When you hear “content marketing,” you probably think about blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube viral videos.
Well, content marketing is a lot older than the internet.
You wanna know How?
Humans have always been telling stories, and storytelling is at the heart of content marketing. Great stories will always catch our attention.
In 1982, Hasbro and Marvel teamed up to launch G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero“, their marketing strategy was simple.
Their goal was to make their action figures have a backstory like Kenner Toy Company’s Star Wars action figures.
Within 2 months of releasing the first comic book, almost 20% of their target audience, boys aged five to twelve, had G.I. Joe toys.
The comic book had only 2 stories at the time.
Almost seven years later, the series was one of Marvel’s most popular titles, and two out of three boys had a G.I. Joe action figure.
So that’s how you market a product with content!
Things have changed since then, so what worked back then won’t necessarily work today.
Nevertheless, a lot of new marketing channels are popping up like social media every day.
Here’s a content marketing guide so let’s get started.
1. REASONS for COMPREHENSIVE REAL ESTATE CONTENT MARKETING PLAN
It’s true that “content marketing” was initially coined quite some time ago. However, it’s still a relatively unexplored concept in the Age of the Internet, including for many agents and brokers today.
In spite of this, there are a significant number of the roughly 2 million licensed real estate professionals nationwide who have at least begun marketing their businesses online, and especially with quality, original, relevant, search-engine-friendly content.
There are brokers and agents across the U.S. and Canada who use content marketing to generate new leads, make referrals, nurture prospects, and, ultimately, turn these people into clients.
According to content marketers, leads generated from content marketing are better than those generated from paid ads.
In addition to regular blog posts that educate and inform their audiences about buying and selling, reports, guides, and infographics that highlight local housing trends and market features, modern REALTORS (that’s you!) can create effective content often to build their brands and businesses.
Now the question is, How do other agents and brokers conquer content marketing?
And how can you do the same (and even better)?
Share your industry expertise on your website.
By sharing it regularly with easy-to-digest digital resources, you will be able to leverage them in your email marketing and social media.
All of which you will learn how to do below.
2. Goals for content creation
You want great content to grow your business, right? But let’s talk about what that means.
If you want your real estate business to grow, you need to:
- Find more new leads
- with the goal of converting them into clients
- so you can get more sales
- Build existing customer relationships for more work or more referrals
- Beat your competition
Naturally, your content should help you make these things happen-but making valuable content isn’t all about you. It’s about your audience and their audience too.
Your content must serve your customers’ needs and be compelling enough to keep them coming back.
Here are some ideas for doing it.
3. A Great Website is the First Step
Even though we’re mostly concerned with the substance when it comes to content creation, it’s important not to forget the form-the look and feel of your website. When it comes to your website design, you want to make sure the visitors get the feeling that you care about your online image and have invested time and money into it. Visitors’ first impression of your site will impact their first impression of your content.
Here are a few things to look for when designing your blog or website.
- Make it simple. There’s no need to fill every inch of empty space on your site with images and icons. And stay away from all those fancy animations. Rather than attract users to your content, these might just distract them. Just keep things simple. Your content should speak for itself.
- Make sure it’s easy to navigate. Don’t forget to let visitors know where to go, what to do, and how to find stuff. Keep icons and text large. Choose a readable font. Clearly label everything. Get inspiration from your favorite websites.
- Make it easy to find stuff. Beyond the content, people come to your website to search for properties, so make it easy and fast for them. The ease of searching Google, Trulia, Zillow, and Amazon has grown on consumers. Now they expect your site to be easy to use too. Give your customers a seamless experience, don’t rely on old technology. You have an open house on the web. Make it the best you’ve ever had.
- Make it clickable. Whenever you shop on Amazon or Zappos, you’re getting the next click opportunity. Here, the site suggests the next thing you might want to click on like it’s reading your mind. This house might suit 20th-century modern tastes!””” It’s a way to keep consumers engaged so they can discover what’s available and find what they want.
- Ensure it’s simple to share. Sharing doesn’t have to be social media. I know that’s important when it comes to sharing your great content. However, people are very cautious about disclosing their personal finances and home search preferences to the world. They’d instead share it with just a handful of friends. They’ll share it with their spouse, sister, lawyer, or best friend. You’ve got to make it easy for them. Make it easy for your customers to share their favorite houses with their friends and family.
