Real Estate Marketing Online: 5 Strategies For Accelerated Growth
Real Estate agents are known for their strong selling capabilities. They are great marketers. And they know how to create an amazing customer experience.
Just think about it. You walk into an open house, the furniture and decorations are perfectly staged, it smells delightful, and there are fresh baked cookies in the oven. Tell me that’s not attention to detail and creating an excellent experience for your visitors.
But what happens to this excellent customer experience online?
Well more often than not, it’s gone. Their in person hospitality and charm does not translate to their online presence or digital marketing.
How come?
Well for starters, many real estate agents use out-of-the-box template solutions that are available to anyone (or at least their direct competitors).
Second, many lack the knowledge and technology expertise they need to setup and manage a custom solution. This is not surprising. They’re real estate agents after all, known for their in person charm and selling capabilities. But if you’re a real estate agent and you’re not an online guru, you should get help.
You might not see the importance of your online channel right off the bat, but here’s one simple fact that should change your mind. In today’s world, most of your potential clients will interact with you first online. So if you don’t represent yourself well there, you may not even get the chance to sell in person and change their mind.
Certainly you’ve heard the old adage “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
And what’s more, a great customer experience online can actually do some of your work for you. It starts to build your relationship with your customer from the first moment they land on your website, so that when you meet in person, you have a strong foundation to sell from.
So follow these tips below to make sure you are representing yourself as well online as you do offline…
…and if you don’t know how, get in touch with us for some help.
5 Strategies for Accelerated Growth
Understand where you fit in the market
You might be wondering how this fits into your online presence and digital marketing. But the key to creating a meaningful website and to be able to run targeted marketing is understanding your unique value proposition and your audience.
The everything to everyone realtor is dead. In order to be successful, you need to find your niche, whether that’s a certain price point, a certain area, a certain building type, a certain clientele…or a combination of all of the above. Find your niche and then you can start targeting your messaging to attract the right people.
Make sure your brand represents your unique value proposition
It’s one thing to understand where you fit in the market. It’s another thing to be able to communicate this clearly to your audience through your brand. But that is what you need to do. And to be clear, in this situation, it is likely that you are your brand.
So don’t use one of the template solutions for newsletters or marketing collateral, or worse your entire website. Then you look the same as every other realtor…and if you look the same, you’ll likely perform the same. Invest in distinguishing yourself through your brand.
There is not much to be gained in being generic. Use your online presence to stand out from the competition. With a unique and easy to use website, you will already be far ahead of the rest of the pack.
Make sure your brand and message are consistent at every touchpoint
Consistency is a huge deal in sales, whether online or offline. Yet is one of the things most often overlooked of ignored. In big corporations there is a lack of communication between departments and varying opinions, mixed messages between online and offline are common.
Luckily as a real estate agent, you don’t have this excuse. So be consistent. Inconsistency really turns potential customers off. You may represent yourself as clean and sophisticated in person, but if your website is a mess, this image in your customers’ eyes goes down the drain.
Include testimonials and social proof
You can’t sell as well as other people can sell for you if they give you rave reviews. Simply put, if I tell you I’m great, you’d probably take that with a grain of salt (or perhaps chalk me up as arrogant). But if Suzie Smith tells you I’m great, an unbiased 3rd party who has worked with me before, you’re likely to believe her.
This is what testimonials and social proof do for your website and your brand. Make sure these are placed prominently online, don’t bury your reviews in the footer. You should have at least one on your homepage high enough that no one will miss it.
You can even use a strong testimonial in ads or billboards.
Personalize your selling online
You already do this in person. Based on a clients particular needs and pain points, even down to their tone of voice and body language, you adapt your selling style. You respond based on their reactions to each thing that you say.
How could you possible do this online? Well, you can’t exactly. But you can do a whole lot better than giving the same exact sales pitch to everyone. Imagine if you did that in person?
To personalize your selling online, you need to target specific audiences through your marketing and customize messages that are specifically relevant to them. If you take the time to do this, you will greatly increase your lead conversion online.
Don’t believe us?
Make sure to have advanced analytics on your website tracking your campaigns and just see if it makes a difference. You can thank us later.
One more tip. As a realtor, you a likely bombarded constantly with new tools and trends that will help you sell better. Don’t get caught up in these. Stay consistent with your brand and only adapt the tools that makes sense for your unique value proposition.
