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What Metrics Should You Track in Real Estate Marketing?

by Elizabeth Hines | Jan 9, 2018 | Blog, Real Estate Marketing | 0 comments

Our monthly marketing reporting template for real estate will help you measure success, drive strategy, and demonstrate ROI.

Traditional real estate marketing involved a lot of “post and pray.” That is, marketers would place ads in local publications, on billboards, and with other traditional media outlets and hope that buyers and tenants would read them and take interest.

With digital marketing, we can do so much more. Real estate marketers can measure the success of their efforts — if they’re tracking the right numbers.

Measuring success

To effectively sell or lease property, you need to take a comprehensive, data-driven approach to marketing. Metrics enable you to measure success, drive strategy, and demonstrate the ROI of your marketing efforts.

You need to know that what you’re doing is working (or not) so that you can adjust your marketing strategy as necessary. And you need a visual, executive-friendly way to show your bosses or investors that the marketing dollars you’re spending are paying off. We’ve got you covered.

Monthly marketing reporting template

We’ve created a monthly marketing reporting template just for real estate businesses. This template tracks your marketing metrics and generates graphs you can use in reporting and presentations.

Metrics captured in the template include:

• Total website visits
• Website visits by source
• Leads
• Leads by source
• Investors
• Investors by source
• Visit-to-lead conversion rate
• Lead-to-investor conversion rate
• Ranking
• Competitive analysis

The template (an Excel document) will save you time figuring out which metrics to track… not to mention, how to present them to your boss/investors. It’s very easy to use, but feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or need us to walk you through it. We’re here to help.

Start tracking the right metrics in real estate marketing and improve your marketing efforts by downloading our Monthly Marketing Reporting Template below.

Related posts:

• The Metrics You Should Be Measuring in Real Estate Marketing (Hint: Not Vanity Metrics)

• Social Media Can Be a Strategic Weapon in Real Estate Marketing

• How Pay-Per-Click Helped This Property Get 54 Leads

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Top 10 Real Estate Marketing Posts 2017

by Elizabeth Hines | Jan 3, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Real Estate Marketing | 0 comments

Here are Fronetics Real Estate’s most-viewed real estate marketing posts from the last year.

2017 was an exciting year for Fronetics Real Estate. We officially launched our brand, and website, in September. But despite our relatively recent kickoff, FRE is an entity born out of a longstanding expertise in real estate marketing. We have been working with residential and commercial real estate clients for many years under our parent brand, Fronetics.

It is that expertise that we aim to provide for the readers of the Fronetics Real Estate blog. This year, the following have been our most-viewed posts.

Top 10 real estate marketing posts

1) Using Content Marketing to Market and Sell Luxury Real Estate

In real estate sales, you want people to find your properties, like what they see, and ultimately be moved to purchase. In other words, you want to attract visitors, convert visitors to leads, and convert leads to deals. Innovative luxury real estate firms are finding ways to leverage digital tools to guide more buyers down that path to purchase. Read more

2) This Is How Often Real Estate Companies Should Post on Social Media

With social media networks changing daily, it’s hard to keep up with where to distribute content, much less how often. Countless studies have attempted to solve the social-media-frequency equation. And while audiences vary across price points and regions, best practices give us some general guidelines. Here’s our assessment of social media posting frequency. Read more

3) The Metrics You Should Be Measuring in Real Estate Marketing (Hint: Not Vanity Metrics)

Whether renting a new property or launching a social media campaign, we look for instantaneous numbers that will affirm we made the right choices. But here’s the problem: not all metrics are created equal. So-called vanity metrics are measurements that have no bearing on your bottom line but can give you an inflated sense of success. Read more

4) Learn How Content Marketing Increased Real Estate Sales by 37% in 90 Days

Consider this case study of a leading real estate marketing firm who chose to use digital and content marketing to shake up their traditional marketing approach. After just three months of beginning a digital and content marketing program, the firm recognized significant gains in web traffic, social media engagement, and brand exposure. Read more

5) This Is the First Thing You Should Do in Real Estate Marketing

Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to elevate your property’s reputation in the market, reach prospective buyers or tenants, and increase occupancy. Yet while many real estate marketers are using content marketing, not all feel their efforts are successful. Why do so many organizations feel they are failing? Simply put, they do not have a documented strategy in place. Read more

6) Real Estate Firm Grows Sales by 300% through Content Marketing

this case study about a prominent real estate marketing firm in one of the most competitive markets in the U.S. When traditional tactics weren’t bringing in the kind of business needed to sell 1,500 new-construction homes in a new planned community, the firm turned to a new content marketing program to increase web traffic and build brand awareness. Read more

