The real estate industry has been gradually making the shift to digital even before the COVID-19 pandemic. But the global health crisis made this shift more urgent. It also emphasized the possible consequences of having no online presence on business survival and performance. Discover how you can future-proof your real estate brokerage with digital marketing.
The past decade witnessed real estate agents and brokers worldwide make their debut in the digital landscape. The main driver? Search culture. Clients discovered their power in search engines and took advantage of them to do in-depth research while searching for properties to buy. Search engines gave them unparalleled access to a wealth of information, allowing them to narrow down options – or even finalize choices – before making initial contact with a real estate broker.
In the present situation, an initial face-to-face meeting between a real estate broker and a client may not always happen. As people are forced to stay home more, they have turned to online resources and solutions for their needs – including finding a new home. But not everyone is 100% online. The pandemic revealed the need to bridge the digital divide to keep businesses and economies afloat.
As the world adapts to the new normal, it’s time to take your services online, where you can be part of the growing search ecosystem and thrive in a changing industry. By understanding the importance of digital marketing to your business, you can create a strategy to future-proof your real estate brokerage. Discover how an online marketing agency can help you generate valuable leads and close deals.
Modern Marketing Methods: Reinforcing Traditional with Digital
Believing that you only need one kind of marketing campaign for your company is a misconception. Taking your real estate brokerage online doesn’t mean you should completely forget your non-digital marketing tactics. Traditional marketing advantages – the human touch, mass appeal, personal approach, and local voice – must still be a part of the campaign. But, as any online marketer will tell you, finding the right balance between traditional and digital is essential to developing a strong, long-term marketing plan.
People utilize search engines to find property listings, but they still rely on in-person viewings to make their decisions.
As you recalibrate your business strategies for the new normal, consider looking into how you can make a well-balanced marketing campaign. Discover the different advantages of digital marketing solutions to learn how to incorporate them into your existing processes. You may utilize the insights you get from your digital campaign to adjust your real-world strategies.
As more businesses strengthen their presence online, a website for your real estate company is no longer sufficient. Although it effectively improves people’s knowledge of your business, other strategies should support it. Otherwise, you might miss valuable transactions that could come from digital conversations.
Learn about these digital marketing techniques that will improve your long-term business performance.
Improve Online Visibility with SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a digital marketing strategy that improves your web pages’ discoverability online. It uses factors, such as website design and content, to enhance your ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). The higher you rank, the easier it is for your target audience to find you online.
According to recent data, over 80% of people use search engines to find a specific product or service, including real estate. By optimizing your digital presence for better visibility, you can attract more online users to your website and generate valuable leads from there.
Local SEO
For a real estate business, a local SEO strategy will help generate qualified leads. When people look up properties in their area or a specific place, they usually include phrases like “near me” or “nearby” or the name of the location they want to move in. These phrases narrow down their search, leading them to web pages that meet the criteria.
By implementing a local SEO strategy, you optimize your listings’ discoverability on SERPs. These improve lead generation, allowing you to reach people who will likely contact you for a consultation or viewing.
Target the Right Prospect or Client with PPC
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is the digital equivalent of billboards and other traditional advertorial signs. These ads are seen in SERPs; they are made to target specific search queries. As the name suggests, you only pay a fee every time your ad is clicked.
The people who click on PPC ads already know what they want from their search. By creating PPC ads that target specific marketing funnels, you target people who will potentially complete actions on your landing pages (e.g., subscribing to newsletters, downloading a brochure, or signing up for email marketing).
Engage Clients with Social Media Marketing
Social media is a marketing tool that allows you to connect and communicate with your audience. Everything – from the chat boxes and comments section to the review and rating pages – is a channel on which you can actively engage with potential and existing clients. With the right marketing and management strategies, you can leverage social media to start conversations with your clients and establish relationships with them. You can:
- Upload relevant and informative content (e.g., new listings, agent profiles, viewing schedules, etc.) that encourages people to visit your website.
- Acknowledge positive comments, reviews, and ratings by sending thank you messages.
- Address negative comments and reviews to identify the problem and solve it immediately.
Enhance User Experience with Web Design
Website design is essential in creating a good and lasting first impression. When it is slow to load, hard to navigate, or provides little value, visitors will likely exit your site without completing a valuable action that could close a sale. Chances are they will check out your competitors’ website.
An experienced digital marketing agency will help you redesign your website for better user experience. With the right site design, you can have a website that:
- Will keep your client informed and engaged
- Presents you as an authority in your industry
- Contains all the right tags to help you rank on SERPs
- Loads fast, preventing long waiting times
Encourage Valuable Actions with CRO
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a digital marketing strategy that improves your landing pages to encourage visitors to complete valuable actions. Compared to other methods, this is more subtle, often focusing on creating compelling copy. With the correct copy in the right format and layout, your website has a higher chance of retaining and converting visitors.
Future-Proof Your Real Estate Business with Digital Marketing
The digital landscape’s influence will only grow in the coming years. Homebuyers and sellers will continue to use online platforms to find what they’re looking for, whether it’s a listing or a real estate agent. By optimizing your online presence, you improve your short and long-term business performance.
Here are five things you can do to jumpstart your digital marketing plans:
Identify Your Target Audience
A well-strategized digital marketing campaign gives you better control over your reach online.
This results in targeted content that is tailored to a specific demographic in a particular location. It narrows your scope of influence to the right people, leading to better leads and higher conversions. You can also redirect individual visitors to specific branches, allowing them to speak with a local representative.
Improve Brand Awareness
Today, everything is a single search away. Many people will look at your online presence to determine your expertise in the real estate industry. With the right digital marketing campaign, you can recreate your real-world brand reputation in the digital realm. When people find your brand name in SERPs, they will know that you are a company worth exploring.
Understand Market Demand
Digital marketing tools give you access to valuable information about your audience. Google Analytics, for example, allows you to identify the common queries that concern your industry. These insights give you a clear picture of what your target market looks for in terms of property type, feature, location, and price range. Based on these, you can develop a campaign or promotion that fulfills their needs.
Reduce Overall Cost
A digital marketing campaign is relatively less expensive than a traditional marketing campaign. By redirecting part of your marketing budget to digital projects, you can reduce your annual costs.
- Replace billboards and other traditional advertising collaterals with SEO solutions and PPC ads.
- Buy ad spots on video-sharing platforms instead of TV, radio, or magazines to reach a wider audience.
- Increase the budget to improve your website by reducing your telemarketing allocation.
A digital marketing campaign is also low-maintenance. Once your digital marketing agency has launched your strategies, you can sit back for a while to wait for results.
Enhance Growth Plans
The insights you acquire from digital marketing tools give you a better idea of where you are in your business growth plans. Compare the leads you generate and your conversion rate with the number of contracts your agents and brokers close. With this information, you can tweak your strategies to support your scaling up goals.
As recent months have proven, the world is more than ready to use the digital landscape to survive and thrive in a global health crisis. By embracing digital marketing solutions for your real estate brokerage, you’re giving your business the best tools to compete and succeed, even long after this pandemic.
Prepare your real estate company for the long-term impact of this unprecedented situation. Discover your full potential online with the right digital marketing campaign.
Learn how you can take advantage of digital marketing to gain more real estate clients. Explore our roster of digital marketing services and see what you can adopt for your business.
