If you’re new to real estate or are looking to take your business to the next level, you can benefit from developing an effective marketing strategy to dominate your area digitally.
What does digitally dominate mean?
It means that when people do a local search for a real estate agent, whether it’s by searching online or through social media, your name and business come up at the top of the search results.
Why must it be at the top of the search results page?
The reality is that with iBuyers and websites dedicated to real estate (think Zillow and Redfin), most buyers and sellers are starting their search online, making it crucial for you to implement effective strategies to dominate your area in real estate digitally.
If you want to ensure you’re top of the food chain, you should get outside expert help.
The quickest way to achieve your goals is to hire a professional real estate coach to outline your strengths, help you identify opportunities, and help you create an effective strategy to dominate your market.
But if you’re unsure where to begin, keep reading as we’ll discuss how to set yourself up to dominate.
In this article, we discuss some essential strategies to help you rise to the top and establish yourself as a leader in your local market.
Optimize Your Website
Your website is your virtual storefront and should be the centerpiece of your digital marketing efforts.
Optimize your website for search engines by using relevant keywords, creating valuable content, and ensuring a user-friendly experience.
Ensure your website is responsive and optimized for mobile devices as more and more people search for properties on their smartphones and tablets.
Embrace Video Marketing
Video has become a potent tool in the real estate industry.
When people think about video, they think of professionally produced, slick videos they watch on Netflix or YouTube. But the truth is, you don’t need to have a Hollywood budget or crew to create incredible videos that will skyrocket your business.
Consider creating virtual tours of your listings, neighborhood highlight videos, or even testimonials from satisfied clients. One thing I do that has created incredible results is making and sending out video text messages with my cell phone.
These video text messages are simple, just me making a personalized video and sending it to my clients and prospects. I take time to talk to them about a recent event, anniversary, birthday, or significant thing in their lives.
I film and send out 10 of these personalized messages a day. I don’t talk about real estate or the market, and the intent is to be top-of-mind for potential clients when they are ready.
Video is gold because video content is engaging and helps potential buyers and sellers get a better sense of the properties you represent. Share your videos on your website, social media platforms, and YouTube to broaden your reach and increase your overall visibility.
Leverage Social Media
Social media is an excellent platform for connecting with potential buyers and sellers.
Create profiles on popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to reach a wider audience. You should focus on engaging, fun, and informative content that makes your audience want to respond.
For example, if you want a new listing, create content around the interior design of a home asking for responses or take a poll asking people their preferences on wall color or backsplash.
Share engaging content like property listings, market updates, informative blog posts, and local events. You want to actively engage with your followers by promptly responding to comments and messages.
Another way to dominate your area is to utilize social media advertising to target specific demographics and expand your reach even further. The benefit of social media ads is that you can create highly engaging and targeted content to reach the right audience based on where they are at in their real estate needs.
For example, you can create content about adding some curb appeal to a home or answering some common questions new buyers may have, target the audience by behaviors and interests, and create a more specific reach for your ads.
The best part is that you can reach your exact audience at a much cheaper price than traditional media, making it a precious tool for your business.
Become The Local Go-To Expert
Using social media and your website, you should create content to position yourself as the go-to area expert.
Be sure to provide valuable and informative content about the local real estate market. Write blog posts, create neighborhood guides, and share market reports to establish yourself as a knowledgeable resource.
Another way to do this, although it is the offline version, is to attend local events, join community organizations, and network with other professionals to build your reputation as a trusted local expert.
By having in-depth knowledge of the local market, you can create digital content to provide valuable insights and guidance to potential buyers and sellers. Being seen as an expert in your area can also help you build trust and credibility with clients.
Utilize Email Marketing
If you’re trying to dominate digitally, don’t forget to have an email marketing strategy, it’s one of the most effective ways to nurture leads and stay top-of-mind with potential clients.
You’ll need to build an email list of interested buyers and sellers and send out regular newsletters with updates on the market, new listings, and local events.
You can space these emails into a “drip” campaign where you’re sending out emails that build off one another to create a drip-drip-drip of content that keeps you top-of-mind.
Remember to personalize your emails and provide valuable information to keep recipients engaged and interested in working with you.
Monitor And Optimize
While you spend time in one area of your digital marketing, you may be slipping into another.
The key is to automate your systems that help keep your content relevant and going to your target audience in ways that engage them, entice them to work, or recommend your services.
Since digital marketing is an ever-evolving landscape, monitoring your efforts and making necessary adjustments is crucial.
Use website analytics tools and social media analytics to track your progress, identify improvement areas, pay attention to which strategies and platforms generate the most leads, and adjust your marketing efforts accordingly.
Digitally Network And Brand Yourself
Networking is essential to success in the real estate industry, but to dominate your market digitally, you need to combine offline and online networking.
For offline efforts:
- Join local business groups
- Attend networking events,
- Connect with other professionals to build relationships
- Establish yourself as a trusted resource
- Leverage your connections to showcase your expertise,
- Learn from others
- Gain referrals.
Developing a solid personal brand helps you stand out from the competition and attract more leads.
