Real Estate Marketing Ideas: Easy and Effective Strategies for Success

8/23/2021

Real estate marketing isn’t about marketing as much as possible. Rather, it’s about marketing more effectively to generate the results you want. This post covers easy ways to market yourself as a REALTOR® with a comprehensive list of real estate marketing ideas and strategies proven to work.

Easy and Effective Real Estate Marketing Ideas

Most home buyers are looking for a home that’s the perfect fit for their family or lifestyle. Therefore, it’s important that real estate agents show clients they are great at matching prospective clients with their dream home.

The following real estate marketing ideas for agents will assist you in laying a solid foundation for success. Not only will these strategies help you market your business, but they will also aid you in establishing credibility and relationships with customers.

Create a Business Website

Now more than ever it’s important to have a website for your brand. As real estate agents, your real estate website is a home base for your business and contact information. In addition to providing details on how to get in touch, your business website also provides a space to:

Provide details about yourself and your qualifications through real estate bio.
Share customer testimonials and experiences.
Encourage email signups for direct communication.
Offer information on open houses or upcoming events.
Showcase new listings.
Utilize a lead generation tool for home appraisals, or other similar subject matter, in which a customer enters their email address for results.

Develop Video Content

One of my favorite modern ideas for real estate marketing involves video. This form of marketing is especially appealing to the Instagram and TikTok generation. However, it is also helpful for older clients who may have mobility issues or health concerns about in person meetings or walkthroughs. Or, if children are assisting parents with the process of finding a multi-generational home.

Producing videos is incredibly easy and affordable thanks to today’s smartphones. There are lots of great photo and video-editing apps available for both mobile phones and desktop computers. Apps such as Canva provide simple editing tools that allow you to create professional looking videos by simply dragging and dropping video clips and images into place. There are even tools for adding text and music for a polished presentation.

Video marketing is also more effective than other types of media. Not only are video messages 40% more likely to be opened, but they are also three times as likely to garner a response.

You can use videos to:

Film walkthroughs of new real estate on the market.
Create post-closing client testimonials that highlight your strengths as a real estate professional.
Produce cold outreach videos introducing yourself and the services you provide.
Make day-in-the-life video posts to connect on a personal level with prospects.
Conduct a video tour of the property.
Offer educational real estate videos for first time home buyers that covers pertinent information they need to know as they navigate the process.
Capture the neighborhood with a neighborhood video tour to show how it appears when the park is full of children. Or highlight local activities such as couples grabbing dinner at a food truck or shopping at the local farmer’s market.

Build an Email List

Unlike social media marketing, where you are dependent on the platform algorithms that determine engagement, direct email marketing is a great way to connect directly with potential leads and clients. But what should you write about? Here are some ideas for creating emails that help you connect with real estate customers, keep them informed and build relationships that drive conversations:

Keep potential clients engaged and up to date with what’s new by sharing new listing and open houses.
Use your email to share personal or relatable events or milestones to build trust and relationships that lead to future sales or referrals. Share your grandmother’s favorite fall recipe. Or send a photo of those gorgeous tomatoes you grew in your garden.
Send customer testimonials and announce new closings. After all, excitement is contagious! When people see you’re performing well, it also reassures them that you’re up to the task when it’s time for them to recruit you.
Share information that’s helpful or relevant to home ownership. We can always use tips for home maintenance, ides for staging a home to sell and other resources related to buying, selling, or maintaining a home.

Utilize Social Media

Much like a personalized email list for your real estate business, social media is another easy way to stay in touch and connect with your target market.

It’s important to stay active on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to build meaningful connections that later convert into business opportunities. Therefore, don’t be afraid to share more intimate details about your life to increase engagement.

All the top REALTORS® I’ve considered through my own searches strive to make a personal connection with me online. I get to see photo highlights from their vacation, prize garden crops, unique meals, and even pictures of their kids on the first day of school.

If you need real estate social media post ideas, here are some ideas of things you can share on social media to help boost your real estate marketing:

Share personal aspects of your life, including fun stories or photographs. You aren’t just selling your services, but also yourself. People want to know you are relatable and enjoyable to work with, and that you are someone they can trust.
Tell stories about the homes you are selling. Photos and descriptions of a home’s features are obviously important to the sale. However, by sharing stories around other people’s experiences living there helps to romanticize the listing so clients can envision their future life there.
Post new listings. As real estate is the core of your business, social media is a great opportunity to share new listings. This is an easy way to reach a wide range of people, including those you may not have interacted with previously. Encourage others to tag their friends on these posts, for example, if this listing would make their perfect dream home.
Create video walkthroughs. Seeing photos of a house is one thing. Feeling like you’re actually there is a totally different experience. Video walkthroughs are an innovative and easy way to help prospective clients save time and get excited about a new home.

