Real Estate Marketing: Strategies and Ideas for 2023
Over the past few years, the nation’s housing market has faced unprecedented changes. Property prices climbed, supply was limited, and competition for real estate became fierce. As we prepare for 2023, it’s likely that the market is going to shift again, and that change will bring about new challenges for real estate agents.
From understanding how to market properties as prices fall to staying agile to meet the evolving needs of buyers and sellers, the real estate marketing strategies and ideas in this article can help agents build and maintain thriving businesses in the year ahead.
>> Related Read – How Many Homes Does the Average Realtor Sell a Year?
What Real Estate Agents Need to Know for 2023
Due to the hot residential real estate market of the past few years, many people who wanted to move have already moved, and that may indicate a slowdown for 2023. Even if property prices decrease, given the current battle with inflation in the U.S., chances are that buyers will continue to look for innovative ways to finance home purchases.
With the market in flux, agents need to stay aware of new developments and adjust real estate marketing tactics in real-time to better connect with clients.
>> Related Read – Housing Market Predictions for 2023 + The Next 5 Years
Top 3 Real Estate Marketing Strategies for 2023 and Beyond
It may be difficult to accurately predict what the market holds in 2023, but focusing on the following three real estate marketing strategies can help agents remain flexible and adapt to what lies ahead.
1. Know Your Audience Inside and Out
When you truly understand your real estate niche, you can market more effectively. Different people have different wants, needs, and goals. Understanding the specific and current wants, needs, and goals of your audience allows you to deliver relevant and timely real estate marketing messages that resonate more deeply.
This is particularly important when you consider all the other marketing to which your audience is likely already subjected. If you remain flexible and rise to meet their changing wants, needs, and goals, your marketing will stand out. (You may even be able to save money on your marketing budget, thanks to an increase in conversions!)
Real Estate Marketing Ideas That Support This Strategy:
- Define Your Target Market
Clearly establish the parameters of your target market. Who are the buyers and sellers that would be the perfect fit for your business? Think about shared hobbies, personality traits, and demographics as well as housing preferences related to location, type, and budget.
In addition, look back at your previous clients. You might have an idea of your ideal client in your head, but the actual clients you’ve successfully worked with could reveal different or additional insights. Reflect on the positive client relationships in your past, and identify commonalities to further hone your target market.
- Create Client Personas
Once your target market is defined, document your findings with client personas. Each client persona represents a segment of your audience and can be used to help you envision speaking directly to an individual when crafting real estate marketing messages.
Focus on creating a few core client personas to represent the different types of clients you serve. Identify the wants, needs, and goals as well as the problems and challenges of each persona – and don’t forget to assign a “personality”.
- Perform a Competitive Analysis
Do some research into your competitors, too. A competitive analysis is simply the process of identifying your competitors and evaluating their strategies to determine their strengths and weaknesses relative to your own business and services.
Look at each competitor’s website and social media accounts to assess their key messages and identity. Consider what your business can do and/or does differently and how you use those differences to your advantage to connect with your audience.
>> Related Read – Real Estate Branding: Ideas for Agents
2. Choose Your Channels Wisely
Distribution channels are as important as the marketing messages themselves. The three most popular channels used by real estate agents are social media, email, and direct mail. Often, a combination of these channels can help you keep your networks and contacts active and engaged. This layered approach also helps ensure you are regularly connecting with your audience.
Real Estate Marketing Ideas That Support This Strategy:
- Get Prescriptive with Social Media Platform Selection
Creating and managing social media accounts on every platform is time-consuming. Instead, focus your efforts on the key platforms that will give you the best returns. For example, LinkedIn is a great choice if you’re looking to market to a demographic of buyers age 40 and over. Facebook has a tremendous reach and can also help you reach an audience that includes your ideal clients.
- Grow Your Email List Using Your Website
Focus on growing your email list by leveraging your website content. Offer gated content, like guides and checklists, to visitors who sign up to receive the materials by email. You can also use a form to gather contact information of potential clients who are seeking additional information.
- Keep Your Direct Mail List and Tactics Up to Date
You can use direct mail to send out brochures, flyers, and even birthday cards. Compile an accurate direct mail list by giving website visitors the option to be added to your contact list. You can also collect mailing addresses at open houses and continuously build your mailing lists.
>> Related Read – How to Stay Top of Mind with Real Estate Clients
3. Use Data to Guide Your Future Strategy
Data provides you with key information about which of your marketing efforts are highly effective and which methods need improvement. Taking the time to review data including your website traffic and its sources, your social media engagement, and your e-newsletter open and click-through rates provides concrete information about your marketing performance. You can continuously review this data and use it to improve your marketing and guide your future strategy.
Real Estate Marketing Ideas That Support This Strategy:
- Monitor KPIs Throughout the Lead Lifecycle
Determine which KPIs you should monitor, and track those KPIs to evaluate your marketing performance. For example, tracking your cost per lead can help you determine how much you’re spending to bring in every lead you produce. You will need to divide the amount that you spent on your marketing in a certain period, like a quarter, by the total number of leads produced in that same time. Focus on lowering that cost per lead in each future quarter to maximize your marketing effectiveness.
- Focus on ROI
Your ROI provides hard data about how well your marketing is contributing to your profits. To calculate your ROI, you can subtract your marketing costs from your sales growth, then divide the result by your marketing cost. Do this quarterly and look for changes you can make to your marketing to keep costs down while still driving profitability.
- Glean Insights from Private and Public Data Sources
There is plenty of data readily available that you can use to make well-informed marketing decisions. Review data from social media, business surveys, and public and private sources to better understand your target audience and how to reach those potential clients. You can use data to learn more about your audience’s demographics, then produce highly relevant marketing materials that are more likely to be effective.
>> Related Read – Understanding the Lender-Realtor Relationship
The Bottom Line
The forecast for 2023 indicates fewer transactions due to more homeowners holding onto their properties. Take action now to prepare for the upcoming market cycle.
Apply the strategies outlined above, and consider partnering with a real estate referral network like Guidance Home Services to get connected with pre-approved home buyer leads exhibiting purchase intent.
