101 Creative Ways of Doing Real Estate Marketing
Last Updated: August 16, 2023
Eager to increase your leads and closes this year? Marketing is absolutely essential to growing your business.
Real estate marketing is no longer just about advertising in newspapers as most people begin their real estate searches online. A successful realtor will use digital and traditional marketing to best effect.
The Four Ps of Real Estate Marketing
As you design your real estate business marketing plans, keep in mind the 4 Ps. These will guide you when it comes to spending your real estate marketing money and help you develop strategies.
The four Ps of real estate marketing are product, price, place and promotion.
Product
The product is not only the homes and properties you are marketing, but the service you as a real estate agent provides.
Price
Price covers the cost of a real estate listing, as well as what you pay for offline and online marketing. Your dollars have to provide the most bang for your real estate business.
Place
Place refers to where your put your real estate marketing ideas into play. Where are your most likely potential clients to be found?
Promotion
These are the real estate marketing ideas that can move your marketing from OK to great. The most brilliant marketing idea will not be seen if it is on the wrong venue and especially the wrong digital marketing platforms.
Real Estate Marketing Ideas
If you’re a real estate salesperson, agent, or broker who could use a few new real estate marketing ideas, this list will help you get the results you’re looking for.
(Hint: If you need help, Agent Image is a leading provider of real estate digital marketing services and web development.)
A PDF version of this article is available at the end. Feel free to download and share it!
Creative Real Estate Marketing Ideas for Digital Marketing
Websites
Get a fully responsive real estate website. An effective real estate website is one that works and looks great on any platform. Make sure your site is easy to navigate whether your reader uses a computer, smartphone, or tablet. Always make certain your real estate website looks great and all links are active.
Explore SEO for real estate. A regularly updated and fine-tuned Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign will allow you to enjoy long-term visibility on Google search results. Good SEO makes all the difference in moving your webpage up in search rankings.
Publish monthly market reports on your website. This adds to your credibility as a local expert. Also pay attention to the format you use. Presenting reports in visual, infographic form help make them more readable and shareable. Build a reputation as a real estate expert, not just a seller of homes.
Target audiences from different countries. Purchase country domain names for your business such as .uk or .ca if you’re aiming to reach a wider and international market. Engaging a global audience extends your relevance and likelihood of being searched even from abroad. If you have a business that caters to international clientele, find out where they come from and focus your international real estate marketing there.
Make your website global-friendly. Attract international buyers by adding a language selector and currency converter to your website. WordPress has a selection of plugins that enable these features. If you are fluent in another language (including ASL), build that into your marketing plan.
Consider getting separate websites for residential and commercial listings. If you have a large inventory, you could benefit from managing distinct websites for each type of property. Commercial real estate involves a different marketing style and SEO strategy.
Create a 30 to 60-second video for your homepage. Make a lasting impact on your visitors as soon as your website loads. A brief and engaging video clip that introduces the unique qualities of your company and services may be all it takes to reach prospective clients and keep former clients coming back to you.
Make sure that your website’s bio pages are well-curated. They should be detailed with a mission statement, certifications, career history, philanthropic activities, and industry achievements. Include a button that links to your Testimonials page, too. All these details help build brand recognition!
Share your track record. Keep your site visitors updated with your track record of sold homes and average days on market. Make it visible on your homepage, bio page, and social media profiles. People like to see that you can reliably sell local listings.
Keep inquiry forms visible and accessible by using landing pages. Make sure your site visitors don’t need to take an extra step to reach you. Include inquiry and contact fields available on each listing page so users can contact you without clicking away from the page.
Get a powerful IDX solution. Your SEO results might bring visitors to your site and a good design might make them stay, but ensuring that your website includes powerful Internet Data Exchange functionality will guarantee that your users will find your website a complete resource for their real estate needs.
Get single property websites for your VIP listings. Premium real estate deserves premium exposure. A great way to highlight an exceptional luxury listing is to host all of its features and information on its own website. Additional real estate marketing efforts like this make it easier to sell a high-end home.
Publish branded “how-to” ebooks. Use your website to host ebooks or white papers on the home buying and home selling processes, as well as other relevant real estate topics. This will help visitors who are still in the initial stages of their home search. If they like what they read, they will strongly consider doing business with you.
Add an interactive map on your homepage. Get a web designer to do a custom-designed map that’s attractive and easy to use. Interactive features are not only helpful, but they’re also a lot of fun for visitors! IDX integration makes this possible for real estate websites.
Drive immediate traffic to your landing page. Get eyeballs right at your virtual doorstep by doing keyword advertising through Google Adwords. Organic SEO can generate only so many leads, after all.
