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Write it Down: Why You Need a Digital Marketing Strategy
Having a documented digital marketing strategy increases brand awareness and provides a starting point for in-depth analytics.
Highlights:
- A digital marketing strategy should be clearly documented, enabling you to fine-tune and adjust sections — or the entire document — in response to analytics.
- From social media channels to blogs, enhanced customer engagement enables real estate brands to open a two-way communication with potential buyers (and renters).
- A clearly articulated digital marketing strategy is the foundation of generating qualified real estate leads.
Digital marketing for real estate has become mandatory in recent years. With over 3.2 billion users globally, the internet has opened up countless opportunities for brands to connect with new and growing audiences — and the real estate industry has benefited in a major way. According to recent market surveys, 92% of potential buyers do vigorous research online before making a home purchase.
With luxury development projects on the rise in the Boston area as well as other metros across the country, a digital marketing strategy can give developers a competitive edge. Note: The strategy should be clearly documented, enabling you to fine-tune and adjust sections — or the entire document — in response to analytics.
Benefits of a documented digital marketing strategy
Brand building
To succeed in the highly competitive and dynamic real estate industry, you need a strong and reputable online presence. Using tools like workflows, search engine optimization, and social media, real estate marketers can grow brand awareness. Digital marketing allows you to attract potential buyers from a global market. From social media channels to blogs, enhanced customer engagement enables real estate brands to open a two-way communication with potential buyers (and renters).
Higher conversion rate
Digital marketing fosters a higher conversion rate of people who visit websites or social media platforms. Why? A well-designed digital marketing strategy nurtures leads and gives them reasons to return to your platforms where pointed calls-to-action and landing pages can capture their information. Establishing your online presence will help you showcase your luxury projects, allowing home buyers to explore purchasing options. Developers with updated and informed content increase their chances of engaging potential customers who are property hunting online.
Increased exposure
It’s no secret that digital marketing helps expand organic reach and increases exposure to new audiences. Geolocation marketing takes it a step further, letting marketers customize content for specific target audiences based on their physical location. Paid advertising on Facebook and Google, for instance, includes this feature. Put to practice, it means your ads target people in certain regions (geo-targeting is based on the visitor’s IP address) or when they enter certain areas that can be as narrow as a neighborhood or a few streets (geo-fencing uses a device’s GPS location).
Lower acquisition costs
Digital marketing offers real estate marketers cost–effective options compared to traditional marketing methods. For example, in a matchup of cost per lead, digital marketing comes out on top.
Performance analysis
Digital marketing offers several analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, that help you track your marketing performance. Tracking your performance online will allow you to understand the nature of the market and the specific techniques that work for your audience. By monitoring keywords, search trends, and search volume, you can determine which keywords to use when optimizing your website.
A clearly articulated digital marketing strategy is the foundation of generating qualified real estate leads. Write it down. Refer to it. Let analytics drive change. That’s how you stand out from the competition.
Related posts:
- DIY Digital Marketing Strategy for Real Estate in Four Easy Steps
- Real Estate Marketing Strategy 2019: Retargeting
- The Metrics You Should Be Measuring in Real Estate Marketing (Hint: Not Vanity Metrics)
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These are the Busiest Day of the Year for Real Estate Searches
Real estate searches peak the weekend after Thanksgiving, December 28, January 1, and July 6, so don’t stop marketing your property during the holidays.
If you’re a marketing professional outside the retail industry, chances are you slow things down during the holidays. But before you settle in for a second helping of leftovers, consider this: according to a study by Realtor.com, December 28 is statistically one of the busiest days for real estate searches.
It makes sense: Potential buyers use their post-holiday downtime to consider real estate investment. Other days when real estate searches spike include:
- the weekend after Thanksgiving
- New Year’s Day
- July 6
It’s important for real estate marketers to be aware of these dates so that you don’t stop all your marketing activities. The good news is that real estate searches are typically lowest on actual holidays, so putting a pause on your pay-per-click advertising, for example, on those days makes sense.
I bring this up because, recently, a client asked to stop all marketing activities between mid-December and New Year’s Day due to “seasonal decline” in sales. While it’s true that December typically sees lower numbers in terms of web traffic, leads, and conversions, that doesn’t mean there is not enormous, largely untapped opportunities for this client — if we are strategic about how we spend marketing dollars over the holidays.
Leveraging the post-holiday uptick in real estate searches
While spending the holidays relaxing with family and friends is something we all deserve, keeping a few strategic marketing activities going can mean big wins for your property/properties. Here are a few things I recommend, and why.
1) Publish blog posts on a normal schedule.
Blog posts are the gifts that keep on giving, meaning the majority of traffic will visit your posts months after they’re published. In fact, 80% of our page views occur on blog posts published at least 6 months prior. It’s a great time to write about trends or happenings in the coming year in an effort to capture future searches.
Search engines value consistency in your publishing schedule, so keeping up your normal posting frequency will help your rankings. If you have the resources to post on schedule, it would benefit you to do so.
2) Be strategic about social media.
