I’m talking logos, social media graphics, free stock photos, templates—the whole nine yards. I’m even diving into when to call in the pros and hire a designer. Oh, and did I mention the free Real Estate Branding Guide I’m throwing in? Yep, I’m giving you everything you need to create a brand that’s so good clients won’t be able to resist. So, let’s do this!

Why Graphic Design Matters for Real Estate

Your brand is way more than just a logo or website. It’s the whole package—everything that shapes how people perceive you and your business. The great news is that you have the power to guide their perception by creating a unique combination of messaging and visuals that’s all your own.

Whether we like it or not, potential clients form opinions about a property and the agent representing it based on the visual appeal of their real estate marketing materials. As a real estate agent in a transitioning market, standing out from the competition is critical. But, with the right branding strategy, you can showcase your personality, expertise, and what sets you apart. You can connect with your target audience and build trust before they meet you.

Branding is a powerful tool for your success, so take the time to develop a brand that truly represents you and your business. Watch as it helps you attract your ideal clients and close more deals. Trust me, it’s worth it!

Benefits of Graphic Design for Real Estate Agents

Whether you’re using DIY tools or paying a pro, your real estate business will benefit from high-quality graphic design. Don’t underestimate the power of branding. Spend time defining your style, colors, and the statement you want to make in the world. Great graphic design will create the following:

• Increased brand recognition and memorability
• Enhanced credibility and professionalism
• Improved communication of key information
• Higher engagement rates on marketing materials
• Competitive advantage in the market

As your brand becomes more visible, both online and offline, your business will attract more clients, and you’ll close more deals. So, don’t skimp on the design details of your brand right up front. Invest in high-quality real estate graphic design to gain the most benefit from your marketing strategy. 

First, Establish Your Brand Identity

Without delving into branding, you can’t get too far into real estate graphic design. Now that you clearly understand why graphic design matters and its benefits, it’s time to start building your personal real estate brand identity. 

Establishing the look and feel of your brand is a critical step in creating effective real estate marketing materials. Spend some time on each of these elements to develop a brand identity that aligns with your personality and professional goals.

• MVV: Your mission, vision, and values (MVV) are the core identity behind your brand and all marketing materials you produce. They will help guide you through most graphic design choices you make. 

• Branding: Consistent branding is crucial for real estate agents. This includes using a specific color palette, font family, and logo across all marketing materials to create a recognizable and professional brand identity.
• Color psychology: Colors can evoke up to 90% of an initial impression. You should understand the basics of color psychology and use colors that create the desired mood and attract your target audience.

• Logo: Your real estate logo is the face of your brand and should be memorable, unique, and reflective of your brand’s values.
• Typography: Choosing the right fonts can significantly impact the readability and overall appeal of your designs. Choose legible and professional fonts that align with your brand’s personality.

Once you have established your brand’s color palette, typography, and logo usage, maintain consistency across all marketing materials, including business cards, property flyers, social media posts, and other marketing collateral. This will create a cohesive and recognizable brand identity.

Need a little more in-depth guidance on setting up your unique brand identity? Worry not! We’ve got you covered. You can download our Real Estate Branding Guide and go deeper into all the details of developing a brand that represents you and resonates with your audience. Check it out!

DOWNLOAD YOUR REAL ESTATE BRANDING GUIDE

DIY Design Tips for Real Estate Agents

You may not be a pro real estate graphic designer. Still, you can certainly learn a few design tips to help create stunning images for consistent social media posts, email marketing, real estate infographics, postcards and flyers, and more to keep your brand identity consistent no matter what you need to create.

Tip 1: Use White Space Effectively

White space, or negative space, is the empty space between all your design elements. It’s like the secret sauce to making your designs look clean, organized, and easy on the eyes. Don’t be afraid to give your elements some breathing room.

Tip 2: Create Visual Hierarchies

This is just a fancy way of saying you should arrange your design elements in order of importance. Use size, color, and placement to first guide your viewer’s eye to the most critical information. Make those headlines and key details pop by using larger or bolder fonts to draw attention to them. Use subheadings, bullet points, or numbered lists to break up text and make it more scannable.

Tip 3: Use Contrasting Colors

Using contrasting colors can make important elements stand out, like a neon sign. Use a color wheel to find complementary colors for maximum impact, choosing colors from the opposite side of the wheel. Just make sure your text is still legible—you don’t want people squinting while trying to read your graphics. But caution: use contrast sparingly. The last thing you want is to overwhelm the design and your reader. Focus on highlighting the most important elements.

Tip 4: Align Elements Consistently

Alignment is key to creating a polished, professional look. Use a grid system to keep everything in line. Make sure related elements, like text and images, are aligned to create a cohesive look. Consistent alignment makes your designs look polished and easier to read.

Tip 5: Embrace Simplicity

When in doubt, keep it simple. Stick to a limited color palette and font family for a put-together vibe. Avoid going overboard with decorative elements or busy backgrounds that can distract from your main message. Focus on delivering key information with clarity. Never sacrifice your message for a pretty design.

Tip 6: Use High-quality Images

There’s no excuse for not using high-quality images in your real estate graphic designs. Use professional, well-lit photos that show off a property’s best features. Make sure your images are sized and optimized for their intended use, whether digital or print. If you’re using stock photos, choose ones that look authentic and relate to your message.

Tip 7: Be Unique

It’s great to get inspo from other successful agents and see what design elements really catch your eye. But here’s the thing—don’t just copy and paste. Get inspired, but then create something that’s uniquely you. Put your own spin on it and let your personality shine through. That’s what will really make you stand out from the competition.

DIY Design Tools for Real Estate Agents

Ready to get started designing your stunning real estate graphics? I’ve pulled together a list of some of the coolest DIY marketing design tools to get you started.

Real Estate Graphic Design Templates 

Since you’re most likely not a professional designer, one of the easiest and fastest ways to create your gorg graphic designs is to use templates. Most of the platforms created for DIY design come with a plethora of templates, including some easy-to-customize social media templates you can peruse and customize to fit your brand. Check out some amazing templates I’ve seen in the wild below.

Templates from Coffee & Contracts

Modern market update template (Source: Coffee & Contracts)

Testimonial template (Source: Coffee & Contracts)

Templates library for social media, postcard, and marketing (Source: Coffee & Contracts)

Templates from Canva

Reel template (Source: Canva)

Just listed template (Source: Canva)

Educational post template (Source: Canva)

Stylish, customizable real estate templates for all your needs (Source: Canva)

Templates from Agent Crate

Template dashboard with several posts (Source: Agent Crate)

Engagement post template (Source: Agent Crate)

Educational post template (Source: Agent Crate)

Just sold template (Source: Agent Crate)

Agent Crate produces new monthly content and templates to customize your brand. (Source: Agent Crate)

Inspo: Examples of Real Estate Graphic Design That Slays

Here are some gorg examples of well-designed real estate marketing materials to inspire and guide you in creating your own designs.

Example 1: SERHANT.

If you’re looking for inspo for your branding, look no further than the man who has created one of the most recognizable brands in real estate—Ryan Serhant. This logo is one of my personal favorites for a myriad of reasons. It’s clean. Simple. And confidently stated. It’s simply his name in all caps and blocky letters, but the period at the end makes all the difference. Serhant. Period. See what I mean?

Example 2: The Agency

I know a lot of people on the internet talk about The Agency, including some of us here at The Close. But I can’t help but love how clever this real estate logo is—a bent paperclip in the shape of an “A” and the simple title underneath. It’s so simple, it’s brilliant. The white sans serif font on a bright red field stands out and screams sophistication. It’s a great example of less is more.

Example 3: Compass

Compass has done an amazing job with its branding, standing out as a leader in sophistication and class. Its branding conveys luxury without being bougie and techy without being boring. The simple black-and-white colors are fresh, modern, and stylish, with sans-serif all-caps lettering spaced out just enough to be open and inviting. With Compass, you’re going places. 

Example 4: Aaron Kirman Partners

I love the overt masculinity of this logo—it says power, sophistication, and boldness—definitely traits shared by its namesake. The simple, black-and-white design fits hand-in-hand with the use of negative space on the website. It also fits nicely with the tagline “The Evolution of Luxury.” This logo means business, just like its namesake and the brokerage itself. If you’re looking for powerful real estate graphic design inspiration, this one ranks up there.

How & Where to Hire a Real Estate Graphic Designer

Traditionally, when a business needs graphic design work done, they hire an advertising or creative agency. Sure, that’s one way to get premium real estate graphic design for your business, but you can also hire a freelance designer, which can be more economical. A freelance designer generally works on a per-project or hourly basis. 

Start small with freelancers once you’ve had a chance to check out their portfolio. Hire them to complete a few small projects to make sure they’re a good fit. Have them complete a few different types of projects—for example, a social media graphic, a listing brochure, a real estate flyer, and a postcard. Doing so will help you get a feel for how well the designer takes direction, how often they meet deadlines, and how easy they are to work with. One project isn’t enough to assess someone’s talents. Plus, you will also want to determine if they understand you and your unique brand.

Here are a few places to look for freelance graphic design for realtors, broken down by average cost and design quality. Keep in mind that prices vary based on the freelancer and task. Instead of hunting for one freelance designer, you can also run a contest on sites like 99designs, where you can pitch your project, and multiple designers will create designs. You can then choose the best option for your needs.

Freelancer Website	Pricing	Design Quality
Upwork	$–$$$$	Entry-level to mid-tier
Toptal	$$–$$$$	Mid-tier to expert
Dribble	$$–$$$$	Mid-tier to expert
Behance	$$–$$$$	Mid-tier to expert
Working Not Working	$$$–$$$$	Expert
99Designs	$–$$$$	Beginner to expert
Fiverr	$–$$$$	Beginner to expert

Bringing It All Together

We’ve covered a lot of ground in this ultimate guide to real estate graphic design. From understanding the importance of visual branding to mastering design basics, you’re now equipped with the knowledge and tools to create marketing materials that will make you stand out from the competition. But remember, this is just the beginning of your design journey. Keep exploring, experimenting, and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.

Now, I want to hear from you! What’s your favorite design tip from this guide? Have you created any killer marketing materials using these techniques? Share your thoughts, experiences, and even your designs in the comments below. Let’s keep this conversation going!

The post Real Estate Graphic Design: The Ultimate Guide for 2024 appeared first on The Close.

What Is Real Estate Data Analytics?

Real estate data analytics is an umbrella term that describes using different types of data to make better business decisions. It includes collecting data, analyzing it, and applying it. Data can be gathered, analyzed, and even applied manually or using a real estate tech tool.

What Can Agents Use Real Estate Data Analytics for? 

Real estate professionals often use data and analytics even more than they think in their day-to-day work. The term “data analytics” might sound like complex, highly advanced technology—and sometimes it is. Other times, it actually describes tasks and processes that agents have used for decades.

A few examples of data analytics in real estate include the following: 

• Analyzing the housing market: Using data from national real estate companies makes it easy for agents and brokers to evaluate market trends, anticipate inventory challenges, and help clients set realistic expectations to get the best value from their sale or home purchase.
• Conducting property valuations: Listing agents can accurately price a home for sale by having data like current and past property values and sale prices of similar homes. 
• Leveraging predictive analytics: Predictive analytics companies use historical data combined with user behavior to predict things like future listings and market fluctuations.
• Creating a comparative market analysis (CMA): A CMA gathers details about recent sales and estimates a property’s worth based on the sales of similar properties in the area.
• Keeping track of social media conversations: Social media listening is a new strategy used by real estate data analysts to gather information about how a topic is discussed. For example, Sprout Social uses an artificial intelligence (AI) listening tool to determine how many people are talking about a specific topic, how they’re discussing it, and the audience demographics.
• Evaluating marketing performance: Analytics are important for every area of online marketing, including social media, digital ads, and websites. These real estate analytics help you determine which areas of your marketing strategy are successful and which areas need more attention.

