How to Market Your Real Estate Business: 14 Proven Strategies Worth Stealing [With Downloadable Infographic]
There’s no doubt about it: Real estate is a competitive space.
And when it comes to marketing your real estate business, standing out is tough.
That’s bad news for real estate pros. Consider these stats for agents, for example:
- About 80% of sellers use one of the first two agents they meet (SOLD.com)
- 87% of homeowners said they would use their real estate agent again to buy or sell their next property—but only 13% do so. (National Association of Realtors®)
If you’re not already top-of-mind for someone as they approach a need for someone in the real estate industry, you’ve likely already lost.
So, what can you do?
Nailing down an effective marketing strategy for your real estate business is a critical step for building a sustainable business.
And before we get too far into the weeds, be sure to heed this advice on the power of consistency, courtesy of NextHome REALTOR® James Ahearn:
Once you choose a path, keep doing it so people can find you. If you mix it up every day before developing a following, people will lose sight of you and then forget you.
How to Market Your Real Estate Business: Downloadable Infographic
If you don’t have time to read this entire blog post, download this infographic and keep it near your desk as you develop your real estate marketing plan!
Table of Contents
How to Market Your Real Estate Business: Part 1
- Invest In Networking
- Develop A Referral Program
- Niche Down
- Think of Your Talk Triggers
- Do More Than Open Houses
- Advertise On Radio And Podcasts
- Stay In Front of Your Audience With Email Marketing
- Look For Sponsorship Opportunities
- Enhance Your Website
- Don’t Overlook Physical Marketing
- Social Media
- Track Your Performance
- Ask For Reviews
- Check the Accuracy of Your Business Listings
How to Market Your Real Estate Business: Part 2
1. Invest In Networking
Surround yourself with referral partners to maintain a steady stream of word-of-mouth referrals. Networking is relatively low cost (in many cases, it simply involves getting a cup of coffee to maintain a relationship), but the leads and closed business can provide a powerful boost to your bottom line.
The problem, of course, is that referrals are never guaranteed. Even if you have a robust network of real estate professionals and industry-adjacent partners, there’s no promise that you’ll see new referrals every month.
And when the market dries up, referrals often die out. That’s why it’s so important to network effectively. It’s such an important marketing step, we even list it in one of our most popular blogs: If I Only Had $100 For Marketing…
How to Network Effectively In Real Estate
Whether you’re a mortgage lender, real estate agent, property manager, or hold another seat in the real estate industry, here are a few ways to boost your networking performance:
1. Give More Than You Get
If you want to receive referrals, you have to give referrals. Giving creates appreciation—and a desire to return the favor. If someone goes out of their way to refer new business to you, work just as hard to send business their way.
2. Meet Regularly
So many business opportunities are squandered because two parties never connected again after the first meeting. If you really want a strong referral partner, meet on a regular (weekly, monthly, or quarterly—whatever makes the most sense) basis to build a meaningful personal and professional relationship.
3. Establish True Referral Partners
Have at least one person in each real estate discipline that you can call on in a moment’s notice. If you’re a real estate agent, that means having a solid relationship with at least one lender, one home inspector, hone real estate attorney, one plumber, one electrician, one contractor, one handyman—anyone who could potentially generate referrals for your business.
Even your existing network can become invaluable. Here’s how Pittsburgh real estate agent Julie Block explains it:
When we first started our business, we had to be very intentional on building a trusted network through people we already knew, networking groups such as BNI, and paid tools like Zillow.
From early on, we were intentional about over-serving where we could and made sure our buyers and sellers were very well educated so they were happy with the long-term results of our partnership.
Over time, our past clients and community have become our greatest marketing resource for new business opportunities.
Follow Julie’s advice: Deepen your relationships!
4. Join Proven Networking Associations
Organizations like BNI, the Chamber of Commerce, AmSpirit, and others are built on establishing long-term relationships with business professionals and helping each other grow their businesses. Although these organizations have different pricing and time investments, many can lead to positive bottom-line impacts on your business.
And speaking of referrals…
2. Develop A Referral Program
Your colleagues, partners, clients, and past clients should all know you have a reward system for referrals.
