Real estate is a booming business.
Although COVID-19 has put a minor break in the phenomenal growth of the real estate industry, it’s a matter of time before the industry rises from its slumber and comes back with a bang.
As a firm operating in the real estate sector, this can be the best time for you to revamp and realign your marketing strategy.
Industry experts are already predicting that the recovery when it comes after the pandemic subsides, will be a V-shaped recovery. Only the best firms can take up the challenge head-on.
So, if you are into a business that wishes to utilize this lean period to rev up your growth, then this article is for you.
Read on to know why you need more than a real estate marketing plan and how an industry-specific goal-based marketing strategy can help you emerge stronger than ever before, post the pandemic.
Are Your Real Estate Marketing Goals SMART?
If you ever visit a real estate marketing expert, the first thing they would advise you is to prepare a list of goals that are Specific (S), Measurable (M), Attainable (A), Realistic (R), and Time-bound (T).
However, what no expert will ever tell you is the reason why you need to factor in the industry specifics before deciding the right marketing strategy.
While marketing plan per se is uniform across industries, the real estate industry is one of the very few sectors that needs something extra, more as a top-up to the traditional marketing strategies. This top-up is what industry-specific goals all about.
How Can You Make Your Goals SMART?
Imagine your goal is to ‘Expand business by listing more residential properties in the San Francisco Bay Area.’ Now compare this to ‘Enlist 200 residential properties in the San Francisco Bay Area and earn a collective revenue of $50 million by Q1’.
There’s no doubt that the second one looks more targeted and purposeful than the first one. A SMART goal breaks down your firm’s vision and mission into smaller, achievable goals, which can ensure your team never gets overloaded with work.
- Specific
Prepare a list of specific goals. It should clearly lay down what you wish to achieve.
For example, if your goal is to enlist 200 properties with a revenue target of $500 million, you have to break it down into several small units and spread it over the entire quarter.
- Measurable
Making your goals measurable can help you measure the success of your small-term goals. It can also aid you in evaluating the metrics you have set for analyzing the effects of your marketing strategy.
- Attainable
A goal that is worthy of the purpose will be achievable. To evaluate your strategy’s probability of success, you should divide the goal into attainable units. Remember to test the limits of the resource persons, though.
- Realistic
The goals you set for your business must be relevant to the overall needs of your business plan. A realistic goal is one in which all members of the team align with the overall goal of the business plan.
- Time-Bound
Time is probably the most crucial factor that makes all the difference between profit and loss. As you decide the goal, the next thing would be to determine the time-frame you would require to fulfill the goal.
Things You Need to Keep in Mind to Make Your Marketing Plan Industry Specific
- Photographs Rule
The real estate industry is all about photography. Only if the property looks good on screen or paper can you expect people to express interest.
Big real estate marketing firms always hire the best of the photographers who have mastered the art of photo-capturing and photo-editing.
Hence, while designing your marketing plan, never think about curtailing your spend on hiring a photographer. The little extra you spend now can go a long way in generating ever-lasting impressions.
- Design a Website That Grabs Eyeballs
One of the most important things that must be there in the marketing plan of any real estate firm is an attractive and informative website that can be accessed from mobile, laptop, tablet, or any other device.
Recent customer trends point out that the first thing they do when they decide to buy a property is to hit the internet and gather as much information as they can about the property.
Hence, to make your mark in the real estate industry, you must have a website that is filled with all the information a customer might need while making the right decision. You may even publish informative and interesting blogs that will compel your customers to come back for more.
- Use Social Media to Your Advantage
As a real estate firm, avoiding social media can be one of the biggest mistakes you can ever make. Social media is where the audience is. Whichever category of people you want to target, be sure you can get them all on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and the likes.
When it comes to leveraging social media for promoting your business, video marketing for business is the thing you need to succeed. As videos are driving more viewership than ever before, you can expect to capture a quality audience by creating and uploading the best-in-class videos.
Real estate marketing is no more area-specific. Today, a buyer can select a property in Florida while sitting at a cozy office in New York. Social media is the only place that can make property marketing seamless and can turn your business global.
- Use Your Website as a Lead Magnet
Quite often, you would visit a website to research something, and you would find the website owner is giving you a free ebook that aims to provide you with something extra, along with what you are getting from the website. That is what lead magnet all about.
Distribute free ebooks that are relevant, and collect customers’ email ids in the process. Once you get the email ids, add them to your email marketing database and send emailers that can convert them from visitors to customers.
Conclusion
In an age where customers often pretend to be smarter than business-owners, the best way you can market your firm is by upholding their values, giving them what they want.
Real estate industry-specific goals are quite different from the goals of other industries. Hence, to elevate your brand to a higher level, you need to value customers as you value your firm. And, a high-quality real estate marketing strategy always puts customers on top.
Keep an eye on this space to pick up exciting trivia and facts about real estate marketing.