6 Untapped Real Estate Marketing Strategies [That Works]

There are lots of real estate marketing strategies out there, but not many have proven to be effective, especially in selling high profile real estate. Or if you don’t have an appreciable amount to spend on marketing.

More unfortunate is the fact the only strategy most realtors know is constantly posting on social media [Facebook, WhatsApp status, Instagram, etc] or the traditional marketing approach of going from places to places looking for those to buy the available property.

Well, while posting consistently on social media isn’t in itself a bad marketing strategy, if you’re honest to yourself, you can agree with me that such a tactic has never really given you the result you desire and you might never be able to build your dream of owning a successful real estate firm. There are a plethora of reasons why such an approach doesn’t work. 

First, many realtors failing using such an approach of posting on social media have less than than 10,000 followers on their social media account while they imitate those with ‘1000000000000000’ of followers. 

Don’t get me wrong, even with less than 1,000 followers you can still make decent sales, [I did it when I started a new Facebook account and amassed 4,000 followers in less than 49 days and was making over 400k monthly selling digital products to them] but might not just be enough to build the real estate empire you’ve always dreamt of. Or travel the world with your family like you imagine and live in the most comfortable environment.

Secondly, those who follow you on social media are probably not the people interested in buying properties – at best, they are your family and friends, colleagues from work, and those from your neighborhood or the different associations you belong to.

Worst still is that organic reach on social media is declining as the platforms push for more people to use its paid ads. Facebook for instance saw a whooping decline of organic reach from 2.58% down to just 1.52% in 2023.

So you see, no matter how hard you try, it might amount to putting a square peg in a round hole instead of a square peg in a square hole.

One of the greatest challenges many people face is that they are not ready to come to terms with reality. Rather, they choose to muscle their prevailing reality with faith, hope and determination. But as you know, faith, hope and determination is not a factor of production [land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship].

Anyway, instead of bothering you with all that, let’s jump right into some popular untapped real estate marketing strategies you can implement and get greater ROI. While these marketing strategies might not give you a get-rich-quick scheme kind of return, they will definitely prove themselves over time.

1. Have a Website and a Blog

A website is not just a platform to host the properties you sell; it should be an income-generating asset. This is an aspect of website development that many realtors overlook or oblivious to. 

For most real estate companies that own websites, the practice usually is, build a website, list their properties, put the website name on their flyers and other marketing materials and that’s the end of it. At the end of each year they renew the website not minding that it’s a liability to them because they’ve been conditioned with the mindset of a website is important. But never care to draw a link between the website they’ve and the impact it makes for their overall growth.

Whenever we build a website for a client, we design what we call a Website Business Model; a blueprint to guide the website owner on a straightforward approach to turn the website into an income-generating asset.

Your website is supposed to serve as a 24/7/365 office for you but how does someone discover your website? How does a stranger from another state or country find it? If you’ve a website right now, is it discoverable when someone searches for your company name? Go check it out now. Even if it’s discoverable, how many people actually know your brand name to be that specific in searching for it?

The best approach is to position your website to appear whenever people interested in buying properties are searching for solutions to their problems.

This is where a blog becomes essential. 

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Unlike a static website, a blog requires constant updates. You create content that answers the questions users frequently ask. 

For example, people might search for “best locations to buy property in XYZ” area, and if you have a property there, what should you do as a smart real estate marketer? You simply create content that positions your website and brand as the go-to resource to meet their needs. When they land on your website blog content, while fulfilling their search query, you also preach the good news of your property in that location or other locations. Simple!

Unlike traditional marketing, where you’re always searching for buyers, this strategy brings potential clients who are searching for solutions to their problems and you as the solution bearer. 

Imagine if, every month, 5,000 people who are searching for “Best location to buy property in XYZ” come across the blog post you wrote on your website that answers that troubling question; because they are interested in buying property—they are much more likely to convert.

