In today’s digital world the way that businesses across industries market themselves changed. Brands no longer rely on outbound marketing tactics to achieve their goals. Instead, inbound marketing is the buzzword(s) taking the real estate marketing world by storm.
Real estate marketing was traditionally focused on pushing advertisements towards an undefined audience. That strategy doesn’t work as well anymore, as consumers are more empowered than ever before to choose the businesses they interact with based on what they have to offer.
That means businesses need to go above and beyond to attract, engage, and convert the right customers and achieve their business goals. That’s where inbound comes in.
If you’re familiar with digital marketing terminology then you’ve probably heard of the inbound methodology. Inbound is about providing customers with value to build long-lasting relationships based on trust.
Wondering why inbound marketing is essential for marketing your real estate business and achieving your goals in 2021? Let’s find out.
6 reasons why inbound marketing is essential for real estate agents in 2021
1. Search engines are the number one way people find information
Almost 93% of all web traffic comes via search engines like Google and Bing. Globally, Google accounts for 76% of desktop traffic and 86% mobile search traffic. Google dominates the search engine market, so it’s a good idea to optimize your website using SEO best practices to boost the visibility of your real estate business.
People turn to search engines to find answers to common questions (like, “How to change a lightbulb”), to find solutions to their problems (“How to remove red wine stains from carpet”), and to find information about desired products or services (“Best real estate agent in Dubai”). Therefore it’s crucial that your business establishes a digital presence to increase the chances of being found by potential customers.
Although inbound marketing isn’t just about achieving the top spot on Google, it certainly helps. By creating a website and sharing content with relevant keywords relating to your business, you’ll start ranking for search engines. This will get you seen by an audience that is actively searching for what you have to offer.
It’s also important to establish a Google My Business page kitted out with all the relevant information about your real estate agency, as this will ensure local searchers know you’re there and can easily find more information about your services or get in contact with you.
2. You can reach your target audience directly
One of the main factors that distinguish inbound from outbound marketing strategies is that inbound tactics are directed towards an established target audience.
Outlining your target audience is the first step in any inbound marketing strategy, as it helps you to understand who you’re marketing to and how their behaviors shape your marketing output. This means your products and services are visible to the people who are actually searching for them. This makes much more sense than blindly marketing to an undefined audience in the hopes that some of them will be interested, right?
To outline your audience, you’ll need to create buyer personas. This involves creating idealized versions of your customers based on their interests, needs, and pain points.
For a real estate business, you might ask whether your audience is interested in buying family homes or investing in overseas property. Are they high-income or low-income? Asking these kinds of questions will help you get an all-around look at your customer base so you can tailor marketing and communication towards them.
3. It’s affordable
According to Hubspot, inbound leads cost 61% less on average than outbound leads. Inbound’s cost-effectiveness is one of the reasons why it’s so attractive to small or new businesses.
As a real estate agency, you’ll need to establish a yearly digital marketing budget that covers a range of costs. Implementing as many inbound strategies as possible is a great way to keep costs down to increase the ROI of your marketing budget.
As inbound focuses on using digital channels to distribute content and communicate with customers, there are virtually no costs involved with setting up profiles and content creation. Of course, if you’re not familiar with inbound marketing principles you might need to bring in the experts and hire a digital marketing agency with specialized skills in the real estate market (like YourTarget!) to take care of it for you. However, this is still much more affordable than outbound tactics like paying for ad space on TV or in print.
4. It allows you to build trust with leads and customers
Inbound is all about building trust with leads and customers by providing them with valuable content and tailored communication.
Customers nowadays don’t want to feel like one of many. They want to know that their unique needs are being heard and listened to. That’s why it’s so important to use inbound strategies like content creation and email marketing to share relevant information with potential and existing customers.
By sharing content on your website and social media pages you can establish yourself as a real estate industry leader. Be sure to research any interests and questions your audience might have and develop a content strategy that aligns with these needs. Moreover, creating engaging content in the form of articles, webinars, podcasts, white papers, and more can help you to build brand credibility while showing your audience you care about more than just securing a sale.
