Brand Building Comes at No Extra Cost With the Right Kind of Digital Marketing.
Contents
How do you attract vendors? Word of mouth is obviously the best, but brand awareness runs a very close second
Think of the money major brands spend on making sure you don’t forget their brand. Whilst you can (and should) do marketing to promote your brand, successes and services, it's clear that the properties you are selling are the vehicle through which most agents and offices get the most marketing exposure.
Not so long ago, it was demonstrable that agencies/agents who had the most pages of ads in the newspaper would get more appraisal requests. The reason is social proof, because people saw other people had confidence in you they felt you were likely a better agent. With the demise of print, agents and agencies have lost a major branding channel. The rise of digital marketing is really turning that around, for early adopters. It’s far better than print at this and more accountable too - but only when done right.
What you should consider
In real estate we need to consider that the brand is not just the name of the real estate office at which you work, it's your name as an agent or team as well. Both work together with the overarching brand of your office providing the recognisable framework that delivers the message. When you think about ways in which your brand is seen, there is no place where you will be seen more than online & social media - if you do digital marketing for your properties. Signboards, print and even property portals will be seen a fraction of the number of times your digital ads will be seen. Which is one of the reasons it mystifies us that more agents haven't jumped on board digital marketing.
But, there are things to consider because you can easily select a digital marketing solution that won't be effective in the dual purpose of attracting buyers, and promoting your brand to prospective sellers. What do we mean by this? Well, consider your other marketing materials (signs, brochures, print ads, etc) - these all strongly reflect your brand through colours, fonts, logos, layout, etc. Whilst your listings on property portals show your logo, they are a generic layout that everyone shares and are not a good branding medium. If there is one place you want your brand to shine, it's online and social media, so selecting a digital marketing solution that does 100% on-brand ads is a smart move. Product placement alert: AIM does this especially well.
An average AIM digital marketing campaign will deliver around 80,000 digital ads across websites, apps, and social media channels. So when people see you more often, in more places online, and when what they see strongly promotes your brand and you as an agent, you’re now doing some serious brand-building. Strong brand awareness means you have a greater chance of being called in to appraise when people in your local area are looking at selling. One of the best digital marketing solutions will also use a thing called remarketing (also known as retargeting) to show more of your ads to people who have clicked on your past ads. This reinforces your brand more to people who are already engaged at the right time, too. Smart targeting also means that more people in your local area, who are more likely to be interested in your properties and perhaps services, will likely see more of your ads as well. And if you’re an early adopter of digital, you will have a headstart on everyone in your area who is still reticent or unaware of the power of digital marketing. Combining the scale of digital marketing, with beautiful on-brand ads, multiplied by the number of listings you do - and you have a powerful platform to impress and engage. With AIM it's as easy as ordering a signboard, too. So, no excuses!
Keep up with the latest trends
It’s really that simple. Clients get to promote their property to more potential sellers and you get a kick to your own brand’s online presence. That’s a win-win situation, especially if you’re using AIM.
Keep an eye out for other articles on digital marketing, it's fascinating stuff! To browse previous articles, click here.