In this week’s Real Estate Sales and Technology news, we look at Real Estate Marketing ROI with Zulia, Millennials the Most Overlooked Real Estate Market, 3 Outside the Box Actionable Marketing Ideas for Realtors, and 59 Free Twitter Tools. 

Winning the Zulia Game with a Real Estate Marketing ROI Plan

 

 

This week the Zillow/Trulia buzz continues… Realtors have been asking “How do I make Zulia work for me?” The real question is how much will my online marketing dollars get me, in leads and in real business with Zulia or anyone else? Inman News is suggesting that realtors do something unique; they suggest you track your marketing dollars.  With most industries this would be a no brainer, but maybe it is the confusing new frontier of internet real estate marketing that makes more obvious techniques like tracking ROI overlooked.

You can spend millions of dollars on advertising on Realtor.com or Zulia, but if you are not willing to track ROI then you are losing money.  Do you have a system set up to track ROI? More importantly, do you have a system in place that allows you to respond to online leads and calls within a 5 to 30 minute window to convert those leads?  Paying for internet leads and not responding to them is a waste of money. And last but not least, what is your conversion rate? If you are getting leads, and you are responding but they are not closing, maybe this is marketing money that would be spent elsewhere.

Zillow recommends that you get on their waiting list. Although do you know if your leads are coming from the ads or from the agent reviews? Regardless of whether you sign up for Zillow’s paid leads program, it costs nothing to make sure that your testimonials and reviews are posted. This can increase the probability that a lead will convert into a close. Read more questions and suggestions about Winning the Zulia Game here.

Your Most Overlooked Target Market – Millennials – Here’s Why

Recent research from Trulia shows that the economic barriers to homeownership for those in their 20s and early 30s may be starting to crumble. That’s great news for young real estate agents – and for those who market to them. Statistically speaking, only 1 in 3 Millennials is married. American adults aged 34 or younger are far less likely to be married than in earlier generations so many of these culture rites of passage that have led to homeownership have been delayed. 

Obviously there is a high long term value to marketing to Millennials, but what real estate agents overlook is the net present value of marketing to Millennials. With the home buying forecast opening up, Millennials may soon want to upgrade their starter homes or even buy investment properties in their own cities. A savvy agent who can catch a Millennial now has the potential to retain business beyond just one transaction by securing many transactions over the course of their career.

While their overall initial price point may be lower than their parents are buying these days, the long term financial potential over a real estate careers is huge. Younger adults live and breath social media for their primary form of networking which can be a potentially rich source of referrals to their peers looking for their first homes. For more tips on how to establish yourself in the Millennial and Generation Y markets, read more at Market Leader.

Marketing Outside the Box – 3 Actionable Ideas for Realtors

Has your creative well run dry of marketing ideas? Inman recently posted some simple and actionable ideas to get you back on track.  If you are having a hard time getting people to subscribe to your email list, provide exclusive email offers for those who sign up for your list. In addition to valuable content, provide prospects with significant offers such as free home value consultations, free market reports, free home staging appointments, IDX listings in a particular area and price range.  Check your CRM platform to see who’s clicking on the links in your email and to see what content is most relevant for future posts.

Another suggestion: Social Media, Social Media, Social Media. Include clickable social media icons in your email headers that go to your social media pages. Make your emails and content sharable with the social media site of the reader’s choice. Your social media links should not only be in all of your emails that you are sending out but it absolutely should be on the home page of your website header, footer or sidebar. You’d be surprised how many people visit your website and, if they are not ready to sign up for your newsletter, they will follow you on Facebook or Twitter.  From there you can help them down the sales funnel, with free downloadable offers, email subscriptions, then an actual phone call!

For more tips, check out Inman News here.  And for more Social Media Tips, check out Wishpond’s Social Media Marketing for Real Estate Agents: 21 Tips below:

 

Clearview’s Tuesday Tech Tip:  59 Free Twitter Tools for Real Estate Agents

Buffer has just published the ultimate guide to free Twitter tools. If there is a free tool out there it is likely to have been published in this post. This guide is a wealth of information and contains all the Sherpa tools you need to help you climb the Everest that is Twitter. The free tools are broken down into specific categories that cover Analytics, Chats, Discovery, Follow/Unfollow, Mentions & Monitoring, Scheduling, Timing, Trending Topics, Twitter Clients & more. Buffer has left no stone unturned. From old standards like Klout & BuzzSumo, to ones you may not have heard of yet like Chat Salad and Hashtagify.me.  Grab another cup of coffee and start reading the Twitter guide of all Twitter guides here.

For more weekly tips, tools and trends to help you become better at luxury real estate marketing & sell more real estate this year, consider subscribing to our newsletter.

 

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