If there are any rules in real estate marketing, they were made to be broken. Having said that, what’s changing in this particular field? Should investors alter or change their current practices? Perhaps even more importantly, what principles can help Realtors and investors stay on track to achieve great marketing results?
While traditional marketing is nothing to scoff at, those who stay within its confines are often at a disadvantage to those who pioneer a new approach. There is definitely some sense and ‘safety’ in sticking to proven real estate marketing tactics and systems. However, going through the motions isn’t very innovative. Business cards and a strong web presence are critical and should be a focus, but there is so much more an investor can do to gain traction.
Contrast this with the photographer who recently made $150k in a single day selling copies of photos he had posted on Instagram. By stepping out of the box, investors can gain the same recognition. Innovation and finding a way to stand out is important. Beyond this, unexpected major downturns in the effectiveness of some real estate marketing channels and constantly being told Google wants something new, many can find this part of the business very confusing, frustrating and sometimes discouraging.
Much of this confusion and frustration comes back to real estate education. Like the housing market as a whole, marketing is also cyclical. Each medium goes through its own business cycles. This has definitely been seen with direct mail, telemarketing, and email marketing in the past as they have gone full circle. These can all be great elements of a good marketing mix, and diversity can be core to consistent results and survival.
However, it can also pay to embrace new technology and marketing mediums. Real estate professionals have typically been slow to embrace technology or change of any type. Just look at how long it took most to take to email!
It can be extremely profitable to jump on new technology early for real estate investors and Realtors. The first in, whether it is crowdfunding or social media, can find it much easier and cheaper to scale and dominate than to try and adapt later when everyone else has been doing it for years.
Perhaps one of the hottest emerging tech trends in real estate marketing today is augmented reality. It’s new, fresh, exciting and growing fast. The applications for prospecting, branding, PR, lead generation and increasing conversions are almost endless. The release of Google Glass to the public is expected to make ‘AR’ explode in 2014. However, many applications don’t have to have anything to do with wearable tech, and are easily engaged via the common smartphone or tablet.
Of course, using content as a magnet continues to be among the most popular, efficient and effective real estate marketing methods in play today. This is definitely one of the most contentious areas of marketing for industry pros. There are many different opinions on what makes great SEO, just like getting tax or legal advice from different real estate attorneys or accountants. Then to top it all off, Google continuously seems to change the game with new rules every 6 months, sending the world into a stampede to adjust. It may not be smart to defy Google. However, it can still be smart to stand out. Long, short, keyword rich or absent of keywords altogether, guest or ghost written, the bottom line is that if real estate investors, agents and companies just focus on really serving consumers and quality, they shouldn’t ever have to be in a panic.
