Creating a real estate marketing strategy from the ground up is often the hardest part for modern agents and brokers. To simplify the process of developing your digital marketing plan for your real estate agency, we created this handy guide for Realtors that explains what to consider when getting started with online marketing: from how to set up an IDX website and publish SEO-friendly content, to lead management tips and the best ways to use social media. Download our special ebook for agents linked in the SlideShare as well to get even more, in-depth real estate marketing advice that can help you launch your digital strategy into the stratosphere.

1. The 5 Steps
to Launching
Your Real Estate
Marketing Plan
Expert Tips to Help You
Establish (or Expand)
Your Online Presence

2. The simple truth is this, real estate professionals:
Enhancing your online marketing strategy doesn’t and
won’t happen overnight. That’s just a fact.
Doing so requires a comprehensive plan and thoughtful
approach that maps out your strategy for the long term
and makes it simple for you to execute.
You need a carefully crafted marketing blueprint that
allows you to automate many of your tasks and still have
time for your other core real estate responsibilities too.
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3. From your email marketing strategy and social media
presence to your website optimization and alternative
marketing activities, there are several, must-implement
components for your overall real estate marketing mix.
Though it may seem difficult to connect each of these
activities to one another — and measure the effectiveness
of your multi-channel marketing efforts — it can be
accomplished with relative ease …. using these tips.
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4. By using the advice in this in-depth guide, you can get
well on your way to starting your omni-channel strategy
(or revamping your existing one) and earning many more
leads today that you can begin nurturing tomorrow.
Read on to discover how you can improve your digital
marketing today, and download our Launch Your Real
Estate Marketing Mix ebook to get even more insights
that can help elevate your online presence to new heights.
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5. Step #1
Ignite Your Online
Marketing
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6. Step #1: Ignite Your Online Marketing
Based on 2016 data, 76% of B2C brands
have content marketing strategies in place.
However, only 24% of these brands
consider their content marketing strategies
“mature” (high success rate), and only 13%
deem their content marketing plans
“sophisticated” (data-driven approach).
Content Marketing Institute’s “B2C Content Marketing: 2016
Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends — North America” study
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7. SIGN UP
Begin building your online
presence. Then, you can focus
on the marketing activities that
will enhance your presence.
Start by getting a responsive,
IDX website you can easily
customize (ideally without the
need for help from a designer).
Step #1: Ignite Your Online Marketing
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8. The first things to focus on when building your IDX website are:
SEO — Ensure your site can be found by the
right audience in search engine results pages.
Branding — Share your company info, sales history, and
other background info your audience should know.
Content — Prepare relevant and insightful copy and
multimedia well before you secure and launch your site.
Step #1: Ignite Your Online Marketing
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9. Step #1: Ignite Your Online Marketing
To publish stellar, search-friendly content for your site, you need to:
Understand what buyer/seller audience wants to know
Schedule out your content creation and promotion
Identify popular, competitive local-market keywords
Offer info for your audience competing agents don’t
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10. Step #2
Initiate Your Lead
Management Plan
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11. Step #2: Initiate Your Lead Management Plan
For brands that used online marketing
automation software in 2015, 80% noted
they saw an increase in leads during the
the year, while 77% experienced a rise in
client conversion during that span.
VB Insights’ “Marketing Automation: How to Make
the Right Buying Decision (the First Time)” report
Despite this rate of success, only 5% of all
U.S. businesses use automation software.
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12. Without a modern CRM you
won’t be able to track and
prioritize leads, so get the right
software for your agency.
Once this system’s in place, set
up an email strategy to nurture
top prospects with targeted
(and automated) messaging.
Step #2: Initiate Your Lead Management Plan
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13. When crafting an email marketing strategy, be sure to:
Segment — Don’t send the same emails to every lead.
Separate prospects into different, categorized buckets.
Personalize — Regardless of where leads are in your funnel,
personalize your messaging to truly connect with them.
Request — Make an informal ask (e.g. “Check out this listing”)
or offer a formal promotion (e.g. “Sign up for a consultation”).
