Monthly Archives: December 2015

The Marketing Dilemma

Traditional marketing, also known as outbound marketing, has become less of a focus for many companies who are implementing more modern methods of internet marketing. Many ask: Can you really run a thriving business with internet marking alone—without direct mail, print advertisements, custom marketing material, and other offline events? Others question: Can you still run a successful business with traditional marketing methods alone?

The answer to those questions is “no” and “it depends.” There are always examples of outlier businesses that still thrive by using old-fashioned marketing techniques or that thrive on internet marketing methods only. For the majority of companies, however, balance is crucial.

Inbound vs Outbound Marketing

Outbound marketing is also known as disruptive or interruptive marketing, because it disrupts the consumer. Television advertisements, radio advertisements, and trade booths are highly disruptive, and often turn away consumers rather than allure them.

Many marketers still report that over half of their leads come from outbound marketing and still rely on phone calls and newspaper ad responses. However, many marketers also suggest that the majority of their leads come from inbound marketing. So, which is the correct method?

HubSpot, an online company that compiles the latest marketing statistics and trends, reports that more than 12 million searches on the web are performed each month in the U.S. alone—that doesn’t even take into account Australia and the rest of the world. 61% of global internet users research products online, and 54% more leads are generated via inbound marketing, according to HubSpot.

So, if this is the case, why do so many of your peers rely on outbound marketing only? Is outbound marketing truly more effective?

Delving Deeper into Outbound Marketing

In essence, outbound marketing can still be highly successful, but it depends on how sophisticated the marketer is and the sophistication of your ideal client. For sophisticated clients and marketers, traditional marketing is still successful for attracting and winning new customers, but this method alone likely won’t result in extreme success in this digital age of content marketing.

There is no question that outbound marketing is still an important part of any marketing strategy—especially in certain niches, industries, and regions—but inbound marketing remains the direction of marketing in the future and should be a part of your overall strategy. Ideally, to be the most successful, you should use inbound marketing and outbound marketing in your overall marketing strategy—for now anyway.

Balancing Inbound and Outbound Marketing Methods

Marketing expert Chris Coward states that “a happy customer is an informed customer.”  Risk surrounds the purchasing decisions of customers who feel either undersold or oversold. If a customer hasn’t been educated on the true value of a product or service, he or she could become disappointed or unappreciative. Disappointment can lead to low customer satisfaction which can decrease customer retention and have a negative impact on word-of-mouth referrals.

Inbound marketing is known as an educational tool. Today’s consumers seek out information, reviews, and research products and services before they buy, and inbound marketing allows you to be just a few clicks away with that information.

If you position yourself as an industry leader who provides the information your consumers need, your consumers are more likely to become happy customers who are well-informed and who attribute you with providing the necessary information. You’re now in a position to convert that happy customer to your happy customer.

The right marketing mix will consist of both inbound and outbound marketing so you can still reach the sophisticated customers while being attentive to other customers’ needs for informative content. This now begs the question: Is modern marketing just about high-quality content creation? The answer to that is “no.”

Inbound marketing includes informative and helpful resources, optimised landing pages, search advertisements, and more. When it comes to inbound marketing, there are a number of innovative techniques, including using public speaking to attract leads. In order to strike the right balance between your inbound and outbound marketing efforts, you’ll have to take a deeper look at your audience and target market.

If your ideal customers are young and tech-savvy, you may require little outbound marketing methods. However, if your ideal customer typically reads newspapers, magazines, or attends launches and events, you’ll likely need to rely on more outbound marketing techniques.

When it comes to inbound marketing vs outbound marketing, there is no one-size-fits-all formula that every business can follow, because every business is different and every target market is different.

Your business likely shouldn’t ignore outbound methods altogether, but also shouldn’t bypass inbound marketing methods. You should be doing a mix of both, while continuing to stay up-to-date on the latest marketing trends. The digital age is ever-changing and marketing will continue to change with it as buyers’ habits change. What you’ll need to remember is what marketing really is: the art and science of compelling and convincing humans.