Most email newsletters make these incredibly easy; if someone gets someone else to sign up for your newsletter, they can be eligible for branded mugs, gift cards, and company swag.
Try something similar in the real world: For every referral you receive that results in closed business, send a gift basket, a bottle of wine, or a gift card to a local restaurant.
You might pay $100 or $200 on the back end of a deal, but that’s a small “commission” to pay when you’re working in real estate (often for a percentage point of a deal)!
3. Niche Down
There’s an old phrase that goes, “Specific is terrific.” The idea is a simple one: The more specific you can be about who you do business with, the better your business will be.
And it sounds a little counterintuitive, right? Ideally, we can all do business with everyone. But when we cater to everyone, we specialize for no one, and specialization has the wonderful byproduct of transforming us into a hot commodity.
So, niche your real estate business down. Consider niching by:
- Neighborhood – What if you specialized in only one or a few neighborhoods in your city?
- Home Details – What if you specialized by home style, size, or price?
- Demographics – What if you specialized by buyer or seller demographics, like profession, location, or age? (Note: Be cautious here so you don’t accidentally cross the line of discrimination!)
Every time you niche down a little further, you become more memorable.
Consider this: There are about 4,000 active real estate agents in Pittsburgh alone. That’s a lot of options, and that gives home buyers and sellers plenty to choose from.
But what if you were a Pittsburgh real estate agent who specialized in multi-million dollar homes from the early 1900s in Pittsburgh’s east-end neighborhoods? Suddenly, your target market becomes much more specific, and you’ve helped distinguish yourself from the competition.
Is your name going to come up in discussions when someone wants to sell a home built in the 1990s in Pittsburgh’s Robinson neighborhood (west of the city)? No, absolutely not.
And that’s OK! You’ll be the go-to choice for your specific target audience.
In fact, that’s the input from real estate title attorney Al Caruso of Oxford Settlement Services:
One thing young lawyers have trouble understanding is the value of specialization. When you’re right out of law school, you’re trying to get as much business as possible so you can start earning money.
You’re afraid of turning down work, so there’s a tendency to start your career as a generalist.
But there’s value in developing a niche. I get so many referrals because people know me as the “real estate attorney guy.”
If you try to offer everything, you’ll struggle to get referrals because no one will think of you as the go-to expert in any one field.
And while we’re talking about niching down…
4. Think of Your Talk Triggers
A talk trigger is anything you do within your business that triggers customers to talk about you, recognize you, and like you.
A few examples of this from around our town of Pittsburgh:
- A real estate agent gifts a housewarming plant to all of their clients at signing, giving them a lovely present that’ll help them think of their real estate agent every time they water it.
- A mortgage officer gifts buyers a bottle of his favorite drink—Tullamore DEW—at signing, and he then captures a picture with them and shares it on his social accounts.
- A real estate agent always wears a bowtie, and he even goes as far as hiding bow ties in his listing photos and adding one to his company logo. For some people, he’s simply “the bowtie guy.”
But the important thing about all of these is that the trigger is on-brand. The plant-loving agent is a nurturing, caring individual who also loves gardening. The Tullamore DEW lover is proud of his Irish heritage. And the guy who wears the bowtie is tying his style into his brand.
You can explore other ideas as well. A few ideas to get you started:
- Signature Cookie Drop-off: Love baking? Deliver a personalized batch of homemade cookies to each client’s new home after closing. Inside each box, include a hand-written note with a recipe card, encouraging clients to share the experience with family and friends. Over time, clients might even refer to you as “the cookie realtor”—and share their unique closing experience with others.
- Neighborhood Welcome Kits: If you pride yourself on deep community knowledge, gift new homeowners a personalized “Welcome to the Neighborhood” kit. This kit could include a map with your favorite local spots (coffee shops, parks, etc.), gift cards to nearby businesses, and an invitation to join a community group you host (like a local walking tour or a monthly meet-up).
- Custom Home Art: Partner with a local artist to create a custom piece of artwork featuring the client’s new home or a significant neighborhood landmark. Offer this personalized art as a closing gift to create a lasting impression tied to your brand (and get some extra social media fanfare in the process).
