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How Inbound Marketing for Real Estate Works to Improve Sales
Increasingly, marketers are realizing the benefits of inbound marketing for real estate over outbound marketing, including cost savings and increased lead generation.
Marketers are constantly coming up with new and trendy ways to attract leads. With endless platforms available to us, it can be overwhelming for even the most seasoned marketers to know where they need to focus their efforts.
But what exactly does inbound marketing for real estate entail?
In order to find the right solutions for your real estate marketing needs, you first have to understand the difference between inbound and outbound marketing. And more importantly, how they can help — or hinder — your marketing efforts.
This is outbound marketing
Outbound marketing describes any marketing approach that pushes a message onto a buyer or renter. Traditional marketing — TV and radio ads, telemarketing, banner and display ads — are all examples of outbound marketing.
Another name for this marketing tactic is interruption marketing, as it typically tries to take “attention away from what your buyer is doing and bring it, forcibly, on to your product or service.”
This is inbound marketing
Inbound marketing focuses on audiences finding you. Instead of pushing a message onto buyers, inbound marketing allows you to establish your brand as an industry leader and let interested audiences come to you and your properties. This type of marketing attempts to draw in leads through interesting and engaging content.
Content marketing is a type of inbound marketing. Examples include blog posts, social media, infographics, white papers, and videos. Inbound marketing for real estate, for instance, could include blog posts that talk up the neighborhood in which your property is located, infographics that explain the purchasing process, or a white paper on how to search for an apartment.
Why is inbound marketing for real estate a good fit?
Outbound marketing used to be the “go-to” for generating leads, but this is simply no longer the case. Marketers across industries have found that inbound marketing has many advantages over traditional marketing practices. In fact, almost three quarters (68%) of inbound organizations believe their marketing strategy is effective, while more than half (52%) of outbound marketers don’t believe their strategy is effective.
According to Placester’s Matthew Bushery, “inbound is all about enticing the right buyers and/or sellers through sharing materials and resources that make them want to engage with you, rather than figuratively shoving your self-promotional messaging down their throats with over-the-top, aggressive, and — most importantly — wasteful marketing schemes.”
That’s why we think inbound marketing for real estate is better for marketers than outbound marketing.
Related posts:
- Infographic: Statistics that Prove Why Your Real Estate Marketing Needs to Include a Blog
- Content Marketing vs. Sales Staff: Who Does What?
- Our 6 Favorite Marketing Automation Tools for Real Estate Marketers
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5 Tips to Make Your Real Estate Website an Effective Selling Tool
Use your real estate website to boost engagement and drive sales. Here are five tips to start using your website as a selling tool in the sales process.
Highlights:
- In order to move visitors down the sales funnel, a brand’s website needs to be informative, visually pleasing, and functional.
- Your brand strategy should drive the layout, design and content to make sure all elements of your website align.
- A testimonial page on your website provides an opportunity for clients to talk about how satisfied they are with your properties, creating customer loyalty and increased brand trust.
Your real estate website can be a powerful tool in driving business growth. After all, it is the public face of your company. But the demands of digital marketing — social media, blog writing, video — can take center stage, leaving your website behind the scenes.
Real estate marketers need to give websites the attention they deserve. After all, most of your digital marketing efforts are driving visitors to your site. What happens once prospects get to your real estate website is key to the buyer’s journey. In order to move visitors down the sales funnel, a brand’s website needs to be informative, visually pleasing, and functional.
Here are 5 updates you should make to your company real estate website to help increase sales.
1. Brand messaging
Your website might be beautiful, but it also needs to be valuable. What makes your property different from other properties? What makes your brand better than the competition? Make sure that your website accurately depicts your brand and what makes it unique. Your brand strategy should drive the layout, design and content to make sure all elements of your website align.
2. Live chat
Did you know that 82% of consumers rate an “immediate” response as important or very important if they have a question? Live chat is one of the easiest ways to communicate with leads, in real time. The way prospects communicate with brands is changing. More and more leads want immediate responses and live chat gives brands an opportunity to deliver on their wants and needs. It’s also an effective way to capture contact information for visitor’s already poking around on your website.
