Content versus context – many online marketing pundits are saying that content marketing is officially dead and that context has finally taken over since it provides more accurate and customized information to users.

While it may be true to some industries, real estate is giving us a different perspective. As far as it’s concerned, content is still the reigning king.

The October 2013 blog post of Marketing Tech Blog provides us with fascinating facts and figures about the huge role content marketing plays for real estate.

Based on a study conducted by Placester, we learned that 90 percent of real estate buyers go online to look for residential properties. Moreover, close to 80 percent of them prefer to read content such as articles than open ads.

The distaste of a large number of Internet users to ads is perfectly understandable. Ads are annoying, and they sometimes make us feel we’re simply commodities. Not all ads provide the right valuable information we need.

Most of all, we share the same sentiment of around 70 percent of Internet users: we are able to feel the connection or the relationship with organizations such as real estate agencies with custom content.

How to Create Effective Content

Although content marketing remains a highly effective strategy in real estate, it still needs to work with proper planning and excellent execution:

Understand the market.
When it comes to content marketing, there’s no such thing as one size fits all. In fact, the rule is customization. You need to produce content that is understandable, needed, and, most of all, appropriate to your target market.

How are you able to do that?

First, you need to conduct intensive research. Based on the same infographic, we learned that clients are generally classified according to age groups like Generation Y, X, late baby boomers, early baby boomers, and GI generation. These different sets of people have their own preferences, issues, and needs with regard to homes and real estate.

Generation Y are normally first-time home buyers while the late baby boomers are more than ready to buy their second home, perhaps by the beach or a beautiful tourist or holiday destination.

These days, you can now download reports published by renowned real estate organizations, conduct your own surveys, interview key people like real estate experts or census, or even ask questions directly to your prospective or existing clients.

Develop personas.
Creating personas is one of the most-forgotten steps in content customization, yet it’s extremely critical because it provides you with a much clearer picture of your readers and you can initially measure their receptiveness to your content.

Though personas don’t refer to a single individual, they represent a certain portion of the population.

For instance, generation Y are those that 32 years old and below and are therefore often the least experienced when it comes to the processes in buying a home.

Create the best content marketing tools to use.
Based on the personas you’ve developed, you can then properly identify the best type of content marketing tool to use.

Is it going to be a blog? Should you produce a guide? How long should the content be? What kinds of visuals should you add to enhance the message? What terms are best based on your target market’s persona? Most of all, what kind of information should you share?

Content marketing strategies are never foolproof, so don’t expect you’ll get everything right the first time. But as long as you keep these three tips in mind, you will be on the right track.

Read more: How To Do Digital Marketing: Real Estate Industry Professionals