5. Do More Than Open Houses
Yes, open houses are a tried and true marketing tactic, but they’ve become an unimaginative part of the real estate marketing status quo.
Dream bigger.
Larger, more exciting private and public events can connect you with new potential customers throughout the region—and those are only a few of the many reasons to host an event.
A few considerations:
- Block Parties – Remember when block parties were all the rage? They may have fallen out of fashion, but they’re still great ways to connect with the community. Host a BBQ in your company parking lot or in a neighborhood park—and build relationships with the residents in your area. Be sure to bring along business cards and swag for people who drop in!
- Holiday Parties – The holidays are the perfect time to say thanks to your clients and partners, and they’re a great way to deepen the relationships you’ve established over the years.
- Happy Hours – Who doesn’t love discount drinks and eats? Happy hours give you an opportunity to connect with potential customers and partners in a relaxed but professional atmosphere. Plus, if you host these regularly, you can start to build goodwill with the attendees you see over and over again.
- Headshot Marathons – We’ve seen these become a powerful networking tool for real estate professionals aiming to connect with attorneys, lenders, agents, and property managers. Plus, you can tap into the photographer’s network as well!
- Educational Seminars and Webinars – Educating people about your area of expertise elevates your status as a subject matter expert and generates new lists of emails and phone numbers to push through your sales pipeline. (Hint: Follow our tips for webinar best practices.)
- Monthly Neighborhood Meet-Up – Get your favorite clients, neighbors, and partners together for a relaxed session of coffee (in the morning) or drinks (in the evening). Or, take it in a completely different direction; host hikes through the park, book clubs, or a visit to your favorite museum. Just make sure whatever you do goes back to your brand!
Related Reading: Top 20 Venues For Corporate Events In Pittsburgh
How to Think About Event Planning
While you’re thinking about the type of event to follow, don’t forget to think through our six questions to ask to make your event matter:
- Why do you want to host an event?
- Who are your guests going to be?
- What kind of event accomplishes your goals?
- Where should you host the event?
- When should the event be?
- How are we going to make it all happen?
And if coordinating and paying for an in-person event sounds intimidating, here’s help: our free downloadable ebook has the answers!
Real Estate Event Planning Case Study
Looking for real estate event ideas? Here’s how one dinner paid off for a real estate investor in Pittsburgh:
The Problem: A foreign real estate investing company had a difficult start in the Pittsburgh market. But after partnering with some great local talent, they managed to buy and flip 100 homes in the Pittsburgh region in their first year of business—and they wanted to throw an end-of-the-year thank-you dinner. But they only had 30 days to prepare.
Our Solution: We worked with them to find an ideal location; pick out a menu; decorate the space with linens, lighting, and a presentation; and even designed a custom banner and wine bottles as a thank-you favor for their guests.
The Payoff: The party and wine bottles were a huge hit, and the investor deepened their relationship with property managers, contractors, and real estate agents right before heading into the new year.
6. Advertise On Radio And Podcasts
You might think that radio’s dead—but guess again. Surprisingly, nearly 90% of US adults tune into the radio on a regular basis.
And just as important: Radio is trustworthy. A Katz Radio study found 79% of adults trust radio over any other media—including newspapers, television, magazines, and social media.
But even though the numbers show radio is still popular, advertising costs have gone down, which means its incredibly affordable to have your voice on the radio (especially at off-peak hours, like outside of the morning and evening rush hours).
And if radio doesn’t feel like an authentic fit for you, consider sponsoring local podcasts catering to your target demographic.
The benefit here: Advertising on podcasts can be incredibly affordable (depending on the podcast) and that can help you reach a new audience without spending a fortune.
Related Reading: All Marketing Is Human-to-Human Marketing
7. Stay In Front of Your Audience With Email Marketing
You can stay in front of leads, current clients, past clients, and partners on a regular basis through email marketing.
Tips for Email Marketing
Here are a few ways to get more value out of email marketing for your real estate business:
1. Send Your Email Blasts On A Regular Schedule
Want to be really successful with email? Get into a routine.
