Real estate agents have a plethora of marketing tactics to choose from nowadays, including both offline and online options. How do you know which strategies you should add to your marketing budget in 2019? We decided to do some research to find the answer to this question. We consulted with knowledgeable trend forecasters and marketing experts to bring you a definitive guide on the best marketing strategies that you should budget for in 2019.
Get organized through a CRM
Gone are days when real estate agents had to depend on the astuteness of efficient secretaries to keep their business database organized. Nowadays, you can arrange and maintain your business and operation systems even better using Real Estate CRM’s. You have lots of options to choose from here, including Realty Juggler, Wise Agent, Follow up Boss and Top Producer to name but a few. These CRM’s range in price from $20 to $150 per month and will help you to operate your business competently, allocate leads, arrange your marketing campaigns, organize your database and much more.
Online Marketing
All of the world’s top real estate agencies like Sotheby’s spend untold amounts each year on online marketing. And yet, a lot of small to mid-sized real estate agencies are reluctant to assign a significant amount of their budgets on online marketing.
At the very least, you should have a well-designed and responsive website, an active blog, a strong social media presence and perhaps even a well-managed YouTube channel where you showcase your best listings using high-quality HD videos.
When it comes to leveraging social media networks like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, the most important thing here is to produce high-quality content on a consistent basis. That will go a long way towards getting your website highly ranked in online search engines, because it will show up every time someone searches for a topic related to it.
Landing pages for your website are a must, because they’ll come in handy when it’s time to collect leads.
It’s also important that you set money aside in your budget for Facebook ads, LinkedIn ads, Google search network ads, Google display network ads, and YouTube pre roll ads. Facebook ads are particularly great at getting your business in front of a particular demographic, which is great when you have properties that are ideal for a particular age group and geographical location for example.
However you’ll have to invest a considerable amount of your budget on paid ads and boosted posts in order to get the most out of Facebook as that’s the most effective strategy of getting results.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a great way to keep in touch with prospects and show them why they should sell or buy their next property with you. Having an effective email marketing campaign will also help you to maintain the relationship with your existing clients, keep the sales process going and more. Some of the best email marketing systems to try out include Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, Happy Grasshopper and A Webber. What makes these systems so popular is the fact that they work 24/7/365 to carry out your email marketing strategy.
Host an event
Take your marketing efforts offline by hosting a memorable event that your customers will remember forever. This is known as experiential marketing and according to research clients are more likely to share a live event that they went to than an ad that they saw on social media.
However, you have to make the event worth your customer’s while and the best way to do that is to host an event that they’ll want to be a part of and share. Some of the most popular events include beer/wine tastings, film showings, decorating Q&A events featuring a professional interior designer, beach cleanups, educational seminars on real estate and other types of investment, as well as fishing expeditions.
Virtual Staging and 3D Tours
Give your prospects a realistic view of the property by investing in virtual and 3D tours. The great thing about Matterport tours is that they’ll make the prospect feel like they’re actually walking through the property. When prospects are faced with an option to purchase a property with an agent that has 3D virtual tours of the homes and one that only has pictures, you’ll bet that they’ll choose the former every time. Research also shows that customers are more likely to refer a friend to a real estate agent that has 3D and virtual tours than one who doesn’t.
There’s a lot of property in Malta for sale which means that as a real estate agent you must always look for new ways to set yourself apart from the competition. Make sure to include the strategies featured in this guide when planning your 2019 marketing budget so that you too can realize your targets for the year.