As a real estate professional, it's important to keep a pulse on the top real estate marketing products as new innovation, technology and methodologies are constantly evolving. Now that we're approaching a new year, let's review our top 10 real estate marketing products to consider in 2017.
IDX
This should be a no brainer, especially if you focus on helping buyers. Most already have this functionality on their website, but if you don't... what are you waiting for!
Going forward, it's not going to be enough to simply have IDX functionality, there are enhancements that you definitely want to consider. For example, user experience is paramount when optimizing your IDX experience. Since most have this technology on their website, what are you doing to stand out in this crowded space? Websites that provide the best experience for their visitors will win. This is why Zillow and Trulia were able to gain market share so quickly, their search experience is intuitive and user friendly.
Mobile Optimized Website
If you're website is not optimized for mobile devices, consider yourself behind and know that you're likely missing leads because of it.
We've already crossed the time where mobile traffic is more than desktop, if you're website is not mobile optimized, fix it immediately!
Home Valuation
If you want to generate fresh seller leads, offer a free home valuation. Those thinking about listing their home will want to know an estimate of what their home could potentially sell for. Make sure you put your home valuation tool behind a landing page so you can collect new prospects.
Premium Content
One of the biggest missed opportunities I see is websites that only have one type of call-to-action. Sure, people that are ready to buy may fill out your contact form, but what about your other website visitors?
Leveraging premium content such as eBooks, videos etc. are a good way to convert top-of-funnel website visitors. Create eBooks for listings or in-depth information, put behind a landing page and trade the content for contact information. This gives you an opportunity to build your email list and nurture prospects to sales ready leads.
Blogging Platform
The phrase "content is king" is still popular for a reason. Content marketing is a great way to generate more qualified traffic and provide useful information to your website visitors.
Research options with clean code and a strong feature set such as WordPress and HubSpot. Features to look for include easy social sharing options, SEO suggestions and the ability to easily add important elements such as images, links and calls-to-action.
Marketing Automation
In order to effectively scale your business, you need people, processes and a level of automation. Marketing automation is great for nurturing top-of-funnel prospects to sales ready leads.
There are a lot of great marketing automation tools out there to choose from. We recommend tools such as HubSpot, ActiveCampaign or MailChimp. Look for features that offer logic based options, smart segmentation and integration with your favorite CRM.
CRM
You worked so hard to earn your leads and clients, use a good CRM to keep them organized. A CRM will help you organize your notes and activities. CRM's can also help you gain valuable insight into your sales funnel, knowing which leads are opportunities and which should close soon.
There are LOTS of CRM options, both free and paid. Try a few and find one that is simple to use and offers the functionality that matches your needs the best.
Analytics
I'm still surprised when I meet with new businesses and learn that they don't have crucial tools like Google Analytics setup. Data is very important to improve your sales and marketing efforts. You can't improve what you don't track!
Take time to properly setup the metrics that are important to your business and check them regularly.
Advertising Platforms
Driving qualified traffic is important to fueling traffic, lead and business growth. There are many great advertising options available now. One of the newer players in the space is Facebook Ads. Running a well planned Facebook Advertising strategy can be a great compliment to staple channels like Google AdWords.
Lead Intelligence
Ahhh, lead intelligence... a geeky salespersons dream! Knowing the behavior of your leads is a great tool to have in your pocket when following-up. With lead data such as which pages they have viewed, how many times they've visited your website and when can help custom tailor your communication.
For example, if your lead has viewed only homes in a certain area, you'll better know their interests. Or, maybe you've been trying to get a hold of a lead, but have been unsuccessful. Setting-up a real-time lead notification alerting you when they visit your website is a great way to know exactly when to follow-up. Imagine if you could call a lead, knowing their on your website RIGHT NOW!
These are only 10 popular real estate marketing products to consider. For more ideas, download our eBook below or learn more about our real estate marketing services!