The worst thing you can do is send out an email blast “whenever you find the time.”
Get into a routine. Get on a schedule.
Most companies rely on a monthly or bi-weekly send schedule, but you could even do a weekly or daily email; you just have to deliver consistent value.
To check, focus on your metrics. What to focus on:
- Open Rate – This is the number of subscribers who open your email. While results vary by industry, most companies have an open rate of about 30%.
- Click Rate – This is the number of subscribers who click on a link inside of your email. The higher your click rate, the more engaged your readers are (assuming you’ve embedded links into your email).
- Unsubscribe Rate – This is the number of people who voluntarily unsubscribe from your emails. While you don’t want to see people go, it’s normal to lose a small handful of subscribes with every blast, especially as your list grows over time.
- Spam Rate – This is the number of people who added your email to “spam.” You never want to end up here.
2. Build Unique, Automated Drips For Different Demographics
A drip campaign is essentially a way for you to build trust with a certain person over time by sending high-value content on a regular basis.
And the beauty of an automated drip campaign is that you can arrange for these to send on their own. All you have to do is add a user to the campaign.
You can create automated drips for everyone. If you’re an agent, you could create a unique email sequence for:
- Lenders – Discuss your inventory and how much you like to establish long-term relationships with lenders so your clients always have a reliable financial resource to lean one.
- Investors – Talk about the potential for your inventory and the neighborhoods you focus on.
- Contractors – Be sure to write about the homes and neighborhoods you specialize in and how the most common problems within them could translate into awesome sales opportunities for your contractor partners.
- Buyers – Emphasize how attentive you are with your clients and how strong your negotiation skills are for getting the best price possible.
- Sellers – Discuss the successful sales you’ve been part of and how easy you’ve made it in the past for sellers to get as much value as possible out of their homes.
Of course, there are plenty of other strategies and techniques you can employ, but these should be enough to get you started!
3. Use the Right Technology For Your Business
Many brands choose Mailchimp for their email marketing because it’s one of the best-known brands in the space, but for many companies, the platform is simply too expensive and advanced for their needs.
When picking out an email tool, consider what you actually need. Consider the following:
- How many emails are in my list?
- How often do you send emails?
- How much customization do you want in your email design?
- Do you need automated email sequences as part of your sales strategy?
- How much can you budget for email marketing every month?
- How much data do you need on each individual blast and subscriber?
Understanding what you need in a platform can help you deduce which is best for you.
Pro Tip: We’re not sponsored by them, but we love Flodesk for its blend of data, tech, and price.
Even More Email Marketing Ideas
To learn even more about email marketing, check out our free webinar with Dan Simkins of DX Performance:
8. Look For Sponsorship Opportunities
If you really want to stand out locally, look for sponsorship opportunities.
Pay to become the lead sponsor of the annual fundraiser for your favorite nonprofit, sponsor your child’s baseball team, or sponsor the annual neighborhood “turkey trot.”
There are plenty of ways to shine on the local level—even as you make the most of your marketing budget.
For additional support, here are some tips to follow:
1. Choose Relevant Sponsorships
Focus on events or causes that align with your personal interests and values, as well as those of your target market. For example, if your niche is helping families find homes, sponsoring local school events or family-friendly festivals can help you connect with potential clients more authentically.
2. Create Interactive Experiences
When sponsoring an event, don’t just have your logo on a banner—engage with attendees. Host a booth where you offer free home advice, raffle off a home-related prize (e.g., a smart home device), or create an activity station for kids. This can create memorable interactions that go beyond passive brand visibility.
3. Offer Value Beyond Money
If you’re sponsoring a nonprofit event or charity, offer more than just financial support. Volunteer at the event, bring your network into the cause, or provide your professional skills, such as offering free consultations or co-hosting an event. Being actively involved creates deeper connections.
4. Leverage Sponsorship on Social Media
Take advantage of social media to extend your sponsorship’s reach. Post behind-the-scenes content, share stories from the event, or feature testimonials from attendees. This can increase your visibility and foster engagement even beyond the event.
