Content Marketing in the Real Estate Industry
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Home sales continue to set records, and as we enter 2021, more growth is on the horizon. The National
Association of Realtors’ chief economist, Lawrence Yun, estimates a 21% increase in new home sales and a
9% increase in existing home sales for the coming year, all while the average price
increases by 3% nationally.
At first glance, it’s easy to assume that these numbers mean more business for real estate companies -- but experts warn technology will continue disrupting the markets.
So, how does a real estate company stand out from the growing competition and build a loyal client base?
Nearly 70% of marketing professionals
say they prioritize SEO, and any effective SEO strategy is backed
by excellent content. If you’re new to the world of content marketing, this guide will take you through
everything you need to know to come up with an effective strategy for your real estate company.
Why Does Content Marketing Matter?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a worthwhile activity that every company should be engaged in.
However, developing an SEO strategy isn’t exactly clear cut. If you ask Google (or any other search engine),
they’ll tell you that the ultra-complex, ever-changing algorithm favors content that offers value.
Therefore, rather than writing content with rankings in mind, they advise writing content with readers in mind.
Of course, the algorithms aren’t perfect. Over the years, people have spotted many weak points that
could enable a site to quickly climb the rankings, even if the content didn’t offer much value to readers.
That led to “blackhat” tactics, like spamming comment sections to create backlinks or stuffing an
article with nonsensical keywords just to claim the #1 spot.
While these tactics worked in the short-term, it didn't take long for Google to catch on to people who
are exploiting the algorithm and make changes to stop them. Aside from the tactics no longer being
effective, the sites that used these illegitimate tactics generally get penalized, if not blacklisted
altogether. So, long story short, while Google’s algorithm still isn’t perfect, history shows that your
best bet is to play fair.
So, taking Google’s advice and writing for the reader, rather than focusing on aspects that may or may
not get you ranked, is the best way to earn a spot on the first page. It’s also the most timeless method
as, if you’re truly writing for your readers, no algorithm update is going to impact your site’s
rankability overnight or lead to you getting penalized.
That’s where content marketing comes in. Content marketing is a philosophy that has become ingrained in
the work of professional writers and website owners alike. The concept is simple and echoes what Google
has been advising all along: Write content to offer value to readers, and the rankings will come with it.
With all of that said, you can’t expect results overnight. In fact, it will take some work to even get
started with the planning process, but all that work will prove worthwhile.
The Precursors to Great Content Marketing
Implementing content marketing is a great idea, whether you’re a startup offering innovative new services
to manage real estate transactions, like LemonBrew, or a
traditional brokerage firm. However, before you can start assembling a content plan, you need to get the
foundational elements off your to-do list.
If you’re an individual real estate agent, your brand identity is likely rooted in your personality
and background. However, for firms and companies, coming up with a strong brand identity to represent
their work requires a great deal of research and forethought.
In the real estate industry, there are some names we just don’t forget, and they’re all fantastic
examples of strong branding. Take Sotheby’s, for instance. This international real estate company
instantly calls to mind the world’s most luxurious locales and properties.
Realtor, on the other hand, has built a brand that’s prestigious to professionals in the industry
yet down-to-earth to fit the needs of buyers and sellers who are seeking an agent to assist them in
their home search.
If you were to define these two examples by the 12 most common archetypes,
Sotheby’s would easily be a “Ruler” while Realtor is more of a “Sage” brand. The former is associated
with power, control, and exclusivity, while the latter is associated with knowledge, reliability,
and transparency. Ruler brands seek to offer rare, often luxurious experiences while Sage brands seek
to inform and empower people with advice.
So, which archetype best represents your brand? If you haven’t already defined your brand’s archetype,
go through the list and start analyzing. While you’re at it, prepare to create a brand book that goes
beyond your archetype. When done right, a brand book will enable you to maintain a consistent brand
image while easily and instantly informing new hires (including freelance writers) about who your
brand is and how they should represent it.
Once created, you’ll find that your brand book is one of the most valuable assets you have in your
library. It will be used to guide your marketing, content creation, and overall approach from here on out.
Your Next Move:
Define your brand’s archetype and create a brand book.
A customer persona is a fictitious profile of your ideal customer. Still, just because you make up
a name and even an illustration or photo, it doesn’t mean you can pull everything else out of a hat.
In fact, while a brand has some creative leeway in presenting a customer persona, it’s a profile
containing a lot of factual insight, including your ideal customer's average age, income, and background.
Most companies end up defining 2-3 customer personas. You may have more or less, depending on the
number of products/services you offer and other aspects of your business. However, it’s important
that you start with one or two personas that represent the majority of your clientele.
As you create your customer personas, seek to find this information:
- Does your ideal client use social media?
- Which online platforms will you find your client using?
- How often does your client use social media to get information?
- In what format does your client prefer to get information?