7) Social Media Can Be a Strategic Weapon in Real Estate Marketing

The real estate industry is built on relationships, partnerships, cooperation, networks, and communication. Being social is a key part of forging a successful real estate marketing strategy. It’s time for the industry to embrace the tools that social media platforms offer. Read more

8) Paid Digital Advertising: A Beginner’s Guide for Real Estate Marketers

By investing in paid digital advertising, you can boost the reach of your posts, display ads, and videos. Pair quality content with a comprehensive digital advertising strategy, and you will be in a position to drive more traffic, create more brand visibility, and sell or lease more properties. Read more

9) 6 Signs It’s Time to Consider Outsourcing Your Real Estate Marketing

Real estate companies are increasingly open to outsourcing real estate management because it allows them to focus on their core competencies while improving effectiveness. So why not apply the same rationale to bolster your marketing efforts? Don’t be afraid to look outside the box for the marketing tools you need to succeed. Read more

10) 5 Tips for Building a Successful Real Estate Social Media Marketing Program

Social media is an excellent tool for real estate marketers to communicate with residents/tenants, build brand awareness, gain market intelligence, and even identify prospective tenants or buyers. Particularly if the latter is your focus, it’s easy to celebrate every follower you earn as a marketing success. But it’s important to remember that a social media follower doesn’t necessarily equal a buyer/tenant. After all, participating in social media is not only about earning a large following; it’s about building relationships with those people. Read more

Runner-up posts:

• 4 Tools for Determining the Best Time to Post on Social Media for Your Property
• Start Your Property’s Social Media Program in Six Steps
• These are the Busiest Day of the Year for Real Estate Searches

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These are the Busiest Day of the Year for Real Estate Searches

by Elizabeth Hines | Nov 21, 2017 | Blog, Content Marketing, Current Events, Real Estate Marketing | 0 comments

Real estate searches peak the weekend after Thanksgiving, December 28, January 1, and July 6, so don’t stop marketing your property during the holidays.

If you’re a marketing professional outside the retail industry, chances are you slow things down during the holidays. But before you settle in for a second helping of leftovers, consider this: according to a study by Realtor.com, December 28 is statistically one of the busiest days for real estate searches.

It makes sense: Potential buyers use their post-holiday downtime to consider real estate investment. Other days when real estate searches spike include:

• the weekend after Thanksgiving
• New Year’s Day
• July 6

It’s important for real estate marketers to be aware of these dates so that you don’t stop all your marketing activities. The good news is that real estate searches are typically lowest on actual holidays, so putting a pause on your pay-per-click advertising, for example, on those days makes sense.

I bring this up because, recently, a client asked to stop all marketing activities between mid-December and New Year’s Day due to “seasonal decline” in sales. While it’s true that December typically sees lower numbers in terms of web traffic, leads, and conversions, that doesn’t mean there is not enormous, largely untapped opportunities for this client — if we are strategic about how we spend marketing dollars over the holidays.

Leveraging the post-holiday uptick in real estate searches

While spending the holidays relaxing with family and friends is something we all deserve, keeping a few strategic marketing activities going can mean big wins for your property/properties. Here are a few things I recommend, and why.

1) Publish blog posts on a normal schedule.

Blog posts are the gifts that keep on giving, meaning the majority of traffic will visit your posts months after they’re published. In fact, 80% of our page views occur on blog posts published at least 6 months prior. It’s a great time to write about trends or happenings in the coming year in an effort to capture future searches.

Search engines value consistency in your publishing schedule, so keeping up your normal posting frequency will help your rankings.  If you have the resources to post on schedule, it would benefit you to do so.

2) Be strategic about social media.

Social media management can be time-consuming, so you should dial back your posting on the days you know prospects won’t be spending much time online (e.g. December 25). That being said, you should plan to post on days when you know real estate searches peak (e.g. December 28). Chances are, many of your competitors will be shut down for the holiday, and your posts will be front and center in your prospects’ newsfeeds.

3) Be strategic about digital advertising.

The same goes for digital advertising. Knowing that post-holiday real estate searches peak on December 28, you should budget your pay-per-click and social advertising dollars to spend more on this day. Particularly focus on your Google AdWords spend because that will capture prospects using search engines to find information about potential real estate investments — as opposed to sponsored social posts, which display your ads in the newsfeed of a prospect who may or may not be ready to buy.

Related posts:

• Search Marketing Can Increase Web Traffic

• 4 Tools for Determining the Best Time to Post on Social Media for Your Property

• Peak Season Demands Real-Time Analytics for Perfect Fulfillment

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Your Content Should Not Include a Sales Pitch. Do This Instead.

by Elizabeth Hines | Nov 14, 2017 | Blog, Content Marketing, Real Estate Marketing | 0 comments

Trying to pass your sales pitch off as content will only hurt your content marketing efforts. Start helping potential buyers instead.