- Connect your blog and website. First, put a link to your blog in the navigation bar on your main site if you can’t integrate your blog into it. Then, put the same on your blog. Make sure both sites look the same, so visitors know they’re connected.
- Get some help. You can save time and money by hiring a professional or using a platform like WordPress.
4. Content marketing ideas for real estate
Content marketing is all about quality over quantity. By generating content that potential business leads are interested in, agents will see a higher return on investment.
Think about your overall strategy for content before you sit down and brainstorm.
What’s the best way for prospects to find your content?
Will you use a particular platform?
Here are some common channels:
- SEO (search engine optimization
- Social media
- Groups on Facebook
- Co-creation of content
If you focus on one or two channels, you’ll be able to develop content ideas that will work.
When it comes to SEO, use keyword research tools like Ahrefs and Google Ads Planner to identify topics people search for that relate to your business.
Whether you’re focusing on social media, communities, or co-creation, find out what your audience frequently discusses and think of content you can create that will be useful and relevant for them.
5. Invest in a good writer
At some point, we’ve all been drawn to some clickbait content, usually by an enticing headline.
We’ve all realized, by now, that stuff that claims to be jaw-dropping (like, “You won’t believe what happened when this 3rd grader opened his lunch”) isn’t worth clicking.
Your real estate clients want content with more substance information relevant to their industry. To get that, you need copywriters.
Someone on your team might know how to write good articles about rent rates, homeownership, and mortgages.
If you need help with content, you can hire a PR firm or real estate marketing company.
You gotta publish something, right?
When it comes to property marketing, whether it’s an apartment in Chicago, Illinois, or a New York City micro-apartment, website copy, blogs, and newsletters are a great place to start.
- Make sure your website is up-to-date and has a fresh copy if it has been around for a while.
- Put up a blog post at least once a week, and make it better than what everyone else is posting.
- You can spread the word via newsletters, and many real estate agents still use the postal service.
- Have a look at a list of the best real estate blogs for a few shining examples.
- Remember that content marketing is more than just blogging once you’ve mastered the basics.
Social media works best with visual content such as infographics, photos, and videos. They make it easy to explain complicated ideas.
Making an infographic or video from a blog post is also a great way to improve your email marketing and provide engaging content to readers who don’t have time to read the whole thing.
Lead generation tools like ebooks or webinars are also effective.
Give them a guide to buying or investing in a home and ask for their name and email.
Create an email campaign to nurture your new contacts into your next client.
Do you know what to say?
It’s critical to make it clear who you are and what you do.
You can write a blog about anything your clients are interested in, like:
- Using less energy
- Tips on mowing your lawn
- How to winterize your place
- Trends in interest rates
- Pitfalls in financing
- You should be more specific in your newsletters:
- Check out the updated listings
- Trends in the market
- Trends in finance
- Economic forecasts
- Sales in the last week
- Every month, you can highlight a relevant, timely topic like:
- Pest control in the summer
- HVAC preventative maintenance
- Gutter cleaning
- Winterizing your lawnmower
You can either write or create visual content for your content.
6. Subject Ideas of Real Estate Content
If you do not know what the subject of your content should be, you could try the following:
- How-to posts or videos that provide step-by-step instructions
- Social media posts that inspire
- property & point of interest videos
- List posts (example: Top 10… /10 quick…)
- Local news and events
- Relocation Guides
- Tricks and tips
- How to fix common problems
- Ebooks
Bottom Line:
Detailed, relevant, SEO-friendly content is an important part of marketing a business for real estate agents.
Modern real estate professionals utilize paid advertising, public relations, and even offline promotion (mailers, billboards, etc.)
Agents and brokers benefit from an organized, consistent content strategy in many ways
- cost-effective lead generation and nurturing,
- gradual search ranking improvements,
- easy brand awareness building
And the list goes on, so it’s vital to start creating content today.
Your content marketing plan will survive in the long run if you are patient and persistent.
There are fewer full-time REALTORS today who can claim they have earned dozens of high-quality leads within the first couple of weeks.
By focusing on your content marketing in the long run, you’ll most certainly see the fruits of your labor – and your business will grow significantly.
Let us know if you have any questions.
Focus Keyword: Real Estate Content Marketing
