4 Things Every Estate Agent Must Know About Content Marketing
Since Covid-19 rampaged through our lives, a considerable number of estate agents have woken up to the power of marketing their agencies through online blog content. In other words, using content marketing to create awareness, establish trust and consistently build a local reputation to reach those moving home.
Are you one of these estate agents?
For those new to ‘proper’ content marketing, there are four primary questions that are most frequently asked about this powerful marketing strategy for estate agents.
1: Will people visit my website just to read my blog?
2: How will posting content on my estate agent blog help me generate leads for my estate agency?
3: What’s the best type of content for estate agents, and what should I write about?
4: Blog content will take me time and effort to create, so why should I give it all away for free?
It’s crucial that all estate agents are in possession of the answers to these questions, not least because an informed decision about how to move forward with an efficient and effective content marketing strategy will then become easy, raising brand profile, and helping to attract buyers!
1. Will people visit my website just to read my blog?
Unless you are a content-creating powerhouse with a well-established reputation already then not initially no! However, people do search online for information and solutions to property-related problems, and you have the power to answer or help them solve these issues by giving away information.
This is how those people will arrive at your blog on your website and recognise your estate agency as one that they want to deal with. You are not merely trying to direct people to your real estate blog posts. You are ensuring you are visible and appear knowledgeable through helpful, informative, educational information published online and indexed by Google, leading to your site.
2. How will posting content on my estate agent blog help me generate leads for my estate agency?
The entire aim of content marketing is to use high quality content to steadily wriggle your way into the subconscious of your target audience. By publishing decent content in the form of written articles showcasing your property industry expertise which these people can engage with and share, you become the ‘go-to’ trusted and authoritative estate agent in your area. All because you consistently show up and put yourself in front of people.
By providing regular educational, inspirational, problem-solving, and engaging words, you are continually providing valuable content, showing how incredible you are and keeping your estate agency front of mind – all the while attracting potential buyers and sellers.
3. What’s the best type of content for estate agents, and what should I write about?
The most important thing to remember is ‘easy on the ego!’ The biggest mistake many estate agents make is thinking they must create content which is only based around their agency. This is one hundred per cent not the case.
The only people who care about your sales figures are you and your team. Ditto for property industry awards, housing market-share figures and where you sit in any kind of league table in the property world.
Without taking these achievements away from you, because of course, it’s fantastic that you’ve won industry awards, these kinds of facts, figures and data are just boring for the average home mover to read about.
The simple fact is that it can be a tricky time getting your content right. You must engage with people on the internet to win their business. Selling advice, helpful tips and making yourself the first port of call for buyers looking for properties are all crucial.
To achieve this, you should research blog ideas and create content based around:
- Solving problems
- Answering questions
- Giving away tips, tricks, hacks, whatever you want to call them!
For example:
- What are home moving costs?
- I’m relocating – how do I find the best local schools in (your location)?
- How to move home with a cat / dog / tropical fish (insert as appropriate)
- 7 essential moving packing tips
This means planning your blogging ideas with thought rather than randomly plucking subjects from nowhere. Every piece of content you produce should have a specific target audience in mind and be useful content on real estate topics that will genuinely help people and give value.
Your content also needs to be well written in a punchy readable style with headlines that will get you noticed, attract clients, and be effective in online search results.
Content marketing is all about consistently writing AND consistently growing your audience
4. Blog content will take me time and effort to create, so why should I give it all away for free?
Giving away information in blog posts that has real value is the key to becoming an expert in your industry and location, (remember that other local businesses have customers frequenting their premises and may pass on valuable information about your estate agency business too) which is why your content must never be random!
As an expert who cares about your local community, more people will trust you, and you will ultimately win more instructions. Prospects will read your content, be impressed by your knowledge, helpfulness, and expertise (which you are more than happy to dish out for free), and they will remember you!
When those people are ready to get their property valued (because they may not need you right now), you will be at the forefront of their mind, and they will choose you.
Make sense?
For you, as an estate agent content marketing is all about creating premium and engaging content that your target audience (that’s your local market) will want to read and share. Trust is super important in your agency, and you want people to think of you first whether they’re looking to sell, buy, rent, or let their property.
Conclusion
All real estate agents can give buying and selling advice, most just need a little help to write blogs on these topics. But the truth is, if you are struggling with this task, and things are left unchanged, you will miss out on potential leads.
Those blog post ideas for estate agents quoted in question 3 are just a few real examples of the valuable content available from Content For on subscription that you can use to attract clients in your local area, from first time buyers, to those moving house, new landlords, and those in the process of arranging valuations.
Even better, you can click here to download five articles for free and upload them to your own blog immediately (and repurpose them on your social media platforms to reach even more potential clients).
What better way to get started than with some high-quality property market blog content?