Real estate has always been an industry which has seen results from outdoor, print, events and activations. But, post the onset of COVID in the year 2020, there has been a phenomenal change in the marketing strategy of the industry. This paradigm shift to digital marketing of the real estate industry shows that the industry is quickly adopting to the new marketing trends. Hence, the various digital channels have been effectively generating leads and resulting in sales for this industry in reent times.
How has the customer behavior changed over time?
Today the primary research and shortlisting of property is majorly done online by the customers. They have shifted to the digital world, which is more comfortable and convenient today for them in their purchase journey. Data, also shows that the digital presence of customers have increased significantly in recent times.
https://www.oberlo.in/blog/mobile-usage-statistics
Hence, a strong online presence for an real estate brand today is extremely important. To reach out to their customers during their product research stage, for instance.
How to do online real estate marketing right?
The digital channels and assets that a real estate marketer should concentrate on. Firstly, to create their brand presence. Secondly, to generate effective leads. Thirdly, to develop relationship with their customers. Listed below are the major digital platforms and assets, which will help you in your online real estate marketing strategy.
1. Website
It is extremely important for an real estate brand to have a user friendly website where the customer gets all the necessary information and enticed to drop and enquiry. This, website should have engaging content, images, drone shoots, virtual tours, location advantages, location maps etc.
Few hygiene to take care of for a website:
- Website should load easily both on desktop as well as mobile.
- Necessarily be mobile friendly (As 69% customers are present on mobile).
- The product details and the price should be clearly mentioned.
- Enquiry form should be crisp, easily visible.
- Prominent bold CTA with the help of which customers who want to know more can easily reach out.
- Have a strong SEO strategy for the website in place.
2. Social Media
Social media acts as the platform which tells the customer about the review of the property. Hence ORM forms major part of it. Any customer query should be addressed within 15 minutes this helps is developing a relation with the customers and develop a healthy dialogue.
At the same time, social media content strategy should also be robust. This, is the platform which is abundantly used by the customers and at the same time helps brand to have dialogue with their target audience. Not only this, the content uploaded here should be valuable enough so that clients keep coming back to the page to get answers to their queries and feel connected to the brand. Content can comprise of video, case studies, relevant blog posts etc.
3. You Tube
You tube videos play a major role in engaging with the customer and creating brand awareness. For eg : Product videos act as the virtual tours for the customer during their online research stage.
4.Email Marketing :
Leaflets, letters and paper inserts has been replaced by email marketing today. Email marketing helps reach out to the potential audience with relevant communication in their mobile. Hence, it is being used to reach out to new clients as well as being relevant to the old with customised relevant messages.
5.Lead generation :
PPC advertisement is a excellent strategy for real estate developers to generate leads. These advertisements are highly targeted and the advertiser only needs to pay once the ad is clicked upon.
6.Chat Bot :
A chat bot is a common and essential feature nowadays for websites. As stated earlier since today’s customer does most of their research online and website being their primary source of information . A chat bot installed in the website can address to the basic queries of the customer and have the potential to convert a cold lead to a lukewarm lead and then pass on to the sales team for further nurturing.
What should a real estate marketer look to improve its digital marketing strategy?
- Strong SEO strategy
- Quality content strategy
- Data Analysis to understand the buyer’s profile better
The customer behaviour is changing we need to reach out to them, where they are comfortable. Let us, gear up with our digital assets and learn more how each platform can help us better our perform. This is a brief overview of “How to do online real estate marketing right” more details on each platform will follow soon.
3 Comments
I have been working in the real estate industry and I fully agree with all these methods that have been written down in this blog post.
Very informative and usable especially for people who are new to real estate marketing.
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The words in your post seem to be running off
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