Over the past few years due to technological advancements, real estate marketing has changed considerably. In order to be successful in this industry, you have to be creative with online marketing strategies, especially as millennials now makeup 23% of the population and are between the ages of 18-34 becoming the majority of first home buyers.
To appeal to this target audience you may have to think outside of the box, especially as according to research done by SunTrust Mortgage, 33% of millennials are buying homes for better dog space as opposed to having children or getting married like previous generations.
Attracting the millennials to your real estate company may be challenging. They have the most experience in social media and working online, therefore they’re switched on about pushy ads and sales content, and it can be challenging to grab their attention quickly. You may have to work a little harder and go the extra mile in convincing them your real estate company is worth their interest.
Here are some ideas for unique real estate marketing ideas that stand out to the millennial generation.
The type of networking that most people think of is going to real estate events, sponsoring local communities, and handing out business cards. Not for the millennials – networking is all about engagement on social media.
‘79% of marketing leads never convert into sales,’ per a study by MarketingSherpa.
The reason so many leads are lost is that because real estate agents aren’t responding to comments, direct messages, and enquiries fast enough on social media. It’s all well and good creating amazing content, but if you don’t network and follow up, it’s a wasted cost.
You should be using social media to outreach to potential customers, connect with other companies on brand for potential collaborations, and to show everyone exactly who you are.
Talking about social media, don’t just rely on the typical platforms that are currently popular such as Facebook, Instagram & Youtube. Pinterest accounts can also help you share property photos and interiors of your listings. Tiktok may be for younger generations right now, but remember how we all thought we’d never use Instagram? Now everyone’s on it (we hope you are too!).
To reach your audience, you have to be where your audience is. For the millennial market, they are using Snapchat and TikTok more frequently. As a real estate agency, you can take adopt these platforms into your marketing mix:
We’ve said it before that your website is the most valuable marketing tool you have in your arsenal as a real estate agent. For millennials, a website that is designed and functions quickly on mobile is imperative.
If your website is not mobile-friendly, you will have a difficult time attracting younger users. Aim to impress with faster load times, clean layout, easily accessible information, videos and photos, and share buttons.
Free offerings are a great way to attract the millennial generation as they can usually see sales techniques a mile away. Playing the subtle game when it comes to generating leads is how you’re going to win them over and collect their information for targeting as well as building trust. A great example would be to offer free home evaluations.
Although this may mean a cost in hiring a developer or integrating ‘Real Geeks’ onto your landing pages for instant evaluations, it’s a clever way of collecting key data. You may decide to go with delayed evaluations and actually go to the property depending on location. This may take up time but it’s a good tool when building a relationship with potential clients.
Source: McLaren Real Estate
Another way to offer free content is through email marketing campaigns. Instead of simply listing your current properties, give tips, stories, and advice on relevant topics. Not only will potential customers view you as someone with experience, but they’ll also begin to trust you as an expert.
Geo-targeting uses state-of-the-art technology with longitude and latitude marketing. By simply pin dropping a rooftop they can create a ‘geozone’ which means that anyone walking into that area will be targeted with your company’s ads, directly to their phone. For example, your future customers may be at competitors’ auctions, inspections, and open houses – but through Geo-targeting you could attract them with a better offering.
The millennial market is only going to grow over the next decade. It’s important that you stay ahead of trends and find ways to attract these potential customers and turn them into generated sales. Focusing on this market is how you’re going to grow your business in the future. Other things to consider when appealing to millennials are having testimonials and reviews on offer, organic and authentic videos and graphic content on social media, and being first on Google search engines. You may want to look at hiring the right digital marketing company to help.