Jumping into the world of real estate marketing online is a process that is filled with excitement, often trepidation, and visions of how it can change your business…forever. Even with all of the advances in technology and marketing across different industries, real estate has been one that continues to be slow to adapt to new marketing methods. The age old adage of “it’s a relationship business” has steered many agents away from online marketing and yet has left them frustrated thinking “why don’t I have more business?”. The reality is that real estate still can be a relationship business, but how do you start new relationships each month consistently?. Marketing your real estate business online can be a great way to consistently start new relationships, build a loyal base of returning clients, and scale your business to whatever volume you truly desire.
The path of starting with online real estate marketing can be a challenge. It isn’t as simple as mailing a postcard to a given neighborhood; no, there are many approaches to consider and the volume of different marketing tactics can make it difficult to even start causing some agents to throw up their hands and go “maybe I’ll just do an open house instead”. To help you avoid feeling overwhelmed with options we invite you to take a different approach; where you ask yourself key questions to help you understand what to expect, how to evaluate your success, and how to ensure you are well positioned for long term success.
With so many options, it is essential to have a clear path before you spend a dollar or any time working on your marketing. Deciding on the right strategy from the very beginning will save you thousands of dollars and countless hours of frustration.
Your Online Marketing Strategy Can be Derived by Answering Key Questions
Here are some items to consider for your marketing strategy:
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- How much time are you willing to invest? – Time is going to be a part of any marketing strategy but some strategies will take a larger time investment than others. Understanding the time commitment is essential to having the staying power as you don’t go to day one of your new gym workout and wake up the next day going “I should probably stop now, I don’t have 6-pack abs”. The time to see results in your marketing efforts can vary depending on the marketing system that you launch for your business. For example if you take an SEO approach with localized content marketing as a foundation it can take substantial time (many months) before you start to see the fruits of your labor drive meaningful results. On the opposite end you could launch a pay per click campaign (i.e. Google, Facebook, etc.) and start seeing visitors to your site nearly immediately…but it can still take time to turn those new visitors into appointments and closings. Understanding how much time a particular marketing component can take before you need to make adjustments is critical before you even start.
- How much money will it take? – Real estate marketing online is one of the most cost effective ways to generate leads for your real estate business, but that doesn’t mean it’s free. There are still costs involved to set up a website, blog, getting paid ads to run, and even submitting to directories for inclusion. Set a budget of how much you can spend and what time frame you expect for results before you get out your credit card. For example a strategy of marketing online with pay per click will cost more to begin with than starting with a blog. Of course you will get leads quicker using paid ads, but make sure it is within your budget.
Keep in mind that each market is different, meaning if you are in a luxury market you may invest more dollars to get your marketing going than someone in a market where the homes and condos are more inline with the median home price. We invite you to consider the following when it comes to deciding on the amount of money you will invest:- Initial Investment: You will need to set aside money that you are prepared to invest in marketing. Investing in your marketing means as you spend you understand it won’t all initially turn into a customer; however, you have a hypothesis on what will occur when you invest the money. For example if you are going to invest $3,000 over 3 months on paid search, how many calls or leads can get from that? After month 1 did you get any calls? Set aside your initial funds and realize they are there to help you figure out which marketing system is going to work best in your market and for your personality.
- 7% Rule: The 7% rule states that you can spend 7% of your gross commission to acquire that commission. For example if you are looking to earn a $10,000 commission, then you should expect to invest up to $700 in marketing dollars to acquire that customer that resulted in that commission. Efficient marketing programs will get to this number, but it won’t come easily and it takes tracking your efforts to ensure you stick to this number.
- What is the focus of your marketing efforts? – It is important to decide on the overall focus of your real estate marketing before you start. Some agents want a branding approach and others decide on focusing on real estate leads. This is more critical than most agents realize and can change overtime as well. When you look at the volume of real estate agents in the marketplace, how are you truly different? What would make a total stranger want to use you over anyone else in your office?The direction that you choose will dictate the type of marketing, content creation, and links that you build over time. If your focus is one where you define yourself as a “local expert” make sure your online presence is reflective of that expertise. You can’t wait for someone to speak with you in person to understand you are an expert; you have to win that relationship before they make that first call.
- What is your long term approach? – A good real estate marketing strategy will not only give you actions to take for the next few months, but what you need to do for the next year and beyond. Take time to understand how your marketing strategy will help you to remain competitive for the long term as well as the short term.
A good long term strategy will have a balanced approach that includes daily tasks, that roll into weekly accountability, that then build into trackable results in months, and an asset that grows over the years. When your long term approach is online focused this will include detailed tasks covering SEO (search engine optimization), content creation (rich unique copy, videos, images reflective of your market, etc), pay per click (winning ads, your strategy of management, keyword selection, etc), email marketing (nurturing your database of today and tomorrow customers), social networking (growing your online audience on the latest platforms) and more. - How will you judge success? – Too often people start their real estate marketing strategy with the thought that it just takes time or a lot of money before you can see results. Or they demand “where are my listings and buyers?” after 1 week of “grueling” marketing efforts.
Without leading metrics to help you understand what is working as part of your marketing strategy you might stop your campaigns too soon. Your leading metrics will be different depending which marketing tactics you decide to deploy. For instance for SEO it could be organic impressions, site visitors, time on site, leads, before you look at the appointments and closings. For paid search you might look at ad quality score, click through rate (CTR) of your ads, and leads…again all before you evaluate the appointments and closings. Take the time to track your metrics, evaluate industry benchmarks, and then understand what you need to do to impact the results in a positive manner.
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Your real estate marketing strategy doesn’t have to be complicated, it just needs to provide a clear direction to allow you to spend your money wisely and evaluate what is working. Taking just a small amount of time in planning your approach will help you to generate more leads and get more appointments that will give you willing and able buyers and sellers.
Remember your marketing plan is one that will adapt over time as new technologies merge (i.e. new tactics) but with your overall marketing strategy focused on delivering value, building an audience, and converting that audience into clients you will be good for years to come when you put in the right efforts to start.