Think your blog is a refreshing new way to highlight your properties’ selling points? Do your blog posts include verbiage like “competitive rates,” “prime location,” or “investment opportunity?” Stop right there. Everyone you reach probably knows right away that you are trying to sell them something, and they will quickly move on.

As counterintuitive as it may sound, being “salesy” will make potential buyers look elsewhere, or run in the opposite direction — perhaps to your competition. The best way to win buyers and renters is to stop trying to sell. Content that helps prospective buyers envision themselves in your property is what will grow your business.

Nobody welcomes a sales pitch

Admit it: you tune out anyone that comes across as trying to sell you something. You get emails, voicemails, and social media updates with “information” that is really a not-so-cleverly disguised sales pitch. What do you do? Most likely you hit delete, or you do not read past the first sign of a sales promotion.

So you know deep down that “salesy” does not sell. Yet according to a recent study of 500 global marketers from the Economist Group, many content marketing programs are doing just that: being promotional throughout their content efforts. In fact, 93% of the marketers surveyed said they directly connect content to a specific product or service.

Prospective buyers see right through this trick. Like you, most of your potential investor base is turned off by an overt sales pitch.

Focus on your audience to increase yield

So what should your content be doing? Rather than forcing your properties on your potential investors, take the time to answer their questions. Be the expert advice they are seeking. Help them envision themselves in one of your properties. You can do this by:

• Keeping content informative and educational. Your content should hold value for your readers.
• Letting your content demonstrate expertise. It should give the reader a favorable impression of you and your real estate business. They should walk away trusting your ideas.
• Educating your readers about the amenities nearby and the neighborhood. Offer information about things to do nearby or events that make your location ideal for your target audience. For example, music lovers will love to know that they could be living near a concert venue; or parents will want to know about the local school system.

The philosophy of content marketing is to offer help, to educate, and, at times, to entertain your target audience. This is accomplished by focusing on your potential buyers’ needs and interests, not by overtly pitching your properties. When your buyers understand you’re not trying to force a sale at any cost, you gain their trust and respect, and this is what brings in sales.

Related posts:

• Marketing vs. Sales: Why There Shouldn’t Be a Competition
• Content Marketers: Don’t Fire Your Sales Staff
• Most B2B Buyers Use Social Media in Their Research

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4 Ways to Scare Away Real Estate Buyers with Content Marketing

by Elizabeth Hines | Oct 31, 2017 | Blog, Content Marketing, Real Estate Marketing | 0 comments

If you’re committing these content marketing don’ts, you could scare away real estate buyers instead of attracting them.

As a real estate marketer, your job is to attract prospective buyers and tenants — so the last thing you want to do is misfire and scare people away. Yet, only a third of content marketers rate their content marketing strategies as extremely or very effective.

You want — and need — to be a voice that steers your company through a side of the business that is ever-changing. But even with the best intentions, you might be approaching your audience with the wrong tone, and that can cost you sales.

We’ve got just the plan to make sure your content is in check with what buyers and renters want. Here is our list of content marketing don’ts — the top four offenders that scare away real estate buyers.

4 content marketing don’ts

1) Don’t be generic.

Understand your audience and what makes them click. Real estate buyers want to feel a special connection with the property they buy. If your messaging isn’t personable and personalized, you run the risk of disengaging potential buyers.

Create content that is audience-focused, honing in on what your audience wants to read, not what you want to tell them. Do your research and position your content marketing strategy to focus on prospective buyers’ wants and goals — not yours.

2) Don’t try to sell, sell, sell.

Trying to pass off a blatant sales pitch as content will only hurt your content marketing efforts. Readers view content that isn’t sincere, informative, or authentic as disingenuous, and they’ll quickly turn away.

The same goes for content that’s filled with excessive keywords and multiple links meant to boost SEO results.  Everything should be done in moderation so the potential buyer — and search engines — isn’t turned off.

Don’t expect your content marketing strategy to result immediately in increased dollars. Building rapport with your target audience takes time with an often-delayed payout.

3) Don’t sacrifice quality.

If your content is shoddy and low quality, potential buyers won’t bother with it. By and large, your prospects value quality, consuming content that offers value and is relevant to their needs and interest in private or commercial real estate.

Rather than publishing many low-quality blog posts, stellar content that stands out will go a long way in improving the buyer’s perception of your property. And adding a variety of media (e.g., photos, videos, infographics) to posts contributes to their value and boosts credibility. Video is an especially powerful medium in real estate marketing. Images and videos take extra investment, but they go a long way in helping the buyer visualize themselves in a property.

