Digital-Marketing

7 Digital Marketing Growth Spots That You Need To Know About

Digital-MarketingDigital marketing is one of the single fastest developing sectors in the world. With innovative new software hitting the scene every day, making sure your business keeps up is key to staying ahead of your competition.

But with so much growth so quickly, how can you stay ahead? Don’t worry – we’ve created this post on the top 7 digital marketing trends, so you beat the curve and get the drop on other businesses in your niche.

Going mobile

If you’ve ever taken a look at your business’s web stats, you’ll most likely have noticed a steady increase in the amount of mobile users. This means that, when buyers are searching for properties online, your agency website is going to need to be mobile optimised. So what is mobile optimisation or ‘responsiveness’? This is essentially making sure that your images, text boxes and any additional plugins automatically resize to fit the screens of mobile devices.

For a great responsive Real Estate website, click here to check out our range of options.

Microsites are gaining serious traction

More and more real estate agencies are starting to use microsites to advertise their niches directly. This is being done by setting up visually-crisp sites to advertise a select group of their properties, such as luxury apartments or subdivisons/developments. Doing this allows you to target a more specific audience and drive more relevant traffic to your pages. If you’re considering this as an option, make sure your microsites all link back to your main website. You don’t want to miss out on that increased brand awareness and web traffic.

To find out more about individual property or niche market microsites, speak to our helpful team at iProperty.

Interactive call to actions

Sales is the name of the game, and you want to be playing for the best team. Regardless of what type of real estate you work in, the undeniable purpose of your website is to help get properties sold. 10 years ago, listing your office number on your landing page would have probably been fine. Unfortunately, in the digital age, that just isn’t going to cut it.

An increasing trend is companies using interactive call to actions, such as in-page pop-ups to drive email list subscriptions. When the real estate competition is as hot as it is, you need to make your web pages are working for you in as many ways as possible. Capturing an interested audience in a mailing list is one great way to boost conversion rates and really drive those sales.

Make your customers’ experiences memorable

‘User experience’ is a buzzphrase that’s getting thrown around a lot in digital marketing currently. Why? Because if you provide great user experience on your website, you’re going to leave a lasting positive impression on your audience which will boost your conversion rates and potentially even generate some word of mouth leads, too.

As this trend continues, you’re likely to see websites with reduced text, increased video content and a rise in vivid imagery. Let your content take your visitors on a journey to make sure they remember your brand.

Accepting and embracing Google’s changes

With Google’s recent algorithm changes, keeping your website at the top of search results just got a whole lot harder. When packing your blog posts full of keywords no longer cuts it, agencies are placing a focus on producing content that provokes engagement from their audience.

One great way of doing this is by providing solutions to the problems your audience typically faces. For real estate, that could be a question like ‘how do I find a real estate agent that’s right for me?’. If you can provide your audience with the answers they need, they’ll start to trust you as an industry authority. Cultivating this brand trust will make your audience much more likely to use your services in the future.

Video is leading the way

As of March 2016, over 200 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. That should give you some context on just how important video has become as a content medium. Boosted bandwidth has left web designers with more freedom to play with video backgrounds on web pages, animated slider banners and 3d videos which tour your audience around your listed properties. Consider cutting out text and replacing it with video to provide your audience with a more enriched experience.

Let your website tell a story

Industry-leading real estate agencies are utilising storytelling in their sales process. Take your audience on a journey, diving behind the scenes with employee interviews and playing on the emotion of the home-owning process. Letting your audience connect with your brand on a personal level will help you to earn their trust.

For more helpful real estate tips and information like this, check out our blog. You can also follow us on Facebook.

At iProperty, we provide leading online property management and real estate software,  responsive websites, and more.

 

Brand Advocate

How to Create a Successful Brand Advocacy Program

Brand AdvocatePromoting your own brand is great, but why do it yourself when you can get others to vouch for you? Studies have shown that 92% of people trust brand advocates more than brand influencers, so putting together a brand advocacy program is well worth your time.

Follow this guide to find out how and why you should create one for your business.

What exactly is a brand advocacy program?

A brand advocacy program is a strategy which builds a network of your company’s closest customers and rewards them for engaging with your brand.