3. Video
The popularity of video sites, like YouTube and Vimeo, is just the starting point for capitalizing on your videos. If you’ve invested in a corporate video or even shot quick interviews in your office, start using them on your website. The brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text, so providing videos on your website helps your brand’s messaging resonate longer with visitors. A great example of a real estate brand utilizing video is Ditto. The homepage features a large video that is visually appealing and is a sure way to keep visitors on their site longer.
4. Testimonials
Visitors to your website are learning about your real estate brand through your content (text and visual), but they may still be hesitant to put their trust in your hands. As a marketer, you know that customer testimonials are a great way to increase trust, so why not showcase your satisfied — dare I say — happy clients? A testimonial page on your website provides an opportunity for clients to talk about how satisfied they are with your properties, creating customer loyalty and increased brand trust.
5. Measure
We talk a lot about the importance of a data-driven approach when it comes to measuring success. To grow your business strategically, you need to track your efforts, analyze successes and failures, and determine ROI. This holds true for all aspects of your digital marketing strategy, including your website. Use tools, like Google Analytics, to regularly track traffic and engagement. Determine which pages visitors are converting on and why and make sure to tweak pages that have a high exit rate.
It’s no longer optional for businesses to have a website, it’s essential. Websites are a virtual profile of your brand and when used correctly can encourage action by prospects. Utilizing these tips will help boost engagement and drive sales through your real estate website site.
Related posts:
- 3 Ways to Boost Your Real Estate Marketing with Video
- Video: How Content Marketing for Real Estate Can Help Sell Properties
- 4 Types of Content Real Estate Marketers Need to Be Using
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What are Google Sitelinks and Why Real Estate Marketers Need to Know About Them
Google sitelinks boost a website’s visibility and credibility, and they help users get right to what they’re looking for. Here’s what real estate marketers need to know about them.
Do you ever wonder if visitors to your website are going right to what they’re looking for? For example, if a potential buyer does a google search for properties in your area, will he or she be taken directly to listings, or need to navigate through your website first?
This is where Google sitelinks come in. These links are shortcuts, or a table of contents, designed to help users navigate to the right part of your website quickly, rather than needing to load the homepage first. Here’s why real estate marketers need to know about Google sitelinks, and how they can help market your properties.
How do they work?
If you frequent Google (and who doesn’t?), it’s likely that you’ve seen sitelinks in action. Typically, if a site is the #1 search result from a query, sitelinks will appear below the listing. To create the links, Google’s algorithm analyzes your website’s structure and content. It finds the most popular and useful content, and lists it as shortcuts below the search result.
These shortcuts “deep link” to pages within your site, like your blog, pages for specific properties, other content offers, etc. If you use Google AdWords, you’ll recognize sitelinks as very similar to the links that appear in ads—but in this case, Google chooses what links get featured.
What’s so great about Google sitelinks?
There are all kinds of benefits if you can manage to get sitelinks to appear when your website pops up in a search. In fact, having sitelinks is an excellent indicator of a website with a healthy SEO. It means that your site is properly constructed to allow Google’s algorithm to mine and sort its content thoroughly, and feature key components.
Sitelinks help to increase the chances of your most effective pages getting more visibility. Since the algorithm that sets up the table of contents for your website factors in popularity, the content on your site that has historically performed best will continue to get a boost. In the same vein, having those most effective pages be your web calling card instantly lets your audience know what you have to offer. Sitelinks helps put an emphasis on your premium content and properties.
As you might guess, Google sitelinks can significantly improve your click-through rate. Again, since your most popular pages end up front and center, there’s a greater chance that searchers will click them right away. You also get a free enhancement of your credibility, just from the fact that with sitelinks, your site takes up more space among search results, drawing the eye.
How can I get sitelinks?
Since there aren’t any official guidelines from Google on how to get sitelinks, we need to extrapolate some best practices. Here are five tips to get you started:
- Sign up for Google Analytics, and be sure to add their tracking code to your website.
