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Trying to find potential vendors? You may feel like you’re looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack — and if you rely solely on traditional marketing methods, you are.
Many real estate agents stick to mail-outs and phone contact to generate leads. Yet, these standard tactics deserve only a supporting role. In today’s changing property market, digital solutions should be the star attraction.
Know the constraints of conventional marketing
Offline techniques have their limitations. Most real estate agents ‘farm’ a database of anywhere between 500 to 2,000 contacts. By my calculation, to speak with these people at least four times a year, you’d have to make 160 weekly calls on top of your usual workload.
According to Australian Census statistics, some large suburbs are home to more than 30,000 people. As a result, your database can fill with up to 7,000 people during the course of running property campaigns, making regular contact with the right people even less likely.
“In today’s changing property market, digital solutions should take centre stage.”
In my view, this approach is little more than a stab in the dark, and routine print marketing has a similar scattershot effect.
Although reasonably effective, print marketing methods have a limited lifespan. Mail cards can make their way to the bin by the end of the day, newspaper ads might perform for a week and signboards last for the length of a property campaign, which could be just four to six weeks. Besides, you need to share so much more than your photo and contact details to engage prospective clients.
Reap the benefits of business blogging
Unlike traditional methods of print marketing, a business blog is a lasting communication that delivers. Publish a blog post that offers timeless, or evergreen, content this week, and it’ll still be working for you in one, two or even three years’ time.
Compared with the results of agencies that don’t take their marketing online, blogging yields a massive 88 per cent more leads every month.
Why? Because content marketing gives people what they want. A detailed blog provides potential clients with free information that’s useful, and it can do so in a compelling, inclusive and possibly even entertaining way — a winning strategy that ensures continued engagement with your local community of homeowners.
“Unlike traditional print-marketing methods, a business blog is a lasting communication that delivers.”
Blogging benefits your business in other important areas. By sharing incisive commentary in an authoritative manner, you establish trust and a rapport with your audience, both of which foster loyalty. As a welcome bonus, people will come to view you as an innovative thought leader, because this digital approach to real estate marketing is as yet relatively untapped.
To make the most of your database contacts, you should have up to seven regular (monthly) touchpoints:
- Social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+)
- Visual social media (Instagram, Pinterest)
- Localised Google searches
- Phone calls
- Newspaper ads
- Door drops and signboards
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