Many companies focus their energy on chasing endless sales leads without realising that their biggest resource is their own customer base. By developing your relationships with them, you can get your existing customers to present your brand to their own communities – in a positive light. Hearing directly from someone they trust, prospects will be far more likely to convert and buy your brand’s products. In short, a good review from someone you know is more powerful than any advertising campaign.

Why should I create a brand advocacy program?

As we just discussed, while your competitors are relying on traditional marketing and advertising approaches, utilising a brand advocacy program will give you the upper hand.

In a digital world, online recommendations are the most powerful tool you have at your disposal. A recent Google study found that 60% of business tech customers base their purchase decisions on the reviews others have posted online.

In addition, launching a brand advocacy program can have benefits that you’ll see company-wide, from increased brand sentiment to boosted sales numbers. Sound good? Here’s how you can get started.

How do I build a brand advocacy program?

1. Plan your goals thoroughly

When creating a brand advocacy program, you should look ahead at where you want to be and set your goals carefully. The key to success is utilising the customers you already have, so think about where your brand operates – this is where your fans are likely to be. If you focus heavily on social media, for example, you’re likely to already have a developed community there.

Before you launch your program, you’ll need to think about the following:

  • What sort of customers you want to build your brand with
  • What your ROI goals are
  • What you can offer to attract potential advocates

By setting yourself goals, you’ll have a plan of what you’re working towards for when you start to onboard brand advocates.

2. Get your brand advocates on board

After setting your goals, you’ll be looking at how you can acquire your first brand advocates. With this, there are three key points to keep in mind:

  • Your program must integrate seamlessly with your current advertising structure
  • Communication with your brand advocates is key
  • How the program works needs to be clear

By defining these three things, you’ll be able to push your program forward and even start to identify your ideal advocates. Think about who these people are – what issues do they face often? Where do they spend their time on social media? What rewards would they consider valuable? Answering these questions will help you to define your target demographic.

Social media is one of the best channels to pursue when engaging with customers. When trying to gain advocates, you can make the most of it with the following:

  • Follow users back and interact with the content they post
  • Reward community members who actively engage with your brand
  • Send active community members freebies or product discounts
  • Reward positive contributions to online discussions by tagging users in shout-outs

Although these tips are key to attracting advocates online, don’t forget – your own employees could make great advocates too.

3. Make the most of your workforce

Offering them all pay rises would probably work, it isn’t likely to prove cost-effective for you. For that reason, you’re best off considering these ideas:

  • Create a prize pool for employees who share company content
  • Give employees who share regularly shout-outs in meetings
  • Offer employees follow-backs from senior management accounts to grow their network

Although incentives are a fantastic way of driving a brand advocacy program, you’re not going to see many results if things aren’t simple to follow. By keeping the process easy, you’ll make sure that advocates stay interested.

4. Maintain your advocate’s interest

Remember – no-one is going to want to stay part of something that’s boring. To maintain your brand advocate community, keep your strategies exciting. Run online competitions and giveaways and keep the process fun for your community. By showing them that they’re appreciated, you’ll help to keep your advocates loyal to your brand.

Another idea you can try out is offering your advocates educational value. Give them discounts to online educational courses or open up webinars to them. After all, if they’re helping you to boost your ROI, you should give them something in return.

Regardless of whether your harness the voice of your employees, or your loyal customers, a brand advocate program is one of the best way you can develop your brand’s online reputation. Try one out for your business and see how you can benefit from rewarding your audience.

For more helpful real estate tips and information like this, check out our blog. You can also follow us on Facebook.

At iProperty, we provide leading online property management and real estate software,  responsive websites, and more.

SEO

Drive traffic to your property listings with these SEO tactics

SEOIf you’ve read about digital marketing at all, you’ll know that Google likes to change the rules – a lot. That can make it tricky for real estate professionals to take and keep the upper hand over their competitors.

Making sure you have your website SEO optimised is a detailed process. Take note of these real estate SEO tactics to find out exactly what you should be doing.

Google Keyword Planner

The first step is to make sure you’re targeting local keywords in your web content. One great way of finding suitable keywords is by using Google Keyword Planner. This handy tool allows you to see which keywords are getting the most amount of searches in your local area. For real estate, these are likely to be:

  • properties for sale in ‘your area’
  • real estate agents in ‘your area’
  • houses/apartments for rent in ‘your area’
  • top real estate agents in ‘your area’

You get the idea. Take a look at Google Keyword Manager now and see which keywords are performing best in your target location.

