Is it possible to promote your real estate business for free? Sure! These online and offline real estate marketing ideas will help you break through and get more clients in 2024.
Free Marketing Activities for Real Estate Agents
Online real estate marketing ideas
- Webinars
- Content marketing
- Social media
- Real estate website
- Email marketing
- Sharing testimonials and success stories
Offline real estate marketing ideas
- Attending events
- Applying for business awards
Small businesses spend up to 10% of their revenue on marketing activities. Although promotion is the engine of the business and it is worth every dime, realtors should also consider cheaper ways of communicating with their target audience – especially while the costs of running a business are unceasingly rising.
We have put together a list of 10 effective ways of promoting your real estate business offline and online that will cost nothing apart from your time and a little bit of creativity.
1. Run Informative webinars
The value of reliable information is ever rising. Home buyers and sellers struggle to find relevant information on the market and they are lacking knowledge on what the whole process of getting a mortgage, putting a property on the market and getting a new house look like.
There is a lot of red tape involved – and, preparing to spend a lot of money or take out a huge loan, they are reluctant to hire yet another consultant to help them through the process. That’s where your professional expertise steps in.
You can run a series of webinars or host free seminars on your social media dedicated to the subjects your prospective clients are interested in or based on the frequently asked questions by you former clients.
Organize the information you want to share in a way that won’t be overwhelming to your audience (bear in mind that they are not from the same professional field), prepare a current market analysis and make videos where you will discuss the subjects.
Sharing your knowledge will not only help your prospective clients understand the real estate world better, but also create your professional image of a trustworthy and well informed realtor that they want to work with.
Your videos can be shared on your Facebook and Instagram profiles, Facebook’s private groups for people who are currently looking to buy or sell a house, as well as on your website. You can invite people to watch your webinars by announcing the release on your social media and through email campaigns.
2. Create Great Content
Content is what boosts your website’s traffic and helps you generate more leads and is one of the most trending online marketing strategies.
Having a blog or sharing extensive information on the current market situation or the area you operate in will be beneficial for your business – your website will be more visible, your visitors will spend more time there and they will be more likely to contact you and ask questions about your services.
There are several types of content that you can create as a part of your real estate marketing strategy:
a) A blog post
Typically blog posts are a shorter form of articles. Running a blog is a great way of connecting with your potential clients. You can write short posts covering real estate news, current market situation and tips for home buyers and home sellers.
You can share your blog posts on your social media and earn more organic traffic on your website, or use them in paid Facebook and Instagram campaigns.
Source: Stony Brook & Lennox Realty
b) Area guide
Area guides are a great way to position yourself as a hyper local real estate agent who knows the ins and outs of the area they operate in. You can collect all the important information about the area such as demographics, schools, entertainment, insights of the locals, history and events and write a lengthy content piece for your website.
Area guides will work great for your website’s optimization and because of that it will be beneficial for you to include them in your real estate marketing plan.
Source: Arman Real Estate
Downloadable PDFs
Downloadable brochures are another marketing tool that supports lead generation and can do wonders for your personal brand online. Home buyers and sellers appreciate all kinds of informative materials that will provide them with tips on purchasing a property or preparing their house for sale.
You can create gated content for your website in a form of e-books or short PDF where you will answer the most frequent questions you are asked by your clients – for example an extensive “to-do” list for house sellers, a step-by-step guide for aspiring homeowners, a beautiful area guide with a comprehensive description of the neighborhood including schools, coffee shops, entertainment, services, history and so on.
Remember to make your e-books pleasant for the eye and easy to read. You can use free platforms to create them – such as Canva, and use royalty free images that are available there to avoid the effect of an overwhelming textbook.
Post excerpts of your PDFs on your social media platforms and start an email marketing campaign to promote your content and invite your followers to download the complete file from your website.
a) PDF Listing Brochures
Displaying property listings in a neat ebook is a great real estate marketing idea, especially for those agents who know exactly what types of properties their clients will look for. Apart from the typical features that are found in every MLS, you can focus on telling a story about the property, its characteristics and its neighborhood.
3. Develop Engaging Social Media Presence
The fall of social media has been falsely predicted several times by various marketing specialists, but the truth is far from that. In fact, the number of social media users is continuously increasing thanks to the newer and newer features introduced every few months.