For your online efforts:
- Consider joining online communities
- Create Facebook groups for your target audience and other professionals to engage with each other
- Create moderated posts to address news, trends, or other items of interest
- Leverage multiple social media platforms to engage with your audience
As a real estate agent, networking and digitally branding yourself are crucial for building your reputation and attracting clients.
Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram can help you digitally brand yourself by sharing valuable content, showcasing your expertise, and engaging with potential clients.
Building a robust online presence through these networking and branding efforts can establish you as a trusted and knowledgeable real estate agent.
Neighborhood Specific Funnel
Now that you have an idea of the basics, the next thing to do is to dive into ways to dominate the digital marketplace and create a strategy for localized SEO.
An example of localized SEO is when a person is looking for a service, they may conduct an online search with terms like “plumber near me” or “real estate agent in city XYZ.”
What this does is that it informs the search engines to provide you with responses that include matching or geographically similar locations. When you create ad campaigns and other content, you should be hyper-focused on creating keywords that include your city location.
To get started effectively, the 1st thing to do is choose a neighborhood.
When looking at your local area to choose a neighborhood, select one with homes on the market selling at a price point that you like and where the average days on the market aren’t too long.
Once you select your area, the next thing to focus on is creating a neighborhood-specific funnel so that you can create content to drive traffic to that funnel.
Remember, real estate is about relationships, and perception is everything, which means being personable, presenting information that helps your target, and coming across as a local expert.
As you’re trying to create an effective strategy to dominate your area digitally, you need to effectively target and reach potential buyers or sellers in specific neighborhoods.
This is where creating a neighborhood-specific funnel comes into play, allowing you to attract and engage potential clients specifically interested in buying or selling property in a particular area.
Here are some practical ways to create a neighborhood-specific funnel for real estate agents:
1. Research The Neighborhood
The first step in creating a neighborhood-specific funnel is thoroughly researching the targeted neighborhood.
Understand the area's demographics, market trends, and unique selling points. This will help you tailor your marketing efforts and messaging to resonate with potential clients who are specifically interested in that neighborhood.
Also, creating community guides that highlight what makes the area unique and exciting, whether it’s local events, a restaurant and shopping guide, or anything that makes your content feel specific to the site, will be highly engaging.
2. Develop a Neighborhood-Specific Landing Page
A landing page is a dedicated webpage to capture leads and convert them into potential clients.
Create a neighborhood-specific landing page highlighting the benefits of living in that area, showcasing current listings, and providing valuable information about the neighborhood. Be sure to include a lead capture form on the landing page to collect contact information from potential clients.
With a lead capture, you’ll collect information that you can use to market more content and increase your visibility.
3. Create Compelling Content
It won’t matter how much content you publish if it’s not compelling, attractive, and engaging. To achieve this, develop high-quality, informative content that is focused on the targeted neighborhood.
This can include blog posts, videos, infographics, and social media posts. Share valuable insights about the neighborhood, market trends, local events, and amenities that potential clients may find helpful and exciting.
4. Utilize SEO Strategies
Optimize your website and content using search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to improve your visibility in search engine results.
Use relevant keywords related to the targeted neighborhood in your website copy, blog posts, and meta tags.
For example, if you’re a listing agent for military families, create content and use keywords that include relevant search terms, including military-family-oriented terms.
This will help potential clients find your content when searching for information about that area.
5. Leverage Social Media Platforms
You’ll need to utilize social media platforms to enhance your digital funnel. In order to do this, create targeted social media campaigns focusing on the targeted neighborhood.
Use location-specific hashtags, geotags, and join local community groups to increase your visibility and reach. Share engaging content, showcase listings, and interact with potential clients to build relationships and generate leads.
Another trick is to create contests or branded content with another local business that gets your brand in front of other locals and influential people online.
6. Partner with Local Businesses and Influencers
Partnering and collaborating with local businesses and influencers can significantly boost your neighborhood-specific funnel.
Reach out to local businesses, such as restaurants, cafes, or fitness studios, and offer to promote their services in exchange for them promoting your real estate services.
Additionally, partner with local influencers with a strong presence in your targeted neighborhood to reach their followers and expand your reach.
The idea is to create a local win-win for you and your partners. You’ll expose their brand to your audience while they’ll do the same so that you each expand your reach and, more importantly, are seen as local-oriented.
7. Follow Up And Nurture Leads
Once you start generating leads through your neighborhood-specific funnel, following up and nurturing them is crucial.
Be sure to respond promptly to inquiries, provide personalized and informative follow-up communication, and offer valuable resources or insights to build trust and establish yourself as an expert in the targeted neighborhood.
By regularly following up with your leads, you’re better able to maintain engagement and hopefully convert them into clients.
Creating a neighborhood-specific funnel requires a strategic approach and consistent effort.
By implementing these strategies, real estate agents can effectively attract and engage potential clients who are specifically interested in buying or selling property in a particular neighborhood.
Remember to adapt and refine your marketing strategies based on your target audience's specific needs and preferences to maximize your success.
It’s essential to consistently provide valuable content, engage with your audience, and stay up-to-date with the latest digital marketing trends to maintain your competitive edge.
A real estate coach can help you develop a strategy, create systems that support your goals' outcomes, and show you areas you can improve and other areas of opportunity for you to grow and dominate.
