​We work with a number of Realtors® helping them with their SEO, Website Design, Social Media Marketing, and Lead Generation.  When you work with a number of clients in the same vertical market, it’s hard not to immerse yourself in that niche.  After all, you’re expected to be subject matter experts on a number of topics and to speak in a relevant manner about your client’s needs, requirements, and desires, you need to have a background in their market.  Fortunately, I’ve been working in the real estate marketplace for many years (since 1991) on and off, helping real estate brokers and associates to better affect positive change for our clients.

With over 4 billion internet users (59% of the global population) as of January 2020, the online space has now, more than ever, become an essential part of marketing. The digital landscape presents a plethora of opportunities for businesses to make their brand name stand out. Real estate is one such industry that has experienced transformational change through digital marketing.

Today, buyers and renters do vigorous online research before making a buying decision. Through the online space, they are able to shortlist properties that capture their interest, then go for a visit. Hence, a strong online presence and digital marketing strategy is key the success for any brand in the real estate industry.

Digital marketing has also redefined the way realtors work. With potential investors taking their tours online, it can save these agents lots of time and effort. The digital conveniences afford potential buyers an opportunity to see the same property at the same time, making it possible for realtors to handle their queries without the need for a personal visit.

Ways that Digital Marketing Will Transform the Real Estate Industry in 2020 and 2021

Increased Exposure

An obvious one, but one that cannot be ignored is that digital marketing is an effective way to attract attention to your brand. No matter the size of your real estate business, digital marketing can help you customize your efforts to meet your clients’ needs, and grow your network of clients.

Through social media, for instance, you can conduct relentless research on your target customers and know what makes them connect with brands.  Another blog post on this later!

Automated Marketing Roles

As a Realtor® or Real Estate Broker, time is of high value to you. You may barely have enough time to perform all of the digital marketing tasks required to scale up your real estate brand. As a Realtor® you are expected by the Broker/management to run your business like a business.  And Brokers and the Broker’s staff are busy keeping the doors open, and doing what they have to do so the Realtor® has a place to work from… Meanwhile, and while only part of the equation, digital marketing requires a time consuming, hands-on approach – that you develop quality content, are more engaging, and customize your marketing to fit buyers’ needs whether it be organic or paid.

If you’re an individual contributor and you don’t work in teams or have an assistant, we know that there may be barely enough time to get things done in a day, especially with the minutia of getting online campaigns readied for online publishing.  The good news is, you can still make use of your time more efficiently. There are now digital marketing automation platforms to ease this situation for Realtors® to reach out to prospects in an automated fashion and stay in front of their prospective clients with minimal effort. Set up correctly, they can be used to automate your marketing jobs, including delivering targeted content and managing email campaigns with ease, over and over and over again. These automation tools are now more affordable in 2020, and we can expect that they cost even less in 2021 as the competitive landscape evolves…

Augmented/Virtual Reality

The biggest challenge with real estate marketing is that potential buyers and renters want to see the property in person before making a final decision. Integrating augmented or virtual reality into your digital marketing efforts can help you produce virtual tours of your properties. These tours could give your clients an insight into the surrounding area, and help them understand what it would feel like to live in the property and neighborhood.

Today, more tech firms are launching augmented reality toolkits that make this offering easier for real estate managers. It is expected that the augmented technology will become easily accessible in 2020 and 2021.  Try using a drone inside the home, to film as well as outside the home. This way you can create seamless tours that impress your prospective clients minimizing your communication and input! Impressive displays build trust before even having a conversation and convey your professionalism and success ahead of time.

Influencer Marketing

Before now, it was just okay to depend on advertisements to get people hooked to your brand. But this approach isn’t exactly the in-thing today. People now prefer real and authentic experiences. This is why your potential client will likely listen to and believe a real person over the ads you promote. Though influencer marketing is expensive, it is very effective when done right.

Reach out to influencers that can connect with your target consumers. To improve this marketing model, you can also effectively use hashtags that your potential clients can easily remember.  

There is also nothing to say that you cannot begin positioning yourself as an authority and becoming your own influencer for your business.  There are a number of excellent resources online if you google them on how to begin putting yourself in front of the camera with relevant messages to begin attracting the attention you need to generate inbound traffic and leads.

Chatbot Technology

Chatbots are not very recent tech tools, and if you’re not using one on your Facebook Business page or your website, you should look into this immediately. This technology employs the use of texts, messages and even voices to reach customers. But it is now becoming more acceptable today, and this trend will continue in the coming years.

According to a survey conducted by LivePerson in2017, 38% of 5,000 consumers from six countries had positive perception of chatbots. Many messaging apps now use these bots to promote their products and services, while offering a personalized customer service experience.

As artificial intelligence improves over the next year or two, this is a technology that will take even more of the spotlight as it can provide accurate answers to customer questions in real-time. What’s more, these tools can also gather user data, which can be used to provide even better customer support and interaction with them going forward.  Services like Many Chat and others have made it super easy for businesses to go-to-market and create complex chatbots that service your prospects and clients when you cannot. They become a 24-hour receptionist, sales qualifier, support representative and more when you’re asleep or with another prospective client!

Blockchain

Blockchain technology… Think Bitcoin, Etherium and other coin technologies.  These are highly secure automated systems of payment and are currently disrupting the financial services industry. This technology is now well and truly poised to give the real estate market a huge leap. Etherium, is built specifically for contractual transactions, and is poised to handle real estate transactions and streamline the sales and closing operational processes.  OpenLaw in Australia recently built a complete platform to automate the process  Additionally, rental development firms like New Jersey-based 16 Bennet now accept Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and other forms of cryptocurrency payments in lieu of traditional cash, check or credit card. And the convenience offered by this technology is now being utilized in the digital marketing space as well.

Snippet is taken from https://media.consensys.net/ on OpenLaw press release.

From an advertising perspective, blockchain in marketing is now able to track ad placement and ensure target audiences click these ads and a relationship begins. This has made for a more accurate consumer engagement data. Because blockchain transactions are typically anonymous, and transaction date is typically public, the transparency of the blockchain technology also gives customers more control over how marketers use their personal information. When your target clients trust you, they will likely share their personal information with you more freely. This is a great way to connect with them, and offer customized services.

Final Thoughts

The digital marketing landscape is huge, and very promising. However, it is important that you understand your ideal clientele. This way, you can tailor your real estate brand to ensure consistency online, and increase its exposure.

If you are a Realtor or Real Estate Broker interested inlearning more about how to grow your business online, please feel free to reach out to us using the below form or calling us directly at 888.980.8170.  We’re happy to have a conversation with you and point you in a productive direction.

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