04 Oct Real Estate Digital Marketing
The Real Estate Landscape
Digital marketing is nothing new for companies in the real estate sector that are market leaders, so in order to maintain leadership it is important to know the latest trends in terms of communication strategy. For those involved in this industry who are starting their real estate journey or who have been in the game for a long time and want to turn a new chapter, it is worth remembering that advertising in digital media is essential today for attracting real estate clients.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing opens the door to new ways of promoting real estate products and services. In this perspective, this article addresses the different facets of marketing in the communicative aspect in the digital environment. In this article, we will refer to several digital channels, some of them owned such as the Website, some earn such as social networks, and others paid such as PPC (Google Ads) campaigns. All different ways to gain visibility online. A global digital marketing strategy should include, to begin with, the development or optimization, if it already exists, of a Website integrated with a CRM, two fundamental parts for a real estate agency (the Website and the CRM). However, if you are a developer or a real estate consultant, with a small number of products, the CRM will become difficult to justify, therefore, it will depend on the cases, that is, on the type of agent that is part of the digital real estate ecosystem. , i.e., agencies, promoters or consultants, as well as their work dynamics. The Website works as a point of convergence between almost all communication initiatives to be carried out and is undoubtedly a transversal tool with regard to real estate management. As for the CRM, it is only by doing a case-by-case needs assessment that we can determine its effectiveness.
There are several solutions on the market regarding the development of Websites, and CRMs. In this sense, we leave below a list of potential suppliers. For more than a decade, we have had the opportunity to collaborate with several platforms and we have to add that they all have different valences, advantages and disadvantages that only by making a thoughtful analysis of the characteristics and tools of each one, is that we are really able to make a decision. In a future article, we will present from our point of view the strengths and weaknesses of each of the providers on this list.
Casafari CRM
eGO Real Estate
HCPro
X-IMO CRM
IMO 360
Gimob (Improxy)
centrally
Search Engines
In order to achieve a top organic positioning in search engines, it is necessary to perform a set of tasks that together are called: Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The search engine algorithms that determine the placement of content on results pages (SERPs) are complex, as are the factors that influence them. In this context, we will address some factors that we consider to have more “weight” with the algorithms. Keyword research represents the foundation when it comes to developing an SEO strategy, so it should be the first thing to do when we are in the process of optimizing a website. The first step will be to create a short list of keywords, those that best represent the business, product, service or content of a given page. Afterwards, dig deeper into the search using the Google Ads keyword research tool or other similar software.
Here are the factors, from most important to the least important:
– Secure and accessible website.
– Website loading speed, update frequency and server location.
– Adaptability to mobile devices.
– Domain age, URL and domain authority.
– SEO: Meta titles, meta descriptions and tags.
– Links (internal and external).
These are just some of the 200 factors identified.
There are two types of SEO: On-Site and Off-Site. The first typology designates platform-level optimization, that is, technical SEO on the website, i.e., meta-titles, descriptions, tags, image compression, etc., while the second typology is related to external factors such as linkbuilding, which, basically, is achieved through manual outreach to other websites with the potential to generate traffic to ours, or, through the production of useful and relevant content for the target audiences that generates as a consequence of the usefulness and relevance of the content, its dissemination and in ultimately increasing organic traffic to our site. We call this natural link building.
Google Ads
So far, we’ve covered organic results, which are the fruit of SEO strategies. Next, we will discuss the paid results on the Google Search engine (search network) which are in part the Ads that appear at the top or bottom of search engine results pages (SERPs). These Ads may also appear on Google partner sites in designated areas. Search Ads are shown to people who are actively looking for specific things, such as “apartment for sale in lisbon”, and are an important source of traffic because it is categorized as highly qualified and therefore has higher conversion rates relatively to most digital channels, except perhaps for the organic channel. In addition to the search network, as advertisers, we have the display network available on websites that are Google partners, and also on YouTube. The partners network and YouTube allows us to reach even more people, either to reinforce brand awareness, or to leverage conversion rates with remarketing strategies.
Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn Ads
Facebook provides a digital advertising platform (Facebook Ads) that allows us to target Ads using Geographic, Demographic and Behavioral targeting criteria, a platform through which we can also run Ads on Instagram, with Instagram being owned by Facebook, now Meta. LinkedIn presents a similar solution, however with a universe of people with a profile that presents characteristics in line with an approach focused on the B2B context.
Currently, in addition to managing paid advertising, Facebook/Meta has developed the Meta Business Suite through which we can manage organic content more easily.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is the key to natural linkbuilding and increasing organic traffic, simply because people find content interesting by sharing it across the web, creating branches, linking other people to us. Starting with the texts, these should contain all the details about each product page, services, buying and selling processes, investment programs such as the Golden Visa, NHR, D7 Visa, lifestyle, in short, everything! Content about Places, People, Schools, Available Services, Security, Activities, Events, Culture, Gastronomy, etc. As far as videos go, they are probably your most powerful selling tool! Whenever possible, incorporate them into the website’s content pages. Last but not least, the photographs. Hire a professional photographer to collect images of the physical space, the team, the environment and the products, both for digital campaigns and for managing social networks.
Email Marketing
An excellent loyalty and promotion tool. The decision-making process in this context can take months. With email campaigns such as monthly newsletters, for example, we have the opportunity to kindly follow up with useful and relevant content customers who are in the process of deciding whether they want to work with us for the first time. On the other hand, in addition to the people who have just entered the funnel, a percentage of your customers are investors who are constantly looking for new opportunities, so these people will also want to have access to certain opportunities on a regular basis. In addition, there are still partners who may be interested in receiving exclusive content or before the general public. Although almost all CRMs have some kind of interface to create email campaigns, our tool of choice is MailChimp, which is, in our opinion, the most powerful and versatile on the market.
Real Estate Portals
Idealista, Casa Sapo, Imovirtual, Green Acres, Rightmove, Zoopla, and many more. National, international, mainstream, specialist, extremely expensive, cost-effective and even free. Some see them as a necessary evil. The truth is that they are channels that are part of this ecosystem, and as such, we have to choose them in the best way, depending on the products to be promoted and the markets where we want to be present. Your Website/CRM provider is a good source of information when it comes to choosing the right portal package for your real estate project.
Investment in Digital Advertising
It’s a frequently asked question. “How much should I invest in digital marketing?”. The table below, courtesy of the real estate digital marketing agency Realeads, illustrates in a practical way the investment levels according to the different facets of each project. The responsibility for deciding how much to invest rests with both parties, the marketing agency and its client. The suggested monthly budget should be calculated by collecting information on the status of the company in various dimensions, as well as the number of markets to be reached.