Benefits of Real Estate Data Analytics + Case Studies

The biggest benefit of gathering data in real estate isn’t just the data—it’s the ability to leverage the information to make intelligent, educated decisions for your business. Website visits, social interactions, email activity, and real estate portals generate great data, but you must know how to translate that data into strategic business decisions. A few of the main benefits of using data in real estate include the following:

• More insight: Having real-time data helps develop a deeper understanding of the real estate market or the behaviors of your target audience.
• Better decisions: Data helps you make decisions based on facts and data instead of guessing or following other trends.
• More effective marketing: By knowing how your audience is behaving, you can craft marketing funnels that appeal to them more directly and personally.
• Continuous improvement: Real estate data analytics shows you exactly what is working and what is not working so that you can make the most strategic and effective adjustments.

Case Study One

Many people publish a real estate website and then barely look at the site’s performance. However, learning to understand the analytics will help you see things like:

• How people are finding your website
• How many, or few, pages they are visiting
• Which website pages are getting the most visits

With this valuable information, you can change your website to guide viewers to the right places and ultimately generate more leads. These updates could include refreshing search engine-optimized keywords to target the right audience, adding alternative text to images to make your site more accessible, and ensuring your site is optimized for mobile. 

Case Study Two

By incorporating additional tools, you can even further leverage the power of real estate data analysis to generate and nurture new leads. An example of this is Homebot, a predictive analytics tool that allows website visitors to see the estimated value of their home automatically. It also provides additional tools for different types of leads or website visitors, like home buyers and homeowners looking to maximize the value of their homes.

The platform gathers data from the user’s behavior and generates customized landing pages for each type of visitor. Learn more about Homebot in our review.

Case Study Three

It’s no secret that social media can be a massively powerful strategy to grow a real estate business. While Instagram, Facebook, and other real estate social networks will provide basic analytics for users with business accounts, you can make a huge impact by leveraging data from social media.

For example, one real estate brokerage started focusing on its social media data and saw a 100% increase in monthly website visitors and a 10% increase in clicks from its campaigns. Instead of guessing what your audience wants to see and manually posting content, use social media marketing tools to gain more insight and automatically improve your techniques.

Social media analytics can help you determine:

• The best times to post for your specific audience
• Which content gets the highest engagement rates
• The most relevant hashtags and topics to reach your audience
• How your competitors are using social media and how to improve on it

Top Tools for Real Estate Data Analytics

There are many different areas of real estate analytics, from marketing to economics and demographics. As you learn how to successfully use data in real estate, consider investing in some of the best tools for gathering, organizing, interpreting, and applying valuable insights.

A few of the best real estate data analytics tools include the following:

• Zillow: Zillow’s website has a section dedicated to providing users with current housing market data, such as current home values and predicted home values in any given region. For Zillow Premier Agents, it also tracks the performance of every lead.
• Offrs: This predictive analytics platform identifies properties and homeowners most likely to sell in the coming year.
• Homebot: This predictive analytics tool helps nurture leads with customized information and marketing.
• RealPage: This property management software provides data and tools for leasing, marketing, and managing tenants, as well as finances.

Zillow publishes valuable data for the real estate industry and provides many tools to help agents build their businesses. Realtors who become Zillow Premier Agents get to connect with buyer leads directly from the platform, and since Zillow is the most popular real estate website, this is an ideal way to generate leads. Learn more about Zillow Premier Agent in our review.

FAQs

How is data science used in real estate?

What is the best source for real estate data?

What should I look for in a real estate data tool?

Bringing It All Together

Data is a huge part of real estate; the most successful agents learn how to leverage it to build a strong business. Real estate data analysis can help you serve your clients better, reach new leads, understand the real estate market, customize and automate your marketing strategy, and close more sales—there are almost no limits! How will you use data to move your business forward?

The post The Ultimate Guide to Real Estate Data Analytics appeared first on The Close.

So grab a coffee, turn off your notifications, and dig into our 23 best real estate marketing ideas for 2024.

Branding & Engagement Marketing Ideas

One of the most important steps in establishing authority In your market area is creating your brand story. Your brand should reflect who you are authentically to give your target audience away and make an emotional connection to you.

1. Create Your Brand Story

Start your real estate journey by creating a compelling personal brand story that resonates with your target audience. A solid personal brand does something that a website or glossy headshot never will—it helps you build a unique selling proposition that separates you from your competitors. That is more important than ever in 2024 because every agent in your farm area can access the same marketing tools—including gorg templates, artificial intelligence (AI), and intuitive nurturing systems.

The way to create a brand that elevates you is to first focus on your clients’ needs. Spend time uncovering what you bring to the table for them that no one else does. Start by creating a mission, vision, and values statement to guide your marketing strategy. 

2. Focus on Values

Your marketing needs to reflect your values, aligning with your lead’s values. So think about why you got into real estate (besides making gobs of money). Maybe you want to help people create wealth or feel a connection with a specific group of people. As a military spouse turned real estate agent, I felt compelled to work with military families to help them through their permanent change of station (PCS) transitions because I know what that feels like. It’s essential to identify your tribe and figure out how to best connect with them.

Now that you’ve figured out your unique value proposition, merge it with your unique personality. One key thing to remember is don’t try to be something you’re not. Be honest and authentic. You are not a perfect fit for everyone, so don’t try to be. Your vibe attracts your tribe. The people who resonate with you will be drawn to you, like bees to spring flowers.

3. Create a Compelling Slogan

You should clearly know what you have to offer once you’ve created your mission, vision, and values and established your unique brand. The next key element of your marketing identity is a slogan—a short, memorable phrase that summarizes your value proposition. Think of it as a one-sentence elevator pitch.

Summing up your value prop in one short sentence isn’t easy, but the benefits for your brand and marketing materials can be enormous. A compelling slogan in your marketing quickly makes a personal connection with your audience.

The best slogans are short, meaningful, and inspiring. I like to use the word “sticky.” If you don’t already have one or think yours needs work, check out our list of the 107 best real estate slogans for inspo. If you’re still not inspired, try using the free real estate slogan generator embedded in the strategy guide.

4. Generate Referrals From Local Businesses 

Experienced agents know that local business owners can be a sweet referral source. Who else is as plugged into your community as the local salon owner, restaurateur, or florist? They know when people are getting married, divorced, or making other life changes that might lead to a transaction. And people trust them. So, if you want to generate motivated referrals, you can’t go wrong building these relationships. 

You’re probably already working with several businesses right now (photographers, movers, staging companies, home inspectors, insurance companies, etc.) that know you well. You might consider hosting an event together. Try some of these ideas:

• Host a workshop with a qualified home inspector to educate potential military homebuyers about the VA inspection process.
• Invite a lender to a first-time homebuyers event to help boost the prospecting potential. They can help answer questions about how to get started. I worked with my favorite lender on multiple workshops, including real estate investing strategies, first-time homebuyers, and military VA loans. 

By the way, these work equally well as in-person events or online webinars. Hosting an informational event around a specific real estate topic is easy. You just have to market it well to get a good turnout. Use Facebook Events as well as print marketing to get the word out.

Looking for a free referral network to boost your lead gen efforts? Sold.com delivers high-quality buyer and seller leads that convert easily. And you don’t pay for any leads until they close!

Real Estate Marketing Ideas for Social Media

There’s no denying that you must have an online presence for people to build trust. Use some of these creative real estate marketing strategies to help save time, stress, and frustration.

5. Use Templates to Scale Facebook & Instagram

If you want to scale your social media accounts to generate leads, you need to increase the number of times you post per week or even daily. Coffee & Contracts suggests posting daily, but only if you share high-quality content. While that might sound like a lot, it’s what the Instagram (IG) algorithm rewards. So, to build your social media accounts to market your brand, you must start posting more.

One of the best ways to tackle this real estate marketing idea is to use templates from marketing companies like Coffee & Contracts, LabCoat Agents Marketing Center, and Agent Crate. Unlike Canva templates, these templates are real estate-specific and created by real estate professionals. 

These companies create beautifully designed and prewritten posts providing first-time buyer education, market updates, home maintenance tips, and staging advice. They even include templates for Stories and Reels.

Here is a quick rundown of my take on the best social media template providers. You can go deeper with our deep-dive reviews to get more info.

Edit

Template Platform	Best For	The Close Score	Deep-dive Review
Coffee & Contracts	Agents focused on increasing engagement on Instagram	4.7	Read full review
LabCoat Agents Marketing Center	Teams and brokerages	4.6	Read full review
Agent Crate	Agents on a budget who want automated social media posting	4.6	Read full review

6. Adopt Social Media Strategies From Top Influencers

If you want your social media accounts to help you generate leads and market your brand, learn from the best and copy what they’re doing, like Taya DiCarlo does on her Instagram. Tony Robbins stated it best: “If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do, and you’ll achieve the same results.” Just make sure to put your personality and spin on their strategies. Copying their content verbatim is unethical and might turn off your followers if they follow the same influencers as you.

Start following a few real estate influencers you resonate with and see which topics get the most views and engagement for their Reels, Stories, and posts. Create your versions of the same type of content and add them to your marketing calendar. The key, though, is consistency. Once you start your social media marketing, you must stay with it for the algorithm to reward your efforts.

Here are five excellent real estate influencers to follow:

For more social media tips from top influencers, check out our guide to the best social media strategy tips.

7. Create Engaging Vertical Videos

Vertical videos are videos viewed in vertical mode on a phone or PC. The skyrocketing success of vertical video platforms like TikTok over the last few years is a crucial trend you must pay attention to. Instagram, Facebook, and even YouTube have all taken note and are now pushing quick-hit vertical videos in a major way. So, if you want a chance of getting your content in front of your followers on any platform in 2024, you need to learn how to make compelling vertical videos.

While there are opportunities for Realtors on TikTok, focusing your vertical video efforts on Instagram Stories and Reels will be much easier and more effective than starting a whole new account on a different social media platform. The cool thing is you don’t have to look polished in your vertical videos. Your audience wants to get to know you in real life, so you’re free just to be you.

Don’t worry—they’re easier to make than you think. Here are some tips to help you get started:

• Use your smartphone to shoot a close-up video of your face, taking up most of the screen. 
• Introduce your listing, share tips, or discuss the market—any topic you choose. You can also add your listing footage from your professional photographer. Easy-peasy! 

Once you start making vertical videos, you will quickly learn that engagement, not views, prompts Instagram to show your content to more people. While there are many ways to get engagement on Instagram, contests, polls, and Q&A stickers layered on your videos are what most influencers use to make their posts go viral. They’re especially effective in Stories.

For more inspo, check out our list of 31 real estate social media ideas. It’s chock-full of vertical video ideas you can try.

8. Outsource Your Social Media Marketing

If you’re a busy agent, spending hours each day creating content for social media is probably not the best use of your time. Hiring a virtual assistant or social media marketing company can save time and money. Or outsource to a service like Coffee & Contracts.

In 2024, savvy agents use services like Coffee & Contracts to simplify social media. Unlike some social media marketing platforms, Coffee & Contracts doesn’t just offer templates for Instagram and Facebook posts. They also provide monthly content strategies and done-for-you real estate marketing tools so you can get the benefits of social media marketing without the hassle.

Pro tip: When it comes to tools like social media automation or marketing-focused customer relationship managers, you must do your homework before diving in. Check out our article, The Best Real Estate CRM: In-depth Reviews & Pricing, to find one that fits your needs and budget.

9. Use Facebook Messenger Ads to Boost Open Rates

If you’re not getting the results you want from Facebook advertising or email marketing, Facebook Messenger ads can be an excellent addition to your marketing tool kit. Your potential customers probably get dozens of emails and see hundreds of Facebook posts per day. But they only get a handful of private Facebook messages.