Social media management can be time-consuming, so you should dial back your posting on the days you know prospects won’t be spending much time online (e.g. December 25). That being said, you should plan to post on days when you know real estate searches peak (e.g. December 28). Chances are, many of your competitors will be shut down for the holiday, and your posts will be front and center in your prospects’ newsfeeds.
3) Be strategic about digital advertising.
The same goes for digital advertising. Knowing that post-holiday real estate searches peak on December 28, you should budget your pay-per-click and social advertising dollars to spend more on this day. Particularly focus on your Google AdWords spend because that will capture prospects using search engines to find information about potential real estate investments — as opposed to sponsored social posts, which display your ads in the newsfeed of a prospect who may or may not be ready to buy.
Related posts:
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4 Tools for Determining the Best Time to Post on Social Media for Your Property
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Peak Season Demands Real-Time Analytics for Perfect Fulfillment
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3 Tips for Marketing to Millennial Real Estate Buyers
Home buyers are getting younger. Is your marketing strategy ready to meet the needs of millennial real estate buyers?
Consider this: more than a third of all home buyers came of age in the digital age. That’s right—millennials, those aged 36 and younger, now make up 34% of home buyers, which is the largest chunk of any generation buying homes right now.
These digital natives have a buying process that’s completely foreign to older generations, which means “traditional” marketing tactics won’t cut it when it comes to appealing to this demographic. Adjusting your strategy to resonate with millennials makes sense not just because it helps you reach this segment of the market, but also because it keeps you better positioned for the future of real estate marketing.
These three tips will help you adjust your strategy to market to millennial real estate buyers.
1) Be ready to guide them through the process
Millennials get a lot of bad press, as a generation that requires constant coddling and hand-holding. But to be fair, these young home-buyers are new to purchasing real estate—the vast majority (66%) of buyers ages 36 and under are first time home-buyers.
Buying a home is a complicated process, and millennials are looking for agents who will take the time to help guide them through the process. What does this mean for your marketing strategy? Placester’s Carolyn Berk suggests that “because guidance is so important to millennials, your marketing should emphasize your dedication to assisting customers every step of the way.”
This means offering resources and strategies rather than simply promoting available properties. For example, an eBook that guides first-time home buyers through the process is a great way to demonstrate your knowledge and commitment to supporting your clients through the buyer’s journey.
2) Help millennial real estate buyers save money
More than previous generations, millennials are saddled with student loan debt and often rely on sources other than just savings to finance their down payments. Simply put, they are looking to save at every opportunity.
Once again, content is your best bet for demonstrating to millennial real estate buyers that you are there to help them save money. Blog posts, testimonials, and case studies should detail your expertise in getting your clients the best possible deal. “Small things, like helping with contract negotiations or mortgage lender references, can go a long way with millennial buyers,” says Berk.
3) Go digital
This one probably seems obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many real estate professionals neglect their digital marketing presence. From social media to your website, marketing online is no longer optional, it’s expected. Millennial real estate buyers are heavily using the internet during their search and buying process, and your marketing strategy needs to be ready to meet them online.
First off, your SEO (search engine optimization) is key—your content needs to be readily available to potential buyers entering relevant search queries. “Aligning the content in your website to keywords that millennials use to search for homes in your region will help you pop up in search listings,” suggests Berk.
Your social media presence is also important. Millennials are checking Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat frequently throughout the day, and they should be finding your content. Take advantage of these visual media to promote your properties with photo and video content.
Marketing to millennial real estate buyers makes sense for your overall marketing strategy and helps keep your brand relevant and ready to adapt to the future.
Related posts:
- 5 Tips for Building a Successful Real Estate Social Media Marketing Program
- Real Estate Firm Grows Sales by 300% through Content Marketing
- Must-Know Social Media Strategies for Real Estate
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What You Should Know About Real Estate Chatbots: An Introduction
To reach your future customers, don’t ignore the significance of real estate chatbots in shaping the content marketing landscape.
Chatbots are the latest trend in artificial intelligence for marketers, and the real estate sector should be taking note.
Real estate chatbots can help automate and improve some of your marketing and customer service efforts. But to get the most out of these automated systems, you first need to understand what they are and how they work.
What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is a computer program that simulates human conversation using auditory or textual methods. Basically, it’s a software that communicates with your customer inside a messaging app, like Facebook Messenger. Chatbots are similar to email marketing, but rather than ending up in your inbox, they communicate through a messaging app.
Real estate chatbots are typically used to converse with potential clients at the very top of the funnel — people you don’t know, and who might or might not be ready to move on to the next stage of the process.
Why are chatbots so popular?
As our mobile devices continue to change the way buyers receive and interact with our brands and properties, messaging-app usage has skyrocketed. In fact, 2017 saw a 69% increase in messaging-app users from the previous year. Business Insider reports the number of people on messaging apps surpassed the number of users on social networks. From iMessage to Facebook Messenger, mobile users are leaning more toward this newer technology to communicate with friends and family.
Why the big drop for email? Because people are buried in emails. For example, the average office employee receives 121 emails per day. Of those 121 emails, only around 20% are opened — and click-through rates are even lower. More and more companies have stuffed inboxes with repeated emails. Over-communication is the number one reason that readers unsubscribe to your email list. Chatbots have alleviated the inbox drama.
