It wasn’t all that long ago that real estate marketing consisted of personalized pens, key chains, refrigerator calendars, business cards, and printed advertising. The internet and social media outlets have dramatically changed how real estate buyers search for and purchase property. Whether a first-time home buyer or an investor looking to acquire another investment property, the internet is the most used vehicle used to search, investigate, connect, and buy.
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), ”41% of recent buyers’ first step in the homebuying process was to search online. And during the search, a total of 97% used the internet in their home search across all age groups.” Perhaps the almost universal move for real estate professionals was to buy into large online advertising data vaults like Zillow and LoopNet. But while these giant databases can tout more than 500,000 listings, a report by the Ruler Analytics’ Marketing Attribution and Reporting Analysis in 2021 revealed that the top three key marketing channels for real estate conversions are websites (90.7%), blog content (89.2%), and email marketing (69.2%). In addition, 90% of realtors utilize Facebook and other social media platforms to grow an online presence and make personal connections with potential customers.
Creating valuable, relevant content for a targeted audience will help agents and brokers attract and engage with ideal clients. But success requires delivering specific, relevant, information to the right targeted prospect at the right time. Writing quality impactful content can elevate a seller’s authority, promote increased customer conversations, and generate increased qualified candidates. The goal of a content marketing strategy is to educate a potential client, not sell. It is extremely important to impress the reader with your knowledge of the real estate market, and to be recognized as an expert in the field.
Write impactful website blogs, produce how-to videos, and utilize sharp images to demonstrate a purpose and promise. The internet and social media channels are crowded, noisy mediums, so to be effective content must be original, personal, and authentic and must be targeted to specific audiences. Great content is original, conversational in tone, and punctuated with humor and personal anecdotes.
This coming year, the housing and real estate market will be affected by a declining economy, higher interest rates, and rising prices. While these factors have slowed sales in the last quarter of 2022, an unfulfilled demand for home buyers is softening the likelihood of a major downturn in the housing marketplace in 2023. “The bottom line is that there really isn’t a likely scenario that leads to inventory levels approaching historically normal numbers in 2023, which means that prospective homebuyers are still going to have to work hard to find something to buy,” says Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM Data. Agents and Brokers who successfully promote themselves as capable partners to buyers looking to make a purchase in this complicated and more difficult period will attract more leads and close more deals.
Consistent, qualified leads are the key to success for every real estate agent and brokerage. In such a competitive market, finding qualified buyers is a challenge. Junction Creative Solutions (Junction’s) award-winning team works with the real estate market to create rich brand experiences designed to drive qualified leads and ensure success for our clients. To learn more about how Junction offers our real estate agents and brokerages clients the opportunity to earn unique, high-quality real estate leads through a measured, targeted digital approach, call 678-944-7219.