According to the latest research from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the median age of homesellers in 2022 was 60 years old, and more than 35% of Facebook Messenger users are over 45. If you’re trying to connect with your potential clients, your chances are pretty decent that you can reach them through Facebook Messenger.

Set up an Ads Manager account in Meta to get started. Once you’ve created your account, click Create to build your ad.

Here are six steps to get you started:

1. Choose the engagement objective.
2. Name your campaign and set your budget.
3. Set the engagement option to Messaging apps and select Messenger or Instagram.
4. Set your ad duration, designate your audience, and choose your ad format. 
5. Customize the greeting people see after clicking on your ad.
6. Edit your ad and hit Publish.

Marketing Ideas for More Referrals

Well-established real estate agents know that the secret to success is in getting referral business. Use some of these real estate agent marketing ideas to help generate more referrals to grow your business exponentially.

10. Build Social Proof With Video Testimonials

A few years ago, the only social proof Realtors needed was a few 5-star reviews on Zillow. And while Zillow reviews are still a crucial part of your online presence, they are not enough. With so many fake reviews on sites like Amazon, people are starting to feel skeptical of written client testimonials. They are just too easy to fake.

Video testimonials, on the other hand, naturally feel more authentic and are nearly impossible to fake. As a bonus, they can be used in your realtor marketing across Instagram, Facebook, landing pages, websites, and even YouTube. Here are a few quick best practices to help your video testimonials shine this year: 

• Keep them short: Shorter videos are more likely to be watched to the end, an important engagement signal for most social media platforms. 
• Consider shooting vertical videos: This will make them easier to share on Instagram Stories, Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts.
• Send questions in advance: This will make it easier for your clients to think of responses, and they will be less nervous the day of the shoot.
• Done is better than perfect: You don’t need to make a big production out of your testimonial videos. Sometimes, candid videos shot on your phone work better.

Check out our testimonial video strategy guide for more tips and inspo for shooting testimonials.

11. Automate Your Review Collecting Process 

You leave money on the table if you don’t ask for client reviews and testimonials. However, agents get busy and may forget or feel awkward asking for a review. And once some time has passed, it’s more challenging to reconnect with past clients for the ask.

Instead of manually chasing down past clients to leave reviews on multiple websites, savvy agents automate their review-gathering process with reputation management platforms like Birdeye. These platforms have tools that reach out to your clients to ask for testimonials. This strategy reduces the friction (and awkwardness) of asking for reviews on multiple platforms, so you get more reviews on more websites with less work.

12. Engage Past Clients With Experiential Marketing

As any seasoned agent will tell you, five minutes of in-person engagement is worth hours of engagement online. That’s why many top-producing agents offer their former clients exclusive offline experiences like dinners, wine tastings, educational seminars, and charity drives. This strategy is called experiential marketing, one of the hottest trends in marketing right now.

At my brokerage, we host an annual holiday party where we invite our past and current clients, family, friends, and our favorite vendors. We give away tons of prizes, including a vacation package, throughout the event. Everyone loves attending and talks about it for months afterward, and we generally shake out around one to two new transactions per agent after each event. That’s a pretty impressive number for simply hosting a party.

Even more, one study showed that a whopping 74% of consumers said they were more likely to purchase after attending a brand’s event or experience. Learn how to pull it off in our experiential marketing deep-dive guide.

13. Give Memorable Closing Gifts

While closing gifts are an excellent way to boost referrals, most Realtors focus too much on promoting themselves instead of learning what clients actually want. Savvy agents get to know their clients during the process and choose gifts that match what their clients really want or need. If you give them a gift they will actually use instead of that cutting board with your brokerage logo,  you’ll have a much greater chance of staying top of mind.

I love to give my clients things they can use. I’ve been known to gift baskets of goodies, including any combination of the following:

• Pasta and sauce with a pasta spoon 
• A bottle of champagne with flutes 
• Kitchen towels
• An Amazon Echo Dot 
• Assorted cooking tools 
• Cutting boards 
• Popcorn or candy
• DVDs
• A small set of tools
• Pancake mix
• Laundry basket with towels
• Decor and towels for a half-bathroom

I think about how difficult it is to move into a house while everything is still in boxes. I want my clients’ first night or two in their new home to be fun and easy. If I can think of things that help facilitate that, I’ll throw it in a gift basket and give it to them after they close. 

If you need more inspo for fun closing gifts, check out our buyer’s guide with 32 examples of gifts that stand out and keep you top of mind.

Real Estate Marketing Ideas for Listings

If you can’t list, you can’t last. At least, that’s what I was taught. Use some of these realty marketing ideas to score more listings in your real estate business.

14. Improve Curb Appeal on a Shoestring Budget

Many listing agents I know ignore curb appeal. But you owe it to your sellers to learn how to improve it—even if you only have a tiny budget to work with. Curb appeal is essential for attracting prospective buyers. It’s the first and last thing they see when driving to the home. Great curb appeal also attracts those who drive by. You never know when Aunt Jane lives a block away and is looking for neighborhood homes for her nephew and his fam.

Here are some simple low- or no-cost curb appeal fixes to try with your next listing.

• Create an inviting seating area on the porch
• Perk up drab brown grass with lawn paint
• Replace the mailbox and house numbers
• Decorate the entrance with potted plants and flowers
• Upgrade porch lighting
• Tidy up hedges and replace dead or scraggly ones
• Add fresh mulch to the flowerbeds
• Powerwash the exterior of the home, including the drive and sidewalks

For more ideas, check out our curb appeal strategy guide.

15. Leverage AI to Write Better Listing Descriptions

The real estate industry may be shifting, but 2024 could be the easiest year to market your listings ever. Artificial intelligence (AI) apps like ChatGPT are finally starting to deliver on their promises and could become a goldmine for savvy Realtors. You just need to find the right picks and shovels.

My only caveat is that these tools are much better at improving existing copy or helping you brainstorm and write outlines rather than writing from scratch. I like to get ideas from ChatGPT first and then brainstorm how to improve my copy after I write. I also use Grammarly while I write to avoid simple syntax errors or misspelled words. Think of AI apps as the editors you never had. Here are four AI tools you can use to write better real estate marketing copy this year:

Of course, you need to know the basics of compelling listing descriptions to get the most from these tools. Check out our guide full of examples of creative listing descriptions to learn more.

16. Create a Detailed Listing Marketing Plan

“Those who list, last” is a well-worn real estate cliche, but for good reason, because most long-term agents regularly list properties rather than exclusively represent buyers. Whether you’re a seasoned listing agent or still working on getting your first seller client, a detailed marketing plan is your key to success.

Your marketing plan is one of the most powerful tools you have to land listings. Marketing skills are probably the main reason most homeowners hire an agent. So before you pitch your next homeowner, ensure you have a comprehensive marketing plan to show them during your listing presentation. 

Here are some essential features of an effective marketing plan:

• Create a listing presentation and prepare, prepare, prepare
• As part of your presentation, have a strategy for overcoming common objections
• Identify unique selling features of your new listing
• Research the area to create a thorough and accurate comparative market analysis (CMA)
• Make sure the home is prepared for showings and photography
• Hire a professional for visual assets, including high-resolution pictures, video walk-throughs, aerial footage, and a 3D tour
• Use highly descriptive words in your listing description
• Reach out to your sphere of influence to announce your listing
• Post on social media and place ads on Facebook and Google to get the word out  

17. Virtually Stage Listings With Different Themes 

If you have an empty listing to sell, spending a few bucks to have it virtually staged with a few different options is a great way to increase interest and show buyers what it might look like in different contexts.

For example, a spare bedroom might look great virtually staged as a kid’s room with bunk beds or as a home office. Whether you’re showing a listing to a young family or someone who works from home, you’ll have a picture ready to help either buyer imagine how the home could meet their needs. Check out our virtual staging software buyer’s guide to find the best fit for you.

18. Leverage Virtual Reality Home Tours

The latest virtual reality technology allows potential buyers to immerse themselves in a property. So many tools are available today to create interactive virtual tours where potential buyers feel they’re walking through your listings. This is essential since 74% of buyer’s agents see having video tours and 42% see virtual home tours as some of the most important features for selling a home to their buyer-clients.

A unique way to capture prospective buyers is to start with a 3D video and virtual reality headset. Some agents gift headsets to buyer clients who don’t live locally after signing the buyer’s agreement. The buyers can use the headsets to have an immersive virtual experience, whether it’s of a listing on Zillow or listings you send directly from your MLS. The headsets also work with 3D walk-through video, like Matterport.

Imagine you have homebuyer clients overseas looking in your area, and you’re the agent who gives away virtual reality headsets. If you share this strategy in your marketing, you can potentially corner the buyer’s market outside your local area. It makes you stand out as unique and willing to give your prospective clients an excellent experience. Oh, and did I mention you can buy virtual reality headsets on Amazon for around $25 a pair? As an agent who specializes in military moves, I use this with my clients and find this tool essential.

19. Get Real Results From Freelance Designers

Unless you want your graphics to look like every other Realtor’s, taking the time to learn how to hire freelance designers—and, more importantly, get the best results—is becoming an essential marketing skill for agents.

Here are four of my best tips for getting the most out of your consultation with design professionals:

1. Prepare and share your mission, vision, and values statement first so they know what you’re about
2. Decide on fonts, brand colors, and style before you hire a designer
3. Shop around for a designer who will meet your needs and budget
4. Don’t share feedback on revisions right away—take some time to absorb the work so you can identify the parts that need to be reworked and, more importantly, why 

If you have the patience and a dash of artistic talent, you can download do-it-yourself (DIY) design apps like Canva or Adobe Express and use templates from Envato Marketplace or Etsy to create fresh designs. But you will want to work with a design professional at some point in your career. Even if you’re just using companies like Tailor Brands that create your logo for you, you need to know what you want and how to get it.

Check out our strategy guide to learn more about the best DIY graphic design apps and working with freelance designers.

Creative Realtor Marketing Ideas

The more accessible you are online, the easier it is for your audience to connect with you and develop trust. Try implementing some of these additional realtor marketing techniques to increase your exposure.

20. Create a Buyer Presentation

While many agents work hard on listing presentations, most just wing it with buyers. But in the wake of multiple lawsuits, it’s essential for you to make the extra effort with your buyer clients to go through a proper buyer presentation. Today’s buyers are better informed and savvier and take more time to research agents than ever before. That’s why creating and practicing an informative buyer presentation is the key to getting more buyers this year and beyond.

Here are tips for delivering the perfect buyer presentation:

• Break the ice with small talk
• Tell them exactly how long the presentation will take
• Ask specific and open-ended questions to build a buyer profile
• Don’t mislead your clients—make sure they understand the commission structure and their responsibilities along with yours
• Let your buyer do most of the talking
• Role-play your presentation with another agent before doing it live

You can download our 15-minute buyer presentation template for free and learn how to create your own here.

21. Write Scripts & Pre-record Videos for Text Messaging

Some research over the past few years shows that over 80% of consumers open text messages within five minutes of receiving them. That’s 10x the number who respond to emails in that same time frame. And that stat is trending up. So, if you use this rapid-fire communications tool in your real estate agent marketing campaign, you must be ready to answer prospects’ questions faster.

Most customer relationship managers (CRMs) will let you save frequently used texts as templates, and others—such as Wise Agent or BombBomb—will let you save and send video messages. Your text messaging scripts don’t have to be Shakespeare, either. Just ensure they are clear and friendly and get straight to the point. 

For example:

copy to clipboard

“Hi {lead first name}, this is {your name} with {brokerage name}, and I am looking forward to talking with you about your home search. I will try calling as soon as possible, but in the meantime, are there any homes you want to look at? {auto-login link}.”

