, functional, and aesthetic website is fundamental. Participate in a digital space that can translate to real-life when considering accessibility, functionality, navigation, and responsiveness. Almost all potential customers conduct internet research on the real estate market prior to making their decision, so a standout landing page is vital.
Adding and updating listings regularly on the site will also help maintain a constant flow of foot traffic and bring in repeat prospects. Another form of doing this is engaging in content marketing that is anchored to the website. Build valuable and relevant content on popular authority sites, which link back to similar, matter-specific content on the website.
In a world largely connected via social media platforms, it provides an excellent and cheap method of advertising to a huge number of people. Consider collaborating with real estate influencers, promoting specific listings, and using analytics to add appropriate hashtags that will reach the most relevant and large audience. This advertising can also expand out of social media and into relevant websites, and even back into traditional newspaper and magazine ads.
Strong assets
Professional photos are the epitome of a successful real estate marketing campaign. Prospects will quickly judge first with their eyes, so the shots need to be appealing and immediately catch the eye.
There are multiple methods of achieving this:
- Having a good, professional real estate photographer to do a photoshoot is a good starting point. The shots need to offer the sense of a quality space, bringing out the best features and characteristics of each property. If budget permits, even go to the next level and include traditional or virtual staging within shoots, and even open houses – give every prospect every possible reason to make a purchase.
- Drone photography is another option. Provide an alluring birds-eye view of the property, which can be specifically beneficial to houses/properties with pools, large back yards, views, etc. Drones can also be used to do a video walkthrough of a property, which can give the potential customer a better “feel” for the size and space of the premises.
- A little more immersive, the Matterport 3D camera constructs an interactive three-dimensional structure of every aspect of the property. A brilliant marketing strategy software tool, it provides an exact realistic depiction of the property space, that a prospect can venture through regardless of their location.
Blog
Starting up an industry-based blog is an excellent long-term form of gaining an audience following. Regularly posting useful and relevant information on real estate topics and including such extras like graphics and media, will see exponential growth in readers and followers to the company.
Really optimise the company’s chances by including marketing strategy tools such as a “sign-up program” or building a “free offer” to form lead generations via an email address for future email marketing tactics. Focus on posting content most relevant to search engine optimisation (SEO) and share content to any relevant platform to boost awareness of the company name. Track relevant metrics using analytics and base new and upcoming blog topics from findings.
And there it is.
From how to build a successful marketing strategy to putting this strategy in place and gaining leads and sales. Unfortunately, neither the strategies or marketing ploys are an overnight recipe for prosperity.
Successful real estate marketing is a long and slow process that needs to be constantly worked on; however, instructing a marketing plan throughout the company and heeding to these goals, are the basis to any successful business. Focusing marketing efforts to the virtual world of advertising will reach the target audience of the company and more, generating leads, foot traffic, sales, and ultimately profit.
It’s a lengthy and complex process, but with the right structuring and materials, the results will flourish.