These questions are an important part of building a complete persona, and they’ll inform your
marketing strategy down the road. It will take time to find this information, but the investment
will prove well worth it.
Your Next Move:
Invest time into building personas for your ideal clients.
After a long spiel about writing for readers instead of rankings, you might think that a keyword
plan is contradictory to the whole philosophy of content marketing. However, we’re not talking
about keyword stuffing and other questionable tactics. Rather, the reason why a keyword plan is
fundamental is because of the information they reveal.
Once you begin analyzing the keywords your audience is searching for, and the keywords your
competitors are ranking for, you’ll gain immediate insight into what your audience cares about,
the concerns they have, and the questions they need answers to.
For instance, if you enter the short-tail keyword “buying a home” into a keyword exploration tool,
you’ll be met with these long-tail keywords, all of which have a very high search volume:
- "buying a home with bad credit"
- "buying a home for the first time"
- "buying a home with no money down"
- "buying a home without a realtor"
Even this short list of keywords begins to tell you something about modern homebuyers and their
primary concerns. If you get even more specific with your short-tail keyword, you’ll unlock insights
that are extremely relevant to your brand and its ideal clientele.
Additionally, there’s a difference between writing for the reader, which should be your primary
focus, and dismissing SEO altogether. In reality, you will still want to “optimize” your content
with the use of on-page SEO strategies. The lesson is not to get lost in what you think will help
your site rank. When implemented correctly, all of the SEO advice you find will only enhance your
readers’ experience, and that’s the core of content marketing.
Your Next Move:
Use Google Analytics and other tools to create a keyword list.
The Journey of a Real Estate Client
In 2020, every 1 in 3 homebuyers
was going through the process for the first time. While every year sees an audience of these first-time
homebuyers hit the market, there’s no doubt that the demographics of today’s homebuyers and sellers are
changing. Likewise, the needs of modern clients are changing, too.
For instance, 12% of homebuyers say they were buying a home that could accommodate multiple generations,
with some housing aging parents while others anticipated kids over 18 moving back in. Another surprising
statistic: While married couples still represented the majority of homebuyers in 2020 (accounting for 61%),
an astonishing 17% of homebuyers were single females. Another 9% were single males.
So, what do all these numbers mean? For those servicing the real estate industry, it’s a reminder that
the marketing that worked even a couple of years ago will grow less and less effective as time goes on
and the clients the industry serves continue to evolve and change. This directly impacts agents, but
it also impacts B2B companies that seek to serve those agents.
Defining detailed customer personas in itself will reveal statistics like these, but don’t think that’s
the end of it. To put all of the information together that you’ve been collecting, we have to examine
the journey of the modern real estate client.
The stage of “awareness” can look vastly different depending on the type of client you’re servicing.
Starting with the traditional roles, awareness can mean:
- A homeowner who’s wondering what their home may be worth.
- A renter who’s wondering if making a purchase is reasonable.
- An agent who’s acknowledged they need to differentiate themselves.
When someone enters into the phase of awareness, it means something has piqued their interest and
they’re in the mood to search for potential options. Depending on the industry you service, they may
need a lot of general introductory information (i.e., a first-time homebuyer) or need a comprehensive
overview of what’s out there (i.e., an agent trying to improve their marketing tactics).
The awareness phase can have one of two outcomes. Either the prospect collects enough favorable
information that they move on to the next phase, or they become overwhelmed, exacerbated, or convinced
there is no good solution, and they stop looking (at least for the time being). When you meet a
prospect in the awareness phase, it’s your job to offer them educational content to answer their
questions and concerns.
Examples of keywords that point to the “awareness” phase include:
- “Denver home value trends”
- “how much mortgage can I afford?”
- “real estate marketing ideas”
If a prospect decides there is a favorable solution, they’ll begin narrowing down their options and
gaining more insight into what those options are. For example, a renter who is curious about buying
a home will enter the consideration phase when they’ve collected background information and now they’re:
- Comparing loan programs they may qualify for.
- Determining their purchasing budget.
- Exploring neighborhoods they’d like to live in.
In this phase, brands must show information to prospects that goes beyond the introductory. For
instance, this prospect is more interested in comparing options now than figuring out what options
they have. So, you might consider showing them content like “No Money Down Loans: FHA vs. USDA” and
“The 7 Best Neighborhoods in Denver Under $500k”.
Examples of keywords that point to the “consideration” phase include:
- “what loan program is right for me?”
- “homes in Denver under $250k”
- “best family friendly neighborhoods in Denver”
While some prospects will drop-off or backout during the consideration phase -- either because they
changed their mind (i.e., loan disapproval, no homes appealed to them, etc.) or because something
else came up -- those who keep collecting information will soon enter into the decision phase.
In the real estate industry, that could mean:
- Getting an appraisal for their home.
