For real estate agents and brokers, implementing effective advertising is critical to compete for buyer and seller leads. Yet often advertising budgets are limited.
You need to maximise every dollar spent on real estate advertising to get results.
Follow these 19 proven real estate advertising tips to attract more qualified prospects, generating leads, and closing more clients in 2024 and beyond.
Tip #1: Have Total Clarity on Your Target Audience
The foundation of impactful advertising is precision targeting. You need crystal clarity on exactly who you want your messaging to reach and influence.
Dig into defining your ideal client avatar based on:
- Demographics: Are you targeting young first-time buyers or downsizing retirees? Families or singles? Specific income ranges?
- Interests and hobbies: What activities and passions do they care about? Gardening? Golf? HGTV and home renovation shows?
- Motivations and goals: Are they motivated by investment upside, amenities like good schools, proximity to nightlife?
- Pain points: What problems or challenges are they facing that you can provide solutions for?
- Behaviour patterns: Where do they currently congregate online/offline? What publications or influencers do they turn to?
Really get vividly specific about your ideal buyer and seller profiles. This will inform every media buy and ad creation decision.
Tip #2: Stress Value Over Price
When promoting yourself or listings, avoid making price the headline or primary focus. Remember that potential clients want to understand the intrinsic value you provide. Price comes later.
Instead of leading with “Just Reduced to $299,000!,” focus first on positioning the special features, upgrades, amenities, location perks, and lifestyle offered by a home.
For your personal brand, emphasise your commitment to providing white-glove service, local neighbourhood insights, or negotiating expertise before ever highlighting commission rates.
In ad copywriting, telling the value story first grabs attention and establishes relevance. Price can be introduced later as a secondary benefit once desire is sparked.
Tip #3: Highlight What Makes You Unique
One key way to break through the noise is to clearly convey what makes you distinct compared to other real estate professionals in your market.
Maybe you:
- Specialise in a niche neighbourhood that you have deep expertise in
- Excel at helping first-time buyers navigate challenges
- Have proprietary data or tech tools other agents lack
- Offer concierge-style service above and beyond the norm
- Have decades of experience helping families find homes
Communicate your special sauce prominently in advertising. Give prospective clients a compelling reason to choose to work with you over the competition.
Tip #4: Feature Current Client Testimonials
One of the most effective strategies is incorporating genuine testimonials from satisfied past clients into advertisements. For example:
“Susan helped us buy our absolute dream home and negotiated a price $25k below, asking! Her knowledge of the local market is amazing.” – John S.
Seeing real quotes from other buyers and sellers your services have made happy provides third-party social proof and credibility that your claims are true.
Sprinkle authentic client testimonials liberally across your website, ads, and marketing materials.
Tip #5: Focus Advertising on Emotion and Aspirations
Logical facts and figures are important, but limiting ads to only functional features and data misses opportunities to connect emotionally.
Look for ways to tap into the hopes, dreams and emotions of home ownership. Use messaging like:
- Picture family holidays in your new home by the fireplace.
- Host dinner parties in your spacious gourmet kitchen.
- Relax enjoying sunsets from your covered patio.
Paint a psychological picture of achieving aspirations through home ownership. Spark desire by tapping into why a home matters beyond bricks and mortar.
Tip #6: Boldly State Your Value Proposition
Make sure any prospective client seeing your advertising instantly understands your unique value and why they should work with you.
Summarise the key ways you help home buyers and sellers in 1-2 quick, compelling sentences. For example:
“We help first-time buyers navigate the process smoothly and find homes with long-term investment potential.”
“Our deep local knowledge helps sellers maximise sale price and sell faster.”
Don’t make the reader guess or wade through verbose text to decipher how you can help them. Be crystal clear upfront.
Tip #7: Use High-Quality Professional Photography
Investing in professional photography is non-negotiable in real estate advertising. Listings need to be presented in the best possible light.
Work with an experienced real estate photographer who knows how to showcase home features and draw viewers into the emotion of spaces.
Likewise, have professional headshots taken of yourself for branding across platforms.
Initial upfront costs are easily offset by the results photography delivers in attracting buyer attention.
Tip #8: Optimise Copy for Search Visibility
Leverage advertising opportunities to improve search visibility and SEO.
When describing listings and neighbourhoods, incorporate keywords and terminology buyers are likely searching for. This helps ads get found by interested prospects actively looking.
For example, call out proximity to downtown, recently updated kitchen, fixer-upper opportunity, etc.