Build a solid “Communities” section on your site. Add pages featuring human interest articles and easy-to-read “listicles.” Posts that talk about the must-visit places in the area, the “10 Best Jogging Trails,” or the “Top 5 Cafes” are good supplementary content that will help you market your area better.
Learn how to manage your website. While it’s great to have a support team, you can add new content or update listings more quickly if you know how to work your website on your own.
Capture more email subscribers. Expand your database by offering useful resources such as exclusive market reports, free ebooks, or downloadable gifts that prospects can access upon email registration. Always use landing pages as a way to gather emails.
Stay in touch with your contacts. Send at least one newsletter a month to the email addresses you’ve collected. Feature blog posts, upcoming open houses, new homes, industry events, and more. Use services like MailChimp and Constant Contact to build and send out attractive and compelling email marketing campaigns.
Study how drip email marketing works. Email marketing may be cheap and easy, but you don’t want to overdo it and lose readers in the process. Drip email marketing involves sending emails on a set schedule with the goal of not too little, not too much. Understanding drip email marketing will help you craft strategic, timely, and effective communication that nurtures your leads and increases repeat visits to your website.
Maximize your email signature. Make sure that all your correspondences end with clear ways to get in touch with you. Add your website link, tagline, mobile number, and link to your online reviews form.
Avoid canned or templated emails. Make your messages as personalized as possible. Read and understand your guests’ needs and offer helpful advice with a sense of urgency and genuine concern. You are an expert on your local market so use that to your advantage.
Make sure your domain name contains your name or company name. Don’t use keyword-based domain names since those sound too generic. Flat domain names work against creating a memorable impression of your website. We have an entire blog on choosing and setting up a successful real estate business domain.
Keep the conversation going in emails. Keep your correspondents up-to-date by attaching or linking to new marketing material. Doing this drives them to check out your other listings, services, or content. Email marketing is far more effective than direct mail.
Business Profiles
Claim or update your Google Business profile. Make sure to add your office hours, description, services, logo, team photos, and office photos. Keep it updated so potential buyers aren’t frustrated by incorrect information.
Location, location, location! Make sure that the location pin marker of your office on Google Maps is accurate. This is essential to local SEO as it helps guide potential customers to your door.
Leverage the Yahoo! Bing Network. Don’t forget to claim or update your Bing Places listing, too. As with Google Business, keep it updated for potential buyers.
Take care of your online reputation. Set up a company profile on Yelp, BBB, Zillow, and Trulia, and get your happy clients to post their reviews. If you get “review bombed,” contact the company immediately to report the issue.
Encourage past clients to leave reviews. Make sure that they know about your Google Reviews profile and company Facebook page so that they can leave their own thoughts about your successful deals and relationship. Make this part of your closing package and give them the channels where they can leave reviews.
Social Media
Get more followers on social media. Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are your best friends. Post unique and helpful content to spark real conversations with commenters. Social media advertising also lets you run page promotion ads that invite people to follow your account.
Maximize sponsored posts and graphic ads on Facebook. Don’t miss out on an audience of nearly 2 billion monthly users. You can set your target audience based on demographics, job titles, interests, location, or income bracket. Facebook advertising should be at the top of your real estate marketing strategy. Use Facebook messenger ads to contact people through the chat function.
Attract more Twitter followers. The Twitter platform is a great way to make and spread listing announcements and share real estate information. Invest in promoted tweets to maximize your mileage.
Add prominent social media sharing buttons. Whether you place it on the header, sidebar, or footer of your site, make sure that they are large enough to draw attention without distracting from the content.
Invite everyone you know to support your social media presence. Your friends, especially on Facebook, can help instantly boost your follower count simply by liking your page. This activity appears on their page feeds and can increase your exposure outside your first-degree connections.
Send a welcome message to your social media followers. It may seem like an unsolicited message, but a personal acknowledgment to people who have just liked your FB page, followed you on Twitter and Instagram, and added you to their LinkedIn connections can be the start of warm and fruitful connections. The real estate industry is all about connections, after all.
Create seasonal marketing ads for your social media page. You can use these images as a homepage image banner or as a Facebook cover photo. Popular seasons for real estate include back-to-school months, spring, summer, New Year, and Christmas.
Feature reputable home improvement partners and suppliers on your website. Include a small directory that lists their contact details. This way, you help them gain mileage for their business while also giving your site visitors another useful business page for their home needs. Don’t forget to ask your partners and suppliers if they can also do the same for you on their respective websites.
Give an online shoutout to your partners and suppliers. For example, if a contractor has just finished building that additional room, you can tag them on your social post announcing that the home is now show-ready. This increases the chances of them liking or sharing your post, enabling their own followers to see your profile. Not all your efforts should focus on paid advertising.
