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The people have spoken; tech-savvy agents win the right to list!
In a December 2017 NAR report, buyers and sellers both reported that being cutting-edge and tech-savvy was one of the top three things they most desired in a real estate agent!
Being able to offer forward-thinking marketing strategies to sellers is no longer an option when it comes to getting exposure for their listings.
So how do you show off your skills and get sellers to think of you as the Steve Jobs of real estate? Today, I’m sharing six modern marketing methods that will not only impress sellers but bring in the buyers.
3D Virtual Staging
Gone are the days when you have to waste away the hours or spend thousands of dollars to get your listings professionally staged!
I know I don’t need to explain to you that staging has a massive impact on your success rate of getting a house sold for more money in less time.
Now you can pay amazing virtual staging companies like this one that will transform your drab and dull listings into showstoppers. Check out some samples of what they can do below:
Neighborhood Profile
Buyers aren’t just interested in finding a house that will suit their needs at home; they want a home that will help them improve, or at least maintain their lifestyle.
They want to know what their life could be like if they were to buy a particular house.
As a listing agent, it is your job to showcase the benefits of a neighborhood, as much as it is to showcase the property you are trying to sell.
$125 Real Estate Listing Descriptions | Listing Descriptions That Sell - Sarah Layton
Once you have created all of this content please share it on your listing’s website, your main website, your YouTube channel, and your social media platforms too.
Creating this hyper-local content around your listing will improve your SEO so you get found by buyers searching for local homes online, lend you credibility as the local expert, and impress your sellers. Not to mention, you can re-use the content you create on all future listings in the same area!
Matterport Tours And Virtual Reality
One of the hottest tech tools on the market right now are virtual tours which can be used online, on mobile, or through virtual reality devices. The stats about how these tours boost sales are pretty impressive:
Inman reports that listings with dynamic visual content get 403% more inquiries
Apartments.com says that listings with 3D walkthroughs see 49% more qualified leads
Matterport is the leading provider of virtual tours. Here’s what they claim to be the benefits of using virtual tours for your listings:
“Stop editing for hours and worrying about missed shots or price-per-image. Matterport's unique 3D capture process lets you take unlimited snapshots from every angle.”
“The award-winning, immersive 3D walkthrough that wins listings while delighting clients with more buyer interest and fewer open houses.”
“With the power of True3D™, we turn your 3D black-and-white floor plans, virtual reality tours, videos, and technical assets with the push of a button. Everything is automated so you spend minimal time editing and maximum time selling.”
Social Media
I shouldn’t have to tell you that you need to be using social media to push out the content you create around your listings but I am going to anyway.
Now that Millennials are the largest demographic of the world’s population, you can’t afford to not use social to market your listings.
However, I want to caution you here…
Do NOT turn your social media channels into great big commercials for your listings. Remember, people are turned off by direct-selling now. In this digital era of real estate, you need to be seen as a valuable resource by your audience if you want them to trust you. Share those videos you created around the local businesses, schools, and amenities, and remind them that you have a listing available in that neck of the woods that they should check out.
Watch: How To Make Sure Your Social Media Is Ready For Millennial Home Buyers
Host a contest on social to get more heads in the door! My favorite giveaway for contests is a SUPER effective and affordable way of giving away free vacations. Lenders and agents are KILLLLLING it by giving away these vacays and the clients love them too! You can check out this badass program here. - Oh and by the way NO these are NOT timeshare scams! There’s no sleazy sales presentation to attend.
Text Message Marketing
I want to caution you about using and abusing text message marketing. Please, please, please, please, DO NOT overuse text messages for your marketing or be overly spammy about it.
I suggest reserving this for special events and promotions and being very careful about how you word the message.
Let’s say you want to promote an open house. Instead of blasting out the details like date, time, and address, try something like this:
“Hey there, hope you’re having a great day so far! Just wondering what you had planned this Saturday?”
Then send a follow-up message that’s equally casual and ambiguous. Something like:
“Oh cool! Just an FYI I’m having an open house from 1-4pm and I’d love it if you could stop by and we can catch up a bit! I’ll be giving away free vacations to Cancun to everyone that comes (no strings attached)! Plus you can stop me from eating all the food and drinking all the champagne ; )”
If they say they’re in, send them a link to add it to their calendar to increase the likelihood that they actually show up. If they shoot you down it’s no big because now you’ve opened the door of communication and can chat with them a bit further.
There’s also no harm in sending out a follow-up message after the event to let them know you’re grateful to them for showing up and lending their support.
Alexa Flash Briefing Update
Slowly but surely agents and brokers are waking up and realizing the goldmine that is Amazon’s Alexa for growing their business.
One way you can use Alexa to your advantage is to talk about listings on a Flash Briefing skill. In fact, some agents are creating Flash Briefing Alexa skills for the sole purpose of discussing local listings and they are having great results!
There’s no need to only feature your listings either. You could easily talk about other listings that you want to sell and conclude with a CTA to get in touch with you to schedule a tour or learn more about the property.
Buyers and sellers LOVE agents that do this!!!
I’d be happy to help you get your own real estate Alexa Skill set up to do this. Simply book a free consultation with me here to get started.
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