I saved several videos in my BombBomb account that I could easily shoot off to my leads and clients whenever situations arose. But I also had videos that go through each step of the homebuying process that I sent out in a drip for all my buyers. Some videos dealt with living in Florida (hello, strange bugs and high humidity!), and others covered the next steps. The best part is that I also built rapport through the videos while informing my clients about their new hometown.

Learn more in our related strategy guide: 11 Best Real Estate Text Message Scripts for Agents Who Don’t Like Calling Leads.

22. Launch a Real Estate Podcast

Starting a podcast is a simple way to showcase your communication skills, personality, and local area knowledge. Use your podcast to spotlight local businesses, interview other adjacent business owners (think vendors, like local lenders or photographers), or spew some of your market wizardry and real estate expertise. You won’t take long to build up your authority and establish credibility in your area.

Invite expert guests on your podcast to boost your credibility and build your audience quickly. If you’re lucky enough to have a local influencer with a decent following in your area, seek them out and offer to work with them. They can help promote you and your listings to their followers to boost visibility in your local market. Consider being a guest on their podcast, where you answer questions about your area’s current real estate market.

You can also be a guest on other relevant podcasts to cultivate listeners. If you want a little podcast inspo, check out this article on the best real estate podcasts.

23. Create Neighborhood Spotlight Videos

Make videos highlighting specific neighborhoods or communities in your market area. Showcase any unique features, amenities, schools, and local businesses that stand out to give your potential buyers a wide-lens view of what it’s like to live in the neighborhood.

Example of a neighborhood spotlight video (Source: YouTube)

These videos are easy to make, and you can do them in either long or short form. I created tons of these videos in long form and posted them to my YouTube channel. Then, I took small sections of each video and repurposed them for my social media outlets. I used hashtags and geotags so my audience could find my videos. It worked exceedingly well and kept a constant flow of leads funneling my way. 

Your Take

With the endless variety of marketing tools out there claiming to do everything except wash your dishes, staying up to date takes a lot of work. Worse, many agents chase the latest fads and waste time learning the ins and outs of the latest shiny object. If you want to make real gains in marketing this year, you need to think strategically about the marketing tools you spend time learning.

Have any killer realtor marketing ideas that you think our readers need to know about? Let us know in the comments.

The post 23 Clever Real Estate Marketing Ideas appeared first on The Close.

All real estate professionals think they’re natural-born salespeople, but the cold, hard truth is that most real estate pros struggle with copywriting. That’s why I am giving you 12 real estate copywriting rules that professional writers swear by today. As a professional writer, I can tell you from experience that these rules are a game-changer for writing persuasive copy.

As a bonus, I include a free PDF of descriptive words for selling homes.

1. Transform Features Into Benefits

The easiest way to get someone to act is to appeal to their emotional needs or desires. Studies show that most people use emotional arguments to persuade others without realizing it. 

The only problem is that your listings don’t come with ready-made emotional arguments to persuade a buyer to attend your open house. Instead, you get a list of features. Your job as a real estate copywriter is to turn those features into benefits that will appeal to your readers on an emotional level. Here’s how to do it:

Determine each feature’s benefits that appeal to emotional needs or desires. For example, let’s say one feature of your newest listing is that it’s close to major highways. Here are a few benefits that appeal to emotion:

• Spend less time commuting
• Never be late to work or school again
• Enjoy more time with family and friends
• Easy access to amenities like supermarkets, gyms, and restaurants

Now, go through your list of benefits and pick the one you think will have the biggest emotional impact on your reader. Do this for all the best features of your listing, and you’ll have a good rough outline for your listing description. You can follow this same template to help readers see the benefits of your brand, sign up for your email newsletter, or any other call to action you might feature in your real estate copywriting.

2. Start With a Pain Point, Then Offer Your Solution

If you’ve ever tried to convince a friend or loved one of something, you know that just stating your side of the story isn’t enough. If you want to persuade them, they must know that you understand their side of the story too. 

This is why most good copywriters start by acknowledging a pain point for their readers before presenting their solution. Good copy should get your readers to nod along as they read. Once you’ve built that bond, you come in with your pitch. 

For example, let’s say you’re writing copy for a landing page to get people to sign up for your email newsletter about off-market listings. Here’s how your real estate copy might sound if you focus on your solution without acknowledging your readers’ pain point first:

Subscribe to my off-market listing newsletter today to get a free list of the best listings in Springfield before they hit Zillow. If you sign up now, you’ll get…

Here’s how your copy sounds when you first acknowledge their pain point.

These days, the Springfield market is moving so fast that some homes have multiple offers before they even hit Zillow. If you want to get a jump-start on the best homes for sale, you need to act quickly. My off-market listings newsletter offers buyers access to the best Springfield listings before they hit Zillow. If you sign up now, you’ll get…

Notice the difference?

3. Use Conversational Language

The secret to getting your reader to take action is to build trust with your message. The fastest way to do that is to write in a conversational style. That means writing in first person, using “I” and “you” in your copy. 

Conversational style is like having a chat over a cup of coffee. After all, you wouldn’t use a lot of big, flowery words if you were talking to a friend about a product you love. You would simply say—in common everyday words—how much you love it, what it does for you, and that your friend should get it. 

When you use common language in a conversational style, your readers will feel more like you’re talking directly to them. And that makes them feel like they know you. People buy from and do business with those they know, like, and trust.

4. Tell a Good Story

I spent a lot of time in bookstores picking up books with eye-catching titles and covers, reading the first paragraph, and putting them back on the table. If I got through the first paragraph and were interested, I would continue reading the next paragraph. If the book’s first page kept me reading, that was a sign to buy the book. The same is true for your copy. 

See what I did there? I just told you a short story to keep you reading and engaged. When you start your copy with a story that draws in the reader, you’re more likely to keep their attention throughout the rest of your message. It doesn’t have to be a novel—just a few sentences are enough to share a quick story that gives your message additional impact.

5. Write Without Fear, Edit Without Mercy

How you start is way less important than where you finish. This is why all good copywriters write without fear and edit without mercy. Here’s how to do it: 

Take your list of benefits from my first tip, and just start writing. No judgment, no editing. Just write. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling—you can fix that later. Just focus on your goal. Once you have something down on paper, start editing. Does your copy appeal to your reader’s emotions? Does it address a pain point and offer a solution? If it doesn’t, edit until it does. 

If you lack emotional punch, grab a thesaurus and find more evocative words to get your point across. Is that garden “nice” or a “lush oasis”? If you want a cheat sheet of descriptive real estate words that appeal to emotion, check out my guide to descriptive real estate words here:

6. Write at Least 3 Versions of Your Headline or Subject Line

If you’re writing with a title, you should always write at least three versions and pick the best of the bunch. Here’s why: If your title doesn’t draw them in, they will never read the rest of your copy. 

If you have a hard time coming up with three different versions of your headline, try some of these common headline formulas:

FOMO Headlines (Fear of Missing Out)

• {#} Homes Just Sold for ${#} Over Ask in {your farm area}!
• Here Are {#} Market Indicators That Show Prices Will Explode in {your farm area}
• Owner Says to Sell Yesterday!

Ask a Scary Question Headlines

• Are We Heading for a Recession? 
• Are You Ready to Sell Before Interest Rates Rise? 
• When Will the Housing Bubble Pop in {your farm area}?

Expert Advice Headlines

• When {#} Economists Think Interest Rates are Going WAY Up
• {#} Home Stagers Reveal the Best Affordable Couches 
• A Lawyer Answers Your Most Common Real Estate Questions

Curiosity-building Headlines

• Experts Say Painting Your Home This Color Will Help It Sell Faster & for More $$$
• Zillow Research Says This Month Is the Best Time to Sell
• The {#} Home Renovations With the Best ROI

7. ‘Stick’ With One Simple Idea

This one can be tricky for a lot of agents. You must focus on one simple idea to create a message that sticks with your readers. The way to do this is to figure out who your audience is and what they are most interested in knowing. Craft a special message for them and provide one solution for their big problem. Your audience won’t remember if you try to share five ideas in one message. But focusing on one thing will stick with your readers long after they’ve finished reading your copy.

Let’s say your target audience is first-time homebuyers. When looking at the features and benefits for your listing mentioned in tip one above, which would make the biggest impact for your target audience? Would they be more likely to have young children and be interested in nearby schools? Would they like nightlife and access to gyms, restaurants, and bars? Figure out which will most likely apply to most of your readers and focus on that message. 

Zeroing in on one message instead of trying to be everything to everyone will make your promise “sticky,” which means your people will remember you over the noisy competition.

8. Turn Complex Ideas Into Analogies

We often assume our readers know more than they do. As real estate agents, we’re in the thick of a lot of complexity and use jargon when chatting with other agents in our sphere. But our prospects and clients most likely don’t hear the language of our industry very often. 

The best professionals can take a complex situation and break it down into a one-sentence metaphor. For example: Shopping for houses before you get pre-approval from your lender is like getting married before your first date. 

When you can simplify terms in a way your clients can visualize and understand, it will put you in a position to reach your audience in a way others can’t.

9. Write in Simple Language With No Fluff

If you want people to read what you have to say, your copy needs to go down like ice cream. That means simple words, short sentences, and getting to the point as quickly as possible. Anyone can make a great fact-based argument in 20 pages, but great copywriters can do it in 20 words. The best writers can do it in six.

10. Read Your Copy Out Loud

After you edit your copy, the next step is to edit for style. This is where even great writers stumble. Editing for style is hard. Like, really hard. You can spend hours editing your copy and end up with something worse than what you started. 

Luckily, there is a trick that professional copywriters use to make editing for style easier: Read your copy out loud. Is it easy to read, or did you stumble with some words or sentences? If it’s hard for you to read out loud, chances are it’s even harder for your reader to hear in their head as they read. So read your copy aloud and tweak it until it goes down like ice cream.

11. Use Testimonials as Social Proof 

Think about the last time you bought something on Amazon. Did you check the customer reviews before clicking the “Buy Now” button? We all like the reassurance that we’re making a smart decision, whether buying a new pair of shoes, selecting a good restaurant for dinner, or choosing the right real estate agent to work with. Social proof is how it’s done.

If you’ve spent time collecting testimonials and reviews from your past clients, use them in your real estate copywriting to help your future clients get over the hump. The more social proof they have, the easier it will be to decide to choose you as their agent. 

If you’re creating an email to potential sellers, include firsthand accounts of how great a job you did from your past listings. If you’re writing up a social media campaign to attract homebuyers, share some emotional testimonials from the buyers you walked through to the closing table for the first time. These personal stories from your past clients will make you look like a miracle worker, and you won’t even have to humble brag about yourself.

12. A/B Test Whenever You Can

One of the coolest things about writing copy in 2024 is that you have access to tools that would have cost tens of thousands of dollars 15 years ago. One of the most useful is testing different versions of your copy on a real live audience to see how they respond. 

In the digital marketing world, this is called A/B testing, and it’s the closest you can get to a scientific study of how good your copy is. Remember the three headlines or subject lines I had you write in tip four? Now’s your chance to see which one actually makes your reader take action. 

If you want to A/B test your emails or email subject lines, use a customer relationship manager (CRM) or email marketing platform that offers this feature, like Mailchimp or Wise Agent. If you want to A/B test copy for your landing pages, use a platform like Real Geeks or Unbounce.

Over to You

Copywriting for real estate is a skill that anyone can learn, but it takes practice. Take these tips and implement them in your marketing as a starting point. And continue to educate yourself on these techniques in copywriting for real estate. 

Have you used these tips and noticed a change in your marketing return on investment (ROI)? Did I miss any real estate copywriting strategies in this list? Let me know in the comments below.

The post 12 Real Estate Copywriting Rules Professional Writers Swear by appeared first on The Close.