If you need help creating a compelling agency website, real estate professional profile website, or need to streamline your business with leading real estate software and customer relationship management, contact us. At iProperty, we do all of that and more.

Accepting a New Era of Real Estate Marketing

When the idea of internet marketing for real estate came about, many real estate professionals were averse to the change, still clinging to the tried and trusted methods of traditional marketing.  While many were quick to go online, the idea of accepting the internet as a serious tool to help boost business and convert leads was still hard to grasp. Most felt that internet marketing and social media marketing were a fad and a “new age” tactic with little potential.

Fast forward to today and most real estate agents understand they have to use the internet if they’re going to be successful. The challenge has now become how they should use the internet—not if they should—because concepts such as inbound marketing, social media marketing, drip email marketing, search engine optimisation, and more can become overwhelming.

Pros of Internet Marketing

Today, the mind-set has shifted drastically and real estate professionals and developers across Australia, the U.S., India, and other countries are using digital media to market real estate. The acceptance of internet marketing has happened, in large part, because real estate professionals and developers have seen that it’s very successful in converting leads. Today, nearly all serious real estate agencies and developers have websites and social media accounts to try to capitalise on attracting those leads.

For buyers, the internet has revolutionised how they shop for houses. Buyers can gather knowledge online, make comparisons, and read reviews before even viewing a home in person or selecting a real estate agent. They may not even view a home in person, but may take a virtual tour or watch a walk-through video. The rise of the internet has had a drastic impact on how buyers approach home buying; buyers enter the process more informed than ever before.

With the increase in internet marketing, real estate developers and professionals are vying for the attention of buyers. Internet marketing is becoming a highly effective part of developers’ overall marketing budget and one that can account for as much as 25-30% of their budget. They’re very aware that their websites, as opposed to their sales offices, are their new calling cards, which is why they’re investing heavily into making them more attractive and user-friendly.

Cons of Internet Marketing

While there are many benefits to internet marketing, there are also cons. Due to the fact that smaller developers and real estate agencies launched websites early on, but failed to update them, many unavailable properties still remain online and erroneous information clouds the buyer’s search. Many first-party sellers also neglect to remove properties that are no longer available, cluttering up the listings of current properties for sale.

Individuals who have had a poor experience—whether due, in part, to the agency, developer, or simply the circumstances surrounding a transaction—may put a nasty review online that harms the agency’s or developer’s reputation. Others may publish false information that hasn’t been fact checked, which may create problems later on.

Real estate has and always will be a people business, because there is a human element one cannot take out of the process of viewing a home and negotiating a price, even if the viewing and negotiation happen virtually.

Though there are, and will likely always be, causes for concern, internet marketing remains a powerful tool in real estate and is sure to become an even more powerful one.

If you know your internet marketing isn’t at the level it should be, or you need a more attractive and user-friendly website, reach out to us via our contact page.

Before we get started with a real life example of outbound vs inbound marketing, let’s recap.

As previously discussed on the blog, inbound marketing refers to a gentler approach to marketing that essentially pulls the customer towards you. With inbound marketing, the customer finds you.

Outbound marketing is a more interruptive form of marketing (typically traditional marketing) where you find the customer.

In today’s digital landscape, and with the changing perceptions of customers, inbound marketing is the form of marketing more and more organisations are leaning towards. There is definitely still room for an integrated approach to marketing by utilising both inbound and outbound tactics, however.

Inbound Marketing Tactics

• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Social Media Marketing
• Paid Search Advertising
• Content Marketing
• Email Marketing

(For additional information on each marketing tactic, click on the one of interest to learn more).

Outbound Marketing Tactics

• Direct Mail
• Commercials(TV or radio)
• Newspapers
• Print Media (billboards, magazines, publication advertisements)

A Real Life Example

For a real life example of outbound vs inbound marketing, we’ll use a real estate agent who is new to selling residential real estate and walk him through each process.