In addition to including your target areas within your keyword phrases, it’s a good idea to include broader regional terms too. These could include ‘New South Wales apartments for rent’ or ‘houses for sale Sydney’ and will help you to acquire long-tail search traffic.

The theory behind this is that the majority of your competitors will be bidding for the common terms, such as ‘houses for sale’. By making your keyword phrases more specific, you can pick up traffic that’s directly targeted to what your business is selling. After all, the aim of SEO is to drive relevant traffic to your site and by using specific keyword phrases, you can increase the chances of that traffic converting.

When optimising your agency site, it’s important to consider the mindset of the person searching for your keywords. What potential questions could they have in relation to them? Some examples of these could be:

  • Best schools in Sydney
  • Top real estate agents in Melbourne
  • Average property prices

If you can create content that provides a solution to people’s questions like this, you’ll be off to a great start. This will help to establish your brand’s authority in the market, which in turn will increase your audience’s trust in you. The more your audience trusts you, the more likely they are to convert into clients.

Target your website to voice searches

This one may seem bizarre to you, but recent studies have shown that over 50% of teens and more than 30% of adults are using voice-activated tools like Siri to search the web every day. As voice technology improves in the future, this figure can only go up.

Instead of the short search terms we just discussed, voice searches sound far more personal, which adds a whole new level to the SEO game. Instead of searching ‘best schools sydney’, people are likely to search ‘which are the best schools in Sydney?’ instead.

It isn’t known how google deciphers voice-activated searches, so the best way forward is to focus on creating great, natural sounding content. By doing this, your content is far more likely to pick up on the conversational search terms people are using via voice search. All in all, this method will benefit you far more than inserting random keywords into generic blog posts.

A quick win you can get over voice searches is creating a FAQ page. By doing this, you’ll hopefully be able to answer most of the obvious questions your target market is asking – from these answers, you can then link out to other, more detailed content.

Capitalise on review sites

When you search Google for a great restaurant in your area, you’re likely to get several review sites at the top of the search results. Many of these review sites and directories are so highly optimised that they’ll often appear above the own businesses’ websites. This is no different for real estate. When you perform a search like ‘properties for rent in Melbourne’, you’ll be presented with the same.

A crucial part of your SEO strategy is keeping on top of your agency’s reviews. Search on the keywords you’re targeting and trawl through the top-ranked review sites for any comments about your business.

Be sure to respond to reviews, too. If they’re positive,thank the customer for their business. If they’re negative, express your apologies and offer to resolve the situation. It’s essential that you don’t let bad reviews cloud your reputation, so try asking recent clients to review you. This will help to boost your online reputation and the opinion searchers have of you.

Make sure you’re mobile

In 2015, searches from tablets and phones beat the number of searches from desktops for the first time. Since then, that trend has only continued.

Some simple ideas to implement that will help make your pages mobile-friendly include:

  • Easily-locatable contact details on each page
  • Photo galleries users can swipe through
  • Large buttons for easy clicking

If your site isn’t optimised for mobile viewers, you’re going to miss out on a whole load of traffic. If a mobile viewer is greeted by a lack of functionality, they’re likely going to bounce straight off of your site before they even read your content.

With one of iProperty’s latest Real Estate website designs you can be assured that your website will be fully mobile ready.

Promote direct data

Although optimising your site for mobile-view is great, direct data will really help you out. If you can get your contact information to show up in search results, it will make searchers far more likely to contact you. If you can pair this with positive reviews, you’re definitely in for a win.

Direct data are pieces of data that appear with business listings within a search query, for example claiming your business on Google will enable your business contact details to appear when a search is done in your area for Real Estate companies.

Collaborate with other businesses

A fantastic way to boost your online search rankings is by generating backlinks from reputable sites.

In layman’s terms, that means getting other websites to post content that links to yours. Make contact with local mortgage brokers, home insurance companies and tradesmen to see if you can link to each other’s content.

This is an excellent method for proving your business credibility to Google. Direct links to your business are great, but even indirect mentions of your business will help to boost your search rankings.

