This article was updated on December 26, 2021
After learning how to become a realtor and successfully getting your license, the next step is to market yourself and your business. In today’s digital age, marketing your real estate business is extremely important. Not only does real estate marketing help you stand out from the competition, but it also helps you grow your network by enticing a steady stream of potential clients.
The trick, however, is deciding how to market your real estate business. Should you devote your time, money, and energy to social media campaigns or direct mail advertising? Should you maintain a blog in addition to your website? Knowing the answer to these questions can help you take your real estate business to the next level.
In this article, we’ll discuss marketing tips for new real estate agents. From covering social media campaigns to email strategies, we’ll guide you through what you need to include in your real estate business plan to make your marketing strategy effective at generating those necessary leads.
Tip #1: Build a website
Websites are the bread and butter of good real estate marketing campaigns and are essential to growing your business. This is because websites serve two primary roles: providing information and defining your real estate business’s aesthetic and values. Let’s break down these two roles further:
- Source of information – Most successful businesses know that to reach prospective clients, clients must know about your business. Clear, navigable websites can provide all the information potential clients need. What’s more, current clients can rest easy knowing that they don’t have to go far to access information: it’s all in one place. In addition to including tabs describing your services, be sure to make contact information clearly visible.
- Reflection of aesthetics and values – One of the most challenging aspects of starting a new real estate business is defining your aesthetic and values. Fortunately, a good website can do both. For instance, crisp, clean, informative websites reflect a sense of professionalism and knowledge. Similarly, you can let your clients know your values by emphasizing them on your website.
A good example of an agency whose website is both a source of information and a reflector of aesthetics and values is Terramark Real Estate. Based in Jackson, Mississippi, Terramark Real Estate’s website is beautiful and navigable, listing “buying,” “selling,” “about us,” and “contact” information right at the top.
Tip #2: Grow your social media presence
Growing your social media presence is a smart strategy when it comes to marketing your real estate agency. This doesn’t mean you have to become a social media influencer. But it does mean that marketing through platforms such as Instagram and Twitter can help trend your local business on the global stage.
Below are a few social media marketing tips for real estate agents:
- Pique interest with images – Taking a client on a walk-through of a property is sure to have its own special allure but you can tap into the power of photography to get homebuyers interested before they even step foot through the front door. Snap a few photos yourself or hire a photographer to capture the property’s best angles and share them on your social media page to generate interest and boost leads.
- Increase discoverability with hashtags – Take a simple social media post to the next level by pairing it with a few well-researched hashtags. Industry- and location-specific hashtags are fantastic ways to show your real estate business to the world and to put your posts into the hands of those who are already interested in the services you provide. With the right content at just the right time, you might even start trending.
- Boost engagement with video marketing - More and more real estate agents have been using videos to spread the word about their agency and to put their properties on display. And these videos have produced impressive results. Brothers Commercial Brokerage, a real estate agency serving Monmouth County, New Jersey, used a well-crafted video to bring its credibility and expertise to center stage. The end result? Increased visibility in their local community and a video that garnered more than 32,000 total views.
- Connect with your local neighbors on Nextdoor - Nextdoor is the best way to reach hyperlocal audiences through the digital world. Set up a free Nextdoor Business Page and start posting services and offerings. What’s more, businesses with a claimed Page and one recommendation will be discoverable by search.
Tip #3: Expand email campaigns
There’s a reason email marketing campaigns have been serious money-makers. Like social media, email makes it possible to reach hundreds, if not thousands, of clients. But unlike social media, email allows you to create lists based on area-specific demographics, making it easier to respond to a hyperlocal audience.
For instance, while social media can help you reach out to potential homebuyers, email lets you build lists of homebuyers in your immediate area. You can thus focus your marketing campaign on only those buyers in, say, Golden, Colorado, rather than all across the country.
Read on to discover a few email marketing tips for real estate agents:
- Use a popular email marketing system - When devising an email marketing campaign, it’s important that you collect (and continually collect) new email addresses. Email marketing systems such as Aweber and LeadPages help you both collect email addresses and market to those users.
- Offer promotions or insights – Consider how you feel as you scroll through your own inbox—what makes you want to open a business’s email? Chances are, it’s typically the promise of a discount or a resource. Make your emails worth opening by offering your expertise with market insights or promotions.
