Each year, real estate professionals set time aside to examine their success over the past 12 months. They take this time to learn what they can do better in the coming year to boost their bottom lines and better their businesses. It’s during this time that real estate agents discover new marketing trends and lead generation strategies. While cold calling and referrals will always work, technology has thrown new trends in real estate marketing for agents which are changing the way properties are bought, sold, and marketed.
While it might seem like there are countless strategies and tools to choose from, a few stand out as the ones to follow. So, what are the top marketing trends real estate agents should keep an eye on in 2019? What should you budget for and plan to implement to generate more leads? The following are strategies in real estate marketing for agents that you can expect to see really take off in the very near future.
1) Facebook Ads and Facebook Groups
According to Placester’s 2018 Real Estate Marketing Strategy Survey Report, Facebook is the dominant social network for real estate agents’ online marketing. While other social media channels like Twitter and Instagram are viable options, the majority of agents in the industry (a whopping 84.6%) still prefer putting their real estate marketing efforts on Facebook advertising campaigns – and for good reason.
Facebook has the largest user base which makes it a go-to channel for agents to generate qualified leads. In addition, its targeted advertising platform and customizable Business Page features make it easier for agents to reach their target audience. Thus, while it may take months to perfect your Facebook advertising campaigns, the potential results – qualified real estate leads who are, in many cases, ready to buy or sell – are rewarding.
While Facebook ads can have a great return on investment, they’ve been here for a while. The new trends in real estate marketing to watch are Facebook Groups. These are great ways to generate leads because they create engagement and direct communication with your clients. You can either join established Facebook groups or create your own and invite people to join. Answer people’s real estate related questions, discuss local events, businesses, and the housing market. This way, you position yourself as the go-to real estate agent in your local area and free leads will come your way!
Related: Generate Leads: Tips for Any Starting Real Estate Agent
2) Big Data Analytics
Although there have been talks about big data “disrupting” the real estate industry, 2018 is the year agents have actually started using it in their marketing. After all, many lead generation programs and buying or selling decisions rely on massive amounts of data for accuracy. In the past, analyzing this data was only possible for sophisticated tech companies. Today, that power can be found in your iPhone!
Real estate agents can gather big data from an agency’s internal systems and external sources to further segment their marketing efforts. Now, it’s easier than ever to send targeted emails to buyers or sellers in a specific geographic area or at a certain stage in the buying or selling process. This new real estate marketing trend also enables agents to personalize messages that relate directly to a client’s current needs and, in turn, gather detailed feedback.
3) Predictive Analytics
Along with big data, predictive analytics is another trend in the real estate industry to watch. Big data groups together massive data from disparate sources. Predictive analytics then uses that data along with people’s behavior to predict future behavior. These new trends in real estate marketing for agents involve analysis of demographic information, transaction patterns, and even political climate to predict your leads’ next move.
Imagine being able to knock on someone’s door already knowing they’re thinking of downsizing as they recently became empty nesters, even though you’ve never met before! That’s the power of predictive analytics in real estate. If you don’t already implement this in your lead generation, you should definitely consider doing so in the coming year.
Learn More: Why and How Real Estate Agents Should Use Predictive Analytics
4) Virtual Reality and 3D Tours
While aerial images and video were the hottest marketing and lead generation tools for agents in 2017, the drone craze is over. The new trends in real estate marketing in the years to come are virtual reality and 3D tours! According to Realtor Magazine, more homebuyers show interest in working with real estate agents who provide VR marketing, enabling them to have an immersive experience in a digital home tour.
Compared to traditional photos of a listing, 3D tours offer an interactive and fun experience. For sellers, it’s a safer and more convenient option. As for buyers, 3D tours are a more sufficient and convenient way of looking at lots of houses in a short span of time. Because they eliminate the need to attend physical open houses, this marketing strategy generates qualified leads and only serious buyers will ask for a private showing.
Experts in the real estate industry expect this trend in real estate marketing for agents to continue to gain momentum in 2019 and beyond. Furthermore, big technology firms like Apple and Google have already released tools that made virtual reality marketing much easier and accessible to real estate agents. Therefore, if you’ve never used these lead generation strategies in your marketing, we highly recommend making 2019 the year to try it!
Related: Lead Generation: 4 Exclusive Techniques for a Real Estate Agent
5) Marketing Automation
If only you had more time, you’d likely be engaging more prospects, developing more content, and doing more personalization for your marketing, right? While it’s impossible to create more time, it’s possible to be much more efficient with the time you have. That’s why marketing automation is one of the most valuable new trends in real estate marketing for agents.
According to HubSpot’s Marketing Automation Stats, businesses using marketing automation to nurture leads experienced a whopping 451% increase in qualified leads! Thus, if you’re using it right, you can reap these benefits while saving time and money on your efforts. Marketing automation tools can do a lot of things for you, making marketing and lead generation easier. For example, Mashvisor’s Agent Dashboard, a marketing automation tool that you can access right here, allows agents to:
- Upload a list of your own leads for our AI to analyze and determine the likelihood of each lead moving forward and purchasing a property
- Send real-time, personalized messages to prospective buyers at every step of the lead-generation process
- Set up templates and tailor custom emails. Plugging in your content is easy and you’re also able to manage your contact list and schedule emails in advance
- Move your leads through the sales funnel and evaluate the success of your efforts
Traditionally, this would take a significant amount of time from a real estate agent. Marketing automation tools, on the other hand, make these tasks easier and faster to complete which will help you generate more real estate leads, close more deals, and measure your marketing success. To get access to our agent dashboard, schedule a demo.
6) Rebirth of Email Marketing
Email marketing has been around in the real estate industry for a long time and it’s still considered one of the best marketing strategies by many experts. If you have a huge database of prospects, leads, and clients and you want to engage them, email marketing is your best bet. Having said that, 2018 is the year agents realized the full power of email marketing by changing the content being sent to prospects.
Gone are the days of those generic “just sold” and “just listed” emails. An emerging trend in real estate marketing for agents is the design of your email and the content within it. Today, successful real estate agents create emails targeting different segments of their database depending on their needs and where they land in the sales funnel. The design of your emails must be mobile-friendly, well-spaced out, and include some hyper-local content like:
- Weekly deals, news, and events in your local housing market
- A case study of clients. What did you do to promote their property and close the deal?
- Monthly open house invites – make sure these are personalized
- A single property blast and why you think it would make a good investment
The Bottom Line
As 2018 comes to an end, smart agents look back and evaluate their marketing and lead generation efforts and take note of how they could better their real estate business. Staying up to date with the new trends in real estate marketing will give you an insight into how much time, energy, and money you should plan to spend on marketing to generate more leads for your 2019 real estate agent career.
What real estate marketing trends are you keeping an eye on or want to try out this coming year?
