Which Real Estate Marketing Channel is Your Best?

There are 10 key lead generators for Realtor internet marketing in 2021. And the question for you today is which of these platforms and channels could you not do without?

The Internet has made it challenging for many real estate agents in the last ten years, and social media has made it even tougher. But if you look closely at how Realtor’s use each lead source, you’ll see how the effort is perhaps too weak to capture, impact prospects and nurture leads.

Your flow of leads might be only a trickle, but still you appreciate the leads you get from one of these best virtual sources below. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get them all sorted out, producing well, and be able to track what is working? Oh yes, that in itself could bring dividends when you put your energies where they’ll be fruitful.

Focus on your Best Lead Channels/Platforms

Of course, lots of Realtors are using them all and not getting results. Could the real reason for weak results be due to the Realtor’s strengths, skills, commitment, and budget? Or is there another issue Realtors just don’t realize about marketing today?

Real Estate Agent Challenges. Screenshot courtesy of Placester.

The Best 10 Online Real Estate Lead Sources?

  1. Is it pay per click advertising with direct access to buyers and sellers (at a big price) and local coverage?
  2. Is it a real estate lead provider?
  3. Is it your Linkedin or Facebook page?
  4. How about Youtube?
  5. Is it Instagram, Tiktok, or other image based social site?
  6. How about remarketing ads?
  7. Is it leads from a major site such as Zillow, Realtor.com, or your brokers website?
  8. Is it paid sponsorships?
  9. Is it a property rental site or public forum?
  10. Is it search engine optimization drawing leads from Google and Bing?

Every Realtor has their favorite go-to lead generation channel and most tend focus solely on that one channel. It should be mentioned that many Realtors cite referrals as their top lead source, yet they may not be doing internet marketing, or they’re not sure how the referral was generated (they don’t realize the prospect found them online before calling).

Start Asking Questions?

Questions are great improvement tools. They make you come to a conclusion about your choices. If each is failing, why? What do you need to do to get the ball rolling? Is it tools, budget, effort or a lack of desire to really engage with buyers and sellers?

Questions are a great way to discover and acknowledge what is working well too. To find out what is growing, and ultimately what will deliver the major sales results that you’re actually aiming for.

Because for 95% of Realtors, what they’re getting currently isn’t what they’re aiming for. You want more, understood.

Where are Realtors Putting Their Lead Gen Efforts?

Successful Realtors use Facebook and their blog more often:

Lead channels used by successful Realtors.
Lead channels used by successful Realtors. Screenshot courtesy of REHrealestate.com

And less successful real estate agents use:

Survey results of less successful real estate agents rehrealestate.com

Realtor’s Marketing and Sales Wishlist

A few years ago, Placester polled agents and more leads was on their wish list, along with improve ability to convert. Nurturing leads was less prominent.

Realtor Wish List for Improved Marketing Results
Realtor Wish List for Improved Marketing Results. Screenshot courtesy of Placester

Today, sellers leads are extremely rare and this might be where an improved marketing strategy might pay off.

Integrating your Marketing

Is real sales success more about leveraging all of these media and channels as one integrated marketing and lead generation unit?

If more channels is better, then choosing a real estate marketing package which brings it all together might be wise. The truth is that integrated digital marketing is as good as the effort you put into each component. If you put zero effort into your blogs, SEO, video, social media engagement, content marketing, PPC, etc. then integration via digital marketing software can’t produce.

A good strategy would involve taking each channel and mastering them one at a time. Some channels might take a little extra work. For instance, no one is video wizard so it might take a little getting up to speed. And Youtube is extremely popular so getting over that initial hump is wise. It’s the same for all ten.

A note about Yotube, is that it can be a supercharger for your SEO and content marketing efforts too.

Certainly, social media is a challenge that involves multiple tools and a concerted effort.

Real Estate Social Media usage. Screenshot courtesy of Zavvie.com

Check out this Realtor marketing package and how it will serve your integrated marketing needs.

I hope you’ll respond in the comments below regarding which channels you use and why they work. I realize it’s sensitive info, but if you’re working with me, there’s not much you’ll have to fear about other Realtors copying you. They won’t be able to imitate the unique approach, voice, and events that get audiences glued to you. The effort through so many channels would be impossible to match and their attention to quality will be lacking.

Realtor Challenges in Future
Realtor Challenges in Future. Screenshot courtesy of Pipedrive.

A Strong Realtor Brand Can Power up All Lead Channels

One you’ve established a strong, multidimensional Realtor brand, there’s very few ways the competition can beat you. Everything you do is backed up by other strengths thus feeding into the overall brand image. I know Realtors who have done this and they don’t rely on specific properties, neighborhoods, skills or promotions.

What they do have is a strong local Realtor brand built on trust, credibility and performance, an excellent value proposition, and this allows them to capitalize on the 10 marketing channels listed above.

A strong brand powers up everything such that even your weaknesses look like strengths. I’m not a branding guru but I worked with one for years and understand the value of strong branding. It’s one of the benefits of a thorough real estate marketing service package. Yours will have these key strengths:

⦁ attractive website with mls listings
⦁ persuasive brand image building marketing pages
⦁ trust and authority building about us page
⦁ active social media pages that give a three dimensional image of you as a personable professional
⦁ deep, authoritative, and high ranking content that drives Google traffic
⦁ sensible ppc advertising ads that maximize your ad budget on Google Ads or Facebook ads
⦁ active participation in any major Realtor portals that will let you join in with interesting articles to publish

When you’re analyzing the ROI on each of them, remember that there is short term and long term outcomes. LTV isn’t discussed much because 95% of real estate agents are focused on today and the next deal. That is a tough way to make a living.

Brand Equity Just Keeps on Delivering

The top Realtors however see a lot of referral business and repeat sales from former clients. They’ve built up brand equity and that generates the lead and sale. They’ve managed themselves well and don’t have to focus short term.

And many have new lead tracking solutions that help them discover the source. Of course, the may have more complete real estate marketing systems that them bring all their marketing assets together.

So the issue of focus comes into lead generation and nurture just like it does with a Realtor focusing their own professional skills to build results. Could focus be more powerful than any of the single lead sources you currently use? Could your website and CRM be combined and powered up to leverage your resources better?

The Real Estate Website

Your Realtor website can provide a focal point for all of your digital marketing channels. It’s an understated benefit given prospects should ideally spend lots of time perusing listings (so you can see what they’re really after).  You can nurture leads and relationships on social media or real estate portals, but you won’t learn as much as from your website analytics.

Your website can be as live and valuable as you choose to make it. It’s up to you.  It can be better than social media for up to date, fresh material like videos, podcasts, infographics, market reports, blog posts. Your website stores your most precious marketing assets (listings, video, blogs, about us page etc.).  By designing your content to be evergreen, it’s easier to freshen it up frequently for much better performance on Google and keeping it emblazoned in prospects minds. Old blog posts for instance are the most effective lead generators, and that’s likely because they’ve been freshened up.

While the different channels make you look more dynamic and successful, they also enrich the complete experience, since people often use many different media. All of that activity can be tagged and offer you insight into why a lead occurred and the sale happened.

You need business intelligence and a website really does provide it. You’ll collect more information about visitor preferences, engagement, and what behaviors lead to a sale.

Should a Realtor do their own marketing? No, you don’t have time and DIY is not your forte.

Take a good look at these real estate website packages and Realtor marketing service packages. You’ll see how they’ll become your most important lead development and management tool. They’re an investment in your career, professional knowledge, and high-performing lead creation.

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