This agent has never sold property before and is trying to get as many listings as possible. He might use the following outbound marketing techniques:

• Cold calls to people whose homes are listed for sale by other agents, but haven’t sold yet or to people in his target area
• Ads in the local newspaper
• Flyers in mailboxes or a direct mail campaign in hopes that interested people will call him
• Radio ads on the local radio station

This strategy is a strategy that’s been employed for years, and some might argue that it’s worked form them in the past, why wouldn’t it work now? It’s not a bad strategy and it’s been a good strategy for real estate agents in the past, but this is completely interruptive, direct, and 100% outbound marketing.

Understanding that the landscape of marketing is changing, here is what a real estate agent who uses an inbound marketing approach might do:

• Create an easy-to-navigate, simple website where he can share his real estate story, mention his service offerings, and list his contact details.
• Blog consistently(once a week or a few times a month) and share posts that talk about common questions he receives, tips for home buyers and sellers, and other helpful information for those on, or embarking on, a real estate journey.
• Share and promote his content on social media, and stay active in social media groups and on his own Facebook page by answering questions and interacting with people.
• Build his subscriber list and increase his leads by offering a quality piece of free downloadable content (that resonates with buyers and sellers) on his website in exchange for visitors’ contact details. An example of this type of content might be: 10 important things to look for when hiring a real estate agent or tips to successfully navigate the home selling or home buying process or simple tips to increase the value of your home.

This approach is completely inbound, values-first driven, and informative. It’s helpful and positions the agent so the customer can find him.

Which approach would lead you to pick up the phone and call or send an email to this agent? Would you speak to the interruptive, “salesy” guy or the knowledgeable and helpful real estate agent who has already provided you with a great deal of value?

When you first provide your potential customers with value, it places them in a position to naturally want to reciprocate by helping you in return. This is what we know of as the law of reciprocity.

Are you still clinging to your outbound marketing techniques, because inbound marketing seems too new or too overwhelming to begin?  Here are some more statistics about the decrease in outbound marketing effectiveness:

• Outbound marketing budgets are being cut annually and many are only a quarter or less than overall marketing spend.
• 69% of marketers are now reporting that valuable content is superior to direct mail and PR campaigns in terms of results.
• Blog posts influence purchasing decisions 63% more of the time than advertisements in magazines.

This may all sound great, but now you might be wondering how to make the transition. How do you possibly go from focusing on outbound marketing—which you may have done most of your career—to inbound marketing?

The transition starts with the journey of the buyer.

The Journey of the Buyer

The journey of the buyer details the stages a buyer or potential buyer goes through when he has a problem and needs a solution to that problem.

The buyer (or seller) will move from awareness to consideration to decision.

Awareness

Awareness occurs when the buyer becomes aware that he has a problem, but doesn’t know what the solution is.

For example, a buyer may want to sell his home, but not know what it’s worth. He may conduct a Google search for comparable sales in his neighbourhood.

The real estate agent who is already focused on inbound marketing will be one step ahead of him—he has already posted a blog post with comparables tailored to that particular neighbourhood. The agent promoted it well on social media and ensured it was SEO-friendly, and the buyer lands on the article via his search.

Next, the buyer enters his email address in exchange for a free guide on what to do to increase the value of his home. This is inbound marketing at its finest for lead generation.

Consideration

Once a buyer has identified the solution to his problem, he now has to consider which solution provider to choose to solve the problem.

For example, the buyer is now ready to consider his choices. But, wait! He’s already been receiving regular emails from a real estate agent who knows his stuff, is very helpful, and offers a free valuation. He already knows where he’s going to go first.

Decision

In the decision stage, the buyer decides upon one provider who he is confident can solve his problem.

For example, the buyer is ready to make a decision, but it’s no longer one he really needs to think about. All the helpful information and expert advice this buyer has received from the inbound marketing salesperson makes it easy to make a decision. He chooses him.

This real estate agent now has a client. Both the client and agent are happy!

So, what were the costs to this approach? It cost a once-off investment of a professionally designed, easy-to-navigate website, a bit of marketing automation software, and time creating content and promoting it.