Download the 2024 Real Estate Marketing Calendar

12 ‘Happy New Year’ Real Estate Marketing Ideas for January

1. Happy New Year Digital Card

• Subject line: Happy New Year!
• When to send: Send these on December 31 or January 1

Kick the new year off with a thoughtful digital card to your real estate database. You can create these in Canva and send them to your past clients, sphere of influence, fresh leads, or anyone you think might enjoy a lovely email greeting from you. If you want to double down on your Happy New Year real estate message, send a physical card via snail mail in addition to your digital one. Who doesn’t love getting pretty cards in their mailboxes?

Don’t let leads slip through the cracks! You worked hard to add those leads to your database. Now, make sure you handle them with the proper care. Use the easy tips in the article below to get the most out of your email marketing efforts.

2. Real Estate Market Predictions

• Subject line: What will the market look like in 2024?
• When to send: Send any time after January 1

It’s no secret that many people question where the market is headed. Being the industry expert you are, you can be a source of information for your entire community. You follow industry news and trends, study your market, and have your thumb on the pulse. Who better to share predictions for real estate in your community than you?

Need some visuals to illustrate your point? Check out the amazing graphs, infographics, and charts from Keeping Current Matters that you can share with your sphere. You can even use them in your New Year’s posts on social media. Be sure to sign up for their newsletter to get fresh graphics in your inbox.

Check Out Keeping Current Matters

3. Market Update

• Subject line: Will the real estate market stabilize in 2024?
• When to send: Send these anytime between January 2 and 31

Along with your 2024 predictions, your community also wants to know what the local market is like. You can share stats, prices, the number of homes sold in your geographic farm, current sales pending, and everything in between with your New Year real estate marketing strategy. Your community of followers will thank you for keeping them in the loop. Offer free home valuation for anyone interested.

Don’t worry—we have many templates and ideas to share. Check out our real estate email templates article to get started.

4. Funny Memes

• Subject line: {Use a line from one of the memes without the punchline} Ex: Me, on the first week of January…
• When to send: Send these around mid-January to get the biggest bang

Memes help us connect when they show what we’re all collectively thinking. It’s cathartic and brings us all a little closer—all with one small giggle. Find funny memes on Instagram or Facebook and share them with your database.

We at The Close often post complete lists of fun real estate memes you can download and share with your people. Partner with Coffee & Contracts if you want access to tons of brilliantly funny memes from one of the best meme-makers to kick off your New Year’s real estate marketing. Each month, you’ll get access to a fresh batch of social media templates, including fresh memes from The Broke Agent, to share across all your channels. Pick your favorite one and share it with your database.

5. Vendor Spotlight

• Subject line: Best {insert service or product} in town?
• When to send: Send these mid-January through the end of the month

I love to share a little love for my favorite vendors and local businesses around town who helped me get through the holidays with my sanity intact. Shout out to your favorite lender, coffee shop, closing gift source, or the salon that keeps your nails looking perfect. Write a small feature article (no more than 500 words or so) about their services or even conduct an interview where the owner answers some questions about their business. Be sure to get some pics of them doing what they do best in their office. Include it in your email, and send them a copy too.

6. Share a Client Story

• Subject line: {The cliffhanger part of the story} Ex: It looked like we wouldn’t make it (to closing)…
• When to send: Send these toward the end of January

If you have a funny, scary, or triumphant story that you can share about one of your clients, particularly how you helped them through a precarious situation, share it with your email list and post it on your socials. You don’t have to include the names of your clients. But if you want to do that, get their permission first. If you can get them to share their story on video, that’s even better. Nothing tells potential clients how awesome you are, like a good story demonstrating your skills.

7. The Coolest Homes That Are Still on the Market

• Subject line: Would you live here?
• When to send: Send these anytime after the first week of January

Real estate portal addiction is a real thing. People are naturally attracted to and curious about homes and spend time scrolling through listing portals like Zillow or realtor.com. The portals are designed to keep you engaged, much like social media. And people are spending more and more time on these portals, even if they’re not in the market.

So, tap into that psychological advantage and entice your readers with some interesting homes in your market. If there’s an eye-catching, super-sized luxury home or a crazy house on the hill, share those listings with your email list and create a social post pointing out the fun features. 

Be sure to bring your message back to how you can help with any real estate needs in the new year, whether they want to list their home, find a new one, or both.

8. Seller’s Checklist

• Subject line: Are you ready?
• When to send: Send these the second week of January

If homeowners consider selling in 2024, you can share valuable information with them in your New Year real estate marketing. Share a checklist of what they should do before they list their home. Or you can share a list of renovations and repairs with the highest return on investment. Giving your readers tips they can use will put you in the lead when it’s time to choose a real estate pro they can count on to help them sell their home.

9. Community Events Calendar

• Subject line: What’s happening around town?
• When to send: Send these as early as possible–the first week of January (and around the 15th). You can send these out every month once you get started.

Many local organizations will publish a new list of happenings as soon as we flip to the next year—take advantage of this by curating them for your audience. I love creating a fancy calendar in Canva with upcoming events in the community and sharing it with my database. You don’t have to send an entire year’s worth of events at once. You can send a list of events happening in the next two weeks. Send those out twice a month, and your readers will love the added reminders. You can even repurpose those events as posts on your social media to double up your marketing efforts. 

If you want to take your marketing to the next level, become the neighborhood expert everyone turns to. Parkbench will help you become the hyperlocal resource in the know for events, local news, business info, and, of course, real estate. Ready to rock your ‘hood?

10. Answer Those FAQs

• Subject line: {A question from your readers you’re answering in the email} Ex: How will the interest rates affect my buying power?
• When to send: Send these around the middle of the month. You can make this a regular thing in your email campaigns or newsletter.

If you get a lot of the same questions over and over again from clients, use them. Chances are, if a few people have asked, many more people didn’t but would still like to know the answer. Answering those FAQs will help you kick-start your new year, preparing your database and social followers to make a move in 2024.

11. Offer a Home Valuation

• Subject line: How much is your home worth in 2024?
• When to send: Send these the first week of January

After all the market ups and downs, you’re bound to have homeowners curious about how much their property is worth. This timing is perfect to offer a home valuation from your real estate comparative market analysis ahead of the busy real estate season in the spring. Let your readers know that you are happy to prepare a comparative market analysis (CMA) that will give them the current value of their home. And if they’re interested in selling in the next few months, you can help with that too.

12. Start a Newsletter

• Subject line: {The title of the big news article in your newsletter} Ex: 5 ways homebuyers can prepare for a tougher market
• When to send: Send these the second week of January ahead of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

I’ve shared a lot of Happy New Year real estate email ideas to send out, but why stop there? You can make this a monthly occurrence simply by creating a fancy-schmancy email newsletter. After all, email reigns supreme as the best way to communicate with your audience, with the highest return on investment (ROI) over practically every other channel at $36 for each $1 spent. That’s an awesome ROI.

You can easily create a weekly, monthly, or quarterly newsletter with a customer relationship manager (CRM) like Wise Agent. Their email and newsletter templates make life easier for you, so you don’t have to stress over the creation part. Just plug, play, and even automate.

Take some of these Happy New Year real estate emails and turn them into a newsletter. Send it out to your sphere regularly. Once you start, the key is consistency, so only commit to a schedule you can stick to. If you create a newsletter, your content will keep you top of mind and be seen as a valuable resource to your community.  

Need some more ideas for starting your newsletter? Check out Emile L’Eplattenier’s article for some additional inspo.

Your Take

Now is the time to re-invigorate your existing list and nurture new leads to dominate the market as it continues to shift. Be proactive with your marketing efforts in 2024—your business will benefit. 

You don’t have to make things complicated when communicating with your database. It only takes a few minutes a week to reach out to your people and let them know you care enough to share value. 

Have you created your 2024 marketing calendar yet? What are your big plans for the new year? What challenges do you see coming? Share your strategies in the comments.

Download the 2024 Real Estate Marketing Calendar

The post 12 ‘Happy New Year’ Real Estate Email Ideas to Kick-start Your 2024 appeared first on The Close.

Homebot isn’t just a win for homeowners, though. It’s a way for agents to nurture their sphere as well as educate them—two birds with one stone. In the age of disinformation, people want to hear from a trusted source. Why can’t that be you? So let’s dive into the top features of Homebot, its pricing, and my full breakdown.

Pros

• Set-and-forget it with automated monthly emails
• Cost-effective
• No contract requirement
• Lender referral opportunities
• Hyperlocal data from Altos Research

Cons

• Email-centric (may not be for all clients)
• Setup fee
• Advanced features only available with lender plans
• Not a replacement for expert advice
• Market competition via Zillow, Remine, etc.

The Close Score

4.7

Pricing:

4.8

Features:

4.5

User Interface:

4.5

Support:

4.8

out
of

5

My Verdict 

As both a real estate agent and coach, I’ve seen my fair share of software and even some cool AI tools designed to help agents stay connected with clients. Homebot stands out for me. It’s not just another tool—it’s a way to offer valuable insights that your clients will actually appreciate. People want to know what the value of their home is—Homebot keeps them off Zillow and engaged with you on a monthly basis. And at $25 a month, it feels like a no-brainer. 

I recommend Homebot to every one of my coaching clients because of the low cost and the added value you’ll bring to your sphere. While I still coach agents to use the FORD method—asking their sphere about their family, occupation, recreation, and dreams—I do think Homebot can help agents who worry about just making small talk a few times per year. While it’s still important to stay up to date with your clients’ lives, Homebot provides you (and your clients) with actionable advice. If you’re looking to up your client engagement game without emptying your wallet, I’d recommend checking out Homebot.

What Is Homebot? 

Homebot is a lead nurturing tool that helps real estate agents educate clients on what their home is worth via a monthly automated email. What’s great about Homebot is that it offers personalized insights, not just a number. This automated valuation model (AVM) is based on market data from more than 20,000 neighborhoods, updated weekly. 

You can also partner with a lender to unlock other cool features like a Chrome extension plugin and browsing on Zillow with a Homebot insights sidebar. You might not be able to keep leads off Zillow, but you can still provide better insights while they browse it. 

Homebot Pricing 

For Real Estate Agents

Homebot offers a straightforward and budget-friendly pricing model for agents. There’s even a way to get a freemium version through your lender partner. The Pro Plan for agents starts at $25 per month with a one-time setup fee of $50. Here’s what you get:

• Personalized home value insights delivered to 500 clients every month
• Customized insights for homeowners 
• Basic integrations  

Note: If you want to add more clients, you can do so in blocks of 500 for an additional $10 per month. 

For Lenders

In most transactions, the lender is essential—and most agents have a few preferred mortgage professionals in their pocket. When your lender partners with you on Homebot, that’s where the magic happens. You’ll unlock these premium features: 

• Homebot Home Search Chrome browser extension
• Video manager and video email 
• Personalized URLs for your listings
• Additional insights for clients when they browse Zillow 

With these extra bells and whistles, pricing is a bit more involved for lenders. There’s a $200 one-time setup fee and a base subscription of $150 per month. The reason for the big jump in pricing when compared to the agent offerings is that the lender pricing unlocks other features specific to mortgage professionals, such as the ability to offer a freemium version to agent partners. 

Key Features 

Automated Home Value Insights

One of the core features of Homebot is its ability to provide automated and personalized home value insights. They use one of the largest real estate databases, Altos Research, to give homeowners an accurate picture of what their home is worth. 

If your clients don’t agree, they have the option to change it (after which you’ll receive a notification). Don’t worry—your clients are only given a realistic adjustment range based on Homebot’s data models and market trends. This number will be saved for your client, but won’t impact Homebot’s data reporting. 