- Is your Site Title unique and descriptive? Make sure it accurately reflects your business and properties, and that no one else is using it.
- Create a unique and descriptive Meta Description for each piece of content.
- Organize your main navigation menu—keep it simple. Keep your most important pages featured as the menu items, with related pages in dropdowns.
- Create cross links to and from your website’s most important pages.
Related posts:
- How to Measure Social Media ROI with Google Analytics for Real Estate
- Paid Digital Advertising: A Beginner’s Guide for Real Estate Marketers
- Learn How Content Marketing Increased Real Estate Sales by 37% in 90 Days
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Push Notifications: Why Real Estate Marketers Need to Start Using Them
Push notifications can help accelerate your digital marketing efforts so that your property gets in front of prospective buyers and renters faster than would happen organically.
Highlights:
- Using push notifications can get your message in front of prospects instantly.
- Websites are now capable of leveraging this technology. Push notifications are delivered to a mobile device or desktop even if the user isn’t on that website.
- Be aware: overly pushy or too frequent notifications can increase user opt-out numbers.
“If you build it, and they will come.” Kevin Costner’s legendary line in “Field of Dreams” could also be said about digital marketing. Or rather, publish quality content, and buyers will come to you. But, digital marketing takes time to show results. There’s not much you can do about that.
Or, is there?
Using push notifications can get your message in front of prospects instantly. Pair quality content with a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, and you will be in a position to drive more traffic to your website, create more brand visibility, and sell or lease more properties.
Don’t believe in the power of push notifications? Here are some undeniable stats to prove it:
- Push notifications boost engagement up to 88%
- 70% of adults enabled push notifications from their favorite brands
- 65% of users return to an app (or website) within 30 days when push is enabled
- The average click rate for push notifications is 7.8%
- 50% of customers find web browser push notifications useful and readily give their permission to the website that they would like to hear from
So, what is a push notification?
A push notification is the delivery of information to a device from a server where the request for the transaction is initiated by the server rather than by an explicit request from the client. What does it all mean? It’s basically a fancy way of saying you can push content to audiences on their phone (or computer), even when they’re not using the device, but there is a caveat — viewers have to opt into these notifications in order to receive them.
And don’t worry if your real estate marketing strategy doesn’t include an app. Websites are now capable of leveraging this technology, called browser push notifications. These types of notifications are delivered to a mobile device or desktop even if the user isn’t on that website. And since Americans look at their phones 52 times a day on average, it gives you a lot of opportunity to get your property in front of them.
Don’t be pushy
Beware of overly pushy or too frequent notifications, which can increase user opt-out numbers. And refrain from using push notifications as a sales pitch. Rather than forcing your properties on users, be the expert advice they are seeking. Help them envision themselves in one of your properties.
According to PushAssist, “sending multiple push notifications can enhance your page views, but won’t boost your sales. It could also result in high bounce rates. Moreover, this may annoy your users and even worse may reduce interest in the products and services you offer.”
Don’t fall into the habit of the “spray and pray” approach when it comes to push notifications. Thoughtlessly bombarding users with generic messaging will not attract quality leads. Instead, be thoughtful and deliberate with your communication. Offer your prospects valuable messaging with a personal touch to encourage action.
If you can successfully navigate push notifications with sharp messaging and timing, your real estate brand can greatly benefit from this digital lead generation tool.
3 benefits of push notifications
1. Increased user engagement
When used wisely as a part of your digital marketing strategy, push notifications can increase user engagement. But remember, it’s quality over quantity. Your notifications should be direct and to the point. They should address the needs of your prospects and encourage open communication. Using push notifications to encourage users to interact with your real estate company helps drive brand awareness and lead generation for your properties.
2. Drive action
Push notifications are an effective way to create a sense of urgency around your property. This urgency, in turn, drives website traffic and increases conversion rates. Try sending messages with an undertone of “act now” on topics such as the latest amenities that buyers can’t live without, local restaurants and activities, and updates on high-demand buying and leasing opportunities.
