Good marketing is the differentiator between successful and unsuccessful realtors. Attracting the right kind of attention is not a luxury but a necessity. The real estate industry is not the exception to this rule, and perhaps it's even more dependent on awareness than other sectors.
As a new or even a seasoned realtor, the process of lead generation is vital to your success. Granted, experienced realtors have the advantage of time in the field and undoubtedly have a good amount of referrals coming their way, but even this reservoir dries up. Generating the right kinds of leads will keep a realtors calendar busy with home buying or selling prospects.
While finding the right Miami based real estate marketing agency may not be the simplest of tasks, we hope that the following post gives you the framework to try.
The Art of Real Estate Marketing
In a nutshell, real estate marketing refers to the ventures a realtor or real estate firm takes to promote its services and home listings. Marketing is vast and includes market research, analysis, and paid advertising.
Successful realtors undoubtedly keep their marketing top of mind. They see it as an essential aspect of all their business dealings. Realtors with a clearly defined process for getting people interested in their personal brand and owned media (website) will ultimately get more end of the funnel leads.
What is an "end of the funnel lead"?
End of the funnel leads represent individuals who have done their research and have clearly defined what they want, whether it be to buy or sell a home and are now actively looking for a person to help them with this task. If you have a good marketing plan in place, chances are they have come across your website, blog, or social posts at some point during their research. The more they see you while researching real estate, the better brand association you will receive. They see your face they think real estate.
After a prospects research has concluded, its time to find the realtor to begin the home buying or selling process meaning this prospect is an "end of the funnel lead" in other words; they are ready to commit.
"If you've been an active participant in a prospects real estate research by providing relevant content on your website and social media, the chances they call you to represent their real estate interest drastically improve."
As you can see, having a solid content marketing plan has benefits such as a shot at acquiring customers that are ready to buy or sell and establishing your name as an industry leader in your local real estate sector.
Using the different marketing types to get more customers
All of these marketing tactics have been specially modified to serve the needs and interests of realtors and real estate brokerage agencies.
Search engine optimization: It's 2020, and you need to understand that the majority of real estate prospects do their research online. A website is no longer a cool thing to have; it is now a necessity.
The pushback we get from realtors often regarding websites is that they express it does nothing for them. Usually, we agree that their website is underperforming, but it's obvious why. A website is not a thing you set-up once and forget about; it requires you to improve it with valuable content consistently.
"setting up a website and never touching it again is like opening a generic storefront and never giving anyone the address."
Search engines reward sites that contain fresh, relevant content that is useful to its visitors. So don't just set it and forget it. Create useful webpages that keep visitors engaged, and as a reward, the search engines will boost your ranking and list your site towards the top of the listings.
The better positioned your site is, the more organic traffic it will receive. Organic traffic is free. It is a reward for providing useful, relevant information. We bet you would be happy if your site received 500 organic visits per week, and five of those visitors turned into leads.
"There are two significant benefits of a high ranking site one free traffic and two thought leadership."
Real estate blogging: Blogs are great for keeping fresh content populating your site and tells not only site visitors but also google that you're active and ready to help.
Consider releasing at least one blog post a month. The post should contain minimal fluff and genuinely help real estate prospects with their pain point. When choosing a Miami real estate marketing company, don't forget to inquire about their blogging strategy.
"While blogs are not as popular as they once were, they are still a crucial part of any marketing strategy as they serve many different spokes of your marketing wheel."
Real estate social media marketing: Building a robust social media audience allows you to tap into it with relevant offerings and information. Social media platforms are free, but building and maintaining an audience is not. It requires the production of high-value content such as videos, blogs, infographics, podcasts, and webinars, among others.
Social media is well worth the expense; with the right amount of effort, you will create a positive impression on your audience. The world is changing, and now social media celebrities and influencers are quite common. So why not be a top real estate authority in your local market?
Real estate print marketing: while you may think print is outdated, there are still plenty of opportunities to draw underpriced attention through the sponsorship of an article on a real estate relevant newspaper or magazine.
A timely placed flyer or door hanger ad has brought many of our realtor clients unexpected leads. The idea is to combine online and offline tactics guaranteeing yourself maximum exposure. After all, not everyone is online.
Pay-per-click (PPC): When you don't rank organically, PPC is your only shot at getting found. Search engines sell advertising slots, and you can pay to appear within them. PPC conforms as a vital cog in the marketing strategies of most successful real estate agents.
A good real estate marketing firm will develop a solid cost-per-click strategy and set you up with a multitude of optimized ads that get seen by the right people. Correctly setting up a PPC campaign ensures that your ads are getting a good click-through-rate while paying the lowest amount possible.
"There's an art to PPC, and not every marketing firm gets it right. As a realtor, you need to set measurable goals and track your progress through reports."
Real estate video marketing: In the old day's video, marketing meant just tv commercials, but its 2020 and video is everywhere, such as website landing pages, social media, YouTube, and pretty much everywhere else.
Video has morphed into a tool that not only sells but also educates and entertains. The idea of just using video to pitch a product is one dimensional since video can do much more. Many inbound marketing strategies rely on video to create amazing content that brings in customers naturally.
Read our post on Real Estate Inbound Marketing.
Choosing a Miami real estate marketing company
As with any other service you have many options and companies looking to take you on as a client, a simple google search for "real estate marketing companies Miami" will bring up an assortment of ads pitching why they're the best option for you.
Truth is while they all want your business, they don't all have your best interest at heart. Analyze their offerings and, if possible, schedule a meeting. Let them know what your goals are and where you're at currently with your marketing efforts. Get a feel for what they suggest based on your specific needs and see how many marketing techniques they plan to employ and what return-on-investment (ROI) can be expected.
ReyFilm is Miami real estate marketing video agency. Our goals are to make videos specifically optimized to serve real estate agents in their endeavors to brand and grow their offerings.