Based on responses from over 500 real estate agents and brokers nationwide, referrals ranked as the number one marketing preference among real estate professionals for acquiring new clients, with an overall score of 8.95 (out of 10) for effectiveness. Referrals also ranked number one in the 2011 and 2010 surveys.
Leads from brokers (scored a 5.6) and Events (5.26) ranked second and third, respectively, as most effective marketing strategies, which remained unchanged from 2011.
Online lead generation services (5.19) ranked fourth, jumping four positions from the 2011 survey. Email Campaigns (4.92) and Featured Listings (4.91) swapped positions from the 2011 survey and came in fifth and sixth, respectively.
Postcards and Mailers (4.9) were bumped down from sixth in the 2011 survey to seventh. However, it scored half a point higher in 2012. Craigslist (4.3) and Youtube (4.1) ranked eighth and ninth, respectively. Youtube scored 0.6 points higher than in 2011, helping it jump three spots.
In the 2011 survey, Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter were grouped into one category. In 2012, each site stood on its own. Overall in 2011, Social Media scored a 3.8. In 2012, Facebook (4.0) ranked 10th, Google+ (3.7) ranked 12th, LinkedIn (3.61) ranked 14th and Twitter (3.43) ranked 19th. The average of these scores is 3.69.
Blogging (3.91) ranked 11th in 2012. This represents a 0.62 increase and a jump of two spots from 2011.
“Despite the hype of social media as an effective marketing outlet, real estate professionals once again voted referrals as the most effective and most preferred form of marketing,” said Louis Cammarosano, General Manager of HomeGain. “Also coming in ahead of social media were in person events, like open houses, mailing of post cards and online lead generation services.”
Top Effective Marketing Strategies for Real Estate Professionals in 2012:
(Cumulative Averages, 1=least likely to use/10=most likely to use)
Top Marketing Objectives for Real Estate Professionals in 2013:
(Cumulative Averages, 1=least likely to use/10=most likely to use)
Hello Louis. Thank you for the detail information regarding this. I was searching for this kind of information.
October 29th, 2012 at 10:16 pm
referrals surely got the key to one’s heart. i wouldnt be shocked if it ranked 1. referrals been very important in the real estate world. Anyway, this is such a very good post! Hope we could get in touch with each other. I’m a realtor and a writer who specializing in real estate.
October 30th, 2012 at 6:49 am
Interesting facts, Referrals are the important key to have a position in the real estate market, Nice post Louis.
November 1st, 2012 at 1:22 pm
You can know the top real estate marketing practices with help from the post here
November 8th, 2012 at 5:02 am
Thanks for writing and describing this so well.
November 16th, 2012 at 3:38 am
Since when is a referral or a lead from a broker a “marketing strategy?” Had you addressed true marketing strategies this piece would’ve been a lot more valuable. Remove those, and the list is topped by open houses. Really? In 2012 and going into 2013? I’m not buying it.
November 19th, 2012 at 2:02 pm