2. Investing in Email Marketing

One thing I’ve realized as a consultant to some of these real estate companies is that many people are not willing to pursue unpopular strategies. Unfortunately, it’s often these less popular strategies that yield the best results. 

In fact, I often tell people that when everyone says, “this is the way,” it’s likely that it isn’t. 

Email marketing is one such strategy that is often underestimated. However, email marketing is what the industry leaders across various sectors use to generate print money every single month.

According to a 2022 report by Campaign Monitor, the email open rate for real estate is pegged at 21.7% with an average click-through rate of 3.6%. That’s huge, if you ask any email marketer compared to the organic reach on social media.

Ever wondered why big brands like Amazon invest heavily in email marketing? I mean those promotional emails you receive from them once you buy a product from its store? Or while your favorite online marketer sends you educational messages? I want you to think about it.

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Email marketing involves sending promotional messages to people via email. However, you don’t do this using a standard Gmail account even though it can be used. Instead, you should build an email list of people and update them regularly, similar to how you receive constant messages from platforms like Amazon or other e-commerce stores. They send you updates like “best deals” or “top picks,” keeping you engaged and informed.

As a realtor, your kind of message will not be “best deals,” but educational content on issues that prospective clients/clients might be facing preventing them from making that buying decision. The message could be sent out once a week or twice. You don’t want to be spammy or promotional. So, keep it clean and not pushy.

3. Have An Active Social Media

Having an active social media account isn’t just about posting every single day. I know you may have been told to keep posting, regardless of whether anybody engages with the content or not. According to the philosophers of that thought, comments, likes, shares, and similar metrics are all vain metrics. “Keep posting; people are watching,” they say.

While it’s true that people are watching, how long can you sustain such a bland marketing approach?

For me, if I post once, twice, three times, and nobody reacts—no comments, no shares—I know it’s not the right content for my audience. I know these people. I know they want to engage when they come across great content. They want to like, comment, share, etc. They want to come to my DM to make inquiries. They want to ask me what the next step is.

So if I post and don’t get these reactions, I know I’m not connecting with them genuinely. I would need to stop and think of another strategy.

The same applies to you. If you post for seven days without anyone coming to your DM to inquire about your services, that might be a sign that the content isn’t connecting.

Often, it’s not that your content is lackluster, but that you have the wrong audience.

Imagine you’re a Christian content creator who creates content around the person of Jesus Christ as God, but your followers are all Muslim. What do you think will happen if they come across your content? They simply scroll past because such topics might not interest them.

Similarly, with your current social media account, if nobody connects with you even when you know your content is great, then it’s time to reevaluate your audience.

In many instances, the current social media account that many realtors are using to promote their properties is the same account where the majority of followers are family and friends, colleagues from different workplaces, childhood friends, people from the same village, and members of various groups they belong to.

Unfortunately, these might not be the people interested in buying property right now or have the financial capacity to afford a property worth the amount you’re selling.

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Therefore, before consistently showing up, reevaluate the quality of your audience. You cannot have an audience of people who cannot afford a property worth ₦100,000,000 and consistently try to push your message to them, expecting to build a profitable real estate empire.

One tactic that helps me in this regard is to identify competitors who are doing exceptionally well compared to me. Identify communities—groups, pages, public figures—where the people who can afford your property are, and be there. That way, you meet them where they congregate.

4. Paid Online Advertisement

It appears that realtors are so accustomed to traditional methods of marketing that they are not willing to invest as much money in paid online advertising compared to what they spend on offline marketing. In my years of experience working with realtors, this has often been a problem.

Most times, I’m shocked that a realtor promoting a property worth N60,000,000 is very reluctant to spend even as little as N200,000 on promoting the product. I remember when I first started working with realtors, due to their lack of adoption of online advertisement, they would set a budget of N10,000 to promote a property worth more than N10,000,000. It was ridiculous!

If you want to get the most out of paid online advertisements as part of your real estate marketing strategy, then you must be courageous enough to spend money. In online advertising, the more money you spend, the more results you’re likely to achieve with the right strategy.