5. Track Results
After the event, evaluate the impact of your sponsorship. Did it increase brand awareness, lead to new connections, or generate inquiries? Understanding the return on your investment will help you refine your future sponsorship efforts.
Pro Tip: We’ve made charitable giving (especially in the form of donated marketing/events time) a key focal point at Poetica Marketing. Although the primary purpose is to give back to the community and causes we love, it has turned into incredible personal and professional relationships—as well as introductions to some of our favorite clients.
9. Enhance Your Website
According to research from the National Association of Realtors®, 73% of real estate sales agents have their own website. And there’s a good reason: Websites give you a competitive digital edge.
But simply launching a website isn’t enough to generate success. Your website is your digital storefront. Does it match the branding and vibe you display when you meet with clients in person?
If not, you’re missing out.
How to Enhance Your Real Estate Website
Here’s what to focus on for better results:
1. SEO
Search Engine Optimization is the process of gradually enhancing and adding to your site to improve its rankings on search engines. Ever want to rank #1 when someone searches for “realtor near me”? SEO makes that happen.
To learn even more about SEO to market your real estate business, check out our webinar:
2. UX
User Experience is how easy (or difficult) your website is to use and operate when someone visits. If your site loads quickly, is easy to navigate, and is visually appealing, you likely have good UX. But if your site is clunky, fails to load on mobile, or is poorly constructed, it has bad UX.
3. Written Content
Create new content (like blogs and whitepapers) that emphasize your niche and deliver helpful ideas and resources for your target audience.
If you’ve never focused on written content before, don’t worry: We have a few different primers for you! A few examples:
- 9 Awesome Advantages of Content Marketing
- 10 Quick Ways to Come Up With New Blog Topics Right Now
- Copywriting Mastermind: 4 Tips for Better Content Marketing In An AI-Driven World
- How to Increase Sales With Blogging: Make This Your Most Profitable Year Ever
Written content is also the perfect opportunity to deepen relationships through storytelling. Here’s how Holly Carpenter, a real estate agent through Sotheby’s Realty and the founder of InFlowAgent, explains it:
Buyers and Sellers want to know and trust you before they hire you, so give them what they want.
TELL YOUR STORY. For example: A “Just Closed” post with a house photo is fine, but also use that opportunity to give your audience “behind the scenes” insight.
Tell a story behind the transaction and also post a photo relating to it. SHOW & TELL, SHOW & TELL, SHOW & TELL.
4. Visual Content
Make sure your website has original, high-quality imagery—not stock photos. Use a professional photographer to capture headshots of your team and capture imagery in your office to elevate and personalize your website.
Our friends over at Blocks In the ‘Burgh, for example, consistently balance sleek design with their warm personality—and fantastic personal branding photography.
Julie and Ted do an excellent job blending style and photography.
5. Contact Information
Make contacting you or your team incredibly simple. Yes, a contact page is important, but so is a chat function. Be aware, however: If you include a chat function, you should generally be able to provide prompt communication during business hours.
If possible, download the mobile version of your chat tool so you can reply to inquiries through your phone, even when you’re in between meetings with clients.
A Real Estate SEO Case Study
Here’s how we helped one real estate agent stand out in the competitive Pittsburgh market:
The Problem: A real estate agent had a limited budget to invest in their website, but they wanted to appear on Google when local and out-of-town buyers searched to learn more about Pittsburgh’s 90 neighborhoods.
Our Solution: We started developing in-depth neighborhood reports on the client’s website. These were detailed, meticulous reports that covered essential homeowner facts, such as:
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- Location of the nearest emergency room
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- The highest-ranked restaurant options
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- Where to find the neighborhood parks
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- Local grocery store options
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- Address for the firehouse
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- And more!
The Payoff: Our client’s neighborhood reports regularly ranked in the top 5 results as potential homebuyers searched for information about the neighborhood, making our client one of the first real estate agents they were exposed to on their home-buying journey.
10. Don’t Overlook Physical Marketing
Look, when it comes to marketing, our background is in the digital side of the equation.