In recent years, Google have made it harder and harder to cheat your way to the top. With Google’s current stance, the best way to reach the top of the search rankings is by providing a quality, reputable service for your audience. Invest in content, answer the questions your target market is asking and you’ll see noticeable improvements in your search traffic.

For more helpful real estate tips and information like this, check out our blog. You can also follow us on Facebook.

At iProperty, we provide leading online property management and real estate software,  responsive websites, and more.

Rural Agent

Tips for Selling Real Estate in Rural & Regional Markets

Rural AgentIt is different from city real estate

A core tenet to recognise at the outset of real estate sales in regional and rural Australia is it is indeed different to urban markets. Sure, the tenets of good value, of a good location, and of an attractive home and land package remain the same.

Yet, rural property is different from a variety of reasons. Now, don’t go and make a fool of yourself by saying a long g’day to everyone you come across as you wear your newly-bought Akubra. Instead, just be sure to incorporate the following into your rural ventures…

Weekend visitors

Though Australia is one of the most urbanised nations in the world – and the rate of population movement to cities like Sydney and Melbourne is only set to grow in years ahead – so too are many Australians finding the prospect of a weekend home away from the hurly burly of weekly city living of growing appeal. Understanding this market is essential to a sale.

For such a buyer, illustrating not only the quick and easy comfort of the home but the opportunity to arrive here quickly is core. Though that beautiful home that sits atop a nearby hill may enjoy splendid views to go along with its ‘Kookaburra’s Nest’ nickname – if that home is also 30 minutes outside of town via a often muddy road – showing a urban buyer a home just a one road off the main town strip will offer greater appeal to a potential resident with a Friday night commute from the city on their mind.

The seasonal market

Then you shall find buyers who seek to purchase with a view to consistent but infrequent visits. Once upon a time this may have been a real challenge to real estate salespeople as a homeowner would use the home in the summer months, and then offer forward the tall task to their local agent of finding a tenant or holiday visitors for the rest of the year.

Yet, with the diversity of the Australian economy that now provides many the opportunity for holidays – and even remote work/work-from-home opportunities – the prospect of attracting tenants year-round is a real possibility.

To sell a home with such an aim in mind cosyness and comfort remain important certainly – but as distinct from a weekend visitor and owner who knows exactly where they keep the teapot and how hard to hit the generator when it doesn’t work – ensuring modern amenities are featured throughout is essential to attract (and standout from other listings) in the seasonal market. So, though it’s totally OK if your local occasionally has a spotty pay TV signal, or internet yet to hit the speeds of urban areas, be sure – unless this is the chief selling point of the listing) that rural living does not equal rustic living – that you seek to showcase the beauty and rich beauty of life in rural Australia; while also enjoying the amenities of urban living.

The urban reality is real (target city visitors)

Accordingly, being aware of the shifting nature of Australian property is prudent too. Just as you may be showing a home to a soon-to-retire couple flirting with the idea of making a rural move – or two professionals in their 40’s seeking to buy an investment home – you may come across the aspiring young 20’s ‘super commuter’ who doesn’t mind the prospect of a long daily commute and seeks to buy a home for a more affordable price point than city living.

While knowing your buyer is always an essential foundation of good real estate, with the smaller markets and more diverse demographics who may seek a weekend home – for though an inner city studio apartment in Sydney may in the main be the target of young professionals and first home buyers – knowing your potential buyer’s capital and intentions for the home shall inform what to show them.

Yet, if in doubt? Be sure to be upfront and ask a lot of questions. Rather than this being seen as unprofessional, a solid guiding star of Real Estate 101 is providing personalised service to your client. All up, one of the core advantages of working in a rural real estate market is the greater opportunity to really get to know your buyer, and show them exactly why you’re the right agent for them. Be sure to make the very most of this opportunity.

For more helpful real estate tips and information like this, check out our blog. You can also follow us on Facebook.

At iProperty, we provide leading online property management and real estate software,  responsive websites, and more.

Instagram

Getting more Instagram Followers – Your Essential Guide

InstagramSince its release, Instagram’s surge in popularity shouldn’t come as a surprise. Instagram has provided the social media market with a new way to interact with each other, basing its concept off of purely visual stimuli.

