Whether it’s researching MLS listings on real estate aggregator website, applying for a loan via online banking, or conducting virtual tours, the real estate buying process is seeing swift innovation in 2024. This will probably continue beyond 2024 too.

So as a real estate agent in this rapidly changing industry, you require the most creative online marketing strategies for success. Here, we break down 14 of the most effective online marketing strategies you can adopt to propel your business forward and make it future-proof.

Top 14 Online Marketing Ideas for Real Estate Agents

We know it’s difficult to identify all the important avenues for your online marketing activities. To help you out, we have picked some areas in which you have to concentrate.

1. Start Marketing Yourself in Zillow

If you are in the real estate industry, we are sure that you will know the importance of Zillow. It is one of the primary resources for many buyers who want to research prospective properties. In 2019, Zillow received 196 million monthly unique users. So, make sure you are on Zillow.

Create a profile here and ask your clients to add a review. The number of contacts you receive from here will really surprise you. Plus, you can run ads on Zillow once you have created a good profile for yourself.

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2. Offer Home Valuation to Capture Leads

Include a home valuation landing page on your website so property owners can come and get an estimate of how much their house will cost with no charges. In exchange for this information, you can get the contact details of the user.

There are two types of home valuation landing pages you can create – Instant valuation and delayed valuation. For an instant valuation, you need to build one too. For that, you can hire a dedicated developer to create a custom tool or use existing tools like Real Geeks and integrate it directly into your website. In delayed valuation, you have to go the extra mile and inspect the property to give an estimate. Experiment with both these methods and see which one gives you good results.

Here’s how the home evaluation looks on the HomeOwners Alliance website.

3. Provide a Complimentary Moving Truck

With the real estate market booming, you must find a way to stand out from the competition. As a real estate agent, one way in which you can accomplish this is by leasing a moving truck to clients. It is considered as a moving billboard. You can park it strategically in high-traffic areas when the truck is not in use. When there are local events such as home or boat shows, you can move your truck to that location. Here is an example,

4. Leverage Influencer Marketing

Real estate influencer marketing is all about collaboration, content, and technology. If you are already sharing great content on your real estate website, you can collaborate with an influencer to build a social media campaign that will extend your online reach. For example, if you want to attract first-time millennial buyers, you can collaborate with an influencer that millennials are following and ask them to share your blog posts.

You can also make use of influencer marketing software like Tapinfluence, Upfluence, or Mavrck to connect and collaborate with influencers in your field.

Here is how an influencer posed for an open house in Los Angeles.

5. Create an Awesome Real Estate Website

A major component of your real estate marketing strategy should be to have a website. As a real estate agent, through a website, you can reap the benefits of building awareness, generating quality leads, improving credibility, and have full control over the information you share.

Even though setting up a website will cost you, it is a small price you will pay that will help you earn a huge dividend. If you are on a budget, take a look at our blog on how to build a website for $1000? Alternatively, you can also go through real estate web design inspiration that will give you the much-needed inspiration.

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6. Send ‘Fridge-worthy’ Postcards

Send postcards to make a great impression on your recipients. Postcards needn’t be about promoting yourself. It can also be about being a part of their community and caring about their long-term growth. This means that sometimes your messages needn’t be about buying and selling homes.

For example, recipe postcards are a good way to stay on the fridge of your prospective buyers. Here is an example,

7. Highlight Homes With Professional Photography

You’ll have a hard time selling a home if you don’t have wonderful photos. Investing in professional photography must be the first thing in your mind if you plan to sell houses quickly. An image is equal to a 1000 words, but, in real estate, it equals to thousands of dollars.

If the photography is not good, the user will not stop by to read the description. Even when you suggest a property to a buyer with a busy schedule, the buyer will decide whether to visit the property based on photos. Here is an example that highlights the difference between a professional and semi-professional photography. As a real estate agent, which one would you show to a buyer?

8. Invest in Video Marketing

Video is becoming increasingly important, as more and more people prefer to consume information this way. According to Business 2 Community, videos generate over 1,200% more social shares than text and image posts. Additionally, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many real estate agents are using videos to capture the attention of users.

There are many types of videos you can create such as virtual open home visits, conduct AR/VR virtual tours using services such as Google Tango, roOomy and Matterport, livestream auctions, show off the neighborhood, discuss the property market with a local specialist, offer advice to home buyers, showcase your IDX listings and more.

