In today’s competitive real estate market, simply listing properties isn’t enough. Your clients are bombarded with choices, and you'll be overlooked if your marketing doesn’t stand out. You need a straightforward real estate marketing plan that helps you connect with potential buyers and sellers on their terms and guide them through their real estate journey.
Imagine having a clear marketing strategy so buyers and sellers immediately see you as their go-to expert. This guide will show you how to build a robust real estate marketing plan that gets you noticed and helps you close deals faster.
Creating a successful real estate marketing plan is more than an optional exercise—it's a necessity for staying ahead in a crowded market. Whether you’re an experienced realtor or just starting out, having a structured plan ensures that your efforts are focused, measurable, and geared toward results.
Agents with a clear marketing strategy see more consistent leads, vital brand visibility, and, ultimately, more closed deals. If you’re flying by the seat of your pants, you might find that your marketing lacks direction. A plan helps you stay on course, attract clients, and grow your business.
Before you begin building your marketing plan, it's crucial to define what you want to achieve. Are you aiming to attract first-time buyers, upscale investors, or sellers looking to downsize? Each group requires a different marketing approach, so tailoring your efforts is critical.who you're targeting. Are you aiming to attract first-time buyers, upscale investors, or sellers looking to downsize? Each group requires a different marketing approach, so tailoring your efforts is key.
Your goals should be SMART—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. For instance:
Defining clear goals will create a path toward success and avoid wasted marketing efforts.
In today’s digital age, your website is the cornerstone of your marketing efforts. Buyers and sellers use online platforms to search for agents and properties, and your website needs to be optimized to convert that traffic into clients.
A well-designed, user-friendly website is essential, but it must also be SEO-optimized. This means using targeted keywords (like “real estate marketing plan” or “buy homes in [your city]”) throughout your content, ensuring fast loading times, and optimizing for mobile devices.
Claim your Google My Business profile and keep it updated.
Related: Optimize Your Google Business Profile (this was written for lawyers but can still be adjusted for real estate SEO)
Encourage satisfied clients to leave positive reviews, as this builds trust and improves local SEO rankings. Utilize local keywords such as “real estate agents near me” and “buying homes in [city].” These optimizations will help potential clients find you easily online.
If you want to establish yourself as a trusted expert in real estate, content marketing is the way to go. Whether it's a blog post or video, creating content that answers your audience's most pressing questions will set you apart from the competition.
Consider writing blog posts that address common questions, such as:
By offering valuable insights, you’ll position yourself as a helpful resource and gain more visibility online.
You can also use pillar content to dominate key topics. A pillar post is an in-depth, comprehensive article that covers a central topic, like "The Complete Guide to Buying a Home." Then, create related blog posts (topic clusters) on subtopics that link to this main pillar page. This boosts SEO and enhances your authority in real estate.
Social media platforms are powerful tools for engaging with your audience and showcasing your expertise. You don’t just want to be present on social media; you want to engage.
Engage your audience with content such as:
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to stay connected with potential clients. You can nurture leads until they’re ready to buy or sell by delivering the right message at the right time.
Drip campaigns are a series of automated emails sent based on user behavior. For example, if someone downloads a buyer’s guide from your website, you can send them follow-up emails with helpful tips, listings, and market updates.
By sending personalized and valuable emails, you’ll stay top-of-mind, so when your leads are ready to make a move, they come to you.
While organic marketing efforts like SEO and content are crucial, paid advertising gives you the ability to target a specific audience quickly.
Use Google Ads to target local buyers and sellers searching for agents or properties. With Facebook Ads, you can create highly targeted campaigns based on demographics, interests, and behaviors to reach potential clients.
With geotargeting, you can ensure your ads reach the right people in the right locations. For example, if you're selling properties in downtown areas, you can target people living within that radius.
Paid ads allow you to accelerate your marketing efforts and generate more leads in a short amount of time.
To get the most out of your real estate marketing plan, you need to track and measure your results. This allows you to see what’s working, what’s not, and where improvements can be made.
Test different strategies and ads to see which performs best. For example, test two different email subject lines or ad headlines to see which gets the most engagement.
By consistently measuring and optimizing, you’ll refine your marketing strategy and maximize results.
Creating a real estate marketing plan isn’t just about attracting leads—it’s about building a long-term strategy that consistently drives success. With the right plan in place, you’ll attract more clients, close more deals, and ultimately grow your business.
I’m Mitch Cornell, a patron of local SEO with a strong background in legal SEO, helping lawyers succeed in the search results. I worked for a top-rated legal marketing agency where I spearheaded hundreds of successful SEO campaigns for law firms. Now, I help real estate agents and continue to help lawyers achieve their best in search.