10 Dangerously Effective Real Estate Marketing Ideas for 2019

Real estate marketing is more than the odd mailer campaign and business cards.

For best results, mix it up! Try something new. Try several things all at once.

Take your pick from this, our list of awesomely effective real estate marketing ideas for 2019.

1. Post In Online Forums

Position yourself as a go-to expert in online forums about real estate. When another user asks a question or sparks a conversation, respond with a friendly, helpful and in-depth answer.

Local forums are best for finding business (you never know when another forum member could be looking for an agent), but provincial (or state) and national forums can be great for growing your audience.

Tip: Always be transparent about who you are. Never try to conceal the fact that you’re a working real estate agent.

2. Step Up Your SEO Game

Optimizing the content on your website for search engines — AKA, Search Engine Optimization, or SEO — is the key to getting discovered by potential leads online. Make it a personal project to kick your SEO efforts into high gear.

Adding testimonials, using the right keywords and optimizing your website for mobile are just a few of the ways real estate agents can harness SEO.

3. Go Local With Your Blog Content

Speaking of SEO, writing blog content tailored for your local community is a great way to increase your chances of ranking high in search engine results for terms your leads are most likely to use.

For example, instead of writing a blog post about the status of the real estate market across the country, write about the status of the market in your specific neighbourhood.

You’ll have less competition for the topic (meaning, you have a much better shot at appearing first in search results) and you’ll be discovered by prospects in your area who are searching online for information about the local market.

Tip: To figure out what kind of localized content your audience wants to read, go straight to the source. Use the poll and questions features on Instagram Stories to pick their brain.

4. Be An Expert Source For Media

Press attention is like free advertising. But real estate agents who aren’t committing crimes or using outlandish sales tactics usually don’t find themselves in the pages of newspapers or magazines. At least not without some clever tactics.

The best way for real estate agents to get free (and positive) media attention: establish and promote yourself as an expert source on real estate matters. Weigh in on timely real estate matters in your blog posts and on social media, using your expertise to offer an educated opinion.

On your website, LinkedIn profile and in your Twitter bio, mention that you’re a “trusted voice on [insert your region] real estate matters.”

5. Give Better Gifts

Closing gifts are a bonafide marketing strategy. They help seal the deal with a flourish, guaranteeing you an awesome testimonial and plenty of referrals.

Take your gifts up a notch this year. Give buyers and sellers something that sets you apart from other agents. Consult our list of the best closing gifts for buyers and sellers for inspiration.

6. Launch a Real Estate Facebook Group

Yes, Facebook groups are still alive and well. Yes, you should have your own.

The key to using Facebook groups as a real estate marketing strategy is to treat it as a discussion group that you facilitate, not a bulletin board for your self-promotion.

Your group should share some content related to your business (such as the occasional link to one of your relevant blog posts) but also to provide useful information to the members and to spark conversations about the goings-on of your area.

Here’s our guide on how to run a successful real estate Facebook group (and how to choose an angle).

7. Use Instagram Stories Consistently

Instagram Stories are an Instagram feature that real estate agents need to be using to get leads.

Let us remind you of two very important Instagram Stories facts:

• Instagram Stories fact #1: more than 500 million people use Instagram Stories every day.

• Instagram Stories fact #2: for every five Instagram Stories they share, accounts receive one direct message.

Instagram Stories are an amazing tool for building your personal brand and developing authentic connections with your audience.

Use Instagram Stories to get real with your followers:

• film quick videos as you chat to them from your open house or over your morning coffee, about real estate or nothing at all
• share behind-the-scenes photos of your personal life and real estate life
• and get insight on their thoughts, opinions, wants and needs by asking questions.

8. Try Influencer Marketing

If you’ve used Instagram for any length of time, you’ve seen the rise of influencer marketing — when someone with a sizable following is paid to promote a brand, product or service.

Influencer marketing isn’t just for gummy bear vitamins peddled by reality TV stars. Real estate agents can take advantage by tapping influential local personalities and bloggers to create and share relevant content.

For example, you could hire a local influencer to promote one of your open houses on Instagram Stories. Or you could offer an influencer a free home consultation, and have them create an Instagram post about how informative it was to learn about what their home is worth and why.

Remember that you have to pay to play, and that any influencer marketing campaign has to feel like a natural fit for both your business and the influencer you’re hiring.

9. Start a Local Living E-Newsletter

Your real estate e-newsletter doesn’t just have to be a platform to share your blog posts and new listings. Want to try something different? Create a lifestyle newsletter targeted at your local community.

This newsletter is less about your real estate business and more about life in your community. It can include:

• Local news items
• Your own blog posts on local matters, as well as posts by local personalities (from their own sites or guest-written for your site)
• Events
• Updates (such as construction and closures)
• A real estate corner (market updates, upcoming open houses, new builds, etc.)

Think of it like an extension of the Facebook group we mentioned earlier in the post; it’s a way to market yourself without blatantly marketing yourself.

10. Launch a New Real Estate Website

A real estate website is a real estate agent’s greatest marketing tool. If you don’t have one, you need one.

Your goals are to make your new or updated real estate website mobile-friendly, search engine-optimized, easy to use, full of useful content, and loaded with ways of generating leads.

You can take the DIY route or check out myRealPage’s fully-responsive, fully-loaded real estate websites for a stress-free website that checks all of the above boxes.

What new marketing strategy do you plan on trying this year for your real estate business?