By sharing images and short videos, the platform allows people to quickly post their experiences, emotions and the occasional restaurant meal. It’s not just for personal use, though. With engagement rates soaring since its release, businesses are flocking to Instagram to further grow their brands.

Instagram doesn’t come without its challenges. When there are so many brands publishing regular content, how do you get yours to stand out and gain those all-important followers? Don’t worry -we’ve put together this short guide to teach you the essential steps to getting more Instagram followers.

Define your Instagram marketing plan

Like any business investment, there’s no sense in hurtling into Instagram marketing and rushing decisions. If you do this, you’re likely to waste both time and money – and miss out on a lot of the results you deserve. Prior to starting, outline a clear Instagram marketing plan so you know where you’re starting, where you’re going – and how you’re going to get there. Here are some points to consider:

1. What sort of following should an agent in your area expect?

There’s no shame in stalking your competitors. In fact, with social media, it’s one of the best ways to learn. Take a look at a few of their audiences and gauge where your expectations should lie. How much engagement are their posts getting? How many followers do they have?

2. What content are your competitors posting?

Take a look at the sort of content that they’re posting. As mentioned in the previous step, you can learn a lot from their content. See which posts are performing the best and which aren’t doing so well – social media is a great place to learn which mistakes not too make.

3. How often should you post?

You guessed it – a great place to start with this is reviewing your competitors’ pages. Since they’ll likely already have the audience you’re looking for, this will provide you with a great perspective on how frequently you should be posting.

4. What type of content are they posting?

Developing a brand is all about telling a story. Take a look at how other businesses in your niche are getting engagement to find out what makes your target audience tick. Although copying content directly isn’t advised, it should give you some ideas of your own about where to take your Instagram marketing.

Remember – your page doesn’t have to be one big sales drive. Develop an audience by sharing the behind-the-scenes aspects of your brand. If you have an employee birthday, post a photo. In the middle of an office renovation? Your audience will love to see a video update on the progress. Doing these sorts of things will really help to put faces to your brand, making you far more relatable and trustworthy.

Define your ambitions

Before you start out, we strongly advise that you set out what you want to achieve. By doing this, you’ll have something concrete to work towards. Whether it’s hitting 100 followers or gaining your first enquiry through Instagram, knowing what you’re hoping to achieve will really help you quantify your progress. When you set out however, there are some great quick wins you can make to quickly grow your following:

1. Tell your existing audience about your Instagram profile

Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter or an email list, letting your existing audience know about your new channel is a great way to gain already-loyal followers. These people are more likely to engage with your content than new followers, who are cold to your brand.

2. Add links to your Instagram account on your website and email signatures

This simple move will let your current audience know that you’re now on Instagram. If you’re emailing sales prospects, offering them a link to your Instagram page will instantly help you build your brand reputation.

3. Engage with your audience

Following other users and engaging with their content is a great way to get a positive reaction. By liking, commenting or even sharing their posts, you’re more likely to get them interacting with your posts.

4. Post content with hashtags

Hashtags are a great way to reach new audiences. By adding hashtags to your posts, you’ll be able to target new audiences who are interested in your niche.

Host online competitions and offers

Regardless of what type of audience you’re targeting, one fact always rings true – people love free stuff. By creating an Instagram campaign that offers giveaways or service discounts in return for sharing or liking your content, you can easily expand your online reach and grow your audience.

Don’t be afraid to get creative with your competition ideas, though – ask your audience to post photos of their favourite locations in your area and create a hashtag that’s specific to your competition. The purpose of this is to get your content in front of your audience’s friends. By seeing them talking about you, they’re far more likely to trust your brand and follow you too.

Increase your followers with Instagram Paid Advertising

This might not be the first idea you pursue, but Instagram paid advertising is a great way to reach a completely new audience. By using advertising tools from Instagram partners, you can log on, post an ad and have it gain traction almost instantly.

Studies have shown that the visual nature of Instagram advertising means it performs 2.8 times better than other conventional methods. A good place to find out more is the official Instagram advertising page here.

 

So there you have it. Instagram marketing isn’t always straightforward, but if you can identify your audience and target them with the right content, you’ll gain Instagram followers – fast. Also check out our 5 Easy Ways to Grow your Instagram Following in 2016 for more helpful ideas.