4) Don’t go unplanned.

Ensure your content is relevant by documenting a strategy, following it, and adjusting it as needed. An editorial calendar is a great place to start.

Brainstorm ideas for content with colleagues and buyers. Document your goals and methods, and create a plan for attaining them to give your marketing plan organizational clarity. Consistency is king — haphazard content marketing won’t get you anywhere.

Related posts:

• Start Your Property’s Social Media Program in Six Steps
• 6 Marketing Tasks Real Estate Marketers Can Outsource
• Social Media Can Be a Strategic Weapon in Real Estate Marketing

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Start Your Property’s Social Media Program in 6 Steps

by Elizabeth Hines | Oct 24, 2017 | Blog, Content Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Social Media | 0 comments

When launching a property’s social media marketing program, make sure you’ve thought through strategy, content, and audience.

Social media marketing for real estate is a must-do. The reality is that’s where the average American is spending his/her free time — nearly 2 hours a day, according to a recent study. Using platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to market your property, you can:

• engage potential buyers
• build brand awareness
• elevate brand position within the market
• decrease cost per lead
• increase occupancy or sales
• improve retention
• and more

Sounds great, right? But where do you start? Which platforms should you use? How will you ever convince your boss that this is a valuable use of your time?

Starting your property’s social media program can seem like an intimidating task, especially if company leadership is skeptical of the benefits. Here are six steps to launching a real estate social media program that will grow your business to its full potential.

6 steps to start your property’s social media program

1) Speak in the right terms.

Convincing management that you want your team to spend more time on social media to gain “followers” or get “shares” could be a hard sell — even though that kind of engagement is key in real estate sales and rentals. To win support, focus your argument around the factors that are most important to them. Lead generation, lead nurturing, conversions, sales, ROI, profits: this should be the vocabulary with which you approach this conversation.

2) Create a strategy — and put someone in charge.

Only 11% of companies without a documented content marketing strategy find their efforts to be successful, compared to 60% of companies with a strategy in place. And that number rises to 86% when the company designates someone to lead the strategy.

Develop a content marketing strategy — inclusive of social media — that aligns with your goals for the property (e.g., more visits to the website, increased occupancy, better retention rates). And whether someone on your team heads up execution or you outsource that responsibility, the leader should continually monitor analytics and tweak the strategy accordingly to ensure the property’s social media program is meeting the designated marks.

Which brings me to…

3) Determine which analytics to track.

In real estate social media, shares, likes, and impressions speak to your brand exposure, so they’re important to track. But it’s important that you’re looking at more than just these surface metrics. (Read more about so-called “vanity metrics” here.) Leads generated, conversion rates, sales, and ROI are going to tell you if your efforts are helping your bottom line. If you have a good, flexible strategy in place, these metrics will help you adjust your efforts to ensure you’re achieving your business objectives.

4) Develop quality content.

Twenty-seven million pieces of content are shared every day — and a large portion of it is crap. A social media presence could be pretty pointless unless you’re not using it in a way that your followers find valuable. Good, quality content is the alpha and the omega, the key to engaging your followers.

One of the biggest mistakes real estate marketers make is using social channels to push a blatant sales pitch. You’ll quickly lose your audience that way. Your property’s social media should be about engaging target buyers or tenants, building brand awareness, and offering valuable and interesting information.

5) Decide which channels are right for your business.

Who are you trying to reach, and what are you trying to tell them? These are good questions to ask when trying to determine which platforms will comprise your social media program. You need to know who your target buyer/tenant is, and you need to know what kind of information you’re going to offer them.

There’s a wealth of data out there about who uses which channels and when. Most social media platforms also have their own built-in analytics tools that can help you determine the best time for engagement with your followers.

Another thing to consider: You’ll want to choose channels that you’ll be able to maintain regularly and which play to your strengths. If you don’t have the time, skill, or interest in taking regular photographs of things around your property, for example, Instagram probably isn’t for you. Remember, you’ll likely want to work through several different channels to reach a maximum number of potential customers.

6) Follow your competitors.

Following your competitors is a great way to stay up to date on what they’re doing, especially if you don’t have a ton of time or money for competitive research. And when I say “follow,” I don’t mean “copy or imitate.” I mean subscribe to their blogs, engage with them on social media, and like and share their content that you find meaningful for your audience. This way, you become part of the local conversation happening online, and you know exactly what your potential buyers and tenants are seeing from (and how they’re reacting to) your competitors.

Related posts:

• The Metrics You Should Be Measuring in Real Estate Marketing 
• 6 Marketing Tasks Real Estate Marketers Can Outsource
• Social Media Can Be a Strategic Weapon in Real Estate Marketing