Ready to explore how digital marketing can help you grow you real estate business? Then you came to the right place! In this special 2-part series, we break down everything you need to know about digital marketing for real estate agents in 2020 and beyond.
So, here we are in October – a fabulous time to look both ahead and behind.
How has your 2019 marketing strategy been working? You do remember, don’t you, that your business plan and, most especially your marketing plan, aren’t written in cement?
They are livable, breathable documents which outline strategies that may require tweaking as the year unfolds.
It’s ok if you didn’t have time for the tweaking, but let’s make a pact that in 2020, you’ll occasionally glance at your marketing plan to ensure you’re on track to meet your goals.
And to help you out, this is the first of a multi-part series of posts dealing with all things digital marketing for real estate agents.
Your digital marketing strategy for any year should be segmented by medium:
Most agents use a mix of several of these vehicles when marketing their businesses and many of the most successful have a digital marketing strategy as the backbone of their marketing plan.
When considering your marketing budget, you’ll naturally want to get the most bang for your buck. And, according to the chart below, you’re in luck, because the number one most effective marketing method can be quite inexpensive (at least compared to numbers two and four).
Courtesy: Ascend2 2019 Digital Marketing Strategies Survey Summary Report
“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing” content to a “clearly defined audience,” according to the Content Marketing Institute.
Creation and distribution tactics vary and, at least for digital marketing for real estate agents, includes:
Effective content is:
While all three of the above are vital aspects of digital marketing for real estate agents, number three, consistent delivery, is the one most overlooked by real estate agents and, thus, why their efforts typically fail.
Let’s break down all three aspects.
Let’s head back to the pros at the Content Marketing Institute for the answer to this one. Valuable content is:
A recitation of your recent successes is not relevant to the average real estate consumer. Your bio and resume aren’t relevant either. Anything that is overtly salesy? You got it, not relevant.
Their biggest question, conscious of it or not is, “what’s in it for me?”
According to a NAR study, for instance, homebuyers say the most difficult steps in the process include understanding the paperwork, understanding the process, saving for the down payment and getting a mortgage.
The younger the homebuyer, the more difficult they found these steps. Baby boomers, for instance, say they find zero difficulty understanding any of them. Millennials, on the other hand, find all of them challenging.
In a nutshell, relevant content addresses and satisfies the goals, needs or interest of the reader or viewer.
Then, it should hit their eyes at just the right time.
In other words, don’t target recent homebuyers with content about saving for a down payment.
That’s a tall order, I know. Segmenting your database helps immensely here.
By creating a system that keeps track of (among all the other details about a lead) where each person is in the sales pipeline, this one shouldn’t be as insurmountable as it seems.
Think you don’t have the time or energy to create such a system? Reconsider your priorities: A recent Adobe survey finds that nearly half of consumers become loyal to a brand if content is relevant (more personalized).
Looking for the perfect social media platform for your business? Check out our handy guide!
Whether you choose to create blog posts, videos, newsletters or any of the other types of digital content, consistently delivering that content is imperative to your success.
But how often should you publish content?
Naturally, it depends on your digital marketing mix.
Newsletters are typically sent out monthly. Blog posts, on the other hand, should be posted far more often.
A B2C blogging study found that those that companies that “post 16-plus entries a month enjoy 4.5 times the amount of traffic as those that upload only 0-4 posts,” according to John Rampton at Forbes.com.
Choose a frequency that’s easy to automate or delegate and stick to it. Keep it consistent.
Content isn’t the only aspect of a successful strategy when it comes to digital marketing for real estate agents. In future posts in this series we’ll cover 2020 strategies for your website, SEO, PPC and SEM and more.
Ya’all come back now, hear?
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