The insights also extend into the “Homebot Home Search Experience.” This is a really cool feature where Homebot integrates directly with Zillow in the user’s browser, so your clients will get added Homebot insights while they browse Zillow. Let’s dive into that feature further. 

Homebot Home Search Experience

The question on your mind at this point is most likely, “Are Homebot’s values more accurate than Zestimates?” The answer is unequivocally yes. I’ve dug into the Zestimate data and Zillow’s nationwide margin of error is 7.7% for homes that are off market. Altos Research, which provides data to Homebot, has roughly 20,000 hyperlocal markets and pulls data on “over 100 million properties every week.” 

Zillow’s model is limited to the data that Zillow has access to—which relies on partnerships with MLSs nationwide. But agents know how fickle those partnerships can be. On the other hand, Altos Research positions itself as “the only company to analyze the entire active market in real time, tracking every property listed for sale or rent in the U.S.”

Looking at the snip above, this is what homeowners will see when they use the Homebot home search function. It’s a much cleaner interface that keeps your clients engaged with you, not the featured Zillow Premier Agent. 

Refinancing Scenarios

With rates at recent highs, a lot of homeowners don’t have any idea of what they could afford if they chose to refinance or buy. Homebot gives your prospects several possible refinancing scenarios based on current mortgage rates. You can help your clients better understand the value of their largest financial asset, especially in uncertain times. 

Personalized Landing Pages (PURLs)

Personalized URLs, or PURLs, are a way Homebot can help you grow your client base. These landing pages capture new leads and put them directly into your Homebot database. When a new visitor lands on your PURL, they’re prompted to enter their home address to receive an instant home valuation (powered by Homebot). 

You can use this in a lot of different ways, like with social media advertising or with an open house on a new listing. We’ve seen the power of landing pages for real estate agents, and the fact that Homebot designs this for you is a boon for your productivity.

These pages have a great user interface and an actual reason for visitors to input their info—they’ll get the value of their home without waiting for a real estate agent to pester them. I also like the fact that you have an easy intro for your follow-up. Just ask your new client about what they thought of their home’s predicted value.

Client Nurturing With Video Manager

Another great feature I love is Homebot’s video manager*. With this, you can upload videos around common client pain points and send them to your sphere every month as an engagement tool. You can import these from YouTube, BombBomb, or other popular video platforms as well. This makes it super easy to email your videos to keep your clients engaged beyond the automated home value email. 

Make a few videos that explain refinancing, provide personalized video market updates, or just simply check in with your sphere to give them that personal touch. When you get a new client in your Homebot database, your “Homeowner Intro” can be sent at the touch of a button. 

*Video Manager is only available to agents cosponsored by a lender or lenders on the Pro plan. Otherwise, you can choose from a few premade videos to engage your clients. 

Integrations

Within the Homebot platform, you can view your open rate, click-through rate and see which of your prospects have engaged with their Homebot email. It’s pretty straightforward so I don’t want you to worry about the fact that Homebot doesn’t have a ton of integrations. 

Homebot does partner with Total Expert CRM, BombBomb, and Mortgage Coach. But more importantly, the company has an open API. So if you’re a tech-savvy agent, you can get in touch with their team to put together a custom integration. This also means you can use a tool like Zapier to connect Homebot to a CRM you’re using with minimal headaches. 

When you partner with a lender, those plans offer a Chrome extension and a Zillow plugin. After all, we know it’s almost impossible to keep your clients off of Zillow. This feature could be the extra nudge you need to nurture a great conversation with your client about a home they saw on Zillow. Based on the buyer’s profile, Homebot provides a “buy score” for a home, letting them know if this is a smart, fair, or a weak purchase price, as well as estimated monthly costs and savings compared to renting.

Homebot Alternatives 

Here’s the thing—in the world of real estate tools, Homebot stands alone. With artificial intelligence (AI) valuations, it’s more important than ever to keep that client relationship alive. Homebot is an innovative tool that has more accurate valuations than a Zestimate and provides real value for your clients. I haven’t been able to find a tool that does what Homebot does, especially for the price. However, if some of these features sound appealing, here are a few other companies you might like to consider.

Wise Agent

Agent Legend

Kiavi

The Bottom Line: Is Homebot Worth the Money?  

Homebot is an amazing addition to any agent’s existing toolkit, and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. This isn’t just “touching base” to see how things are going—you’ll be offering personalized financial insights to your clients, which go much further than calling them to ask them the FORD questions for the third time this year. 

Homebot’s focus is on client nurturing—something I preach a lot in my coaching. What I like about the company’s approach to this vital part of the client relationship is that Homebot is designed to complement your current system. If you’re aiming to give your client nurturing strategy a tech-forward edge without overwhelming yourself, Homebot is your go-to.

Methodology

In evaluating Homebot, I used my firsthand experience of the platform as both a real estate agent and a coach. I’ve been a fan of Homebot for years and I’ve recommended it to many of my coaching clients with great success.

Here at The Close, our goal is to offer actionable advice to help our readers succeed. Just to be clear: Homebot has not paid for this review, and my enthusiasm for Homebot has not influenced my evaluation. Our product review methodology emphasizes thoroughness and an unbiased take.

What’s Your Take? 

What do you feel about predictive analytics software and letting AI predict home value in real estate? Do you feel like this product could work for your business? 

We love to hear from our readers. Please share your experience with Homebot or other thoughts in the comment section below.

The post Homebot Review: Pricing, Pros & Cons for Real Estate Agents appeared first on The Close.

New to the idea of ChatGPT in real estate? Have no fear! As a newly certified Florida Realtors faculty member who’s just passed her audition to teach classes on artificial intelligence, I’m going to break it down for you. I’ll explain what it is and how to use it, teach you all about the prompts, and help you get some of your time back to focus on the tasks that will scale your real estate business.

What Is ChatGPT?

At every real estate conference I’ve attended in the past year, ChatGPT has emerged as the most popular topic on agents’ minds, along with concerns about the future of real estate. In the simplest terms, ChatGPT is an AI assistant. It’s akin to a super-smart chatbot that can understand and generate human-like prose. It’s been trained on text from the internet, making it a conversational tool that you can chat with, ask questions, or give a task to complete. It responds just like a human would. The big difference is the speed at which it can respond and perform tasks. It’s like having a personal assistant who’s knowledgeable about real estate right at your fingertips.

How to Get Started With ChatGPT

Using this tool is the key to understanding and perfecting its performance. So let’s take it for a test run! You’ll need to go to openai.com and set up a free account so you can save a record of your searches. Start your session by telling Chat (that’s what I call it) all about who you are, what you do, and your style of conversation. Chat will deliver responses appropriate for your persona, style, and tone. When you ask for something to use in your business, whether it’s an email, a social media post, or a text message, it will sound more authentically like you. 

It looks like this:

The more ChatGPT gets to know you, your personality, your tone, and your target audience, the better it can assist you with tasks. 

12 Clever Ways to Use ChatGPT in Your Real Estate Business

As I just mentioned, leveraging ChatGPT works best once it gets to know who you are. The fewer prompts you need to enter, the faster ChatGPT can deliver on the tasks you need completed. There are so many ways ChatGPT can help you in your real estate business and give you back time you thought you’d never see again. Here are a handful of ways to get started.

1. Property Descriptions

Honestly, you should have already thought of this one. “I love writing property descriptions!” said no agent ever. It takes time, mental energy, and effort that I, for one, don’t want to spend. So, it’s the perfect task to assign to your new AI assistant, ChatGPT. Try copying the prompt below and see what ChatGPT delivers for you!

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Prompt: Hey Chat! Can you craft a property listing description for {#}bedroom/{#}bathroom home in {city or community}, focusing on the unique features, proximity to shopping, attractions, and nearby schools?

Here’s what this one looked like for me:

2. Client Follow-up

When you need to touch base with a client to keep a transaction moving, ChatGPT can jump in and help you knock out this task quickly. Whether it’s a text message or an email, you can have ChatGPT write it for you. Instruct Chat to make it sound like it came from you, include emojis (if that’s your normal style), and snag the attention of your clients. You can ask Chat to draft several emails and text messages that you can have on-the-ready in your customer relationship manager (CRM) for when you need them. Then just copy and paste.

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Prompt: Hey Chat! Can you write a text message to my seller clients to let them know things are still moving forward with the contract? There’s nothing they need to do but be patient. Make it sound a little fun and conversational, but still professional. Please include emojis.

3. Community Insights

This is a fun one! Do you work a specific farm area? Ask Chat to give you some community insights for your farm area that you can then put together in an infographic, newsletter, or social media campaign. Just share the area with Chat and it will dig up info for you. 

Keep in mind that you might have to tweak the results a bit. The information in the free version of ChatGPT cuts off in September 2021. So, anything current won’t be available unless you use the ChatGPT-4 version through Bing. That version can access current internet info. 

Ask Chat to compile a list of the best schools, restaurants, attractions, or large companies for your community. Then, use those to build a community guide for your clients who are new to the area. 

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Prompt: Hey Chat! Can you compile a list of all the best places to eat out or enjoy happy hour in Winter Haven, Florida?

Back when I created a community guide for my military movers, I didn’t have the luxury of ChatGPT to do the legwork, so it took me a while longer to get the information. I would have loved to have had this tool back then.

Play around with some of the alternative platforms like Google Bard, which is also connected to the internet, to see which platform works for you. You can access more current information on the chat platforms that access the internet. Some reports list Bard as being inferior to the original OpenAI version, but that’s a pretty big (and subjective) statement to make. Ultimately, you should choose whichever chat platform works best for you.

4. Text Messages

I mentioned text messages in the follow-up section, but there’s so much you can do outside of that with text. You can create an entire series of nurturing text messages for all of your prospects, clients, past clients, and even your sphere of influence. Just tell Chat what the text messages are for and ask for a certain number of texts that you can copy and paste.

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Prompt: Hi Chat! I would like to create a series of text messages to go out to my seller clients to guide them through the selling process. Make it sound conversational and fun, and include some emojis to keep it lighthearted and playful.

5. Content Creation

Content is a huge driver in your online visibility. And I don’t know about you, but when I’m working as a real estate agent, helping my clients is top priority. Who has time to write blog posts? This is definitely a great task to assign to your AI assistant. 

Ask Chat to help you with outlines and even drafts. Just make sure to double-check your projects before you post them. Chat is good, but it’s not perfect. There may be mistakes, or something sounds a little too formal, and even some fair housing violations can slip through. So, make sure you proofread anything you publish.

One thing ChatGPT is great for is creating a content calendar. It can give you plenty of ideas, a schedule, and even some prompts to help you write. That’s a huge time-saver.

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Prompt: Hey Chat! I would like to create a content calendar for the next six months for my real estate business. Can you help me with that?

6. Email Drip Campaigns

This one is amazing! If you use a CRM in your real estate business, then you may have access to some email drip campaigns through it. But if you don’t (or you’ve already used the prebuilt campaigns in your outreach and want to try something new), ChatGPT can help.

Ask Chat to create a series of emails to send out, not unlike the text message campaigns I already mentioned. You can copy and paste the emails Chat writes and schedule them to go out at different intervals depending on the type of campaign. Chat can even give you ideas on how often to reach out.

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Prompt: Hey Chat! Draft a series of emails to go out to leads coming from Zillow looking to move to my area. My leads tend to be {typical lead demographics} who are not familiar with my area. I would like a series of {#} emails to send out beginning immediately after the lead comes into my CRM. Make the tone fun, conversational, playful, a little snarky, but professional. Please give me some idea as to when to send out each email, as well.

7. Social Media Posts

This is one of the best time-savers I’m going to share with you. Simply ask Chat to create a series of social media posts. Ask for a month’s worth or more. I recently asked it to create 50 posts for me that I can use on social media related to real estate social media marketing. It can be about anything—homebuying tips, selling tips, inspirational quotes, transaction strategies, personal branding—that you want to create consistency around. 