- Applying for a loan preapproval.
- Finding an agent to help them purchase.
During the consideration phase, most prospects develop a preference as they consider their options.
In the world of real estate, there are a lot of choices to be made, and that’s why a customer journey
can be a bit tougher to map. You can either look at it as multiple journeys or envision them passing
through the journey multiple times as they make various decisions.
For instance, one of the first decisions a homebuyer will make is to buy or not to buy. If they
choose to buy, they then might select the loan program and even a lender. Once that’s done, the
next decision process they’ll go through is finding an agent. Regardless, every time a prospect
comes to the decision phase, a frictionless experience is crucial to keep them on the right track.
Examples of keywords that point to the “decision” phase include:
- “no obligation home appraisal Denver”
- “FHA lender in Aurora Colorado”
- “buyers agent in Falcon Colorado”
How to Create a Content Strategy in The Real Estate Industry
Now that you understand who your ideal client is, the journey they must take to make a decision, and
the keywords they’re searching for, it’s time to put it all together and build an effective content
strategy.
While written content will be at the heart of any content plan, it might not be the entirety of it. It’s up to your brand and its budget to determine what media formats you wish to include in your content plan.
- Written Content: This forms the basis of your SEO strategy, but it’s not limited to blog posts. Think FAQ pages, email campaigns, social media posts, and lead magnets (i.e., downloadable brochures).
- Video Content: Highly engaging and informative, video content can help you quickly build a reputation for your brand, but only if the production quality matches your brand.
- Audio Content: For some brands, adding a podcast can be a very high-value move, especially in the B2B space. In the B2C space, the real estate industry generally has too short of a client lifecycle to justify it.
- Image Content: You can’t forget about images! Graphics and photos for your website and social media pages are critical to presenting your brand in the right light.
Getting your content plan off the ground quickly should be your priority, so do yourself a favor and don’t overcomplicate things. It’s best to start with written content, then work on image content and go from there. Once you have the basics under control, you can consider adding audio and/or video content to your schedule.
Facebook has over 2.7 billion users, which is why most people think it’s an obvious go-to platform. However, you don’t have to do what everyone else is doing. When it comes to deciding where to post your content and where to build a brand presence, you should think back to your customer personas where you answered these questions:
- Does your ideal client use social media?
- Which online platforms will you find your client using?
- How often does your client use social media to get information?
- In what format does your client prefer to get information?
Your answers to these questions will determine what platforms you choose to be active on. The trick is to not stretch yourself too thin. Choose 1-2 social media platforms to begin with. You can consider adding more once you’ve built up a presence on the first two.
Now for the exciting part: Put together a blank content calendar and you’ll start to see your content plan come to life. Your content calendar is a schedule that will tell you:
- What platforms you’re posting on.
- When you’re posting to them.
- How often you’re posting.
It’s best to plan a full calendar year out with empty slots for every type of content you plan to produce (i.e., blog post, Instagram post, YouTube video, etc.) so that you can account for both seasonal content and holiday events/promotions.
Finally, with your blank content calendar in front of you, it’s time to go back to your keyword
plan and turn those search terms into topics. Prioritize keywords by search volume and ease of
ranking. Look to strike a balance between monthly searches and difficulty so that you can begin
driving organic traffic to your website as soon as possible.
You can also use various tools to help you come up with content ideas, like
Hubspot’s Blog Ideas Generator. In
any case, remember that keywords reveal your client’s needs, so you should be writing content
that addresses those needs first and foremost.
Need help with your content strategy?
Try Scripted Cruise ControlMemorable Examples of Great Content from Real Estate Leaders
As you go about assembling your content strategy, look to these leading examples for inspiration.
Already a name known around the world, Sotheby’s constantly reinforces their “Ruler” brand with their “Extraordinary Living” blog. Gorgeous photos accompany lifestyle topics along with behind-the-scenes style content, like video walkthroughs of some of the world’s most exclusive residences.
The Home Made Blog from Realtor targets content at homebuyers and sellers who need advice on the current market, anticipated trends, and everything to do with owning a home for the long-term.
Zillow calls their blog “Porchlight,” with the slogan: “The ‘always on’ guide to home.” From lifestyle and home ownership topics to advice for buying and selling, they cover a little bit of everything while sharing helpful tips and insight for individuals and families from just about every demographic.
Put Your Content Marketing Strategy to Work
The world of real estate is constantly evolving. Whether you’re part of the tech revolution or a traditional brokerage firm trying to stay ahead of it, content marketing is the foundation for a timeless, impactful content strategy.
If you’re looking to build a stronger digital presence for your real estate company, you can rely on Scripted. With our team of professional real estate writers, we can help your company stand out from the crowd and publish engaging, thoughtful, optimized content that will bring in the high-quality leads you’re searching for. Reach out to our team today to learn more or browse our writers to get started.
