In a business that focuses on the details, real estate investors may forget to step back and consider the big picture of their goals and how they plan to achieve them. Are you confident your current marketing efforts will get you where you want to be professionally?
Here’s a list of nine tools you need in your real estate marketing arsenal.
Email Automation
Email is cheap, easy, and flexible, but you can do much more than simply send messages. Tailor the messages of each campaign to address the needs of each audience using email templates that make this customization quick and easy. Further, with an email automation tool, you can devote a single block of time to planning, preparing, scheduling, and tracking the various emails in each campaign, and your campaigns can go on over time with minimal additional input.
Social Media
Relevant images, relationship building, and the chance to establish yourself as an expert — what investor can afford not to be active on social media? Whether you use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, another platform, or some combination of them all, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Programs that transform your print and direct mail messages into social media posts are available and help create cohesive multi-channel campaigns. With the right tool, you can also build and schedule all social media posts to be published from one central application.
Mobile Ads
Because mobile users — which includes almost everyone you want to reach — spend 64 percent of their phone time within various mobile apps, one way to effectively reach them is through in-app mobile advertising. This is a growing opportunity for real estate investors in any market.
Analytics
For decades, traditional marketing theory stated that ads are risky because they’re expensive and it’s hard to determine if they’re working. However, with the advent of digital marketing, all of your online efforts can include built-in tracking and reporting features, and you don’t need an advertising degree to understand whether your efforts were successful. Set aside time to learn from the results of each campaign, and every campaign thereafter has a chance to be that much more successful.
Targeted Direct Mailing Pieces
Print is far from dead. In fact, the more prevalent digital communications become, the more meaningful it can feel for someone to receive a printed piece in the mail. Your direct mail marketing should follow a regular schedule and include a mix of postcards, brochures, newsletters, and even greeting cards that encourage recipients to take action. With the right provider, all of these pieces can be fully customizable and implemented cost-effectively.
Promotional Products
People keep everyday items (pens, notepads, water bottles, etc.) close by, so why not feature your branding on them? Doing so allows people to regularly see your message and stay top-of-mind — which is what makes promotional products such a powerful component of your marketing strategy. You can even add your website and social media information to the items to drive more traffic to your online presence.
Photos
Nearly every aspect of your marketing can benefit from good photos that tell a story. If hiring a professional photographer isn’t part of your budget, make the photos you take yourself the best they can be. Consider researching good techniques or taking a class in digital photography for business. While creating excellent photos no longer requires expensive equipment, if you do find you need to upgrade your equipment, software, or apps to make the job easier, consider it an investment in your business.
Targeted Data Lists
Many of the most effective marketing strategies rely heavily on campaigns designed for targeted audiences. You should always be taking efforts to grow your own list, collecting (at minimum) names, physical addresses, and email addresses. Remember, the lists you build yourself consist of people who have volunteered their information and can often garner the most responses. However, sometimes you need to shift gears and reach new contacts not on your existing list. Consider using a reliable list-building service that can help you create a strong list for your targeted audience.
Automated Tools
This idea is so important in today’s marketing environment. With an automation tool in place, you set aside time to focus on all your marketing activities (planning, creating, scheduling, and distributing), whether on- or offline, in a single sitting. Think of the time and energy you could save if you weren’t constantly revisiting your campaigns at different stages.
Get all the Details AND the Big Picture
Now that you’ve got a few ideas you’d like to try, don’t be afraid to work with an on-demand marketing provider to streamline your real estate marketing. They can provide as much help as you like, from initial planning through execution to campaign analysis.
About the Author:
Eric Arnold, VP of sales & business development, Arnold has been leading Xpressdocs’ sales and business development efforts for more than 11 years. Prior to Xpressdocs, he held sales and management positions at various software and technology companies, including Expedia and Jobs.com. Arnold graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a business administration degree in finance and computer applications.
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