The key point to remember is this – social media marketing doesn’t always happen overnight. Gaining followers is often a gradual process, so don’t lose faith if you don’t achieve instant results. Keep moving forward, follow your plan and you’ll reach your goals before you know it.

For more helpful real estate tips and information like this, check out our blog. You can also follow us on Facebook.

At iProperty, we provide leading online property management and real estate software,  responsive websites, and more.

iPropertyNewWebsite-01

New Aussie Homes Website

iPropertyNewWebsite-01Aussie Home originally had their website provided by realestate.com.au, but due to REA ceasing this product offering Aussie Home Real Estate required a new website, that offered far more functionally than they had before, and one that would work on mobile devices.

This is where the team iDashboard stepped in, creating them a fantastic new website within a very short timeframe.

The new Aussie Home Real Estate website is completely responsive; working on Desktops, Tablets and Smartphones allowing their staff and visitors to access any property any time.

The new interactive home page contains a great list of ‘must-have’ features, this includes:

  • Property Search Panel
  • Featured Property Gallery
  • Latest Listing on Home Page
  • Recent Testimonials
  • Market Appraisal Request Interactive Form
  • Latest Sold Properties
  • Latest News and Updates
  • Property Videos
  • Buyer and Renter Email Alerts Signup/Login

Along with this fantastic new home page, the website boasts a revamped property grid list view, property information pages, interactive forms and many more professionally designed features.

We wish the team at Aussie Home Real Estate all the best with their new website and look forward to our ongoing relationship.

If you are looking for a new website, wether you are starting from scratch or want to upgrade to a modern responsive design, contact iDashboard today.

MC_macMC_ipad

Real Estate Agent

Real Estate Agents – Overcome the Clichés!

Real Estate AgentCommon stereotypes place real estate agents only a rung or two higher on the trustworthiness ladder than a used car salesman, yet of course the clichés are not based on fact.

While an incredibly tiny minority of agents might deserve this tainted reputation (and to be certain, every industry has one or two bad apples), the fact is that the vast majority of real estate agents demonstrate a very high level of honesty, integrity, and commitment to ethical practice. And this is widely reported in market research surveys where pollers go directly to the source – in other words, to recent home buyers and sellers.

So what can you do as a real estate agent to foster trust and a positive image for yourself and your business – and overcome the inaccurate clichés?

What Makes a Vendor Choose an Agent?

  1. Individual market research
  2. Local property sales and advertising
  3. Recommendations from friends and family
  4. Social media marketing
  5. Online agent listings (for example, realestate.com.au)
  6. Local advertising sign boards
  7. Newspaper property advertising

First and foremost, be honest and realistic. Don’t simply tell the vendor what they want to hear. This is particularly critical when discussing value and the price a property may realistically sell for in the current market.

Vendor satisfaction with an agent and confidence does tend to wane as the sale process plays out. This is often a result of not affecting a quick sale, having to lower price expectations, and suboptimal communications between agent and vendor. This is why honesty and open communication channels from the first interaction are so important. Even if the ultimate sale price achieved was above vendor expectation, poor communication and any perception of unreliability on the agent’s part will result in a lower rating by the vendor of the overall experience.

How Can You Overcome the Clichés?

There are definitive ways a real estate agent can overcome clichés and negative stereotypes relating to their profession:

  • Be proactive, hear what your client wants, and work to deliver on your promises to them.
  • Be friendly. Like in any other business of an interpersonal nature, a real estate agent must be friendly, approachable, open and easy to communicate with. Your clients must feel confident that they can talk to you at any time throughout the process.
  • Be Informed. It’s your job to have an intimate knowledge and understanding of the market, supporting your claims with raw data and demonstrating experience and expertise.
  • The sales process must be transparent in all aspects.
  • Be Helpful. Provide your clients with valuable advice regarding property presentation and staging, tradesmen, inspections, and the validity of all offers. Give that “little bit extra” – it will be appreciated and remembered.
  • Maintain a warm yet professional relationship throughout the entire sales process through completion.

A great real estate agent will continue the relationship beyond actually affecting the sale. These are the agents who will be remembered for all the right reasons, along with demonstrable honesty and integrity – and these are the agents who will be recommended to others. There is no better way of generating leads in this business than by letting your work do the talking!

