Turning ‘For Sale’ into ‘Sold’
author
Emmi
25 March 2019
18 types of property marketing content for real estate marketers.
The first rule of property marketing is: go where your audience is – and your audience, my friends, is on the internet.
Even if they have nothing else in common, you can rest assured that a large chunk of your audience logs onto Facebook to get mad at Grandma’s political views, hop over to Twitter to retweet the latest #drama, before sliding on over to Instagram to share their #foodgoals with the world.
Love it or hate it, the internet is where people live their lives these days, and as someone who sells property, it’s your job to go where they are.
And as a property marketing bod, you’re not just selling a place to sleep or run a business. You’re selling a backdrop for a life.
So how do we create the best property marketing content possible? Here are a few ideas.
1. Property tour videos
More than 55% of people watch online video every day? In fact, Facebook alone attracts more than 8 billion video views per day. And with platforms everywhere, from YouTube to Linkedin, emphasising video, you’ve got to get in on this most important of mediums.
Property tour videos are one way to do just that. A customer will favour the property developer or real estate agent who saves them time by letting them see inside their potential new home before either arranging to see it or giving it a hard pass.
2. Client testimonials
This one’s a no-brainer. Client testimonials make up the bulk of your social proof, and social proof from peers is the most important kind. Why? Because the current generation of home-buying adults are wary and weary of being advertised to. Unlike the generation that came before, homebuyers in their 20s, 30s, and 40s are cynical when it comes to advertising – but they do trust the word of mouth of their peers. So focus on that.
3. Supporting print campaigns
Print campaigns are great, but you shouldn’t leave them out there floating by themselves. Make sure your print campaigns point to your website, replicate all print info on your website so it’s easily searchable, and then use your website to provide even more valuable information that your customer can use. Think of it as turning your website into a resource, and then using your print campaigns as a tool to drive them there.
4. Property marketing placemaking
You don’t just sell a home, you sell the place around it.
Are there fun and interesting things happening in that area? Then promote them through a placemaking content marketing strategy.
This is especially handy when it comes to selling residential properties. No one wants to live somewhere boring; they want to go to fancy festivals, eat street food, and catch a gig by that soon-to-be-famous band.
Highlight the fun and interesting things to do in your neighborhood. Make it obvious that you’re not just selling them a house, you’re selling them a home.
5. New property listings
This is a no-brainer. Your website should have all your property listings in one place, easily searchable, for the people that need them, supported by regular social media posts that sell them to your Facebook fans, Twitterati and Instafam.
6. Helpful tools/service recommendations
Know any helpful property-buying tools? Know any real estate-related services your customers could make use of? If so, link them on a ‘resources’ page that your customers can refer to again and again. This will not only help your customers, it will improve your SEO ranking, too.
7. Latest local market updates
There are a lot of customers looking to buy but who haven’t found the perfect home. Yet. So use your website to keep them updated on the real estate market in general, with new listings and other news right where they need it.
8. DIY tutorials
You might not think that DIY tips and real estate would go together, but a lot of new homebuyers are also looking to make home improvements as soon as they move in.
As part of your property marketing, consider posting the occasional DIY tutorial. Team up with a local carpenter to show them how to build and put up bespoke bookshelves. Or with a local craftsperson to show how to make new curtains and pillowcases.
Find out the things your customers want and them offer them that – especially if it means thinking in ways that your competitors aren’t.
9. Useful checklists
Everyone loves a checklist, right? They help even the most disorganized people get their stuff straight. Secret bonus: they’re also super easy to make and don’t take up as much time as other kinds of content. So consider putting together a packing checklist, a moving-day checklist, and even a checklist about the process of buying or selling a home.
10. Explainer videos
Explainer videos are a popular way to prove your property marketing credentials and provide genuine use to your audience.
They’re easy to produce, too. These days, most people have high-quality cameras on their mobiles, so you just need to invest in a phone tripod to keep your camera steady and – boom – you’re making videos now.
Try simple, 5-minute how-to guides with topics like ‘How to search your site’, ‘What to look for in a listing’, and ‘What questions you should ask your estate agent’. You can also do interviews with property solicitors, previous buyers, independent financial advisors, and more.
11. Common buyer problems
What are the most frequent problems your buyers run into? Can you answer then in a blog post or resource guide? Then get on it! Consider polling your social media following, too, as to what perplexes them about property, and write a handy guide on the back of their responses.
12. Property marketing FAQs
What questions do you receive the most? Keep track of those and answer them for your audience. Create an FAQ section on your website, which is not only a treasure trove of info for your customers, it boosts your SEO score whilst you’re at it.
13. Home-staging ideas and tips
Your buyer’s just bought a new house, now what are they gonna do with it? Not that there’s anything wrong with IKEA, but maybe you can give them some tips on how to do things a little differently. You could team up with local designers and furnishers and provide a truly useful resource page!
This is especially useful for selling customers, who need to know how to make their home attractive to potential buyers.
14. Open-house promotion
Don’t keep your open house event a closed secret – promote the hell out of it! Use your website, social media, email newsletters, WhatsApp groups and so on to promote it to local buyers. And for those who can’t make it, why not provide a live-stream option on your social media?
15. Pictures of homes you’ve sold
A gallery of your past successes will go a long way towards creating future ones. People want to see the gorgeous life you could be selling them – so let them see! You can also use this as an outreach opportunity by asking to share customers’ photos on your site and social channels.
16. Show off some housewarming parties
Need a fun and unique way to create a community? Encourage your new buyers to submit pictures of their housewarming parties in exchange for a small housewarming gift of your own, like a gift card to a restaurant or the movies.
17. Explain the home-buying and -selling process
How-to guides that simplify the home-buying process go a long way towards adding value to the buyer and seller journey. Create a resource that they can bookmark and come back to and you’ll find they’re more willing to buy from you, too.
18. Different mortgage options
Mortgages are brutal. Nobody wants to think about them, and they can seem so complex that we’d rather shove them under our bed with the dust bunnies and hope they go away.
So if you can help simplify mortgage options as part of your property marketing content, you’ll make your customer’s life a lot easier.
One way you could do this is by writing a post outlining all the different options available. If you want to spice it up, invite some independent financial advisors to record an interview to help people untangle some of their anxiety about mortgages.
So, property marketers, it’s over to you.
There we have it – eighteen different content types to make your property marketing shine. Build your blog, your sense of expertise, and most important of all, build a library of resources tailored to your audience that genuinely help them with the property buying and selling process. As ever with content marketing, the more value you provide, the better.
And, of course, if you find you’re too busy to put all this into action, you know what to do.