But we’re still firm believers in physical marketing tactics—especially in industries like real estate, where most of your target audience is within a 10-20 mile radius of your office.
Some of the ideas we’ve listed below are tried-and-true in the real estate space, but we’ve done our best to juice them up and make them unique:
Mailers
Many seasoned real estate professionals send greeting cards at multiple points in the year, including:
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- Around the Holidays (especially to new, existing, and past clients—and current colleagues and partners)
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- When Working In the Neighborhood – You’ve probably seen the “We’re listing a home down the street!” cards that appear randomly in your mailbox. These are easily replicable—and you can even turn them into multi-touch campaigns so you get in front of homeowners multiple times.
Billboards
Billboards can be a gamble, but now that it appears we’re completely out of COVID, the general rules apply:
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- Rent a billboard where a high number of your target audience members are likely to see it.
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- Nail your copy and branding.
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- Remember to focus on your niche. The more specific you are, the more memorable you become.
Yard Signage
Just worked on a house in some capacity? Have the home owner put up one of your yard signs for some sort of discount. They’ll promote your business, and you’ll get some extra eyeballs on your brand.
Local Magazines and Websites
Local magazines and websites—especially those read by your target audience—are great places to promote your brand.
Business Cards
Everyone has business cards, and some have even moved into the realm of virtual cards.
Do your best to stand out.
The easiest and best way: Use a unique design. Instead of relying on the traditional 3.5”x2” design, work with a printer who can cut your card into the shape of a key or a house—anything that represents your industry and focus.
Pro Tip: All marketing becomes easier when you understand your niche—and that’s especially true for physical marketing materials.
11. Social Media
Look, we could talk about social media forever (and we do in our Social Media Coaching packages), but here’s the condensed version:
Social media is tricky to do well, but it pays off if you can put the appropriate time, energy, and creativity into it (especially when you have a well-defined niche).
Social Media Theory In Less Than 100 Words
Here’s how we start off all of our coaching sessions to get our students in the right mindset:
The biggest social media platforms (including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok) are businesses that make money through ads. The more ads they show, the more revenue they generate.
This creates an incentive to keep people on the platform for as long as possible.
Great content is a major part of that.
In general, these platforms “reward” content that is liked, commented on, or shared by followers by giving those posts greater reach (especially important when the algorithms prioritize people over businesses).
The more you can create content that people want to engage with, the better you’ll perform on social media.
There you go: The entire foundation of social media in 99 words.
Social Media Tips
Here are a few ways to get more value out of social media for your real estate business:
1. Spend Time On Video
TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and even LinkedIn (in recent months) all have this in common: They prioritize full-screen video.
If you’re not regularly creating high-value, full-screen video, you’re missing out on potential reach with your social media audience and beyond.
2. Be True To Your Brand
The worst thing you can do on social media is be inauthentic to your brand just to get attention.
For example, I’ve seen middle-aged loan officers try to drum up attention for themselves by trying the latest TikTok dances on LinkedIn.
This is a strategy that’s doomed to fail largely because they’re not being true to their brand; they would never do something like that in the office or in front of a client, so it doesn’t make sense to do that online.
3. Partner With Others To Expand Your Reach
If you’re starting your social accounts off from scratch, you have a tough, uphill battle ahead as you work to expand your reach.
Partnering with other accounts and cross-posting content can help you reach a wider audience by tapping into your network’s audience members.
4. Use Technology to Your Advantage
There’s plenty of technology out there to make social media easier to use. A few examples:
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- Invest in a good wireless microphone, phone stand, and ring light for enhanced video quality.
Pro Tip: We’re not sponsored by MeetEdgar, but we’ll give them a shoutout here: We love this platform’s ability to recycle content on a predetermined schedule! This ensures a steady stream of content from your accounts without manually pushing it out!
Bonus: Host A Neighborhood Facebook Group
If you’ve really decided to niche down, host a Facebook group where you invite your prospects and clients to connect and meet their own neighbors. You’ll have the benefit of fostering awesome new relationships while staying top-of-mind for years to come!
Related Reading: ‘My Facebook Post Is Getting More Engagement Than 80% of My Other Posts. Should I Boost It?’