To some, it might seem like an expensive investment to spend N1,000,000 as a marketing budget to promote a property worth N60,000,000. But think of it from this angle:

Let’s assume you spend N1,000,000 to promote ONE real estate property worth N60,000,000.

You acquire 200 high-net-worth prospects.

Out of the newly acquired prospects, one eventually buys the property worth N60,000,000, and your commission is N2,500,000. This means you’ve made a profit of N1,500,000.

Remember, you still have 199 prospects in your pipeline from the 200 you generated.

This means that you can always talk to them about other properties that you have. And because they are high-net-worth individuals and most interested in real estate, you can sell another high-cost property. Assuming this property has a commission of N1,000,000, this means you’ve altogether made a profit of N2,500,000.

If there’s sustained relationship-building, you can go on to sell even more without having to spend additional money on promotion.

Today, all social media platforms offer paid means of reaching their users—either learn how to use these paid methods or hire an expert who can manage a successful campaign for you. The cost of the real estate you’re advertising should determine your advertising budget.

5. Partnerships With Local Businesses

One way to penetrate the market is by standing on the shoulders of giants. These giants may not necessarily be in the same market, but they have built trust with an audience similar to yours.

When you partner with a local business that has already established a strong relationship with its audience, you can leverage the psychological phenomenon of transference to your advantage.

Transference is a process where people transfer the feelings, expectations, and attitudes they have towards one person or entity onto another.

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In this context, the trust, admiration, or affection that the audience feels towards the established business or individual can be transferred to your brand or product when you associate with them.

Suppose I have an audience of 100,000 people who have grown to trust me over time. They rely on my advice, value my opinions, and feel a sense of loyalty towards me.

Now, if you partner with me to promote your property, the psychological principle of transference comes into play. My audience, who already has positive feelings towards me, may transfer those feelings onto your property or brand.

They might think, “If Princewill Uchegbu endorses this, it must be trustworthy and valuable.”

This transference can significantly lower the barriers to entry in the market. Instead of starting from scratch and trying to build trust with a new audience, you can “ride on the love and trust” that has already been established by partnering with a well-regarded figure or business. Essentially, my audience’s trust in me becomes trust in you and your offerings.

6. Networking and Referrals

When someone buys from you, ask them for referrals and promise them a percentage of the profit. When you attend an event where you know people who can afford your property will be, never leave without exchanging contact information with at least five people. These may not be individuals looking to buy real estate, but they may have the capacity to introduce you to other high-net-worth individuals.

For example, when I was working as an ICT manager/marketer for Globalnet Proline, an ICT and renewable energy company, if we visited a building site and couldn’t find the owner, we would build relationships with the site manager, security personnel, or anyone who could provide information on when the owner would be around.

This approach allowed us to establish contact with the building owner to sell our home security services. Sometimes, we developed such a good rapport with the site manager that they would market our product to those with the capacity to make purchasing decisions.

Furthermore, there’s no harm in asking a satisfied client for a referral. Don’t assume they will recommend you simply because they are satisfied—ask them for it.

Real Estate Marketing Strategies Examples

Just as discussed above, there are many real estate marketing strategies and examples.

For instance, having a blog that covers real estate tips, home buying, property maintenance, etc.

Your social media accounts should also be well-organized and positioned to represent your brand effectively.

FAQ | Real Estate Marketing Strategies

Final Thought

Marketing is a game of numbers and perception. The more people hear about your product, the more likely they are to buy. Plus, never forget that, especially in this internet era, people buy from those who come to mind when they are ready to take action.

Also, buyers are not just looking to buy property, but what the property can do for them. Perception and the perceived value of the property are key. So, learn to present the real estate in a way that matches the value the market wants.

Lastly, remember that the people you want to sell property to may already have friends and family members selling property. So, why should they abandon them to buy from you? You have to think of a superior before-and-after sales service to make them lean toward your company.