The framework is now in place to operate every day, year-round—even while the real estate agent isn’t taking calls because he’s asleep, on holiday, or at lunch (he hasn’t been able to silence his phone to enjoy lunch in years!). His website is continually generating leads, and it’s permanent—unlike a print advertisement or radio ad.

Now that’s smart and effective marketing that has adapted to our new digital age.

What do you think: Is inbound marketing the new marketing approach for you?

iProperty helps business leaders, entrepreneurs, and visionaries develop values-driven brands. Contact us for professional websites, microsites, apps, software, and more.

What is inbound marketing?

There is a lot of talk about inbound and outbound marketing. We’ve talked about inbound marketing on the blog in the past, but it’s time to delve a little deeper.

When you utilise inbound marketing, the customer finds you, which is an excellent long term investment.

Implementing a proper inbound marketing strategy does require some time, effort, and a bit of investment, but the benefits far outweigh the costs to start. More and more companies and brands are scaling back their outbound marketing efforts to focus on inbound marketing.

It’s not an and-or scenario, but as the digital landscape changes there is an increase in inbound marketing efforts. As the digital landscape shifts, there is also an increase in the demand for seamless online design and responsive website technology (a core focus at iProperty).

An inbound marketing strategy is called non-interruptive, because unlike an outbound marketing strategy, it doesn’t interrupt people with ads.

In an outbound marketing strategy you’re, in a sense, pushing people towards you. In an inbound marketing strategy, you’re drawing them in using gentler tactics. Let’s take a look at more of them in detail:

Outbound Marketing: You Find the Customer

As stated above, an outbound marketing strategy disrupts people and is sometimes called interruptive marketing. Outbound marketing has experienced tremendous success in the past, despite its tendency to be classified as pushy advertising. Here are some outbound marketing techniques:

• Commercials (TV or Radio)
• Direct Mail
• Newspapers
• Print Media (billboards, magazines, publication advertisements)

This type of marketing is in our face, and it’s likely influenced our purchasing decisions. It’s what we typically think about when we think about advertising.

So, is traditional marketing or outbound marketing really as successful as we believe it to be?

Statistics show that 44% of direct mail is never opened. 86% of people skip over TV commercials, and the percentage of people who read print newspapers has fallen to 23% in the last few years and continues to fall. Traditional media is hard to measure and is said to be somewhat effective, but people just aren’t responding to outbound marketing the way they once were.

Inbound Marketing: The Customer Finds You

An inbound marketing strategy draws customers inward, pulling them to you. With inbound marketing, you position yourself to be there when someone needs you or more information.

Inbound marketing is based on the premises that when someone needs information, they’ll ask for it via the internet or social media.

When you implement an inbound marketing strategy, you provide the information to people, so that they learn more about you and what you have to offer.

Inbound marketers use some of the following techniques:

• Social Media Marketing
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Content Marketing
• Paid Search Advertising
• Email Marketing

So, how does inbound marketing measure up when compared to its counterpart?

• 44% of online shoppers use a search engine, and 61% of internet users worldwide research products online.
• Business-to-Business Marketers who utilise blogs generate 57% more leads per month than those who do not.
• Leads that come to a site from search engines have a 14.6% close rate. Leads that come from print advertising or direct mail have a mere close rate of 1.7%.
• Per lead, the cost of inbound marketing is 62% less expensive than the cost of outbound marketing.

Statistics reveal what we’ve come to suspect: We live in a world where people don’t want to be interrupted—they want to be helped. The message becomes not “use my services” or “buy my stuff,” but “how can I help you?”

With inbound marketing, you remove the pushy sales messages and provide helpful and relevant content that your potential customers are looking for. If you need help building a website, mobile app, or platform—one that speaks to the increasing demands of your potential customers—contact us to find out how we can help.

For more helpful information about content marketing and inbound and outbound marketing, check out these articles:

• How to Provide Value on Your Real Estate Blog
• 12 Secrets No One Shares About Real Estate Marketing
• How to use Content Marketing for Lead Generation
• Step-by-Step Content Marketing Strategy: Step One