Step #2: Initiate Your Lead Management Plan
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14. Step #2: Initiate Your Lead Management Plan
To effectively manage and nurture your real estate leads, you must:
Develop succinct, to-the-point emails that educate
Provide local-market info that enlightens your audience
Take advantage of the automation tools in your CRM
Constantly re-prioritize leads based on their activity
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15. Step #3
Supercharge Your
Lead Generation
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16. Step #3: Supercharge Your Lead Generation
More than a third (37%) of REALTORS®
said their primary real estate lead
generation resource is their IDX website.
However, more than 70% of REALTORS
said they also use the big real estate
portals to promote listings, while 42%
noted they also use Facebook to do so.
National Association of REALTORS®’
2013-14 REALTOR Technology Survey Report
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17. CTR
Organic marketing that gets
you found atop search engines
and helps you reach your niche
audience is your top priority.
After your SEO strategy is set,
though, turn your attention to
direct mailers, paid online ads,
and other supporting tactics.
Step #3: Supercharge Your Lead Generation
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18. Some of the best “alternative” marketing techniques to try include:
PPC — Google AdWords allows you to set text ads with
clear CTAs when popular, local keywords are searched.
Social Media — Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are all prime
digital places to allocate some of your advertising spend.
Mailers — Some agents send direct mail to everyone. Don’t.
Only send in-depth, informational assets to your top leads.
Step #3: Supercharge Your Lead Generation
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19. Step #3: Supercharge Your Lead Generation
To secure more, high-quality leads online, it’s essential that you:
Continually experiment with your site copy and CTAs
Try out new social media apps, tools, and platforms
Share insightful videos on your site/YouTube and in ads
Take advantage of offline opportunities (e.g. meetups)
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20. Step #4
Expand Your
Digital Universe
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21. Step #4: Expand Your Digital Universe
Just over one-quarter (27%) of real estate
pros advertise listing pages and other
website pages with their Facebook ads.
Despite this relatively low figure, only 44%
of agents have actually spent money on
targeted Facebook ad campaigns,
meaning many have yet to try the medium.
Inman News’ “The Bottom Line on
Online Leads” special report from 2015
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22. Social media may seem like it’s
not worth your time, but the
biggest social networks can
help your branding big-time.
With the right social tools —
like Buffer, Hootsuite, and
Edgar — you can put your
social sharing on autopilot.
Step #4: Expand Your Digital Universe
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23. Some of the essential things to have for social media success include:
A Schedule — Use any modern automation tool and you can
easily set a calendar for the types of content you share.
Fresh Content — Without regularly published blog posts and
resources, you won’t have much to share on social media.
Updated IDX — Not all shares should overtly promote your brand,
but remember: Many people love looking at listings on social.
Step #4: Expand Your Digital Universe
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24. Step #4: Expand Your Digital Universe
To get your audience engaging with you online, it’s vital for you to:
Avoid recycling you content too frequently on social
Regularly check analytics for each social network used
Use more than just Facebook (e.g. Twitter, Pinterest)
Connect with local people/brands to build your network
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25. Step #5
Head to
Mission Control
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26. Step #5: Head to Mission Control
Roughly 95% of marketing professionals
stated the omni-channel marketing
approach is essential to their success.
While many understand the importance of
developing an omni-channel marketing
strategy, just 51% have the processes and
systems in place to create such a plan.
Episerver Multichannel Digital Marketing Report 2015
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27. SIGN UP
After all of these core sales
and marketing activities are set
up, you can (finally) take a
breather and evaluate.
As important as it is to get an
omni-channel strategy up and
running, it’s equally vital to
analyze your performance.
Step #5: Head to Mission Control
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28. To properly audit your online marketing, you need to:
Inspect — Check out your website performance Google Analytics,
and and determine what pages need work (i.e. new keywords).
Research — There are always going to be new tactics and
techniques to test, so keep an eye out for new activities to employ.
Act — Once Phase 1 of your plan is complete, it’s on to Phase 2 …
and 3, and 4. Improving your marketing is an ongoing task.
Step #5: Head to Mission Control
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29. Step #5: Head to Mission Control
To ensure you’re on the road to marketing success, you have to:
Update your overall marketing plan/goals quarterly
Ditch the tactics and tools that don’t help your business
Amplify your efforts with the tactics and tools that do
Stay on top of all of the latest online marketing trends
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30. This is just the beginning, agents.
Get even more in-depth marketing
advice in our 30-page ebook:
LAUNCH YOUR
REAL ESTATE
MARKETING MIX
Click to Download
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