Whether it be in professional careers or personal lives, emotions play a huge part in everyone’s decision-making process and this has been used time and again by marketers in promoting and selling products.
In the world of real estate, people tend to be wary about relying on their emotions to help them make choices on acquiring property no matter the purpose for which it is intended.
There are several reasons behind this, but one of the most common and resounding reasons is that real estate requires a great deal of attention in terms of value and its impact on one’s financial status.
For instance, it takes a great deal of convincing and soul-searching for someone to buy a house than to go out and buy a book.
Numerous factors come to play when it comes to real estate and emotions contribute a lot in this aspect.
Emotions connect with people like stories. In a highly-competitive and oversaturated market such as real estate, where the quality of options becomes a norm, people will always look for an emotional connection with the product or brand – especially one that they can relate to to help them decide to purchase or not.
No wonder, today’s advertisements revolve around the art of storytelling like cars, food, and luxury items. However, advertising for real estate is way different from advertising or promoting cars.
The value of storytelling to real estate marketing
When someone markets to sell a product, the common practice is to get a consumer to choose your product from that of a competitor, of which the message is usually focused on the brand.
How you advertise products relay the story of the values that are associated with the brand that also carries the emotions that you expect consumers to associate with.
In the case of real estate, every property option that a future homeowner sees is unique and distinctive – no two homes are the same. At first glance, everyone sees a house or property as something that does not yet hold any intrinsic value to them – after all, it is just a house.
However, what matters is the life and experiences that they picture themselves around the house to call it home.
It is the story of how they can make a living in a house and what they can do to ensure that it becomes part of themselves – the prospect of having an amazing future, a place where they celebrate, enjoy private moments or consider it their ultimate refuge when the going gets tough.
That is why a story built on emotions is vital to real estate marketing.
Real estate marketing has evolved
There’s no denying that storytelling has become the lifeblood of current real estate marketing practices, which was more difficult back then without the digital space.
Back then, marketing was limited to print and broadcast advertising, which was very expensive depending on print size and broadcast air time.
It is only during the last couple of decades that the digital era has started to provide better and far-reaching capabilities without burning a hole in your pocket.
How to find stories
At first, coming up with ideas for stories can be quite challenging because you need to develop one that would stand out from the rest, but can be a simple undertaking as long as you know how to use and apply it.
Reach out to property owners
Finding unique and genuine stories with property owners is the best way to get started. It can be a story that will connect with your audience.
If your property description is similar to others in terms of content and description, you may need to review and re-assess your strategy. Using similar approaches as others can cause your campaign to combine with others and will not make it stand out and be seen.
What makes the property unique? Does it have a story worth telling that goes with it? Is the property a part of local history? There can be a lot more so make sure to use this strategy to your advantage.
Help bring out the best
What if there’s no story to tell? This is where your creative juices need to come out.
One good example is to stir your interest by influencing positive emotions to market the property.
Agents are skilled at identifying and enhancing the best qualities of a home to add value.
Use this skill to motivate and inspire through storytelling by influencing the audience’s perspective by seeing things beyond the usual.
Establish authority
Make yourself valuable by sharing stories of success, how happy and satisfied clients were assured of their real estate outcomes, how they were able to save money, how they were able to find reliable and trustworthy home service providers, etc.
These stories can help build trust, reliance and confidence in people to help them in their decision-making process.
Make sure to also cite references for information or content you share that complements your stories, that way you also get to refer your sources to your audience and provide them with mileage as well.
Use multiple mediums
You have your website, social media, and digital marketing tools to help you maximize exposure online and make things easier for you when it comes to visibility and mileage.
Video marketing is a powerful tool, so take advantage of it to share your stories.
Always remember, people still look for the human element so when it comes to your real estate business, appeal to your audience using stories that humanise your brand and connect with your audience.