Reply to comments promptly. Whether on your social media platforms or online profiles, these quick responses show your followers that you are always online and paying attention.
Promote local events. Scheduled community events, activities, and festivals are a reliable source of fresh content for your social pages. It also shows your site visitors how updated and involved you are in all things related to your area.
Share photos of you and your team on social media accounts and your blog. Create posts with lots of photos of your company events. If possible, post photos showing you and your team with happy clients, too! Content like these put real faces behind the company name, instilling a sense of trust in your followers and future clients.
Answer questions on Quora. Quora is a popular Q&A website, covering practically every topic under the sun. You can find home buyers looking for advice there, and it’s a great way for you to share your knowledge and expertise.
Blogs
Write guest blogs to earn high-quality backlinks to your site. Share your expertise on one of your colleagues’ websites or submit informative articles to a reputed, high-traffic site. Make sure a link to your website is contained within the article. Work with local community organizations to share articles.
Become the local real estate authority in your area. Build your reputation as a reliable resource for local information by maintaining an active blog. Niche blogging is essential for content marketing as you produce content that is unique and valuable to both site visitors and search engines.
Increase the number of your LinkedIn connections. Promote your content and get referral traffic to your website by doing personalized ads and sponsored posts on LinkedIn. Do note that LinkedIn is a place to build your reputation with other real estate professionals, not to market real estate listings.
Videos
Create a company channel on YouTube. Upload your real estate and property videos on the most popular video-sharing platform available. Google owns YouTube so you can use it to increase your visibility in search engines. We have a list of video ideas, including an inexpensive way to host free seminars.
Repurpose your articles into video versions of your blog posts. In the age of rich media, video content is more engaging than text articles and still images. Informative profiles, lists, and how-to videos have more chances of going viral than advertising-type videos. Make sure to add them to your company’s YouTube channel.
Add virtual tours to your listings. Leverage today’s high-speed and high-bandwidth connections to impress your site visitors with interactive virtual tours or professional property videos that lift your listings off the static page.
Use custom-created videos or infographics in your blogs. Blog posts with eye-catching and informative visual aids are more readable and easy to appreciate. They’re more shareable too, and could get you more mileage as a local real estate expert.
Ask past clients to do a video testimonial for you. Start with those you have a great relationship with; they’ll likely have more than enough good things to say. Arrange for a professional videographer to go to their location to make it hassle-free for them. Make these videos visible on your YouTube channel and your website.
Statistics
Analyze your web traffic stats. Site visitor behavior and demographics are now easy to review thanks to the likes of Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Use this data to make improvements to your agent website. If analyzing behavior and trends is not your forte, talk to analytics industry professionals for help.
Take a visual analysis of your site visitors’ behavior. Install a heatmap to track how often and how long your readers stay on your site. This helps you check if your site pages are effective in terms of content, design, and layout. This is a must-have for a professional website.
Press Releases
Publish an online press release. Releasing official content like press releases will help you get indexed by online news outlets such as Yahoo News, The New York Times, and more. You may be able to get your local news outlets to use press releases as news or news ideas and help you reach potential clients.
Write premium online press releases for your VIP listings. Make these part of your marketing kit for home sellers. You can also do a featured property article on your blog that contains a well-crafted description of the home and a curated set of photos. Send these via email to all local media outlets; you can also use press releases in targeted email marketing campaigns.
Storytelling
Spruce up your neighborhood pages. Showcase “the big picture” by adding a community tour video and professional photos of the popular spots in your area. You’re not just selling a house, but advertising an entire community.
Curate your listing photos. Too many photos will make your website pages load slower – and loading speeds, in turn, affect SEO scores – so make sure to share only the best and most eye-catching photos on your website.
Use emotional storytelling. Real estate often involves tedious and meticulous processes to meet real estate board requirements. Make your real estate website content more unique and captivating by sharing more “human” topics of interest, such as lifestyle blogs, actual buyer testimonials and anecdotes, and other similar content.
Craft detailed descriptions for each of your property listings. This is your chance to capture buyers’ attention so make it as appealing and comprehensive as possible.
Tell a story when writing listing descriptions. Don’t just stick to a templated list of features. Write about the home to elaborate more on its unique design or amenities.
Focus Your Marketing Efforts
Identify your top 5 strongest niches. When you know your strongest points, you can create powerful content around them. Niches can be based on the types of clients you want to target (e.g. investors, retirees, newlyweds, military families), types of home architecture or construction style (lofts, colonials, brownstones, high-rise, green homes), or types of recreational activities (lake homes, ski homes, beachfront). Most successful real estate businesses know their niches and understand the specialized marketing efforts it needs.
