Realtors, It’s Time to Market to Millennials

Newsflash: millennials are officially taking over as the largest adult generation in history.

What does that mean for you and your realtor business?

You’ll need to cater to them, and that will require a fine-tuning of your marketing strategies.

Here are a few points that you’d want to keep in mind, to find success with the under-40 crowd.

1. Your Phone must be your friend

You might like a phone call more than a text message, but millennials don’t.

Don’t be offended if millennials text responses instead of calling you back, and if those messages seem surprisingly short and to-the-point.

Just because they are texting quickly doesn’t mean they aren’t caring or listening.

What’s important is that your response time is as quick as theirs, and that you are cutting to the chase with pertinent information for your client. If you’re worried about coming across as cold, don’t worry — emojis are your (acceptable) friend!

2. Your online presence needs to be strong

You might make a great first impression in person, but what about online? It’s guaranteed that the minute you walk away from a first meeting with a millennial, they’ll be Googling you and, based on what they find, making some very quick judgements on your ability to find them their perfect home.

Millennials will evaluate the extensiveness of your online presence, how easy you are to find, the content on your social feeds, and your personal and professional branding to help them decide whether you’re a fit for them.

Make sure that your website is mobile-friendly, that your site appears in the first few search results for your name, and that your website is easy to navigate.

3. Your social media feeds should be alive and well

If a millennial sees that your last tweet was published three weeks ago, and that only 20 people ‘like’ your Facebook page, they’ll make negative assumptions about your abilities and your reputation.

Your social accounts need to active and well-used.

Ramp up your efforts to strengthen your social media presence, and begin experimenting with Facebook Live, Instagram Stories and Snapchat — the places where millennials can be found.

4. You need to understand millennial values

Millennials, especially urban-dwelling ones, care about different things than past generations.

Millennials are less likely to own a car, and generally don’t care as much about material things as previous generations. Health and wellness, and work-life balance are key components of millennial life.

This translates into different buying decisions when it comes to real estate.

Walkability, good shopping, access to culture, green space and good transit (including biking, car share, and public transit) are selling points that you should be focusing on when it comes to working with millennial buyers.

5. You should be a trusted expert

The uninitiated, millennia buyer might feel overwhelmed by today’s wild real estate market.

Become a trusted advisor for them by tailoring your expertise.

Create content for your blog and social media accounts that provides the information that a millennial’s preliminary Google scan doesn’t; explaining legislation or fineprint, for example, would be useful to the millennial buyer. Generating targeted content establishes you as an expert for the millennial market, builds your brand and helps you gain the trust of the millennial buyer.

Ultimately, see yourself as an expert in a supportive role, helping them make the big decisions.