Real estate industry professionals such as developers, brokers and agents should use digital marketing because many have already experienced how effective it is to generate leads for their business.

It’s actually not surprising, because according to analytics company, Socialbakers, 43% of Facebook users in the Philippines are between 25-54 years old. With 30.2 million Philippine-based users, this roughly translates to a potential target market of 12.9 million people for the real estate industry.

And that’s just Facebook!

Anyhow, rather than give you more of these statistics, let us instead show you today how you can execute a simple, affordable and cost-effective digital marketing strategy for your real estate business. We truly hope that you find this useful.

Step 1: Define your target market

For each of your real estate project, list down the demographics of your target market. More than that, create a list of their hobbies and interests.

Let’s say you’re selling condo units in Makati and you want to reach out to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), particularly those who are between 25 to 45 years old; working in the Middle East and South East Asian countries.

Most of these Filipinos are working in the food and beverage, manufacturing and trade, and information technology industries. And in general, their interests would be consumer gadgets and Philippine news; and their hobbies might include internet surfing, watching movies and travel.

Need help in defining your target market? Hire our researchers.

Step 2: Create a website

Your digital marketing strategy needs a homebase – a place where you can funnel your traffic and showcase your portfolio. Your website should look simple and professional, designed to convert visitors into leads.

Aside from your “Projects Page”, where you show photos and descriptions of your real estate portfolio, your website must also showcase your credentials as a real estate professional. In your “About Page”, list down your licenses and certifications, and your personal vision, mission and goals.

Lastly, it would help if you can have a “Blog Section” in your website, which you can use to give updates on your projects, share success stories of clients, news about the real estate industry, and other articles of interest to your target market.

Need help? Hire our website developers or get help in setting up a WordPress website.

Step 3: Generating traffic through Search Engine Optimization

Your website will be indexed by search engines, so it’s important to regularly produce fresh and relevant content, particularly in your blog section. Research keywords that are relevant to your industry and write articles about them.

But more importantly, use your target market’s interest as guide topics in producing useful and engaging posts that they will remember and share. Write blogs that are focused on buyer needs.

Good topics that you can write about are real estate laws and regulations, guide to getting home loans, mortgage restructuring, taxation – basically, concerns that a real estate buyer might have.

Writing about these will not only help you search visibility, but also establish your authority in the industry.

No time to write? We can help you produce that quality content. Hire our article writers.

Step 4: Get your projects listed in directories and speak your voice in forums

Now that you have established your homebase, you can now market in other websites more effectively. Your first task is to get your projects listed in real estate forums, online classified ads and business directories.

All your listing should include a link to your website, which also helps in your SEO. And more than just having your site listed, you should take time to interact with people inside the forums.

A lot of people ask about real estate projects in forums, you can use your blog articles to answer and lead them to your website.

Did you know you can also outsource this work to us? We have people who can submit your listing in directories, several others who can manage forum discussions and post ads on Sulit and other websites.

Step 5: Do social media marketing

Another effective way to get leads is to reach out to your target market through social media. Facebook tops this list, but you should also consider other Web 2.0 social networks such as Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and many others.

Build a good personal and corporate profile. Create a social media content plan. And start building your online community through social media.

Remember that hard selling is not very effective in social media. So you need to generate content that soft sells your projects. You can do this by sharing client stories, simple real estate advice, educational and interesting facts about the real estate industry, and others.

Leverage on what’s trending too, and have a conversation with your fans on what interests them. For example, if Manny Pacquiao has been on the news lately, then perhaps share pictures of his mansion on your page. If there’s a viral video going around, make a parody version with your staff recorded in front of one of your projects. Be creative, be subtle and be social.

Where to start? We recommend starting with Facebook. Get your page up and running, get fans and hire a social media manager to keep it updated.

Step 6: Consider advertising

You can also use internet advertising to market your projects. Google Adwords and Facebook Ads are currently the best platforms to use here.

Design a campaign program and create your ad copy and banner ads that you’ll use. Set a timeline and implement a performance metric that you can monitor to measure the success of your ad campaign.

One good advantage of advertising is the ability to target users in specific locations. So if you want to get OFW clients in the Middle East for example, then set your campaign to show only in that area, and customize your ad copy.

For example, your headline could be something like, “Retire to your dream house in the Philippines” or “Real estate investment opportunities for OFWs”.

Don’t know how to create a banner ad? We have graphic designers who can do one for you, and some of our writers can also help you with generating a convincing ad copy.

Step 7: Nurture your leads

All your marketing efforts are useless if you cannot nurture your leads and convert them into customers. You need to respond to inquiries in a timely manner, and regularly communicate with them through newsletters and personal messages.

If you can foster a long-term relationship with your existing clients, they will be become referral agents to your business as well.

Of course you can’t be available all the time. And that’s why you need to hire a virtual assistant because they can help you accomplish these tasks.

Conclusion

This is just an overview of how to do digital marketing. We tried to make it as simple and straightforward as possible, so you can get a good grasp of what comprises an effective online marketing campaign.

More importantly, while we did focus on the real estate industry here, other industries can likewise create their own digital marketing campaigns by following these steps.

Did we miss anything? Do you have other strategies you’d like to share? Write them below in the comments section and let’s discuss.