Here’s a video that explains all the perks of a property in a clear and professional way.

9. Create High-quality Content That Is Interesting & Unique

People are bombarded with advertisements and clever taglines, so their tolerance has gotten lower. More than ever, people crave for useful and interesting content. For real estate agents, content marketing helps to build trust and turn engagement into profits. Sharing useful content positions you as an authority figure and takes away any fear that a reader might have in working with you.

So, start sharing content such as infographics, e-books, podcasts, webinars, and blog posts to share your expertise. If this seems too much, you can hire a content marketing team, so they can consistently create content and build your reputation. Here’s an image from Lyfe marketing that highlights the importance of content marketing.

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10. Learn How to Market to Millennials

Millennials, also known as Generation Y are people born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s. They are projected to surpass 75.3 million people as a group, according to Pew Research Center. As most of them fall in the category between 18 to 34 they are most likely on the lookout to either lease or purchase a property. Many are even beginning to buy their first homes.

Marketing to this generation is challenging, but it is worth the effort. To successfully grow your business as a new real estate agent, focus a part of your real estate marketing efforts toward this target group. Here is an article that gives valuable tips on how to market to millennials, take a look to learn more.

11. Concentrate on Digital Marketing

Apart from busy schedules, these days most people prefer the internet to find about the real estate listings that suit their requirements. The internet provides access to many real estate portals where they can shortlist suitable properties based on budget, accommodation, and proximity to basic amenities.

If you are still relying on cold calling, hanging up flyers, or local bulletin board ads, then you are losing on a large group of potential audiences. Digital marketing is so much trendier than traditional marketing. It is also cost-friendly for real estate agents. With the help of a real estate digital marketing agency, you can reach your target audience while creating an impressive and lasting impact. You can take a look at our guide on digital marketing for realtors to know more about this.

12. Use Social Media

Social media is an excellent resource for people who are looking to buy a property and have a significant influence on the buyer’s decision-making journey. For many real estate agents, social media has turned out to be the best way to connect with potential buyers. In fact, according to NAR, 77% of realtors actively use social media for real estate.

The influence of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram has made a huge impact on the real estate market. But, for real estate agents, time is always rare. If you are one such busy bee, you can outsource your social media activities to an agency. They will help to improve the exposure to your business. For example, here’s how real estate agents are using social media,

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13. Use Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing offers the opportunity to connect with leads, nurture relationships, and eventually sell more deals. Through email marketing, you can save, sort, and segment your contacts. You will have full control over the message you want to send across.

Additionally, you can also make use of real estate marketing automation to deliver the right message to the right person, while you’re busy finding new clients to sell properties. You can also go through our best marketing automation software list to find out the best tools available in the market.

You can basically send a real estate email blast about anything related to properties. Here’s what Real estate agent Danny Vaughn shared with his subscribers, which is personal and quite helpful.

14. Focus on Brand Awareness

Branding sets you apart from the competition. You can have a real estate logo just for the sake of it, but then, you will be missing on the true power of branding. It’s important to ensure that the visual touchpoints your clients have with your real estate business align with your standards. In the real estate realm, visual touchpoints are present in listing photos seen on MLS, social media posts, infographics, flyers, banners, brochures, PPT presentations, email campaigns, and more.

Take a look at our guide on branding use cases. This can actually give you an idea of how you can position yourself.

Here are some innovative promotional real estate branding materials created by Halstead.

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The Bottom Line

Online marketing tactics and trends are constantly shifting, but there are significant advantages if you stick with it. Focus more of your efforts on creating digital content to build more awareness.

A wide range of strategies and digital mediums exist that real estate agents like you can avail of to reach qualified prospects online.

The best real estate online marketing strategies are driven by thoughtful SEO-optimized content that resonates with your target audience, maximizing your web presence via branding, and sharing videos. For more ideas, be sure to use the tips above to make the most of your marketing efforts.

If you need any help with your online marketing efforts, you can get in touch with our ColorWhistle real estate digital marketing team. We can help you grow your real estate business even under the current conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. If you like to work with our online marketers, then feel free to leave us a message or give us a call +1 (210) 787-3600 at any time. We are happy to help.