Marketing Strategies for Real Estate Agents

As a real estate agent, building awareness and getting in front of buyers as quickly as possible is important. According to a 2020 study by the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), 88 percent of buyers purchased their homes through a real estate broker or agent. Moreover, 73 percent of buyers interviewed and worked with only one real estate agent during their property search. Therefore, understanding real estate marketing is crucial to succeed in this field.

Creating a website for the real estate business is important to show new listings to prospective clients. Home buyers typically search the Internet to compare properties before making a call or scheduling a viewing. The website should also be optimized for mobile for a seamless client experience.

The listings should have detailed property information and clear photos. Real estate agents should also create blog posts to drive traffic. The posts can cover various topics, such as local property prices, types of financing, guidelines, and other useful information for first-time buyers or people who want to move to different cities or states.

Real estate agents should collect and display testimonials from satisfied home buyers to bolster credibility and build trust. After a successful sale, they should check in with their clients and ask for reviews and permission to post them on the website.

Real estate agents who use virtual staging have an excellent chance of piquing the interest of their buyers. The NAR study showed that 82 percent of buyers had an easier and more enjoyable time visualizing the properties as their future homes using a virtual staging app or software. Online staging is also more convenient and affordable than physical staging.

Besides maintaining a business website, real estate agents should create profiles on popular and reliable online real estate platforms. For instance, putting listings on Zillow allows real estate agents to access a large audience and connect with potential clients, increasing their likelihood of reaching a buyer.

Leveraging social media is one of the effective ways to generate interest and connect with potential clients. For example, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn can be used to run paid promotions. Instagram ads, in particular, allow real estate agents to use targeted hashtags and select a target audience, post type (photo, video, or carousel), budget, and length of promotion to reach more people.

Real estate agents can also partner with local businesses to promote listings and invite them to participate when organizing an open house for potential buyers. During the open house, real estate agents should stage the home, prepare the informational materials, and share contact information. Sometimes, inviting a loan officer can help answer financing-related questions.

Asking for referrals is a great way to engage with clients after closing a deal, enhance customer loyalty, and boost sales. After the buyers have settled into their new homes, agents should email them to check how they’re doing and include a referral request. By offering a referral reward program to their clients, real estate agents can build a strong network of satisfied customers who will perform a central part of their marketing via word-of-mouth. Real estate agents can also organize a housewarming party for their clients, leveraging the latter’s guest list to meet potential buyers or sellers.