Don’t forget to engage with potential clients on your posts and interact in relevant groups. There are algorithms in place across every social media platform that reward engagement. By responding to comments, sharing posts, and interacting with other pages or within groups, you ensure your messages are seen by as many eyes as possible.

Make a Local Business Page on Google

Google serves as a phonebook for the new generations. While most of us no longer use the local white or yellow pages to find companies, we are no strangers to google search.

Therefore, building a local business page is a quick way to be discovered. While soliciting reviews helps lend credibility to your profile and springboard your real estate marketing efforts without investing any additional funds.

You can visit google.com/business to create an account.

Create a Profile on Zillow

Zillow has grown to become a primary resource for market research when customers want to buy or sell a home. Therefore, like Google, it’s imperative to create a Zillow profile.

Not only is it free to create, but Zillow also gives real estate professionals top placement as the listing agent for all your active listings. You can also ask for customer reviews to help increase traffic and build a successful profile for generating new leads.

Send Custom Mailers and Personalized Note Cards

Despite the growth of the digital age, direct mail isn’t dead. In fact, direct mail yields a higher response rate from customers than online ads and email.

There are several reasons why direct mail still works for real estate marketing:

There is less competition. On average, consumers receive just two pieces of mail a day. When compared to email, there’s an obvious advantage.
Response from direct mail is higher than both email and online ads. Promotional emails have an expected return of 1%, while online ads have only 0.3% engagement. Direct mail, on the other hand, has a response rate of 4.4% on average across every industry.
It takes an average of five follow ups to close a sale. Direct mail is more personal than an email and saves time over a phone call. It’s also a great way to sweeten the pot without flooding in boxes with yet another message.
As the landscape of the world changes, and events and activities remain in flux, direct mail has become more effective. A recent survey from the American Association of Advertising Agencies indicated 43% of consumers are reassured by hearing from brands they know and trust. Direct mail offers the opportunity to maintain a personal touch without having to meet in person.
Unlike email marketing, direct mail marketing doesn’t require that recipients opt in to receive messages. Your marketing materials will also never end up in a spam folder, completely unseen.
It’s more effective than email. Whereas emails are quickly deleted or forgotten, thank you notes, and other forms of direct mail tend to stick around longer. Often mail will sit on a desk or counter for weeks, reminding them to take action at a later date.
Direct mail can support your social media and mobile real estate marketing strategies.

Here at Magnets USA®, we make it easy to incorporate direct mail into your marketing plan. We offer direct mail real estate marketing materials such as small custom client gifts, self-mailers and personalized note cards to help further establish and secure business relationships.

Likewise, our custom gift notes are also a useful solution for direct mail marketing. These essential business builders ensure you connect with leads on a personal level when sending out a thank you or a prospective client gift. Start with our pre-written content, then personalize it as much as you like to target your unique customer base.

In addition to thank you notes, some other ideas for marketing by mail include sending out postcards highlighting homes just listed or just sold or with helpful home maintenance tips. You can also mail out inspirational contact cards or magnetic mailers with sports schedules or calendars.

Make sure prospective clients can easily find you by listing your website, phone number and email on all real estate promotional materials.

Hand Out Promotional Gifts

Promotional gifts are key to any real estate marketing strategy – especially when it comes to referrals. Some of the top promotional gift ideas for real estate agents include:

Create a Buzz

Keeping up with the Jones’ is more than just a saying. The reality is that most people want what they can’t have. You can create a buzz around a listing by making it seem more exclusive than it really is.

Price a home slightly under market value to expose the property to a larger number of clients to create hype and start a bidding war
Limit showings to a single open house to get as many eyes as possible within one time frame
Create a deadline to receive offers so buyers come prepared and have a sense of urgency to act now

Special Events

Events are another great way to reach clients. Social gatherings not only get people interested, but they also help to create a buzz around a home. Stage a home for more than an open house with food, drinks, raffles, and live entertainment to really get folks excited about buying.

You can advertise your event free though social media channels such as Facebook events or Instagram. By placing significant value on an open house and making into an event, you are setting the stage for a successful showing with plenty of buzz around your value as a real estate agent.