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Prompt: Hey Chat! I would like to create {#} social media posts on seller tips. Please include emojis! Also, make them playful and conversational.

Chat will create a list that you can actually copy and paste into a spreadsheet and export as a CSV file. Once you have your CSV, go into Canva, choose a template you like for your social media of choice (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, etc.), and design your overall look for your posts. Then, use the bulk create feature in Canva to pull your entire CSV into the platform and fill in your posts. Brilliant, right? Check out this video where Lori Ballen shows you how to do it step by step.

8. Hashtags

Simply ask Chat to create a list (or lists) of hashtags for your social media posts. Or even better, you can ask Chat to add them in for you when it creates the posts.

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Prompt: Hey Chat! Can you create a list of hashtags to use in my social media posts that will align with my brand and niche?

When I asked Chat about setting up a list of hashtags, it told me to create a list including branding, industry-specific, local, niche, trending, and engagement hashtags. So I asked for a list of hashtags, and it spit out 40 to choose from. How cool is that?

9. Email Newsletters

You can ask Chat to create an outline of newsletter content that would be interesting to your target audience. It will break down several topics to include, along with some tips on how to make the most of each section. Then, if you need help with individual pieces of content, it can help you there too. Ask Chat to write drafts of sections or the entire newsletter. Just make sure you go back in and customize it so it sounds more authentic and doesn’t contain any errors.

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Prompt: Hey Chat! I’m thinking of starting a newsletter to my database of clients, past clients, and sphere of influence. Can you give me an outline of what would make a great newsletter?

10. Blog Posts

Writing is not everyone’s favorite thing to do, and it takes a lot of time and effort to come up with topics, sit down and think about the writing, and then execute. ChatGPT can write an entire blog post in seconds.

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Prompt: Hey Chat! Write a 500-word blog post addressing the importance of pricing your home properly for sellers. Be sure to include some pitfalls of incorrect pricing.

Or better yet, have Chat write a month’s worth of blog posts that you schedule to go out in advance. Having some help from ChatGPT, even if it’s just a list of ideas to write about or an outline for your blog posts, saves loads of time that could be better spent on other tasks.

11. Lead Magnets

Many real estate professionals use lead magnets to fill their CRMs with prospects’ contact information. But just as many struggle to come up with good lead magnets to attract their ideal clients. Let’s ask Chat for some assistance. It can help formulate ideas around lead magnets and can even write a draft for you. Take the information from Chat and use it to create a stunning PDF download in Canva Pro or Adobe Photoshop.

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Prompt: Hey Chat! Create a PCS checklist as a lead magnet for my target audience, military movers.

12. Video Scripts

Ready to be more present in videos but now sure how to get started? ChatGPT can create a script to help you. Tell Chat about your video topic, and let it draft a script. Be sure to let it know how long you want the script to be. If you tell it that you want to do a TikTok in under one minute, it can accommodate that request. You can also do longer-form videos and it will write to whatever length you want. Once you get your completed script, you can customize it to fit your personality and style.

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Prompt: Hey Chat! Write out a video script no longer than three minutes that talks about my favorite coffee shop in {location}, {name of coffee shop}. This will be a vertical video for Instagram Reels and TikTok.

5 Bonus ChatGPT Prompts for Realtors 

The best way to learn is to start using ChatGPT for yourself. Here are a few prompts to get you started:

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• Hey Chat! Can you write an email drip campaign of 6 emails to send out over the course of 6 months to my past clients around selling their homes, what’s in it for them, why they might want to sell, and what that might mean for them?
• Hey Chat! Can you write 20 social media posts that talk about how to start your day out for success? Use emojis and make the tone friendly and conversational.
• Hey Chat! Can you help me write 5 blog posts about the homebuying experience? Make them educational but light and fun.
• Hey Chat! Please write 5 one-minute scripts for videos about the pitfalls of the homebuying process, and center them on things you should not do while you’re buying a house. Make them funny.
• Hey Chat! Can you help me create a moving checklist for military movers to help them through the process? I will use this to create a useful and informative lead magnet for my target audience.

Feel free to tweak them for your own needs, or just copy and paste them directly into the prompt box. Need more prompt inspo to use in your real estate business? You’re in luck! We’ve put together a list of 117 prompts you can use to get the ball rolling. You can customize them to work for your specific needs.

How to Write a ChatGPT Prompt

The best thing about ChatGPT prompts is that you can write them the way you would ask someone to do something for you. Imagine you’re talking to your personal assistant and asking that person to complete a task. You can write your prompts exactly the same way. 

If you ask ChatGPT for something and it’s not quite what you want, you can use the “Regenerate” button on the right side of the screen. Chat will spit out a whole new version of your request in seconds. But you won’t lose the original set—it stays right on the screen, so you can scroll back up to it. Feel free to mix and match all of the results!

You can always ask Chat to tweak the results afterward too. Type in what you specifically want to change and it will give you a different response. If you don’t know what you don’t like, you can also tap the “Regenerate” button instead to get a different version of your original request. Just because you don’t get exactly what you want initially, don’t give up. It takes a bit for Chat to get to know you, but it will learn how to deliver over time and with continued use.

Caveats & Alternatives to ChatGPT

For all the amazing things ChatGPT can do, it’s not perfect by any means. First of all, in the free version, ChatGPT-3, the information is only as current as September 2021. So, there may be some lapses in the intel. But for evergreen content that doesn’t rely on current trends, data, or events, this shouldn’t be a problem. 

But what about Bing, you ask? I personally found using the ChatGPT integration on Bing cumbersome and not at all user friendly. But take it for a test drive yourself and see what you think. I don’t want to switch everything I have on my Google Chrome to Bing just to have access to ChatGPT when what OpenAI provides is enough for me. However, if you want more current information from ChatGPT, Bing might be worth the extra effort. 

There are additional ways to get more current information from ChatGPT. One way is to pay the monthly subscription fee to get the upgraded ChatGPT-4, which uses the internet to gather current information. You can also use alternatives such as:

• SalesWise
• Google Bard
• Jasper AI
• Chatsonic
• Copy.ai
• YouChat
• Listingcopy.ai
• Saleswise

And there are so many other platforms that have integrated ChatGPT into their platforms, including many CRMs and even Canva. Not all offer free access, but several on this list do (or are less expensive than the ChatGPT-4 subscription, which, as of this writing, is $20 per month). Also, I just wrote a round-up of AI tools for real estate agents, and many of those tools have integrated ChatGPT into their platforms. They’re definitely worth checking out.

I haven’t had much interaction with Google Bard yet, but it looks promising. It’s connected to the internet so the information is current, as opposed to ChatGPT-3. And it’s free to use. They’re currently working on new iterations, but so far it looks more user friendly than my experience with ChatGPT on Bing. I’ll update you with my experiences on Google Bard in upcoming articles. But any way you look at it, it’s great to have so many options with this fun tech tool.

If you want to cut your AI learning curve in half, you might want to check out Saleswise, which was designed specifically for real estate agents. Trained on materials from top-producing agents, it generates content based specifically on your needs. With Saleswise, you get a powerful AI tool with practically zero learning curve.

What ChatGPT Is Not

I’ve talked a lot about what ChatGPT is, but let me be clear: It is not a replacement for you or your authentically human persona. Like many other tech tools that have disrupted the real estate world, ChatGPT is simply a tool to free up time to do more things that we enjoy doing, like chatting with our clients over a cup of coffee or catching up with friends and family. ChatGPT is not here to take your job unless you let it. It’s a tool designed to take some of the tasks that eat up so much of our time off of our plates. 

Another thing that ChatGPT isn’t is boilerplate. ChatGPT delivers unique answers to each person. So, what Chat delivers to you with a specific request will be different from another person with a similar request. Don’t worry about getting the same answers as your coworkers or competitors, because technically, that should not happen. It doesn’t even deliver the same answers to you when you ask the same question another time.

However, this is a great time to point out that you should always check Chat’s work. Check the information for flaws, and don’t just copy and paste. Take the time to customize the copy to make sure it’s in line with what you would actually say. You lose your authenticity when you let Chat do all of the work.  

Evolution Is Constant

Think about it: 20 years ago, few of us were concerned with establishing our online presence, crafting social media posts, creating videos to build up our YouTube channels, or constantly writing content for our blogs. But today, these chores are ubiquitous. And they take up so much of our time that we’re resorting to hiring people to help us get it all done. If you’re trying to do it all yourself, you really don’t have time for much else in your business or your life. 

I recently heard someone compare this new technology to the invention of boxed cake mixes. It used to be if you wanted to bake a cake at home, you had to have all the ingredients—flour, salt, baking powder, eggs, vegetable oil, and yeast—on hand along with the proper equipment to make it. After boxed cake mixes were created, people had the ability to bake their own cakes at home without being top-level chefs or running out for fresh ingredients. ChatGPT is our modern boxed cake mix, making tasks easier for individuals to accomplish.

Embrace the Change & Your Role

But similar to when the internet gave us access to the world outside our ZIP codes, ChatGPT is another tool that will weave its way into our daily lives, assisting us with tasks to give us back our time and freedom. It’s a beautiful thing and I’m here for it. 

So, continue to show up for your clients, your past clients, and your sphere. Your job is not threatened by ChatGPT because it’s not human. It is simply a tool to help you be more human with other humans. Let the bots do the boring, time-consuming tasks that keep us from spending our lives with those we care about most.

Your Take

ChatGPT is such a new technology to permeate the real estate industry that we’re all still learning. Have you tried using it yet? What has your experience been? Share what you’ve learned so far in the comment section!

The post 12 Clever Ways to Use ChatGPT for Real Estate (+ 17 Prompts) appeared first on The Close.

Of course, even experienced agents have a hard time choosing which marketing materials to spend their hard-earned time and money on. That’s why we used our expertise to put together this definitive guide to the eight real estate marketing materials every agent needs to build a better personal brand in 2023 and beyond. Whether you need Instagram Reels templates or business card advice, we have you covered.

1. Professional Pictures: One Headshot, One Lifestyle

One of the most important lessons that Ryan Serhant teaches in his course, Sell It Like Serhant: How to Build a Personal Brand, is that your personal brand needs to be curated and authentic. After all, people should want to work with you, not just “a real estate agent.” There are millions of agents, but only one you. This is why headshots are by far your most important marketing material.

Your headshots literally put a face to your personal brand and are the only marketing piece that can’t be copied by other agents. So take the time to make sure your headshots are both curated and authentic. Ryan recommends creating two headshots for your real estate marketing materials: one professional headshot and one lifestyle shot. 

Once you get those gorg headshots, it’s time to build marketing collateral that impresses. Hire a freelance graphic designer on Fiverr to touch up your headshot photos. You can even order those hero shots that look fab on your postcards and other collateral.

Fiverr freelancers offer all the services from logo design to listing flyers to social media post design to content creation to help you build your business from the ground up. And it’s super simple—find a designer to match your style, click the order button, fill in the project details, and pay. Your designs, on demand.

2. Professional Social Media Templates (Including Stories, Reels & TikTok Templates)

When it comes to social media marketing materials, many agents make the mistake of assuming that bringing their authentic selves to social media means they need to create everything from scratch. Nothing could be further from the truth. Those behind-the-scenes Instagram Reels and TikToks you shot at your open house don’t have to look like a Hollywood movie, but it might help if they look more polished. 

This is where professionally designed social media templates come in. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel every time you post on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, you can use templates designed for real estate agents by graphic designers. The difference between professional social media templates and generic templates from Canva is night and day. 

Looking for sleek and stunning templates for your social media? Coffee & Contracts has the most gorg templates, including Instagram Reels, carousels, Broke Agent memes, and more. You’ll get access to fresh content and new options every month as a subscriber.

