This industry is fiercely competitive. With more than 1.3 million realtors in the country (according to recent data published by the National Association of Realtors – NAR), the competition is heating up even more and getting leads is getting more difficult than ever.
In this article, let’s discuss the following:
- What are the Best Real Estate Agents Marketing Tools
- Unique Real Estate Marketing Ideas
- Effective Real Estate Agent Advertising
- How to do Marketing for New Real Estate Agents
To set yourself apart from the pack you’ll have to be an expert in both online and offline marketing strategies for real estate agents. While agents are still key in this industry, more and more buyers are increasingly looking online before talking to the experts.
A study by the NAR showed that 92 percent of buyers do their house hunting online before contacting an agent. So, if you are not online, active and engaging, you are missing out on a lot of new business.
What are the Best Real Estate Agents Marketing Tools
Real estate marketing tools provide agents everything to help them generate more leads, get more exposure and manage their clients.
Here are some of the best tools every realtor should use:
Zillow Premier Agent – Zillow has more than 160 million monthly visitors – this makes Zillow Premier Agent one of the most powerful lead generation tools in the industry. The tool allows you to submit new listings on the platform, add your contact information and other recommendations. With Zillow Premier Agent, your name will appear exclusively on your listing, so you’ll have a better chance of getting the full commission. For an additional fee, you can advertise on the listings of other agents.
BoxBrownie.com – Great photos or videos are everything in this industry. BoxBrownie.com works with some of the best real estate agent marketing companies in the industry and offers multiple tools to help realtors. The app has powerful image editing and enhancement features, and with more than 40 designers on staff, has very quick turnaround times.
CityBlast – Social media is an amazingly powerful tool for connecting to your potential clients and finding new prospects. CityBlasts connects to your major social media profiles and helps you find content, create content and interact with your fans.
Real Geeks – A good CRM tool is ideal to track, organize and manage existing or new leads. With Real Geeks, you can optimize every call or email, engage with your clients, track their journey through your sales process and get notifications according to a preset schedule.
Unique Real Estate Marketing Ideas
The more competitive your local market, the more creative you’ll have to be with your marketing strategies for real estate agents.
Here are some ideas to help you out:
- Create a video tour (or series) of your neighborhood – Explore everyday life in your neighborhood for your potential clients. Architecture, culture, cuisine, events or unique attractions – you can include anything you find interesting in the area. Add comments from local residents, their opinions, small bits of information and sprinkle it all with a little humor.
- Use drone photos or videos – Don’t be afraid to use new technology for your listings, especially if the property allows it. Drone photos or videos can better highlight the depth of the space, the outdoor area, and the landscape, so your clients will get more from your presentation.
- Be personable – If you have the personality, show it! Be fun, approachable and friendly – your customers will notice you and will see you as more than a business partner. Try to create an introductory video, a house tour or a video testimonial where customers can “meet you” for the first time.
You can find more in-depth creative marketing ideas for real estate agents here.
Effective Real Estate Agent Advertising
Getting your listing in front of the right people can be tough. There are heaps of listings out there and your offer has to stand out, regardless of the price, features or location.
Here’s a short list of ideas to help you advertise your listing:
- Social media live tour – Facebook live videos are amazingly popular nowadays. Why? Because they work, people love them and want more of them. They are a great sales tool because they create a sense of urgency. Start by taking a short tour of the neighborhood and then focus on the house.
- Messenger advertising – this strategy works great if you know how to target your ads in front of a large audience.
- Open house events – Event response ads, such as open house events, are fabulous ways to attract a new potential client to your listings. Make sure you schedule them at least 2 weeks ahead, so customers have enough time to answer to your request.
- Use influencers – Influencers are seen as opinion leaders. These people have a huge, loyal following and are seen as a trustworthy resource. If they share your ads or contact information, you’ll get a massive boost in your visibility.
- Host a contest – Set up a contest that gives your followers something of value for their homes, gift cards, memberships or guides.
How to do Marketing for New Real Estate Agents
Having a killer online presence is the #1 thing you’ll have to do as a new real estate agent. Here are the basics:
- Your website – This is a way to start real estate branding awareness online. This is the first thing you need to get right. A website is your main online real estate property in your portfolio, and it has to showcase your business professionally. Use WordPress, find a good theme and include a short bio, about us page, contact information and focus on creating content.
- Social media – Learn about the most popular social media platforms and make sure you are there: Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter. Facebook is ideal for friends, acquaintances and interacting with clients, Linkedin is business-oriented and Twitter is ideal for microblogging.
- Get on most important real estate platforms – Zillow, Trulia, Homesnap, Redfin and many others should be your first options.
- Create an advertising budget – As soon as you get everything set, you can think about your advertising budget. To help you with this, you can contact any of the real estate agent marketing companies in your area, which can help you with the best marketing packages for real estate agents.