The real estate market has experienced a large uptick in value, largely due to historically low interest rates and a national housing shortage. Finding new listings has proven difficult in the current market. The real estate market has become increasingly competitive. Currently, there are 1.3 million real estate agents operating in just the United States–agents that want to succeed will need to find innovative ways to attract potential buyers.
One of the most effective ways to reach prospective buyers is by advertising with Google Ads. Other digital platforms, including social media, listing platforms (Zillow, RedFin, etc.), and others have helped real estate agents attract new buyers and extend their reach.
Taking digital marketing seriously as a real estate agent is crucial for increasing brand awareness, increasing visibility, and generating leads. Agents that fail to take advantage of modern technology and means of communications will quickly fall behind.
Why is real estate digital marketing important?
There are 4.66 billion active internet users globally as of January 2021. This represents 59.5 percent of the world’s population and in the United States, the portion of people getting information online is even higher. 92.6 percent (4.32 billion) of all internet users used mobile devices to access the internet.
Some realtors and brokers underestimate the importance of internet marketing in the real estate industry–these agents tend to miss out on some very desirable leads. According to one poll of American realtors, 44 percent of agents have found leads through social media (Sphere of influence, not Social Media Ads) and 33 percent have gained leads through other types of online advertising. An omnichannel marketing strategy helps realtors extend their reach and increase the number of people in their pipeline.
Digital marketing not only raises brand recognition but also helps firms stand out among competitors. Here are some of the reasons why digital marketing is so important for your Real Estate business.
People use search engines to look up information.
Today, search engines, such as Google, are the most common tool for finding new information. Last year, there were 13 billion Real Estate searches on Google. People use Google to find real estate agents, explore the housing market, and learn about real estate, in general.
Advertising on Google Ads can produce an ongoing stream of potential prospects, making it significantly easier to expand your business. Google Ads is a scalable marketing solution because, unlike other platforms, you only pay when someone actually clicks your ad. The total value of digital advertising is more than 378 billion dollars per year, outpacing global television advertising by roughly 30 percent.
Video and mobile marketing is effective.
In most industries, mobile and video marketing has proven beneficial, and Real Estate is no exception. Several studies show that mobile ad campaigns perform better than their desktop-optimized counterparts.
In addition, using videos can help boost conversion rates. Marketing with video and mobile devices might be a wise investment. According to Hubspot, landing pages containing video, for example, can increase conversion by up to 80%. People are visual creatures by nature–video provides a level of engagement that few, if any, other mediums can match. For realtors, creating a video that showcases your listing may help a potential customer make a buying decision and convert the audience into leads more successfully than a still image.
Furthermore, video content is ranked highly by search engines. If you include more videos, more enriching content, and extend your digital footprint across multiple channels, Google will reward you with better search engine page rankings (SERP). This, ultimately, is one of the most important components of a good real estate digital marketing strategy.
People rely on online reviews.
Establishing “Social Proof” is crucial in every business. Online reviews are one of the simplest ways to build client trust and reputation. If prospective buyers can be confident that you are experienced and are easy to work with, they will be much more likely to select you as their agent.
A few favorable reviews on your Google My Business page will help potential clients trust you when deciding to try your service for the first time. To get started, consider asking satisfied clients to leave you a review–you’ll be surprised just how many are actually willing to say yes. Trust is especially important in the real estate industry, where consumers are making a significant investment.
It’s easy to reach your target audience.
A sign or banner that you put up throughout town will not be seen or noticed by everyone–the internet is much vaster than even the most popular parts of your city. When you’re trying to reach folks outside of your city, it becomes more difficult. This is where digital marketing may help.
Using only a few clicks, you may target and reach an audience outside your immediate area with real estate digital marketing. Paid ads in digital marketing allow you to target those who are interested in a specific class of properties rather than the entire market. Simply said, digital marketing will enable you to reach the most relevant audience at all times.
Every Realtor must be online to compete.
To remain competitive as a realtor, you must establish a strong online presence and invest in digital marketing. Whether it’s building brand awareness by advertising on Social Media or generating leads from Google Ads. The bottom line is if you aren’t online, your success as a Realtor will be limited to a small, in-person network that might not necessarily be buying.
Running a Real Estate business like they did 20 years ago, is no longer an option–the traditional Rolodex model has become a relic of years past. The digital marketing sector is rapidly expanding, and you must act quickly to build an online presence and start generating leads or risk becoming extinct.