Social media such as Facebook, Instagram or TikTok are marketing tools that will help you reach a wider local audience thanks to its promotion and geo-targeting options. However, to make your social media work to your advantage, you will need to come up with a strategy and stay consistent, even if you don’t see any results at the beginning.
Social media is a great place to promote your business through images, live virtual tours, real estate news and building a personal promotion with your followers. Content creation will take you some time, but it’s worth every minute spent on writing posts or creating custom graphics.
Types of content you can create for your social media accounts:
- useful tips for home buying prospects virtual
- short video interviews with other agents where you discuss current market situation
- open house announcements
- area news
- case studies (for example what you did to sell a house that seemed impossible to be sold)
- contest where followers can win some free stuff (make sure that your contest adheres to the platform’s terms and conditions!)
- video tours
- past clients’ online reviews
- social media posts from your clients’ profiles where they show their new home (although it’s not necessary from the legal standpoint, it will be kind if you ask their permission beforehand)
4. Attend events
Real estate industry is based on relationships and attending local events is a great way to meet new people. Find out what events are held in your area and reach out to organizers if you can help with preparations.
Don’t forget to prepare stunning business cards and other marketing materials!
5. Polish your website
Your website is often the first place where people interact with you and one of the most important marketing tools for your real estate business. It is the main source of information about your services and the testament to your expertise.
If you know that your website is far from good or couldn’t find time to update it since a few years ago, make sure you add this activity to your marketing plan for the upcoming months.
Source: Wiseman Properties
Make sure that your website loads correctly and works on mobile devices, is appealing to the website visitors’ eye and easy to navigate. In order for your page to bring you new clients, it should be equipped with tools that generate leads such as contact forms, free CMA forms, mortgage calculators as well as have some high quality gated content that will motivate site visitors to leave their marketing information.
Don’t forget about the bio section, where you introduce yourself to the prospects and share your professional experience with them. If you struggle with writing one, jump to our new article on how to write an outstanding real estate agent bio or use one of our templates.
Source: Wiseman Properties
6. Partner up with local businesses
A lot of professionals are involved in the process of buying and selling a property. Your clients will likely need services of carpenters, home cleaners, interior designers, landscape designers and many others. In their services, there is an opportunity for you, too.
Reach out to local business owners and ask if they’re interested in some sort of a cooperation: it might be a discount for your clients, or simply distributing your marketing materials in exchange for the same.
7. Testimonials and success stories
Testimonials are the ultimate proof of your hard work and expertise. They are worth sharing on your website in a grid and on your social media in the form of posts. Ask your clients to write a few words about their experience with you and don’t shy away from sharing it with the world.
Success stories can be a great marketing material for real estate agents. You can create elaborate case stories about how you sold a given property or how you found a perfect home for your client and helped them find other necessary services.
You can publish your real estate professional case study in a form of a social media post, a blog post or a video.
Source: Pink Flamingo Realty
8. Start a YouTube channel
If you feel comfortable in front of the camera, having a YouTube channel might be a game changer for your online marketing strategy.
You can create interesting videos on various subjects connected to your profession, share news from the real estate industry and talk business from the perspective of a real estate agent.
Having a thriving YouTube channel means more traffic on your website and more inquiries in your inbox. You can promote your videos on your other social media such as Facebook or Instagram and invite your viewers to visit your website or contact you directly.
The advantage that the videos have over written content is that people can play them in the background while doing something else, so you are likely to convey even more important information.
9. Email Marketing Campaigns
Email marketing is one of the best ways of nurturing your leads and keeping in touch with your customers and former clients. After you have segmented your lead base into groups, you will be able to provide your subscribers with the information they want, showcase your new listings, inform about open house events and provide your former clients with their homes’ current market value in case they want to sell.
10. Apply for business awards
Business awards can be a great marketing opportunity for real estate agents, even if all you get is a nomination. Awards give you recognition, and organizers like to mention nominees on their social media channels, which effectively builds social trust and enables bigger outreach of your social media profiles. And if you do win the award – that’s a great story to mention in your bio.
Any kind of participation in business events is a chance for you to grow your network and meet potential clients or people who will recommend your services to their friends and family. Take advantage of that chance whenever you can.
