Top 10 marketing strategies
Surveys: Referrals top list, pay-per-click ads rank low
By Inman News, Thursday, March 11, 2010.Despite the real estate industry's focus on new media, real estate agents continue to use printed postcards and mailings among their top marketing choices, according to survey results released today by real estate marketing company HomeGain.
"While Realtors are increasingly moving their marketing activities online, it's interesting to see the continued strength and perceived effectiveness of print and mailer campaigns," said Louis Cammarosano, general manager at HomeGain, in a statement.
The surveys asked agents and brokers to rank on a 10-point scale (with 10 as the highest score) what they thought were their most effective strategies for attracting new clients and the methods they were most likely to use this year.
Referrals topped both lists by far, receiving an 8.7 rating for effectiveness and an 8.9 rating as a marketing objective. In terms of effectiveness, featured listings ranked second with a 4.8, followed by e-mail campaigns (4.7), postcards and mailers (4.6), blogging (4.1), online lead generation services (4), Facebook (4), LinkedIn (3.6), outdoor ads (3.6), and print ads (3.6).
The least effective strategies, according to respondents, were YouTube (3.5), Twitter (3.3), banner ads (3.2), pay-per-click advertising (3.2), and MySpace (3), the survey said.
In terms of marketing goals, agents and brokers ranked e-mail campaigns second with a 5.7, followed by posters and mailers (5.4), featured listings (5.2), Facebook (4.9), print ads (4.6), blogging (4.2), LinkedIn (4.1), online lead-generation services (4), and YouTube (3.5).
Realtors were less likely to market themselves on Twitter (3.4), outdoor advertising (2.7), banner ads (2.5), pay-per-click advertising (2.5), and MySpace (2.5).
The results are based on two surveys, conducted in December 2009 and February 2010, with combined responses by about 1,300 real estate agents and brokers.
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Submitted by Pat Tasker on March 11, 2010 - 5:50pm.
Interesting that the least effective strategies, were also the ones respondents were less likely to use...which came first? they tried them and, got poor response and then rated them as ineffective? Or did they think they don't work so they don't try them?
Submitted by andy heller on March 12, 2010 - 10:10am.
At RealtyJoin, the social networking site for the real estate industry, we are definitely seeing similar trends:
http://www.realtyjoin.com/blog/proven-marketing-strategies-real-estate
Submitted by Roberta Baldwin on March 14, 2010 - 6:41pm.
Is this a good thing that Realtors are sticking with the tried and true in a new and different world? Yes, I still use postcards to keep up with past clients and occasionally to reach out to specific neighborhoods, but if I depended on mailers and print to get significant business in an internet-based world, I might well not be here today making this comment or in real estate sales at all.
--Roberta Baldwin
Visit me at www.NJDreamHouses.com