Step Up Your Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing is one of the most effective ways to promote your real estate business. More than half of consumers in the Generation X and Generation Y demographics used a mobile device to search for homes in 2015pdf. That number has undoubtedly grown since then, which is one reason why your company needs to have a presence in the mobile space.

But your agents need to be informed about best practices before using this method to rock sales. Here are my best tips for helping your team work efficiently in the mobile era.

Text Message Marketing

Text messaging is the number one way to make sure that a prospect sees your communications. Research shows that SMS text messages have a 99 percent open rate, and 90 percent of messages are opened within three minutes. Those are better response statistics than for email, telephone, and social media marketing.

But does text messaging work for real estate? Just ask Metrolina Real Estate Holdings, one company reporting higher conversion rates through SMS than any other marketing avenue.

Your primary task is to convey these statistics and real-life examples to your team. Let them know that text messages are a friendly and efficient way to communicate with home buyers, and then have a meeting to discuss when and how to use texting in their sales strategy. You will be able to brainstorm ideas, assuring that everyone is on the same page.

Here are some suitable applications for text messaging:

• Home viewing and consultation appointment reminders.
• Scheduling a phone call or meeting.
• Notification that an email has been sent.
• Sending links to potential homes (mobile-friendly sites only).
• Personalized updates on listings and offers.

It’s critical to note that text messaging is an opt-in–only marketing form. To comply with the FTC’s CAN-SPAM Act, leads who receive text messages from your agency must have expressed permission for this kind of contact.

Mobile Apps

According to Zillow, 98 percent of home buyers consider their mobile device a valuable tool in the home search process. So, if you want to be a part of your clients’ experience, help your agents make themselves and their listings more accessible on mobile apps. This can happen in one or more ways:

1. Leverage popular apps like realtor.com®, Trulia, and Zillow.
2. Create your own app through a service like SnApp, iBuildApp, or AppMakr.
3. Hire an expert to create a branded app for your agency.

It’s critical that your agents and their listings appear on all of the major mobile directories, since a huge portion of leads can be generated this way. Though agents can simply direct prospects to a popular app to search listings, it’s a good idea to have a branded app that keeps your company in the forefront of their minds. Unless a contract is signed, a prospect can choose any agent they want to show them homes.

Mobile Education Resources

When first climbing into the world of mobile marketing, there will be a lot to learn. Texting with clients or building an app doesn’t automatically make you a modern mobile marketing expert. You still need to educate your team for optimized results. Here’s where you can find resources to help you make the most of your mobile marketing efforts:

1. The National Association of REALTORS®: NAR offers excellent resources for real estate professionals who want to make the most of their careers. A REALTOR® is more than just an agent, and members gain access to local, regional, and national conferences, where best practices and trends are discussed in detail. Consider promoting NAR membership to agents in your organization.  

2. Real Estate Marketing Blog: This website will keep you informed about nearly every real estate marketing trend. New articles, statistics, and industry news are regularly published, and the blog can bestow a ton of knowledge on your team. Ask your agents to subscribe to the newsletter on this site so that the latest articles arrive in their inboxes.

3. Udemy: This is a website that offers online courses on anything you can imagine. You’ll find real estate business training and mobile marketing courses, which are inexpensive, if not free, and can be completed from anywhere. You can read ratings from other users before you choose which topics to learn. Send your agents here for additional training.

4. The Online Marketing Institute: This is an authority in the digital marketing industry. Their information is trusted, and only experts contribute to the content. Fortunately, they also offer mobile marketing training.

5. Lynda.com: This site is a partner with LinkedIn. Course participants must have a LinkedIn account to view the materials. Leaders from every industry post training materials here, and the mobile marketing classes are highly rated. Sign up for LinkedIn and receive a free trial of Lynda courses. If you need to train five or more people, a representative will call you with details on how to make that happen seamlessly.

Mobile marketing is a tool that your brokerage can’t afford to ignore, as more consumers want marketing materials and communications delivered to their smartphones. Make this the year you include text messaging and app marketing in your brokerage’s strategy, and bring your entire team into the company plan. What mobile marketing tactics have you tried in the past, and how did they work out for you? I’d love to hear from you; leave a comment below.