- Use a template – You could generate a new email format each time you start an email campaign, but that would take time and energy. Besides, there’s an email formula that most real estate businesses find effective: catchy headline, two lines supporting the header, explanation or resource, and call-to-action. So for example:
What Every Homeowner Should Know About Selling Their Home in 2021
The housing market is constantly changing, and this year has certainly brought new challenges. Our sales experts at Brooks Real Estate have broken down the essentials for navigating the landscape of the 2021 housing market so you can get the best price for your home.
If you’re thinking of making a change, check out our guide linked here or reach out and speak to one of our agents.
Integrating these components into each email can help increase conversion rates.
Tip #4: Increase content
One of the best ways to get clients talking (and keep them talking) about your services as a real estate professional is by continually adding business-specific content. Marketing your real estate business through content creation is a smart strategy for two reasons: writing puts a human element to your real estate business and a constant stream of content helps you keep clients apprised of what’s going on in the real estate industry.
To increase your marketing through content, consider doing the following:
- Use publishing mediums – Although social media is useful for posting brief snippets of information, it’s not as useful for posting lengthy content. That’s where publishing mediums like Medium and Quora come in. Many real estate agents publish articles on publishing platforms because they can entice readers to explore their businesses further. For instance, publishing an article on Medium simply titled “5 Easy Ways to Increase Your Home’s Value” can help drive traffic to your real estate business’s website.
- Start a blog - One of the easiest ways to connect with current clients and your target audience alike is to start a blog. In fact, many real estate agents and writers view blogging as one of the best ways to open up dialogues with new clients.
Based in Asheville, NC, Asheville Realty and Associates provides a local, real-world example of the power and scope of a well-maintained blog. From posts on home evaluation to buying your first home, they’ve filled their blog with interesting, exciting, and relevant information.
Tip #5: Host events
Because buying and selling homes is fundamentally a humanistic practice, holding in-person events is a smart strategy when it comes to marketing. While the pandemic has put a hold on in-person events, it doesn’t mean you should abandon them once the pandemic wanes.
In-person events give clients the ability to put a face to a name. They may even persuade clients to buy that property they’ve eyed for months.
In general, there are two types of event-based marketing: real estate events and community events. As its name implies, a real estate event is an event designed to educate clients on a housing-related topic. Community events, on the other hand, don’t have to focus on real estate. They are just helpful ways to connect with your community.
Once you feel comfortable hosting events again, consider planning the following:
- Open houses - Open houses are one of the best ways to get potential clients interested in new properties. In addition to letting clients tour the property, treat them to games, prizes, and catering. Before the big event, make sure you are promoting the open house within your community so you can reach your target audience.
- Educational seminar – If you’re interested in reaching first-time or less-experienced homebuyers, an educational seminar may be the perfect route to take. Hold your educational seminar in a public space and make it informative and exciting.
- Charity dinners, 5Ks, etc. – While not real estate-focused events per se, hosting a community event, such as a charity dinner or 5K, is a wonderful way to reach your broader community. Just because the event doesn’t have a real estate focus doesn’t mean it’s not a good place to spread the word about your business.
Marketing online is a tried-and-true method of reaching potential clients. Go the extra mile by showing support for your community through in-person events, as well.
For smart, efficient marketing, reach your neighbors with Nextdoor
Marketing your real estate agency is one of the best things you can do to ensure your business's future success. From generating email campaigns to hosting in-person events, there are many ways to grow your brand and generate leads.
Using Nextdoor is an especially smart strategy. As the most efficient way to reach hyperlocal audiences, Nextdoor is a marketer’s dream and can help you connect, build trust, and raise brand awareness among prospective clients.
With Nextdoor, you can rest easy knowing you’ve connected with your hyperlocal community—those people who make growth possible. Claim your free Business Page to get started.
Sources:
Animoto. See how Facebook video ads helped this real estate brokerage reach its local community. https://animoto.com/success-stories/brothers-commercial-brokerage
Asheville Realty & Associates. Blog. https://www.ashreal.com/blog/
EAP. A Beginners Guide To Real Estate Email Marketing. https://www.easyagentpro.com/blog/real-estate-email-marketing/
REAAS.com. Why Every Real Estate Agent Needs to Start a Blog. https://blog.resaas.com/articles/2016/2/why-every-real-estate-agent-needs-to-start-a-blog
Terramark Real Estate. Homepage. https://terramarkre.com/
WordStream. Instagram Ads for Real Estate Marketers: 10 Best Practices. https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2019/06/05/instagram-ads-for-real-estate
