Investing in real estate can be both lucrative and extremely competitive, so it’s imperative for investors to leverage real estate marketing strategies to reach the right audience, enabling them to move properties quickly and effectively. In today’s digital world, there are endless ways to get your name out there to attract the right audience. On the flip side, digital marketing is just as fiercely competitive as it is approachable. Whether you’re looking to sell a fixer-upper, find tenants for a rental property or just increase brand awareness and stay top of mind, these 11 marketing strategies can help you increase brand awareness and make a lasting impression without spending a fortune.
1. Identify a Target Market
This is essential to the success of any marketing campaign—real estate or not. You can’t successfully market your brand or services unless you know who you’re trying to reach. Furthermore, if you have a niche market, like luxury real estate or vacation properties, it can be even easier for you to become an industry expert and attract the appropriate audience looking for homes or industry insights.
2. Create a Budget
Now that you know who you’re trying to reach, it’s imperative to have a marketing budget in mind. When creating a marketing plan, you can choose to invest as much or as little as you’d like. Having a budget will not only keep you on track but also help you decide which strategies are likely the most worthwhile and offer the most significant return on your investment. If you’re new to real estate marketing, you could also start off small and increase your budget as you see fit. Plan, budget and stick to it.
3. Know and Boost Your Brand
A “brand” could be one of several things. Do you have a business name that you operate under? Or, are you already known in your market making YOU, or your name, the brand? Whether you operate under a business name or your own name, branding is an essential part of any business. If you want to have a professional look and feel, you need to invest in your branding—this could include everything from a logo to business cards and even a business plan. Building brand awareness will be essential to the success of your other marketing strategies.
4. Consider Building a Website
If you own multiple rental properties or are looking to flip several properties, you may want to consider having your own professional looking website. This is a great way to build your brand and provide visitors another way to view your rental or for-sale properties. As people hear about and research your properties, you want them to find a functional, up-to-date website with high-quality, informational content.
5. Craft Quality Content
In addition to promoting your services or properties, you want to make sure you’re regularly sharing relevant and insightful industry content. This content can live on your website as a blog, for example. Not only will this present you as a subject matter expert but also keep your community coming back to and sharing your content with their network, thus increasing your audience. Not to mention that search engines love new and relevant content.
6. Leverage Email Marketing
Now that you have relevant industry content on your site, some site visitors might want to sign up to receive the content you are producing. For example, you could create an annual report about the state of real estate or rentals in your area and have users enter their email address to get it in their inbox.
Once you have a considerable email list, you can start sharing content directly in the form of an email or monthly newsletter. This will help you reach your audience directly—whether it’s through an email campaign, digital ads or newsletters. You can also use an email marketing system to easily send out emails with new listings or rentals. Not only could this help you sell or rent quickly, it also helps you keep your audience engaged and drive more visits to your site. Plus, you’ll stay top of mind when your audience is in the market to buy or sell.
However, be aware that when you collect personal information (like email addresses) or engage in forms of direct marketing (like email), you’ll be subject to various laws. Be sure to familiarize yourself with those before getting started. A well thought out plan will help you communicate with your audience but do it in a way that follows all applicable laws and regulations.
7. Hire a Real Estate Photographer/Videographer
While photos have always been important in real estate, high-quality images are now more important than ever when marketing a property online. As buyers or renters browse through hundreds (maybe thousands) of potential homes online, your images should stand out, be memorable, and pique their interest to learn more and hopefully see the property in person. While you don’t want images that are highly edited, you do want to use the right angles, lighting and additional features that come as second nature to professional photographers.
Furthermore, most photographers can also easily create video walkthroughs that will give your audience even more insight into the property.
If you are marketing your property through Hubzu’s Signature Seller Auctions, these high-quality photos and videos will be essential if you want to attract the attention of the over 1.7 million registered users on Hubzu.
8. Install Google Analytic
Once you have created your website and/or blog, you want to make sure you’re tracking the analytics behind it. Instead of marketing blindly, the numbers will help you track the demographics of your visitors, where they’re coming from, what they’re looking at and more. As you evolve your marketing plan, analytics can help you understand your audience and what is and isn’t working, so you can more accurately plan and set future goals.
9. Get Social
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter can be very useful. Each platform has its own benefit: Facebook Business Pages allow you to take advantage of advertising opportunities, Instagram’s visual appeal can prove to be successful for sharing property photos, LinkedIn can be a great way to network and connect with other investors and Twitter can help amplify your reach. No matter the platform, make sure to establish yourself as a credible resource by regularly sharing informational and valuable content. Also, be sure to include relevant hashtags in your posts for even greater reach.
10. Ask for Referrals
Don’t forget to ask for referrals, as they’re critical in the real estate industry. Network with your clients, renters and partners, and ask them to refer you to those in their network.
Real estate investors often close deals through referrals, and buyers and renters prefer to work with real estate professionals they come across through word-of-mouth, so it truly is a win-win.
However, if you are considering offering any type of reward in exchange for a referral please make sure you follow and are up to date with all applicable rules and regulations that govern referrals in real estate, including but not limited to RESPA guidelines.
11. Set Up a Local Business Page on Google
A Local Business Page on Google can help establish you as a credible business. You can target specific keywords in your business page, so users in your area are more likely to find you as they’re searching. Plus, it’s simple. Go to google.com/business and enter your business information. Once your page has been approved, you can even ask for reviews here to get a higher rating.
12. Leverage Online Platforms Like Hubzu
When selling a property, most people will list them on the MLS with the help of a real estate agent. However, some investors might be looking to offload a hard to sell property or sell a property quickly and move on to their next investment. These properties might benefit from putting them in front of thousands of other investors. By using a marketing platform like Hubzu’s Signature Seller Auctions, you’ll be able to market your hard to sell properties to other serious investors through 7-day auction cycles. If priced correctly, you might be able to flip the property quickly.
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