How to effectively promote your brokerage
From real estate to securities brokers, everyone in the industry needs to get a little more creative these days when drawing attention to their brokerage. This is especially true now in 2021, where more professionals are opting to nix the storefront that can save hundreds of thousands annually, depending on the size of the business.
These businesses are instead opting for a strong online presence that converts. The financial sales industries in particular have been built on random activities that sometimes are not accompanied by rhyme or reason, making it much more difficult to track efficacy of marketing and sales tactics. But today, online marketing has made it easier than ever to assess what is working, what is not working and where improvements can be made.
Similar to how you are the middleman between a buyer and seller as an effective broker, marketing acts as a middleman that connects you with the buyer of your dreams. Stuck on where to start? Consider these tactics below:
Create a marketing plan
Devising a comprehensive marketing plan should be one of the first steps when even considering taking the leap online. It can be easy to get swept away with the excitement and potential of various online channels that respond well to your audience, but stop. Without rhyme or reason for posting, you are not allocating your time effectively.
Don’t forget, every good business strategy starts with a plan. Some elements that successful plans should include are:
- SMART goal setting
- Competitor analysis
- Current social media audit
- Recommendations for each platform
For your brokerage, we recommend that at very minimum, focus your attention on social media and blog. Social media is a given, but a blog, or vlog that lives on your website, will continue to bring traffic onto the website. This is your opportunity to drive your audience from that blog to other exciting incentives that your website has to offer.
Update your website
Next, a strong website is the backbone of your brand. This is especially true if it acts as your online storefront, the face of your business as your clients know it. Ensure that you utilize a graphic design team who knows your industry’s best practices and how you can capture the attention of your audience and convert. Upwork is a great place to find that perfect freelancer for you.
After you have chosen the right team or freelancer for your project, ensure that they optimize your website perfectly. For real estate brokerages, you want to make sure that programs like Zillow are easily optimized into the website to ensure that you are offering up-to-date listings for your clients. Give them no need to look elsewhere.
Next, search engine optimization, or SEO, should be a major priority. This is what ensures that your website can be found by those looking for your services organically, without even touching your advertising budget.
Don’t forget to also implement Google Analytics, which can advise on information such as interactions per visit, return visitor conversion, page views, bounce rate and exit pages.
Focus on social media
Next, comes the time to set up your social media pages. When you are choosing your handles, opt for something consistent as much as possible. If your company’s name is common, it might not always be possible to get the same name across the board, but do your best.
Here are some other recommendations when setting up social media:
- Ensure that logos and headers are also consistent, using high-quality images
- Create a bio that tells a story. Instead of keeping it cut-and-dry, use this opportunity to explain what makes you unique
- Add a Linktree to platforms like Instagram. Where traditionally one link can only be shared, Linktree allows users to share several links to importance pages on their website
Posting
Now, get to posting. But let’s not forget the plan that you created where you started those wheels turning on ideas that would appeal to those seeking your services. Create a social media calendar on Trello. This is one of our favorite examples of what you can do to prioritize organization, courtesy of Hubspot.
It is recommended that you decide on frequency in advance and then strongly adhere to a schedule. You will get the most attention when you are consistent.
Where to post
Be sure to take note of the accounts that your audience finds themselves using most often. For brokerages, this tends to be Facebook and LinkedIn.
Engagement
Don’t forget, clients looking for a home want to create that personal connection with a realtor or brokerage. Ensure that you are responding quickly to every comment and reaching out personally to dive deeper into what they are looking for and how you can help.
Content creation
Now comes the fun part: getting creative. You will need to create eye-catching visual collateral. Professional-looking social media graphics can be made easily, even for the online beginner, with a platform like PosterMyWall. The website has thousands of templates for financial service ads where you can swap in and out information and save to your device or upload right to social media. The options are limitless – and you don’t need to be a graphic design expert to look like one!
Why focus your attention on online marketing
Starting with building out a comprehensive digital marketing plan and using a combination of the recommended tactics above, you no longer need a storefront to bring brand awareness and conversion to your company.
In today’s economy that is starting to rebuild itself after a long pandemic, marketing yourself online is cost-effective. A little effort can go a long way – just remember to be consistent when you do it!