Business' needs change as they grow and so should their marketing focus. There are three main types of advertising campaigns you can run for your estate agency depending on the results you are after:
- Customer acquisition campaigns
- Conversion campaigns
- Retention and trust campaigns
Below we go over each one in more detail and how you can apply them in your estate or letting agency today.
1. Customer acquisition campaigns
Is your agency expanding?
Do you want to attract new prospects and instructions, or launch into a new location?
If the answer is yes, then the best advertising campaign for your estate agency is the acquisition campaign.
This type of advertising campaign will reach people that have not yet heard about your agency, nor are aware of the services it provides. We would typically use both ‘push and pull’ marketing techniques when running acquisition campaigns, attracting people who are actively searching for your services (‘hot’ leads), as well as those who would be interested in such services (i.e. match the description of your typical buyers’ persona) but are not actively searching (long term prospects).
Here are the marketing campaigns we coordinate to acquire new business prospects:
- 1SEO: 20% of all our marketing efforts for estate agents always go towards SEO ensuring our sites are visible within Google's organic search results. A lot has changed in the world of SEO so we advise our clients to invest in a more holistic, rounded approach. Read more
- 2PPC: Pay Per Click campaigns can be costly but are very important if you’re looking for instant results. Start by analysing what keywords will best attract your audience and structure your campaigns, ensuring a high click through rate and conversions. Read more
- 3Video Marketing: With the birth of YouTube and Facebook, video marketing is now accessible to most businesses. It provides a way to engage with your prospects, and can be used to either generate sales or build audiences based on interest.
- 4Social Media: It’s reported that 3 in 4 internet users have a social media account. So if you want to attract new landlords or vendors, you have to be where your prospects hang out. Social platforms include everything from Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to Twitter and LinkedIn. Each has a unique offering, tailored towards varying audiences. Read more
- 5Online PR: We refer to this as ‘the new generation of online PR’. It is a new approach which attracts readers through ‘suggestive marketing’. Read more here
- 6Display Network: The Google Display Network lets you place ads on a variety of news sites, blogs and other niche sites across the internet to reach more potential customers. Find out more about this service
2. Conversion campaigns
Is your brand already established?
Do you receive lots of traffic to your website but find that it does not translate into sales enquiries?
Before you invest to acquire more visitors – which is a costly task – focusing your efforts on improving your conversion rate may be the better resolution.
To date, with every new client we take on, we manage to increase their conversions by at least 30%. More often than not, this figure is a lot higher. What would a 30% increase in conversion mean for your business?
Do you have a plan in place to convert potential clients who visit your website into actual clients? By delivering a great user experience and engaging content you can give your customers a clear reason to enquire for more.
Here are the elements involved in improving the conversion rate of your website:
3. Retention and repeat business marketing campaigns
What makes one business more profitable than another? In many cases this is down to the amount of repeat business they receive.
Repeat business and the retention of existing clients is the final step to marketing success. It is the cheapest way to attract more business, yet many businesses fail to invest sufficient time and money into keeping in touch with existing clients.
Engaging with your clients through relevant content, social media campaigns and clever re-marketing will not only keep your brand in front of your existing clients, but increase repeat business in the longer term.
Here are the campaigns you should consider to increase repeat business:
Over to you. Have a think about the areas of your business that need improvement - do you lack leads and therefore need to invest in an acquisition campaign or do you get many leads but fewer conversions, in which case you need to focus on improving your conversion rate. Whatever the goal, always start with a solid strategy mapping.