 

For more helpful real estate tips and information like this, check out our blog. You can also follow us on Facebook.

At iProperty, we provide leading online property management and real estate software,  responsive websites, and more.

Email Strategy

Steps to Success with Your Email Marketing Strategy

Email StrategyAs a successful real estate agent, lead generation is key to the success of your business, and having an effective email marketing strategy is a crucial piece of your overall marketing pie. Yet simply sending out an email periodically to your customer list isn’t enough; you need to ensure that your regular email newsletter is captivating enough to not only make it through the reams of emails consumers receive every day, but to also be opened, read, and for subscription to it to continue.

Here are some important considerations for creating an email newsletter that will engage your client database and encourage interaction:

Who is Your Audience?

Every marketing strategy must first and foremost identify who its target audience is. This will include both your core audience as well as secondary audiences. These are based on demographics and will most likely represent property sellers primarily, and property buyers as a secondary target market. Identify their behaviours, interests, and motivations, and create your content accordingly. 

Create Captivating Content with Value

You need to deliver content that offers value to your email client database. The effort of opening and reading your emails needs to be rewarded in what you offer. Your content must be informative, interesting, innovative, and reading it must offer some reward – be that tangible or intangible. Your content must at all times reflect your brand identity and company mission. Capture your audience in the subject line and make them want to read more – and remember to set the tone that it’s all about the reader.

Your email Marketing System Matters

The system you choose for your email marketing matters. There is a cornucopia of options out there, and not all are going to suit your business. Here at iProperty we highly recommend using our iDashboard system, which can easily and automatically bring in your property and contact details, or a standalone email system, such as MailChimp or StampReady.

Fresh and Innovative Design

Looks matter. This is no truer than in a property newsletter; a fresh and inviting appearance will translate to email marketing campaign success. Make the emails clean, modern, and simple in design, and optimise them across both desktop and an array of the most used mobile devices. Include an appealing header image, short snippets of meaningful text, visual imagery, and a clear call to action. 

Five Crucial Tips for Real Estate Email Marketing Success:

  1. Use your subject line to hook the audience, engaging them by creating a desire to learn more
  2. Personalise your emails – ensure the sender is an individual as opposed to an umbrella company name
  3. Personalise the email with the subscriber’s name in the first line
  4. Be creative and innovative
  5. Make connection simple with links in the email to your website, social profiles, and your contact details

 

iProperty is your perfect digital partner for all aspects of your online real estate presence. From real estate websites to strategic email marketing, we work collaboratively with you to achieve greatness. Contact us today.

Share Content

Inspiring Others to Share Your Content

Share ContentIf you are already immersed in content strategy or about to ramp up your inbound marketing tactics, you probably understand that there is significant value involved with sharing the content that you promote and produce. One of the best ways for you to improve customer engagement and improve brand awareness is sharing content. Many people wonder if there is some hidden science behind how people share online.

Online sharing can be a challenge to comprehend as there is an ever-growing and ever-changing consumer landscape filled with online readers and buyers who are very diverse, yet fickle. If we work to understand the psychology behind social sharing and what encourages the interaction of web users, we will more readily create content that entices people to want to share with others.

The Big Question – Why Do People Share?

As online community members, want others to see quality posts or posts that we believe have beneficial information. There are many reasons that we may want others to see specific posts, but for the most part, these specific content pieces cause internal reactions and we want others to experience those same reactions and emotions. Posts that we find uplifting, hopeful, exciting, inspirational, relatable, or funny, are much more likely to be shared.

Because of the emotions invoked, language and tone play a significant role in the success of written content. Anything considered derogatory, negative, or bitter may get some shares, but those are often for the wrong reasons and not for your positive benefit. You don’t want to create content that will be viewed as the subject of Internet ridicule or some meme. You want to think about the emotions that people will experience from your content. Determine if those emotions are what people want so they can impact their own followers and friends.

Make your readers feel good or respond positively when they read your content. If you are creating content that could be considered negative, such as the 10 big mistakes you are making when it comes to a specific subject, you want a positive tone and more nurturing language to support progress. Don’t scold a reader who may be making those mistakes, but tell stories that he or she can relate with or add-in some humor.