Inbound marketing builds trust among your audience and improves the possibility that they’ll choose you when they make the final step in their buyer’s journey. It’s no wonder that properly executed inbound marketing tactics are 10x more effective for lead conversion than outbound tactics.
5. You can track your performance.
One of the best things about using inbound marketing to market your real estate agency is that it’s super easy to track your marketing performance. Unlike outbound tactics, where you can’t really tell who has viewed your ad or what they thought about it, inbound techniques are much more measurable.
Using digital marketing software like Hubspot, you can measure the performance of your website, blog posts, landing pages, etc. You can find out how people are interacting with your website and content and use those insights to improve your future performance. This way, you can tweak your strategies based on real-time results that align with your audience’s needs.
6. Your competitors are probably doing it already!
Inbound marketing is still a relatively new concept in the grand scheme of things, but it’s not that new. Most businesses have caught onto the inbound marketing trend and are already implementing these strategies in their overall marketing plan.
Real estate is an extremely competitive industry to operate a business. Customers don’t decide to choose a real estate agency lightly because of the high cost of property around the globe. Moreover, the average homebuyer takes two weeks to find an agent and ten weeks to buy a home, so it’s not a decision that’s taken lightly! For this reason, you must stand out from your competitors to show your audience exactly what sets you apart from the crowd.
Examples of successful online real estate firms that are using inbound marketing to stand out
There are countless examples of inbound marketing agencies using inbound marketing to set themselves apart from the rest. Let’s take a look at a few examples we found particularly inspiring.
1. UK Properties (UAE)
Ok, we admit we’re a bit biased with this one. UK Properties is a rising Dubai-based real estate firm. UK Properties chose YourTarget to help boost its online presence, increase leads, and achieve its goals as a UAE real estate agency.
YourTarget understands the rising market for real estate in the UAE and wanted to help UK Properties create a website and social media strategy that catered to a particular audience. We honed in on social media, launching a LinkedIn campaign that generated 30-40 qualified leads within a week. The team also focused on using PR and press services to boost the visibility of UK Properties. YT also remodelled the UK Properties’ website to ensure it’s fast, responsive and offers a great user experience.
With the help of inbound marketing and YourTarget’s expertise, UK Properties hopes to continue securing qualified leads to help them achieve their business goals.
2. Knight Frank (UK)
Another example is one of the UK’s most successful real estate firms, Knight Frank. So, how is Knight Frank using inbound marketing strategies to attract leads and improve online visibility?
- They have a highly optimized, attractive, and engaging website.
- A content strategy that involves publishing regular blog articles and social media posts.
- They’re effectively using video marketing to appeal to a visual audience.
There’s probably a lot more going on behind the scenes, too!
3. Lyon Real Estate (US)
This is another great example of a successful real estate agency that’s using inbound marketing to its advantage. Lyon Real Estate focuses on luxury properties in the Great Sacramento area of California. Their stylish website features a great design filled with professional images and all the necessary information their clients might need.
Lyon Real Estate regularly updates a blog with articles about the Sacramento area, community events, and other things to do. This provides their customers with detailed information about the area they’re looking to invest in, giving an all-around picture of what buying a property in Sacramento means for homeowners. They’ve also established a successful social media presence, regularly posing on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and YouTube.
Ready to start using inbound marketing for your real estate agency?
There are so many reasons to use inbound marketing to market your real estate business.
You’ll target your marketing efforts towards an interested audience, you’ll gain their trust through great content and communication, and you’ll boost brand visibility without forcing your brand in front of viewers.
Inbound is a win-win for everyone involved!
If you’re in need of a few pointers, check out this article we wrote about how to implement inbound marketing to help your real estate business succeed.
First things first, you’ll need to discover your audience. Download our buyer persona template and start getting to know them today!