Tip #9: Make Calls to Action Prominent
In the ad copy, be crystal clear on the specific next action you want the viewer to take after seeing the ad.
- Click to call for a free consultation
- Visit [yourwebsite.com] to search listings
- Text 12345 to schedule a tour
Don’t make the reader guess or have to wade through paragraphs before understanding expected next steps.
Tip #10: Diversify Ad Placements Across Media
A successful real estate advertising strategy incorporates traditional and digital channels for maximum exposure. Consider:
Digital: Google/Bing PPC, Facebook/Instagram ads, programmatic display ads, retargeting ads, streaming TV ads
Print: Local newspapers/magazines, real estate publications, neighbourhood flyers
Direct Mail: Postcards and letters to targeted prospect lists
Out of Home: Billboards, public transit ads, movie theatre ads
Radio: Local station ads during drive times
TV: Local cable and streaming TV spots
Sponsored Content: Native ads on news sites and relevant digital publications
Test different platforms to determine the right media mix for your business. Spread beyond just digital alone.
Tip #11: Retarget Engaged Prospects
Use remarketing ads across channels like Facebook, Google and programmatic displays to follow up with users who previously engaged with your website or listings.
For example, target visitors who viewed specific property pages or requested info on your site. They have indicated initial interest which you can nurture via tailored ads.
Tip #12: Develop Nurturing Ad Sequences
When users sign up on your website by providing their contact info, add them to customised advertising sequences that nurture them over time.
You can easily create these sequences through platforms like Facebook Custom Audiences. The key is serving a logical progression of ads that moves prospects down to the sales funnel.
For example:
Ad 1: Thanks for connecting! Watch for our monthly newsletter with curated listings.
Ad 2: See homes matching your $400k budget in Franklin Park area here.
Ad 3: Ready to move forward? Click here to schedule a strategy call.
Tip #13: Rigorously Track Performance
Constantly measure advertising performance using UTM tracking codes and analytics platforms. Identify which campaigns, placements and messages convert best.
Refine your media budget allocations based on hard data around the ROI different initiatives are driving. Double down on what works.
Tip #14: Maintain Consistent Branding
While tailoring messaging for different channels, keep the look, feel, voice and tone consistent across your real estate advertising.
Maintaining one unified brand experience builds familiarity and trust as audiences see your ads across multiple touchpoints.
Tip #15: Incorporate Video
Video is one of the most compelling ad formats available today. Even simple smartphone videos of properties help bring listings to life.
“Day in the life” testimonial videos showing satisfied buyers living in their new home are highly engaging.
The human face and voice create powerful connections. Look for opportunities to incorporate video across channels.
Tip #16: Capitalise on Current Events and Seasons
Keep ads timely by tying messaging into major events happening in your local market when possible.
Some examples:
- New city development plans
- School district renovations
- Opening of anticipated restaurants/attractions
- Seasonal events like annual parades and festivals
This helps catch audience attention by making ads feel relevant.
Tip #17: Enlist Help from Marketing Experts
Don’t hesitate to enlist support from experts like copywriters, designers, PPC specialists, etc. if needed.
Their skills can help elevate ad quality and performance exponentially. Many offer done-for-you services for stressed agents lacking extra bandwidth.
The return generated from great creative and systematic implementation easily justifies the investment.
Tip #18: Collaborate with Fellow Agents
Bounce ideas off other agents in your brokerage. Consider pooling resources to co-sponsor larger advertisements or campaigns.
Sharing intel on what works best for your respective businesses helps everyone win.
Tip #19: Continually Test and Optimise
Maintain a perpetual learning mindset. Be willing to try innovative strategies and new ad platforms as they emerge.
Let data guide decisions around budget and messaging. Double down on what moves the revenue needle.
Never get complacent or pause optimisation efforts. The ad environment evolves quickly.
Start Attracting More Real Estate Clients with Powerful Advertising
With the right messaging, media mix and data-driven strategy, advertising can become one of your most effective tools for lead generation entering 2024.
Apply these real estate advertising best practices to capture buyers’ and sellers’ attention over the noise. Set yourself apart from competing agents.
Be relentlessly focused on conveying your unique value. Diversify beyond just digital. Work with experts when needed. And let response metrics guide your efforts.
The market rewards agents willing to advertise boldly, creatively, and consistently. You now have an advertising playbook. So put these tips into action to propel your next stage of real estate success.