3. A Website That Shows Off Your Personal Brand

After headshots and social media templates, building your real estate website is the next most important piece of your marketing materials. It’s also one of the only brand assets you truly own. After all, no matter how hard you work on them, you don’t really own any of your social media profiles or even the shiny website your brokerage provided for you. 

While you might be tempted to add bells and whistles—like IDX listings, lead capture, landing pages, and a customer relationship manager (CRM)—to your website, make sure they reflect your personal brand first. For a good example of an agent website centered on personal branding, check out Carlin Wright. Notice how her lifestyle image is front and center? That’s no accident. Her website is about her, not real estate.

In Hawaii, the warm weather and outdoor lifestyle are what Kinga Mills is selling. So much of her website is focused on her personal brand—videos of surfers, lush mountains, palm trees, and the turquoise ocean feature prominently—capitalizing on the very well-established Hawaii brand.

If you want a site like Carlin’s or Kinga’s, you can hire Luxury Presence to build and host your website starting at around $180 per month, plus design fees. Get $500 off by clicking the button below.

Visit Luxury Presence

Or, if you want more control and want to level up your own skill set, check out our guide to building a website using WordPress here:

4. Business Cards That Set You Apart

Even in the age of Realtor TikTok stars, there’s something about a well-designed business card printed on quality paper stock that can’t be beat. Sure, popping up in someone’s social media feed once a week is great, but your business card might get pinned to a bulletin board, be kept in a wallet, or sit on someone’s desk for months on end. Not bad for a 50-cent piece of paper, right?

Of course, like your website, your business cards should reflect your personal brand. So make sure to use your brand colors, fonts, and headshot. As far as strategy goes—whether you’re working with a designer or creating them yourself—it can be helpful to ask yourself, Is this a business card I would keep? Why or why not? If the answer is no, head back to the drawing board.

5. Facebook Business Page

Even though your teenage niece will probably tell you Facebook is so over, you still need a business page, even if you never post on it. Why? Demographics. The average age of a Facebook user is a little over 40 years old, and a whopping 22% are over the age of 55. Sounds dull, right? Well, what if I told you that according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the typical home seller was 60 years old last year? 

With demographics like that, a Facebook Business page is not optional for serious Realtors. It’s not all about demographics, though. If you want to advertise on Facebook or Instagram, you will need a Facebook business page. So even if you also think Facebook is so over, you’re going to need to build one. 

If you don’t already have one, we have an easy step-by-step guide to building a Facebook business page (along with specialized advertising and cover photo advice) here:

6. Instagram-quality Postcards

Want to get laughed at? Tell someone under 30 that you’re sending them a real estate postcard. If they’re under 20, you might have to actually explain what a postcard is. Of course, while we have nothing against 20 year olds, they’re not exactly the right audience for your real estate marketing materials. At least, not yet.

According to the NAR’s Homebuyers and Sellers Report, the average first-time buyer in 2022 was 36 years old, while the typical repeat buyer was 59. Take it from me, people our age like getting postcards, but older people love getting postcards. My mother is in her seventies, owns several homes, and sits in her recliner every morning to go through her mail. You know where she’s not spending her mornings? TikTok!

But just because you’re using old-school marketing materials (don’t forget about brochures, flyers, and letters, too!)doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with them, no matter what your personal brand is. For example, check out the Instagram-inspired postcard from Coffee & Contracts above. It’s classy and professional, with a tiny bit of sass. 

Why use Instagram-inspired design for your postcards? Simple. Television and newspaper ads are inspired by online design trends today. 

You can design your own, use a fresh template in Canva, or work with some of the predesigned templates inside ProspectsPLUS! to amplify your marketing message. Select your target audience, upload or create your design, and let ProspectsPLUS! do the rest. They will deliver dazzling Instagram-worthy postcards directly to your audience, showcasing your marketing brilliance.

Build Instagram-worthy Postcards at ProspectsPLUS!

7. Email Newsletter

Like postcards, email newsletters are another crucial marketing material that will make your niece roll her eyes. It also happens to be one of the best ways to market to your sphere. Again: You don’t own your social media profiles, but you do own your email list. 

Email is also much easier to scale than social media, and much less expensive than pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. The return on investment for your time and effort is also better. According to statistics from Campaign Monitor, the average rate at which people open marketing emails is 21.7%. So, as long as you keep growing your list, the number of people you reach with your content will continue to grow with very little extra work. 

If you plan a content calendar for your email newsletter, you can keep your sphere engaged for years with just an hour or two of work per week. Here are a few easy real estate newsletter ideas to get you started:

If you want to really stand out in your farm area, you might consider a more robust approach. Parkbench makes it super-easy to dominate your market as the community leader. They create a hyperlocal website filled with neighborhood news, market info, events, real estate listings, and more, all with your logo and contact information to put your face in the forefront of your community. Watch your trust factor soar and leads start flowing in. They only allow one agent per area so, don’t wait! Check to see if yours is still available.

Check Your Market’s Availability With Parkbench

8. Marketing Videos

Whether you love it or hate it, video is definitely taking over the digital marketing space. From shorter vertical videos, like the ones on Instagram Reels or TikTok (above), to longer-form videos on YouTube, video will drive your business faster and more effectively than static forms of content. 

Think lifestyle or walk-through videos set to music on Reels and TikTok or educational videos on the buying or selling processes on YouTube. Putting your content in video format will boost your exposure and get you in front of more potential clients since Google and Facebook both favor video over static images or text. 

You can typically get your pro photographer to shoot some of your polished videos of listings. But you can also easily create your own lifestyle or educational videos with your smartphone.

Over to You

Do you think these are the right real estate marketing materials for every agent to build their personal brand? If not, what would you include instead? Tell us in the comments!

The post 8 Real Estate Marketing Materials to Crush Your Personal Brand appeared first on The Close.

After coaching agents for the past 11 years, I’ve noticed two common beliefs that agents have that cause ineffective marketing: The first is they want to provide value to their entire database, and second is they don’t want to come across too “salesy.”

Their emails are too general and the customers don’t know what they are supposed to do next. The solution is to craft your message to match the audience you wish to respond. In this case, people who want to buy, sell, or invest in real estate.

In this article, I will give you tips on how to write emails that will generate consistent referrals and repeat business. Plus, I will share my six easy email examples that have worked flawlessly for myself and the top producers I coach.

Download The Email Templates

Focus on Who Your Marketing Is Actually Targeting

The secret to generating more repeat and referral business from your database is to get specific with your messaging. The biggest mistake agents make is focusing on the entire database of customers instead of focusing on the small few that would like to or need to buy, sell, or invest in real estate. Here is how you can train your mind to focus on the right audience.

Begin by thinking about the two to three customers in your database who need professional real estate advice today. Maybe they are relocating, interested in investing, or they may know of someone looking to buy a home.

Next, think about what messages that people who need to buy, sell, or invest would likely respond to. One thing that all customers want is answers to their questions. So if you want to receive referrals from your emails, you must write your email messages to answer the questions they may have.

52 Common Real Estate Questions

Here is a list of 52 real estate questions that a customer who is actually interested in buying, selling, or investing in real estate may have. One for each week of the year.

1	What is the difference between an appraisal and inspection?
2	How much down payment do I need to buy a home?
3	What fees do I have to pay to sell my home?
4	What is the difference between an FHA and conventional loan?
5	How long does it take to sell a home?
6	Do I have to use a real estate agent to sell a home?
7	What is rent to own?
8	How do I get approved for a loan?
9	Why is my assessed value different from the appraised value?
10	How long does it take to buy a home?
11	What is a back-up offer?
12	How do I buy a foreclosed home?
13	How do I negotiate the best price?
14	What is mortgage insurance?
15	How do I pick an agent to sell my home?
16	How much do I pay a real estate agent to buy a home?
17	What is the home sale process?
18	What do I do if I miss a house payment?
19	How does a VA loan work?
20	Do I have to sell my home before buying another one?
21	How do you buy a brand-new home?
22	Is staging really effective?
23	Do I need a home warranty?
24	What are the best ways to market my home?
25	How accurate is the Zillow estimate?
26	What is the difference between a Realtor and a real estate agent?
27	Do national real estate companies have better exposure?
28	Do I have to move twice to sell my home and buy another?
29	What is title insurance?
30	How do I get an appraisal?
31	What are the best sites to search for homes?
32	Are all mortgage company interest rates the same?
33	Should I do a 15- or 30-year mortgage?
34	Do new windows increase the value of my home?
35	What home expenses can I write off on my taxes?
36	What are five low-cost things you can do to get more money for your house?
37	How does an agent come up with the sales price?
38	What does owner/seller carry mean?
39	How much are closing costs?
40	How do I get/find the lowest interest rate?
41	Are the prices negotiable?
42	What is a seller's market?
43	How long does it take to renovate a home?
44	What kind of credit score do I need to buy a home?
45	What is earnest money?
46	Do I need a final walk-through?
47	Can a seller reject an offer?
48	How long does it take to stage a home?
49	When is the best time to sell a home?
50	What do I have to disclose to buyers?
51	Why are commissions so high?
52	How long should a listing agreement last?

Add a Call to Action

The other component to a successful email that generates referrals and repeat business is a clear call to action (CTA). This gives the reader clear direction as to what you want them to do next. It is important to remember that your goal isn’t to have all the readers read the email or respond. The goal is to have the customers who are interested in buying, selling, or investing today respond to your email. The way to do that is to have a clear CTA.

Consider what your objective is before creating your CTA. Ask yourself, “What do you want the reader to do next?” Do you wish them to email you to schedule an appointment on your website? Be sure your CTA is clear to the reader and only include one CTA per email. This will increase your response rate because the reader knows exactly what they are supposed to do next.

Here are examples of a few solid CTAs that will increase your email responses:

• “Click here for a home pre-list checklist.”
• “Contact me for your free home evaluation.”
• “Click here to read more on my website/blog.”
• “Text 555-555-5555 to schedule an appointment.”
• “Get the word out by sharing on Facebook.”

Be Consistent

Consistency is important if you wish to remain top of mind. Consistency also communicates to your database that you are a reliable person. If your utility bill showed up at random times each month, you would probably start to worry about how long they will stay in business.

Here are a few tips to help make your email campaign consistent. First, use an automated customer relationship management (CRM) software and create your emails weeks or months in advance. Second, send one email on the same day, each and every week. Third, keep the content general in nature and don’t worry about holidays, events, and current matters. You can always send one-off timely emails.

Consistency in your marketing will ensure that repeat and referral leads will continue to come in all year long. If you’re looking for an affordable CRM to help you stay consistent, check out LionDesk. LionDesk allows you to send automated emails and texts for just $25 per month. Try them out with a 30-day free trial.

Visit LionDesk

6 Emails That Are Guaranteed to Drive Referrals

Now that you understand the components of emails that will drive referrals and repeat business, I’d like to give you a head start on your successful email campaign. The following six easy emails have proven to drive consistent repeat and referral business for my coaching clients. They can be duplicated easily. No need to reinvent the wheel here—just reuse these six examples by adding new content and your call to action.

The six easy emails each have a specific purpose. Some to reflect your knowledge about real estate, others to show you are consistently getting results. They are designed to be read quickly and easily by your customers who have real estate on their mind.

Want to reference these templates again later? Download my six proven email templates here.

Download The Templates

1. Answering Common Questions About Buying or Selling

2. Testimonials

3. New Listing Announcements

4. Upcoming Event

5. Anniversary of Home Purchase

6. Investment Opportunity

Bottom Line

Your database is a goldmine of opportunities if you take the time to craft the right message to the customers who are already thinking about buying, selling, or investing in real estate. I hope these emails provide you as much value as they have for me.

The post 6 Emails to Send to Clients to Drive Repeat & Referral Business appeared first on The Close.