How effective are the different marketing options out there for you as a Realtor? What are other Realtors doing that you aren’t…but should be?
Thanks to over 1,300 real estate agents and brokers who completed the HomeGain Realtor Marketing Survey in December 2009 and March 2010, the results are in! HomeGain today announced the survey results for the top most effective marketing methods of Realtors® in a national press release today.
Top 10 Effective Marketing Strategies for Realtors*:
- Referrals (Scored 8.7 out of a possible 10)
- Leads From Your Brokerage (6.0)
- Events [Open House, Fairs, etc.] (5.2)
- Featured Listings (4.8)
- Email Campaigns (4.7)
- Postcards/Mailers (4.6)
- Facebook (4.3)
- Craigslist (4.2)
- Online Lead Generation Services (4.1)
- Outdoor advertising (3.9)
* (Cumulative Average Scores, 1 = Least Effective /10 = Most Effective)
Referrals
On the survey Realtors indicated that they think getting referrals is the most effective strategy to acquire new clients, with a cumulative overall score of 8.7 out of a possible 10 for effectiveness. Surveyed agents indicated that they will continue to focus on referrals as their leading marketing strategy in 2010.
Featured listings (4.8 effectiveness score) and email campaigns (4.7) were considered the next most effective marketing strategies.
Social Media
The survey shows that Realtors rank YouTube (3.5), Twitter (3.3), banner ads (3.2), pay per click advertising (3.2) and MySpace (3.0) as the least effective marketing methods.
Although Realtors did not indicate Facebook as a top 5 most effective marketing method (scored at 4.9), surveyed agents indicated that they will increase their use of it in their marketing plans in 2010.
2010 Marketing Goals
The survey also shows that in 2010, real estate agents plan to continue to focus on referrals (8.9 score most likely to use), email campaigns (5.7) and featured listings (5.2). They indicated that they will be less likely to invest their marketing dollars and time on Twitter (3.4), outdoor advertising (2.7), banner ads (2.5), pay per click advertising (2.5) and MySpace (2.5).
Top 10 Marketing Objectives for Realtors in 2010**:
- Referrals (8.9)
- Leads From Your Brokerage (6.2)
- Events (5.8)
- Email Campaigns (5.4)
- Featured Listings (5.1)
- Postcards/Mailers (5.0)
- Craigslist (4.8)
- Social Networking (4.7)
- Print Ads (4.6)
- YouTube (3.7)
**(Cumulative Averages, 1 = Least Likely to Use / 10 = Most Likely to Use)
HomeGain conducts regular surveys of Realtors, including the HomeGain Home Improvement Survey and the quarterly HomeGain Home Prices Survey. The 2010 1st quarter HomeGain Home Prices Survey results will be announced in two weeks.
HomeGain’s AgentView online marketing program provides real estate agents with several of the top 10 most effective marketing practices for reaching potential new home buyers and sellers in an all-in-one, exclusive and ad-free platform.
I am using the majority of these strategies, but I also don’t use some of these at all, such as Print Ads. One strategy that is missing that works great for me is face to face networking, and it is fun too!
March 11th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Looks like the overall biggest bang for the buck is in creating, incubating and insulating relationships. Our Sponsors have 300K homeowners that they are doing this with.. gethomeactions.net
March 11th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Very interesting survey! I didn’t think “pay per click” would be so low on Realtor’s lists. Adwords seems to be very popular these days.
March 11th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Where is Craigslist? I know many realtors that are crushing it with CL. It is great for lead generation.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
At RealtyJoin, the social networking site for the real estate industry, we are definitely seeing similar trends. You can’t beat a good referral or reference:
March 12th, 2010 at 10:12 am
Very good post, thank you
March 12th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
Greta article and I would add simple doing something is always better than doing nothing – so pick one or two out and focus on them and get them going and result will come later but in the begginijng jsut focus on getting stuff done
Mike
March 13th, 2010 at 6:16 am
I saw the comment on CL and have heard the comments about how this is a great lead generator for some agents. However, I must confess I don’t know any who really develop leads, from this source, on a consistent basis. Why would someone really use CL to search for homes when there are so many better alternatives. What am I missing – if you are a prospective homebuyer, CL is a pain to use.
March 16th, 2010 at 3:29 am
Jessica, I like the results of the survey. My personal best has been direct mailing. From the post I can see more opportunity on areas of the business I can come up with a game plan to drive more sales in the areas I need improvement.
March 16th, 2010 at 7:32 am
I totally agree with your article. One of the most effective ways I have been able to market myself and get my name out is via social networking sites. I feel that some of this may have to do with the amount of users that browse these sites each day. Anywhere you can place an add and have the most eyes see it the better!
March 18th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
How was this survey conducted?
Did you ask agents what was effective, or did they provide you analytics on what was effective? If it was the former, it’s of almost no value as most agents don’t measure the effectiveness, reach or efficiency of their marketing efforts. Of course networking will come up #1, as that is something not provided by the broker!
This is a worthless survey reflecting the attitudes of agents, not effectiveness of marketing. By these standards brokers should be spending all of their ad dollars on free lunches for their agents to network vs. better websites, professional marketing materials, or other collective marketing efforts.
March 18th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
I agree with Mike Sosnowski in regards to CL. I tried to use it regularly because my seller’s had been asking for it but it has caused me nothing but grief with the number of e-mails I would receive that had absolutley nothing to do with buyer interest. I also don’t know why a buyer would go this route when there are so many better options out their for them to use and much more efficiently.
I periodically put surveys out at my open houses to determine where people are getting their info from and have found that newspaper ad in our area is still where they buyer is going. Many of them come in with their newspaper in hand. I do think that will change as time goes on and have spent time myself showing my buyer’s where to go and how to use it but much of the older generation is not there yet.
Lastly, I find seller’s are not happy unless you are doing all of it so if something just does not work you really need to educate them on that.
August 17th, 2010 at 10:10 am