Keywords
Use local keywords. To establish yourself as a local expert, maximize your use of relevant keywords and phrases so that search engines can display your pages properly when buyers make an online search for homes in your area.
Get help with identifying the right keywords. There’s no shame in asking for help when you’re not sure. Several tools are available online – free of charge. Try keyword research tools such as Google Adwords Keyword Planner, SEMRush Keyword Magic, or MOZ Keyword Explorer.
Go Local
Invite thought leaders to guest author in your blog. Tap into the pool of local experts from your area to add new perspectives and more credibility to your site. Make sure you share guest-written articles on all your social media pages. It’s a great way to build relationships with local businesses, too.
Retarget Ads
Encourage previous visitors to come back. Thanks to smart tools like Google Adwords and Facebook retargeting, it’s easy to entice site visitors to return by showing them remarketing ads. This marketing idea helps you customize display ads to website visitors.
Write As A Professional
Submit an insightful real estate article on Medium. This site has lots of readers who are business owners and is a prime platform for easily digestible content fit for social media sharing. You’ll make connections and find prospective clients through this relatively low-effort real estate marketing idea.
Engage in online conversations and message boards. Choose a forum that you enjoy reading. Immerse yourself in the community and start relevant topics of your own that will let you interact with members and offer your share of helpful insights to prospective clients.
Other Marketing Ideas
Create a beautifully designed listing presentation. Present your top offerings in a neat and compelling summary. This is a format that you can also use for your open house and initial meetings. Set yourself apart by creating stunning and interactive marketing materials with ACCESS, the first-ever Digital Listing Presentation™️ and Digital Open House™️ platform (proudly made by Agent Image!) Get your FREE trial subscription here.
Consider getting a CRM tool. Customer relationship management software will help you automate your lead generation process, get your contacts organized, and allow you to do follow-ups faster.
Upgrade to drone shots. Get with the times and utilize one of the most popular technologies for photography and videography today. A sweeping, aerial video of one of your neighborhoods on your homepage — instead of the usual image banner — will wow visitors and earn you an instant nod of respect from other real estate agents.
List your business on local and national directories. Make sure that your NAP (name, address, phone) is consistent across all profiles. Real estate is no longer just a local business, after all — out-of-town buyers abound these days.
Offline Real Estate Marketing Strategies
Traditional marketing is every bit as important as online marketing. Many of these marketing ideas focus more on building relationships with local businesses and professionals.
Check Out Your Competitors
Take time to study your top 10 competitors. What strategies are they doing that contribute to their success? Is it something you can replicate or do for your business? This should be part of your business plan, not just your marketing plan.
Use Local Contacts
Partner with a professional photographer. Successful property marketing relies heavily on attractive photos, videos, and overall presentation. Get in touch with a skilled and experienced photographer to ensure the best staging for your luxury listings. Remember: great photos sell properties.
Get more offline exposure. Arrange to get interviewed by influencers in traditional media, such as a local TV or radio show. Get yourself recognized as an expert in the real estate business.
Strengthen relationships. Host an annual party for your most valued clients, local business partners, and suppliers. This is a sure way to stay in touch, even if your engagements have been completed.
Create a referral program for past clients. A dedicated program will make previous clients feel that they’re always part of your network. This will motivate them to refer you to other home buyers.
Sponsor local events, charities, sports teams, or fundraising activities. Not only will you be featured in their marketing materials, but you’ll be able to give back to your community as well.
Partner with local magazines or newspapers. Print media will immortalize your expertise, so to speak. If you could arrange for it, see if you can earn a spot as a real estate columnist or at least a regular contributor on their pages. Share your articles as part of your online marketing, too.
Get your ads printed on local newspapers, magazines, and phone books. Getting published on ubiquitous print media is always a worthwhile investment in brand-building and real estate marketing.
Partner up with local hotels if you have rental properties. See if they can display your brochures and business cards at the lobby or reception counter. They can refer you to visitors who are looking for long-term rentals. Likewise, you can also refer visiting clients to your partner hotel. Think of creative ideas to advertise listings (like at the back of room cards).
Get A Professional To Help
Have a professional-looking logo made. Partner with a designer to create an insignia that would best represent your company image. Use this on all your marketing collaterals and build your brand recognition.
Get a professionally designed business card and personal real estate agent marketing kit. If you want to build your brand, you’ll want to make sure you get your name out there! Check that your website URL is on your card and brochures so recipients of the kit will know how to find you online.
Get a real estate virtual assistant. It always pays to be organized, especially if you’re juggling multiple deals and clients. A virtual assistant can help you follow up on leads or research prospect investors.
