You’ve decided to dip your toes into the world of real estate. It can be pretty lucrative as long as you have clients. That’s the hard part.
You’ve got to get your name out there if you’re going to sell a single house. That means you’re going to have to market yourself, which is easier said than done.
If your website misses the mark or you post blurry photos of the houses you have available, it’s not going to do you much good. We’ve got a few marketing tips that will prevent you from making such amateur mistakes. Keep reading to learn more.
Table of Contents
1. Videos and Virtual Tours
Before the age of cell phones, if you wanted to film a promotional video, you needed an entire crew to go about it. Now, you can take care of the entire process yourself, and we recommend that you do.
Out of all the digital marketing materials out there, videos grab the most attention. You can use them in creative ways to stand out from your competitors.
Another thing to note is not everyone can physically check out the houses that you have on your site. You might have clients that are across the country from you.
Giving homebuyers the chance to take part in a real estate virtual tour will help you reach those types of clients. They’ll be able to visualize themselves in the house without ever stepping into it.
2. Make the Most Out of Your Social Media Account
Billions of people use social media every day. If you’re not also on social media, you’re missing out on a lot of potential clients. Make sure that you have an account on all the popular platforms such as FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Post pictures of houses that you have available, and talk about your community. If you can show potential homebuyers that your town is an interesting place to live, they’ll line up to find a place.
If you provide the right kind of content as part of your social media marketing campaign, your followers will spread the information. All it takes is one share to get the word around.
3. Traditional Strategies Still Work
Just because we’re in the age of technology doesn’t mean that traditional advertisement methods don’t work anymore. You can still use them on top of opening social media accounts and posting videos.
By participating in community-wide events, you’ll get to pass your business card around to people that you wouldn’t have met through any other means.
You can also attract clients by being a reliable source of information. The best way to do that is through newsletters and community magazines. By supplying homebuyers with the newest real estate news and telling them about the events going on around town, you’ll build trust.
4. Take Professional Photographs
To attract home buyers, you’re going to have to post detailed pictures of houses on your site. Clients need to be able to get a good taste of what the home has to offer.
Pixelated images of bedrooms and backyards will send people away from your website. They’ll have no interest in reading the description of the home.
Using your phone to make a short video clip of you walking through a property is one thing. Using your phone’s camera to take staging photos is another. It’s not going to cut it.
If you have the wiggle room in your budget, we recommend making a professional photographer part of your marketing strategy. They’ll know exactly what camera techniques to use to get people to make inquires.
5. Put Work Into Your Website
We’ve talked a lot about your website. Now we’re going to discuss how to actually develop it. The first rule of thumb is that pop-ups are a huge no-no.
When people visit your site, they’re doing so with the intention to browse. You don’t want to interrupt them every few seconds with random messages and advertisements.
Another reason why you want to avoid pop-ups is that they can slow down your website. If your pages don’t load within a few seconds, potential clients will leave and venture off to one of your competitors.
6. Keep an Eye on Your Competition
Speaking of your competitors, you’ll have a lot of them during your career as a real estate agent. The best way to stay ahead of them is to keep an eye on them and not for the reason that you may think.
You can learn a thing or two from them. By looking at their listings, you’ll get a good idea of how to word your own housing descriptions. You can look at their social media campaigns to see what is and isn’t working for them.
Granted, you won’t be copying your competitor’s marketing ideas down to the letter or anything. That’s plagiarism, which is frowned upon in most circles. It doesn’t hurt to get a little inspiration from them, however.
7. Be Available
As soon as you put the first few houses on your site, you’re going to start getting phone calls and emails about them. To this end, you’ve got to keep your phone on. You never know when someone is going to contact you about a listing.
You should also make sure that your contact information is clear on your site. If potential clients have no idea how to contact you, they’ll use a different real estate agent.
Real Estate Marketing Tips to Live By
Dipping your toes into the real estate market can be pretty lucrative. That is if you take the time to get your name out there. If you don’t follow along with these marketing tips and start reaching out to your clientele, you’re not going to get too far.
Rise above your competitors by polishing your website, taking beautiful photos of your properties, and checking out our blog for more pointers that will help you succeed.