3. Time efficiency
Let’s face it, writing emails and blog posts is time consuming. Marketers know how much time it takes to research topics and keywords, write the actual copy, and edit, proof-read, and distribute. With push notifications, marketers can quickly and efficiently create messaging that instantly arrives on a user’s phone or desktop, saving hours every week on creating content that may or may not even reach your readers. And since users must opt into push notifications, you have prospects that are genuinely interested in your properties.
Is your real estate brand already using push notifications? Have you seen an increase in web traffic or conversions? We’d love to hear about your experience.
Related posts:
- Marketing Automation for Real Estate Marketers is Key to Lead Generation
- Start Your Property’s Social Media Program in 6 Steps
- 5 Marketing Automation Ideas for Real Estate
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How to Increase Leads with Chatbots
Real estate brands are all too familiar with the challenges of generating leads. Here’s how chatbots can help by improving user experience and engagement.
Highlights:
- Within one day of adding a chatbot to our website, we had a meeting set up with a prospect. That was in the first 24 hours.
- Using a chatbot for your properties means that your real estate brand is working even when you aren’t.
- Conversational chatbots help build trust in your real estate brand while creating a positive customer experience.
We have talked a lot about the popularity of chatbots and how to implement them into your digital marketing strategy. But beyond the initial set up, have you really squeezed the juice out of this automated tool to help increase leads?
We decided to dive into the chatbot pool and our firm’s results speak for themselves. Within one day of adding a chatbot to our website, we had a meeting set up with a prospect. That was in the first 24 hours. This prospect turned out to be our next client and the initial connection was all made through the chatbot.
Lead generation with conversation
Buying or leasing a property is a huge decision, one which usually involves a range of emotions. One of the best ways to connect with potential buyers is through a thoughtful and informative customer experience.
Chatbots can help bridge the gap between your brand and potential buyers. Conversational chatbots help build trust in your real estate brand while creating a positive customer experience. They typically handle conversations with clients that are at the top of the funnel — generally people you don’t know and who might be unsure of whether they are actually going to buy/sell the property.
An article in The Startup on chatbots for real estate concludes they bring many benefits:
“The bot can be programmed on tasks like collecting basic information in the form of asking relevant questions and generating relevant answers resulting in an e-mail capture. Additionally, the chatbot can even transfer the conversation to a human agent, if need be.”
Other lead generating opportunities with chatbots
Real time answers 24/7
Questions about your new property or specific amenities? These are questions that chatbots can immediately answer. Don’t leave prospects waiting for you to return their email or form submission. Bots can answer questions about your property instantly.
The other benefit of using chatbots? They don’t need sleep! Real estate questions don’t always arrive at convenient times. Using a chatbot for your properties means that your real estate brand is working even when you aren’t. Prospects can get their questions answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Virtual tours
Nurture prospects with catchy images of your property and amenities. With the click of a button, your chatbot can offer prospects a virtual tour of your property without ever leaving the page. The impact: prospects leave the chat armed with informative and helpful information about your real estate brand.
Tracking
Most chatbots automatically log interactions with leads that engage with your bot. Once you’re ready to engage with prospects, you can easily access past interactions to know where the prospect is in the sales funnel, as well as key preferences they may have expressed in earlier conversations.
Follow up
Real estate brands are constantly juggling marketing tasks. Use chatbots to help alleviate your workload with follow–up automation. Users can identify how they want to be contacted or specific questions they need answered, taking the guess work out of the follow up process.
Real estate brands need to experiment with chatbots for the ease and convenience of automation, along with the positive audience experience. But to get the most out of your chatbot make sure you’re tracking your success and tweaking interactions along the way.
Need help setting up your chatbot? We’re here to help.
Related posts:
- Using Messaging Platforms for Real Estate to Deliver Content
- Good Real Estate Marketing Gets Personal
- Social Media Trends for 2018 Real Estate Marketers Need to Know
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