Client appreciation events are another great networking opportunity to gain referrals. You can easily strengthen “top of mind presence” by hosting events for past clients in addition to lenders, inspectors, title officers and home warranty reps all in the same setting. I recommend piggybacking off a community event for greater impact, while offering free food and real estate marketing materials that clients will use every day.

Other worthwhile event ideas for real estate marketing include first-time home buyer workshops, seminars on renting versus buying, and community volunteer opportunities in which you can become a sponsoring partner.

Network with Local Businesses

Team up with other local businesses to help build referrals and generate new leads through networking. Profile local artists or coffee shops, florists or downtown businesses in your emails or social media in exchange for their help sharing your custom real estate marketing materials.

You can also include coupons to their business or other promotional materials at open houses. Or use them as additional swag bag favors at events. You can also include them as part of a gift basket filled with REALTOR® client gifts. Or connect with other businesses for raffle donations for a cross-promotional giveaway campaign.

Additionally, you can also co-market with other professionals related to your industry such as home warranty companies, financial lenders, or home inspectors. This can help to exponentially increase your exposure.

Ask for Referrals

Another great way to build your business as a real estate professional is to ask for referrals. While it’s easy to obtain leads via word of mouth from friends and family, you can easily expand these opportunities by networking with people you interact with on a regular basis.

Whether it’s opening dialogue with your local barista or the teachers at your child’s daycare, asking general questions about family, jobs, and dreams is an easy lead into home buying and ownership.

Networking gifts that remind clients that you love referrals are another great marketing tool. They can easily be customized with your contact information; and unlike business cards, these items are used on a regular basis.

Build a Blog

Building a blog is great for content marketing. It’s also an easy way to expand on information you share through emails or social media.

There are, however, a number of ins and outs to blogging. Not only do you need strong writing skills, but it also helps immensely to be knowledgeable in search engine information and have a strong social media profile. Consistency is also key.

While blogs can and do generate leads, it does require some dedication. Without consistent, quality material, you won’t get much traction with a blog. For this reason, they can be time consuming. Therefore, this route isn’t for everyone.

However, if your budget allows, you can hire a real estate VA (virtual assistant) who has the expertise to create results. Outsourcing blog content is commonplace and a great way to save time and forego mistakes when getting started. A typical real estate VA can collaborate with you on ideas for articles, research and write the posts, as well as make certain your content is optimized for search engine rankings.

Retarget Potential Real Estate Clients

Both buying and selling a house are huge decisions for consumers. Most people deliberate purchasing real estate over the course of several months to years. Therefore, reminding potential customers you are here for them is a great way to finally snag clients once they’re ready to make the leap.

Retargeting prospects you’ve contacted prior is another great marketing strategy. You can easily reconnect with clients through your website, social media, and custom mailers. However, targeted emails and Facebook ads are also highly effective at reaching interested customers.

Gain Referrals through REALTOR® Closing Gifts

Closing gifts are common among real estate agents as well as a highly recommended business strategy. REALTOR® closing gifts let customers know you are grateful for the opportunity to work with them. However, they can also help you gain referrals down the road.

In general, you don’t want to spend too little on a closing gift. This makes the gift feel like an afterthought. However, you also want to keep the gift appropriate for the situation. As a good rule of thumb, closing gifts should cost around $50-$100.

LifeLong Gifts

In order assist you in selecting quality client gifts, we created LifeLong Gifts™.

All the merchandise offered through LifeLong Gifts™ are heirloom worthy products. They are designed for practical use with a nod to unique, customizable designs that you and your customers will love. They’re a great way to not only show your appreciation, but also to be remembered!

Choose from a wide array of memorable real estate client gift ideas including:

Also be sure to check out holiday client gift guide for more great ideas!

Other Considerations for Real Estate Marketing

When you’re primarily in business for yourself, it can be challenging to pull everything off by yourself. While it may cost you less up front to handle all the aspects of real estate marketing yourself, it could also hurt you in the long run.

Listings that don’t entice customers or poorly photographed spaces won’t just fail to gain momentum; they can also turn prospective clients off. Therefore, consider outsourcing work for which you aren’t qualified. This may include hiring a writer, photographer, or a videographer to guarantee professional results that put you ahead of the competition.

Homes that are professionally photographed sell 32% faster than those that aren’t. Often, buyers also pay 10-20% more for these properties. Thus, proving that presentation is key to a successful listing.

We hope that you find these real estate marketing ideas helpful as you plan your promotional strategy for success. For more great ideas to help you stay at the top of your marketing game, as well as information on new product launches and special offers, please subscribe to our newsletter. You can also follow us on Facebook or Instagram.