Keeping this in mind, what are the most effective ways to develop a customized real estate digital marketing strategy?
Real estate digital marketing strategy
1.) Create email campaigns
In the Real Estate industry, emails are one of the most effective digital marketing techniques. Roughly 300 billion emails are sent every day, making it the single largest method of communication on Earth. Email enables you to connect, engage, and persuade new leads while maintaining interest in your service among existing clients. Eighty-six percent of consumers prefer to receive emails over other forms of advertising, according to one recent consumer study. Newsletters, weekly listings, mortgage checkups, and other types of emails can be carefully crafted to address your potential client’s needs.
2.) Develop a user-friendly website with a CRM
Over 40% of Real Estate website visitors originate from mobile devices. If your website is not properly optimized for mobile use, you could be losing a significant amount of money. Investing in a better platform and customer relationship management (CRM) can help increase your digital operating outcomes.
A mobile-friendly website should have images that are optimized for mobile screens and a faster loading speed. Adding a live chat option to your website can also help improve engagement. People are more likely to trust a Realtor who responds quickly to their questions. Make yourself available whenever you’re required. Don’t give your prospect time to go to your rival for answers to their inquiries.
Build landing pages that are specific to each campaign. When a user visits your landing page, use forced registration to ensure you are maximizing conversions. When a user converts, they are automatically added to your Customer Relationship manager (CRM).
3.) Pay-Per-Click advertising
When a user conducts a Google search, the search engine scours its database for highly relevant items in the order that it believes will best answer the searcher’s question. This is why, when it comes to Google search, content reigns supreme. For paid search engine digital advertising, Google uses the Pay Per Click (PPC) model (see our Real Estate PPC blog for more information).
You only pay for PPC advertising when a user clicks on your ad (thus, the term “pay per click”). This type of real estate digital advertising encourages search engines to show ads exclusively to people who are interested in them–it is a mutually beneficial relationship that helps potential buyers easily find real estate agents.
Marketers who advertise on Google Ads, have a conversion rate of over 2.47 percent. Realtors that use RealDigi Ads to create and manage campaigns on Google Ads average a conversion rate of 6% to 30%. The PPC algorithm with machine learning targets people Google believes will click on your ad and convert on your website. The longer you advertise, the better the results should be–even though the best real estate digital marketing strategies take time, you’ll eventually get the ROI you’re hoping for.
4.) Content marketing
A responsive real estate website’s hallmark is content marketing. A mobile-friendly, highly responsive website with no useful content is a complete waste of time. Therefore, content marketing is an essential component of SEO and the most effective strategy to have your website indexed.
Content on your website can help you establish credibility, establish a reputation, and connect with your audience. Write articles, guidelines, and reviews to assist people in making informed home-purchase selections. In a nutshell, the material on your website should solve a problem or answer a question. The more problems you can solve and questions you can answer, the higher Google will place your platforms for specific search engine queries.
5.) Virtual tour hosting
An effective digital marketing tool that gurus in the real estate sector utilize is the virtual tour hosting method. This method not only helps marketers produce more revenue, but it also helps customers speed the home-buying process. Buying a house is a challenging process, which is why clients rely on you as a marketer to help them through it.
To host an effective virtual tour, keep these tips in mind.
- Use actual footage of the home–avoid digital illusions
- Make sure your video is responsive and engaging, both on desktop and mobile
- Post on social media and encourage sharing
According to a Planet Home Study, 75 percent of potential home buyers would like to be able to access a digital home tour when making their final decision.
6.) Invest in SEO
With the right search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, you can propel your website to the top of search engine results. Regrettably, search engine algorithms change on a daily basis. As a result, you should always be aware of the latest algorithm changes.
It’s more crucial than ever to devote more effort to SEO. Keywords are a crucial component of SEO, especially in a jargon-filled industry like real estate. Creating keyword-driven content that offers readers values will help set you apart from potential competitors.
Other SEO elements to consider are:
- Backlinks
- Social media pages
- Title and meta descriptions, readability, snippets, etc.
- Online directories
While practically every real estate agent uses one or more digital marketing techniques as part of their business, the success of the strategies is determined by how well they are implemented.
Concentrate on generating digital content that tries to address homebuyer concerns and provide answers to their questions. Make use of a variety of internet tactics to increase your chances of being discovered by potential consumers. Use RealDigi Ads to run Google Ads to ensure you’re reaching your target audience. In the end, it’s about the number of individuals that you reach–with a larger digital footprint, you’ll discover better results.
