Marketing automation for the real estate sector

Marketing Automation is becoming an increasingly important factor for the real estate industry, whereby the field of application is no longer focused purely on sales, but is already being used successfully in acquisition, property management and investor relations.

The ability to reach a large number of interested parties or customers and increase interaction is one of the core objectives of marketing automation for the real estate sector. If you add the factor of saving time and resources, sooner or later you will not be able to avoid this topic. As different as the requirements of the respective fields of activity in the real estate sector are, the easier it is to meet them with marketing automation.

We would like to start with the focus on ‘ Solutions for Real Estate Agents’, start a whole series of articles on the topic of Marketing Automation for the real estate sector and present you in the coming months based on the different fields of activity in the real estate sector different approaches to solutions.

Marketing automation for the real estate agent

Today, real estate agents must have a strong mobile, digital presence. A responsively designed website with a fully functional property search and listing of all properties must be guaranteed on all smartphones and tablets. In the very best case, properties can be browsed based on a lifestyle search using the Swipe method.

It’s all very well if you can already check these topics off, but what is considered equally important is to carry the website to the outside world and bring many interested parties to your platform and above all to make them come back. There are now different methods for this, which can be implemented under the aspect of marketing automation.

5 concrete measures with marketing automation

1. use the search agent to retain customers

The search agent is interesting for everyone who rents or sells real estate on their website. Regardless of the extent to which this happens, the search agent offers users the opportunity to have the latest properties matching their predefined search profile sent to them by email. This is especially useful for users who either do not have time to actively search or simply do not have a suitable offer.

In combination with so-called ‘exit-intent pop-ups’ you create a good opportunity to keep customers on your website, even if they don’t find a suitable offer on your site, they won’t get lost by signing up as a search agent.

Technically speaking, you have many options for setting up a search agent on your website. Two examples of this are briefly presented here: On the one hand you can use ready-made systems such as yillou to organize and manage registrations on your website. Here you still have to connect the system with your database where you maintain your objects. Or you can use a real estate software like justimmo to set up your search agent.

2. filling the important social networks through social automation

Social media has become an important factor in the marketing of real estate. The networks you should keep an eye on are Facebook, where you should focus on residential and leisure properties, Xing or LinkedIn, where you should focus on commercial and investment properties and last but not least Google+, which is relevant for search engine optimization.

Now of course this sounds like a lot of work. Irrespective of the fact that you should first define a concrete communication strategy, you have the possibility to save some time and resources by using systems like Hootsuite, Buffer or some.io. These systems are designed to publish content directly on a platform and also to have the entire monitoring of the set social media activities presented on one screen. You will quickly notice how helpful these systems can be. With yillou you can even go one step further (unfortunately this is currently only possible for Facebook). You can not only publish via this platform, but also organize automated campaigns and provide personalized content.

3. display individualised content through personal data

Imagine if you had the possibility to display content to your users individually according to their needs and based on their click behaviour. It may sound a bit utopian, but it is reality and not only reserved for large companies with big budgets. Due to the current technical developments, it can already be used by small and medium-sized companies. This not only opens up new communication possibilities for real estate agents but also offers users a content strategy that is adapted to their needs and wishes. A tool that is good to start with in this area is yillou. For advanced users we recommend Triblio or SRVD.

4. generate recommendations by sending out questionnaires

Yillou is also predestined for the following topic – recommendation by sending questionnaires. An important aspect of online marketing is, as it is so nicely put in New German, the “customer journey” – that is, the course of the cycles a customer goes through before he or she decides on a product, or in your case on a property, and what becomes even more important now is what happens afterwards. This is because regardless of how the customer comes to the property, the aftercare of the customer must also take place online, which in turn increases customer satisfaction and also leads to a higher recommendation rate. A simple but effective way to ensure this is the integration of questionnaires, which, when used skilfully, have exactly the effect mentioned above. You can also use these automation tools in a larger context for the real estate sector.

5. marketing projects from the planning phase onwards

Online registration forms are also often used in the pre-registration phase of a project in order to be able to market from the planning phase onwards. The aim here is to collect contacts who are interested in the respective project or object right from the start. A main focus is on the quality of the data, which means that you do not only want to have the name and e-mail address of the interested parties, but also further contact information and details of the respective area in which the customer is interested. So you can easily see who is interested in an apartment with a terrace or garden and who is willing to spend how much.

Another important point is the possibility of finding out additional aspects of the project by means of the customer survey. Ask your prospects what is important to them! Prefabricated communication channels can be used by means of marketing automation to keep your prospective customers in good spirits. You can do this by letting your customers receive information about the location, project or environment according to a predefined communication plan. This way, you will have valuable contact information at the start of the official marketing campaign, which can already identify with the project and are only waiting to finally enter into concrete discussions with you. Of course, you can also use this method for investment projects and thus create returning customers.

Finally, we would like to emphasize the subject of the website. Do not forget that your internet presence is one of the most important, if not the most important marketing measure. Therefore, continuously optimize your online presence.

Bonus: 6. shine through individual equipment

Gain a sales psychological advantage by giving the end customer the opportunity to choose the equipment for the property in advance on your website. If the customer can choose the floor coverings, electrical installations, sanitary facilities, or even more, you have a strong advantage over the competition. Make sure that the chosen options are visually presented and accessible on the website. In this way you achieve that the customer is subject to a psychological effect through the individualization, similar to the purchase of a car, and thus makes it easier for him to decide on your property. The buyer virtually skips the decision to buy or not and instead has landed in the middle of the decision phase about equipment lines. For this we recommend the use of our own software. Improve your sales success with PROPSTER.

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