We Share to Give Insight into Our Own Lives

Many times we share information or content to let others have an insight into our own opinions, thoughts, or feelings. This lets people give others a better sense of who they are as individuals. We don’t only show our brand personality in our content, but a conversational voice in our writing can provide opinions and information, resulting in more compelling content. Even those in your audience who don’t agree with your opinion can have emotions evoked and that should never be ignored or discounted.

Share Observational and Insightful Content

Content has been proven to make us feel more connected to others or to specific events. Content is a great way to join a bigger conversation of timely events while engaging your reader base. In this case, posts are shared because they contribute to the overall bigger conversation. People are often united through highly emotional events. They can also provide ample opportunities to show sympathy and compassion as well as celebration and joy.

Emotions are often not associated with your business or company, but creating content that touches the real human sentiment gives you the opportunity to create something that enables readers to connect to deeply and identify with on multiple levels. Several companies who promoted content that celebrate the decision to legalise gay marriage in the U.S. saw significant support from consumers with the same view. There was a time when staying neutral on religion, gender, politics, and diversity was recommended, but now it is a way to connect to consumers.

Connecting with Our Friends

We also share to connect with our friends. Since social media have evolved into a bigger platform than status updates, shareable content has found a home. Content that is niche, personable, and personal is an extension of the person that is often shared on social media accounts. Instead of pouring our hearts out for the world, we let content do the talking.

Companies sometimes find themselves struggling to create inclusive content. They want it broad enough for wide appeal, but not too generic at the same time. Creating personalised content will increase your odds of making a stronger connection with your readers who will share that content as a part of their opinions, thoughts, or feelings. So to sum it up, the psychology behind creating content is that we want to create posts that others will want to share and see.

For more helpful real estate tips and information like this, check out our blog. You can also follow us on Facebook.

At iProperty, we provide leading online property management and real estate software,  responsive websites, and more.

Internet Markerting

Internet Marketing Basics for Novice Real Estate Agents

Internet MarkertingMany real estate transactions make their start from an online search. Real estate agents need to make their brand visible online so they can become more visible. You want to become the top choice when people conduct web searches then look for an agent to represent them. You want a brand that will convince someone that there are experience and expertise and that you offer quality service and you have the capabilities to meet the needs of the individual’s real estate needs.

Claim Your Business Correctly

By claiming your business, you can draw people to you. You want to help them find you. Business information can appear via Google or Yelp without the direct involvement of the business. But as a business, you need to get involved so you can control what is being said. It is your responsibility to fill in those blanks on public pages and create your own branded pages before someone else speaks up for you.

You need to provide enough information so your audience will be able to know you fast and understand what you can do for them. Effective home page website text should explain why an agency offers its clients immediate results and benefits, then use your About Us page to delve into your passions and skills. A generic search can turn up your compelling content when you just take these steps. You want them to quickly understand why your business is worth their time.

Social Presence Improvements

You should make your online image in a way that people will view you as likable and approachable. Those who have social media accounts display pieces of their personality. By following our 8 Profile Picture Rules you will be well on your way to a fantastic online image

Include colourful, attractive photos of homes you have sold. Feature happy customers at their new residences. This is what draws attention. Choosing the right images for your social networks are important, as this is an easy way to increase user engagement, so don’t forget to read our post on How to Select the Right Social Media Images for Your Content. You may even want to have a look at our 5 Tips to Spring Clean Your Online Real Estate Marketing.

Content that is Informative

You want to provide content that is informative. You want to have content that will help the sellers and buyers as they work through the process. You want to give them simple answers that will spark their interest and turn them into leads, and hopefully, customers. Read our Step by Step guides for building your Content Marketing Strategy.

Email and Then Some!

After you have created brand recognition and have provided detailed and beneficial information at no charge, you will have the ability to start pulling in those inbound marketing leads that are based solely on your image. You can then incorporate email campaigns to keep in touch.

To master your real estate online marketing techniques and increase lead generation, contact a professional digital marketing agency that has experience in working with real estate agents.

For more helpful real estate tips and information like this, check out our blog. You can also follow us on Facebook.

At iProperty, we provide leading online property management and real estate software,  responsive websites, and more.