How can a real estate chatbot help my business?
Quality messaging without the spam
Real estate chatbots take the spam out of email marketing. When companies market on a messaging app, they create an easier way for leads to receive educational messages about their brand and properties. Chatbots are an easy and fun way for potential buyers and renters to engage with your brand, getting answers to their questions and quality messaging about your products and services.
Ease of tracking and segmenting
Your brand will also appreciate the ease of tracking and segmenting your leads through chatbots. Take Facebook Messenger for example; using messenger bots, you can identify who your potential buyers and renters are in less than a minute. No other platform (email, social media) can get you that information as quickly or efficiently.
Increased audience engagement
Getting your audience to subscribe to your real estate chatbots is much easier than email subscriptions. Why? The ease of usage and lack of friction on messaging apps creates a more positive customer experience. Businesses can set up chatbots to message any user who comments on your social media pages. They can retarget people who have left your site, offering special discounts or promotions on your properties. And chatbots can also nurture the sales process by notifying you of potential customers that request a specific action during their interaction with your chatbot.
How do I create a chatbot?
There are plenty of chatbot-building platforms available online. Before you pick a platform, make sure you do your research. Here are three of our favorite chatbot-building platforms.
1. Chatfuel
This chatbot engine will do most of the hard work for you, ideal for those lacking programming experience. MTV, TechCrunch, BuzzFeed, British Airways, and Adidas are said to have used Chatfuel to create their chatbots, along with almost 20,000 other users across the globe. The user interface is easy and slick, meaning you could create a chatbot in less than 15 minutes!
2. Chatscript
Launched back in 2011, ChatScript is a “next generation chatbot engine,” which has won the Loebner Prize (awarded for the most human-like examples of artificial intelligence) four times. It provides an open source framework for developers to build and deploy chatbots.
3. Facebook ‘Bots for Messenger’
At its F8 developer conference in April, Facebook launched Bots for Messenger, a tool which allows developers and businesses to build chatbots for its Messenger platform (which is used by almost a billion people). Developers build bots, submit them for review, and then Facebook decides which ones get onto Messenger. The three main capabilities are its send/receive API, generic message templates, and the ability to customize the welcome screen users first see when interacting with your bot.
Messaging automation is the new email automation. Brands will be looking to join the chatbot craze for the ease, convenience, and the positive audience experience. Have you tried a chatbot program yet? We’d love to hear from you about your experience.
Related posts:
- 10 Social Media Statistics for Real Estate Marketers 2018
- Social Media Trends for 2018 Real Estate Marketers Need to Know
- 10 Must-Follow Blogs for Real Estate Marketers
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4 Steps to Building a Successful DIY Content Marketing Strategy for Real Estate
Looking to DIY a content marketing strategy? Get started with these steps.
Are you trying to create a content marketing strategy for your property but don’t know where to begin? Even the language around content marketing can seem foreign to newcomers.
Setting your content marketing strategy is a crucial first step in trying to reach your target buyers or tenants. Before you begin writing blogs, creating video content, and posting tweets, you need to set goals.
A content marketing strategy outlines the methods by which you will target, reach, and engage potential buyers. Here are four steps to creating a successful foundation if you’re planning to begin a DIY content marketing strategy.
Steps to building a DIY content marketing strategy
1) Identify your buyer persona(s).
Trying to write compelling content for an unidentified audience is like taking a shot in the dark. Knowing who your ideal buyer or tenant is allows you to create content that is informative, educational, and entertaining to that specific person.
The more detailed you can be with your buyer persona(s), the more specific and effective your content can become. The personal connection is particularly crucial for real estate buyers, and understanding your target audience is key to making that connection.
2) Define goals and objectives.
Your content goals should be a direct reflection of your business goals. What do you want your content marketing efforts to accomplish for your company?
Top marketing goals for content marketers include converting contacts/leads to sales, growing website traffic, and increasing revenue. Make sure you include short-term and long-term goals and that you frequently refer back to these goals to make sure your strategy is on track.
3) Develop and distribute content.
Once you have identified your audience and defined your content goals, you can begin to educate yourself about the distribution platforms that will work best for introducing buyers to your property.
Let’s face it: Social media is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s imperative you know not only what to post, but where to post it. Buyers and renters of different demographics use social media differently. You’ll need to determine what platforms your target buyers are using and how to reach them effectively.
4) Put your knowledge to work.
Once you have worked through the initial steps of planning a successful social media strategy, the real fun begins. It’s time to start pushing valuable, effective content out to potential buyers.
Just remember that your strategy should be fluid so you can adjust it as necessary. Especially if you are selling/renting a multi-unit property, you’ll have to change your messaging to move different units (i.e. penthouses vs. smaller units). But even if you’re not, buyers and social platforms change with time, so keep refining your strategy as you go.
Related posts:
- 4 Ways to Scare Away Real Estate Buyers with Content Marketing
- 6 Marketing Tasks Real Estate Marketers Can Outsource
- Social Media Can Be a Strategic Weapon in Real Estate Marketing
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