If you're looking to sell more homes in 2021, we'd suggest that instead of looking for more real estate marketing tools, you start looking into using a smaller number of real estate marketing tools more efficiently. Let's take a look at 5 basic real estate marketing tools you can use to sell more homes.
Each of these tools is an essential component of a successful marketing strategy, and when you get really good at each of them, you'll find yourself doing a whole lot less work and selling more homes. Sounds good, right?
Let's jump in. Our top recommendations for 5 real estate marketing tools that help you sell more homes (with less work) are:
01. A CRM to Manage your Real Estate Marketing Tech Stack
It feels like every time anyone talks about real estate marketing tools, social media is the first suggestion. And I'll get to social media, but there's one thing that outranks Facebook and Instagram when it comes to real estate marketing. That'd be a CRM.
A CRM or customer relationship management software is a tool that brings all of your marketing tools — your email marketing platform, your social media accounts, marketing and sales documents, and workflows — into one place.
Each of those tools — combined, your tech stack — has a specific and important purpose for your real estate marketing strategy. But, when you're managing social media in one place, your website in another, and email in yet another, it's difficult to align your marketing efforts, and harder still just to keep track of what's posting or sending out when.
A good CRM brings all of those tools into one simple, easy-to-use platform, with the added benefit of tracking every single lead that comes into your real estate development or agency.
Never drop a warm lead or forget to send an email again. If you're serious about boosting your real estate marketing strategy, it's time to get serious about a CRM.
There are a ton of options out there, but we always recommend HubSpot. They offer a free version (not a trial, a totally free version of their CRM), that's a great way to get started and see how much a CRM can do for you.
When all of your marketing tools live in one place, it's so much easier to make the most of all of them.
02. Social Media
Alright, now that we've got the CRM out of the way, let's get down to what you expected to hear: social media.
I've said it, and so has probably every other content marketer out there. Social media is one of the best marketing tools in any real estate company's toolbox.
Platforms like:
- Houzz
And more, are great places to get the word out about your real estate development or agency.
Since you've probably heard most of this before, I won't go too in-depth. The gist of it is that social media is an amplification tool. No matter what platform you choose, it's a way to share homes, new developments, beautiful imagery of your property, and reach a broader audience.
When you put effort into developing a social media strategy that is consistent and shareable, you're boosting brand awareness, and getting your name out there to a wider range of potential leads.
Check out some of these resources if you're looking for suggestions or advice on beefing up your social media marketing strategy.
- Social Media Marketing vs. Social Media Advertising
- Real Estate Developers: Boosting your Facebook Following
- Is Instagram an Effective Tool to Grow Your Brand?
- How Pinterest Can Work Like Houzz for Home Builders
And don't forget about paid social either. When used properly, it's a remarkably effective tool that can deliver serious leads for a relatively low expense.
03. Your Website
Most real estate agencies and developments don't think of their website as a marketing tool.
It is.
If you use your website like the robust marketing tool it is, you can see serious returns. Your website is the only digital space that you actually own. If you optimize it the right way, you'll begin to pull in more of the right visitors, who ultimately convert to qualified leads, prospects, and then customers.
How to use your website as a marketing tool? Get started with tactics like:
- SEO — to help your site rank higher for relevant keywords
- Blogging — to draw in more of the right traffic
- Content offers — to convert that "right traffic" into qualified leads who are ready to buy
By creating a website that's optimized for search, and building it out with quality content that answers key questions homebuyers in your area are asking, you'll start to see your rankings rise. As you rise through the SERP rankings, you'll see more of the right traffic, which means more of the right leads converting into prospects and then sales.
04. Email Marketing
Your website and social media platforms are tools that draw in new leads. But what do you do with those leads once you've got 'em?
Email marketing is a powerful tool, especially for real estate developers and agencies. If you've ever searched for a home on an app like Zillow, you know that once you've completed a search, Zillow will keep sending you updates with new homes and properties in that zip code.
While those updates help you to find a home in your area, they also do a great job of keeping you on Zillow. (Big points for Zillow)
Email marketing can work in much the same way for your real estate development or agency.
As you collect the email addresses of qualified leads, you can begin to send them targeted emails that keep them engaged.
- If you're a real estate developer, send them updates about new happenings with your development. Have you released new lots? Have just a few properties left? Introducing a brand new development? All of these will keep qualified leads interested and engaged with your company.
- If you're a real estate agency, send prospects newly listed properties that fit their search criteria, or that you think you might be interested in. You can work to segment your email lists so you don't have to manually send out updates but can add new prospects to specific lists that fit their interests.
Email marketing is one of the best ways to keep new prospects engaged, helping ensure you never lose a lead just because they're not quite ready to make a decision.
05. Chatbots
Chatbots are an amazing real estate marketing tool.
Why?
Let's think about your homebuyers.
When are they most often actively browsing for homes? While some people might browse on their lunch hour, or on late Friday afternoons when they're ready to be done with work, the majority of your leads are scrolling through virtual home tours at night and on the weekends.
And while you like to be available as much as possible, most prospects aren't going to call you up on a Thursday night at 11pm to ask about a house or property.
That's where chatbots come in.
These handy little real estate marketing tools work for you 24/7, helping you engage with leads around the clock — whenever they're most interested in a home, lot, or property.
Chatbots work in a few different ways — you can set them up to message you directly, you can give them a few questions to ask, or you can build them out to be fully interactive.
No matter how you start, any chatbot does a great job of making your real estate company available to your leads whenever they're most interested in you. That creates some serious lead generation potential.
If you're interested in adding chatbots to your real estate marketing toolbox, this article on conversational marketing is a great place to start.
There are hundreds of real estate marketing tools out there. There's always a new app or a new website pushing for your attention, telling you it's the next big thing. But, when it comes down to it, the most successful real estate marketing tools are the ones you own.
You can do as much work as you want on Redfin or Zillow, but the fact is that you don't own those marketing tools.
Any of the work you put into a third party can all be gone in an instant should the website go down. What's more, you don't have control over those third-party real estate marketing tools. It's important to have a presence on something like Zillow, but you can't control when, where, or how your listings or properties show up.
When you invest in real estate marketing tools you own, like your website, your email marketing strategy, and even chatbots, you're future-proofing your digital presence, and selling more homes while you do it.
But, there's a reason many real estate professionals don't have robust websites or email marketing campaigns — it's hard work, and it can be tough to get started on your own. If you're looking to take control of your real estate marketing strategy, and want a little help getting it going, the Evenbound team is here to help. We specialize in digital marketing for real estate developers, and would be happy to help you get started too.