12. Track Your Performance
When you spread your marketing across multiple digital platforms, you’ll have an endless stream of data points coming from multiple directions.
And that’s a good thing. As they, “Things that get measured, get improved.”
And there are plenty of ways to track your performance.
How to Track Your Digital Marketing
A few of our favorite tools for tracking performance:
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- Google Search Console – Google Search Console is a free tool for tracking how your website and webpages perform in Google searches. So, for example, if you’re a mortgage lender in Philadelphia, you could check to see how well your website ranks for “Philadelphia mortgage lender.”
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- GA4 – Google Analytics 4 is a free tool for tracking how users behave on your website. You can see which pages users visit, how long they stay there, and much, much more.
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- Meta Business Suite – Meta Business Suite is a powerful free tool for tracking your performance on your company Facebook page and Instagram account. Plus, you can use it as a home base for replying to comments, scheduling content, and more.
Data Consolidation
Of course, having so many tools in so many places can feel overwhelming. We recommend using a tool like Google Looker Studio (free) or Databox (free and paid versions available) to consolidate your most important metrics and make them easier to manage.
13. Ask for Reviews
Yes, you read that correctly: Ask for reviews.
Most professionals we recommend that to balk the first time they hear it. After all, who likes asking for praise?
But the simple truth is that most clients and partners are thrilled to have an opportunity to gush about you, so go ahead and ask.
And don’t forget to be specific about what you want. Working in real estate, you likely collect reviews on:
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- Zillow
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- And other platforms
So, be realistic about what you want. If you’re trying to beef up reviews on Google, ask for that specifically—and give them the link to do so.
Here’s how we recently asked for a review from a client and referral partner:
Subject Line: Small Favor?
Email Copy: Hey [First Name]! By now you’ve had a small taste of working with Regina and Poetica Marketing as a whole. Wondering if you would be willing to take a few minutes to leave us a Google review: https://g.page/r/CbD00SgKTgJVEAE/review
We’re trying to hit 30 reviews before the end of the year.
Of course, if you’ve been less than happy for any reason, please feel free to reach out and let either of us know! Happy to chat about it in more detail and get things corrected.
Thanks, and have a great night,
Pat
Quick, direct, and effective! We had a new (glowing) review from our client later that week.
14. Check the Accuracy of Your Business Listings
This tip is simple digital hygiene, but it’s an important step to review your listings every now and then.
Consider this: Your business likely has listings all over the internet. You probably have:
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- Google Business
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- Your own website
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- Zillow
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- Yelp
And others.
And if a phone number, email address, or street address is incorrect on any of those listings, it could negatively impact individuals trying to reach you.
Plus, it breaks a core piece of SEO called NAP—name, address, and phone number. Most search engines want to see consistency in these details all over the internet.
Pro Tip: You can find services to help manage your listings all over the internet! These are often paid features, but it may be worth it for businesses with large digital footprints.
Putting It All Together: An Example Month Of Marketing
So, what does your marketing strategy look like when you apply all of these marketing principles at the same time? Well, here’s what a typical month might look like:
Of course, you can (and should) feel free to customize this to best suit your branding and marketing goals. The important thing is to find something that meets four criteria:
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- It’s budget-friendly
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- It’s manageable
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- It’s repeatable
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- It generates an ROI
Get Hands-On Marketing Support
Need help marketing your real estate business? Contact us. Our team is here to lend years of in-depth real estate marketing support to grow your business.
If you’re not quite ready, check out our blog posts or download my book: The Strategic Marketer. The Strategic Marketer is 190+ pages of hard-earned marketing knowledge, industry research, and actionable guidance you can use to transform your business today!
Download your copy here.
Author: Patrick Schober
Poetica Marketing Founder & CEO
I started Poetica Marketing in 2018, and I’ve since helped companies and professionals all over the world enhance their online presence while increasing sales!
A writer at heart and a strategist by trade, I’m passionate about creating compelling written and visual content for SEO performance and social media.
When I’m not in the office, you’ll find me spending time with my family, cooking in the kitchen, or squeezing in a new book.