Build your professional network. Attend local and national trade shows to mingle with your peers and colleagues. You can get started on building strategic partnerships and collaborations by simply being present at well-attended events. You’ll be able to share and gather real estate marketing ideas at these events as well.
Keep your designs up to date. This applies to the layout and paper quality of your real estate postcards, door hangers, and direct mailers. Be mindful of modern design sensibilities so that your collaterals don’t look outdated and out of place. Keep an eye out for innovative marketing ideas.
Stand Out
Consider doing niche branding and marketing. Stand out in a saturated real estate market. Your company tagline should be specific and memorable. Take as an example, “Ghost-free homes.” It’s an actual real estate advertising tagline!
Shoot an ad. Even though you have your own website, don’t forget about traditional media. Make sure you also leave your real estate agent mark on TV, radio, or even your local movie theater.
Host a free seminar. Even a webinar works. Address curious city newcomers or first-time homebuyers by covering topics such as “ways to finance a home” or “real estate contract 101.” Young professionals and young couples looking to buy a home for the first time will surely appreciate it. You will reach more people this way compared to a traditional open house.
Give a closing “care package” to clients who bought a home from you. Go the extra mile for clients with whom you sealed a deal. They will surely remember your professional service and the sweet gesture will go a long way when referring friends and family to a real estate agent.
Send personalized cards or gifts on milestone dates. Keep tabs on your clients’ calendars relative to their move. Celebrating their first anniversary in their new home (or even just their first month there) is a gesture of goodwill that can open doors to more collaborative opportunities. It’s a real estate marketing idea that can be easily pre-planned, so don’t overlook it!
Get custom-printed swag. Boost your brand recall by handing these out during open houses, local events, or client meetings. Everyone loves free stuff! Try this real estate marketing strategy: if you live in a wintery area, hand out windshield scrapers with your name imprinted on them. In a sunny location, try small branded sunscreen bottles.
Write personalized letters and thank you notes. This is definitely a way to get the attention of your contacts – especially new prospects – and you need all the help you can get to stand out.
Sponsor or attend your client’s housewarming party. Your client will be showing their friends and other guests around the house. This is a great way for them to introduce you, a crucial reason why they sealed the deal. Getting yourself advertised can’t get any better than that. Think of it as a form of experiential marketing.
Outdoor Advertising
Advertise on billboards. Outdoor ads offer great visibility and recall. Make your ads as creative as possible! Think about where your target audience drives (or gets stuck in traffic) and advertise there – they’ll be a captive audience!
Advertise on public transportation or other establishments. Not a fan of billboards? There are other ways to capture the attention of commuters such as bus advertisements and stickers or print ads displayed on partner establishments. Consider a branded complimentary moving truck for your clients.
Get ad spots that target city newcomers. Smart real estate marketing means getting the attention of visitors and potential new clients as soon as they land at local airports, get off at the train station, sign up for a car rental, or go sightseeing at tourist spots.
Do Your Research
Research before contacting a lead. Their details are usually captured in their initial email. Use these to do a quick Facebook or Google search to view their public profile. This will help you “get to know” them better, helping you write better, more personalized messages that make your real estate marketing efforts more targeted.
Hire a lead generation specialist. Cut a tedious step off your list by trusting a professional to do the research on people who are in the market for buying or selling a home.
Other Real Estate Marketing Ideas
Get a memorable toll-free number for your office. Call routing and informational extensions are a must for real estate offices that receive a high volume of calls. These ensure that your callers never hear a busy signal. Since most real estate agents are always on the go, make sure that you also have a ‘voicemail to email delivery system’ in place.
Communicate professionally at all times. Use complete sentences and watch your spelling and grammar when texting a lead or client. Also be mindful to send messages only during reasonable hours of the day. Real estate agents can forget that others actually sleep!
Update your agent headshot regularly. This can happen yearly, or every time you make a significant change to your hair or looks. Real estate is a face-to-face business and it’s important that your profile photo looks professional and personable.
Last but not least, make continuous learning a priority. This is one of the most important things you need to do if you want to outrun your competitors. Attend online marketing webinars or seminars and educate yourself on the latest digital marketing trends. Don’t be afraid to learn SEO, PPC, social media, and content marketing. Familiarizing yourself with these things will help you accomplish many of the strategies listed in this article.
Feeling Overwhelmed?
If this list of real estate marketing ideas has you feeling faint at the sheer number of communication channels you need to cover, Agent Image is here to help. We can design a real estate website and help manage your social media accounts. We are marketing professionals within the real estate industry and can help you stand out in a crowded field.
