The digital age has changed the way real estate agents attract new business. No longer is a sleek, mobile-friendly website tied to a powerful CRM a nice-to-have. These are now essential components of a modern agent’s arsenal, and the key to attracting and converting leads.
Matt Barba recognized this early in his real estate agent career. After searching for standout tech and finding only lackluster options, Barba founded Placester in 2011. His mission? To help serious agents enter the modern era with an all-in-one tech marketing platform built for real estate from the ground up.
At the core of Placester’s platform is the connection between customizable, mobile-responsive websites and an integrated CRM. It solves the big, disjointed tech headache many agents face when looking to go digital.
Placester websites include map-based search, natural language search and lead-capture features. These features tie in with a full-featured CRM that allows agents to track contact behavior on the site — such as the listings that site visitors save, and the searches they conduct. By storing this information in a lead profile database, Placester helps agents better understand lead preferences and helps them pinpoint when a lead might be ready for a call or email.
Placester’s website and CRM platform features:
- Map-based and natural language IDX search
- Advanced lead capture
- Custom landing pages
- SEO-friendly architecture and sleek U/X design
- Lead activity tracking
- Automated email marketing
- Drip-email functionality
Advanced lead capture features turn website visitors into leads by asking them for their contact information after they take specific actions on the site. Agents can customize the behaviors that trigger a registration form to match their audience. These triggers can include a certain number of visits, a certain number of pages in a single visit, and spending a specific amount of time on the site or a page.
In addition to allowing agents to automatically pull leads in from popular online sources, the Placester CRM helps agents turn contacts into clients. Agents can tag and sort contacts into various audiences based on behavior or other defining characteristics. The CRM also includes the ability to set up automated drip email campaigns with access to a host of pre-written email templates that Placester clients can choose from and customize.
Placester’s platform helps agents lean into the growing trend of content marketing by providing access to relevant, professionally-written real estate blog post content in a constantly updated content library. Placester clients get access to two posts each month that they can edit as they wish, and they also have the option to purchase additional posts.
In addition to providing quality blog posts, Placester also helps agents automate their content marketing. Content automation features include the ability to automatically publish articles of interest to their target market and audience by setting preferences ahead of time, and the ability to incorporate local search terms in the blog posts, using Placester’s dynamic fields content feature.
Agents who purchase Placester also get a free Pro subscription to the customer satisfaction and marketing tool RealSatisfied, which helps agents organize client feedback and promote the testimonials they receive. The subscription also enables users to add a testimonials page to their site that automatically pulls in and displays their RealSatisfied ratings and reviews.
Many agents are familiar with a basic version of the Placester platform: NAR members have access to a free Placester website through the Realtor Benefits Program, and both Keller Williams Realty and Re/Max Integra provide Placester tools to all of their agents. However, unlocking the full power of the integrated platform discussed in this article — particularly the site-tied CRM and email marketing tool — requires an upgrade.
To learn more about Placester’s all-in-one real estate digital marketing platform, visit placester.com or watch this video: