4 Quick Real Estate Marketing Tactics That Actually Work (And NO, It’s Not Bandit Signs)

In this article

Real estate. Marketing.

Despite disruptive titans like Airbnb and WeWork, you will still find “old school” methods littered across the industry—especially when it comes to marketing.

Like massive signs that say, “WE BUY HOUSES CASH” and lazy landlords who insist on checks.

For some agents, “innovative marketing” consists of email blasts and posting a listing on Zillow. But if you’re looking to stand out —whether you’re looking for cash buyers, sellers, or just overall awareness around your brand—marketing (and marketing correctly!) is crucial. 

In other words, more opportunity for you.

So, in order to capitalize on this trend (and avoid being a dinosaur in a vital industry), here are four easy tactics and tools to put in your real estate marketing toolbox.

4 Quick Real Estate Marketing Tactics That Actually Work

1. Create video content.

The old way of showing rental properties consisted of taking strangers in your car, burning up gas, and hoping they’d sign a lease.

Sure, you can ball out and use virtual showings, which eliminate need for physical showings. (And some brokers are killing it in international sales here.)

But if you’re not looking to blow $4,500 on the pricy VR/AR cameras, videos are it. 

This video looks like something out of a music video—the feel, the ambiance, the visual. And it effectively allows you to showcase your property in under a minute. Here’s an example from Instagram.

In addition to posting properties, the listing agent—21-year-old New Jersey rockstar real estate agent Alexander Calle, the Jersey City expert of Keller Williams’ Sanderson Group—says video helps him secure more listings and close more deals.

Related: Tired of Ineffective Mailers? It’s Time to Bring Your Marketing Into the 21st Century

“In my industry, real estate agents very rarely use video marketing,” Calle says. “I saw the potential in that untapped area of my business and knew it would help me stand out.

“I don’t have to call 100 people, send out 100 mailers, or put up signs; I can post a video and reach hundreds if not thousands of people.”

And you don’t have to be an agent to do this, either. This works equally as well for wholesalers, who typically resort to Craigslist posts like…well, this.

What it works for:

• Selling and marketing a property
• Lead generation
• Brand awareness

(Random sidebar: I get lots of questions on how to find deals. But best advice I can give is team up with a real estate agent with boots on the ground and they’ll find the deals for you. As long as you don’t haggle on their cut, they’ll love you and work hard for you.)

2. Post Facebook and Instagram ads.

“…The most under-priced ad product right now is Facebook Advertising. If you had to sell to feed your children, you would put your money there.” —Gary Vaynerchuk

An extension of tactic No. 1, advertising on platforms like Facebook and Instagram is a great closing tool—and another quick way to reach a larger audience.

For full disclosure, I’ve only just started to experiment with this with my book, so I’m far from an expert. Digital marketing specialist and bestselling author Jean Ginzburg is, however.

She’s been featured in Forbes and Huffington Post for her work with Fortune 500 companies.

“The real estate businesses that I work with who are using Facebook and Instagram are crushing it,” she says, adding that there are over 240 million in this niche spending an average of 20 minutes a day. “It’s about where our audience’s attention is now.”

I recently attended Ginzburg’s webinar series, which breaks down how wholesalers and investors can profit off Adwords, Facebook and Instagram marketing.

The particular one I caught laid out how one investor made made $37,000 from one ad. The beauty of Facebook ads is its super targeted information you can leverage, which allows you to tailor your post:

As far as the post themselves, here are some effective examples.

What it works for:

• Selling a property
• Getting cash buyers
• Wholesaling

3. Gain followers (and capitalize!).

More social media followers. Yes, easier said than done. But doable, for sure.

Investor and social media influencer JT Holmes earned a 150,000 Twitter following in a matter of months—along with the coveted blue verification check.

“Twitter is the fastest way to build a following because people are constantly retweeting tweets they can relate to,” Holmes says. “People tend to share things they can relate to which is a fast way to build an organic following.”

The benefits of this are obvious. If you have a following of devoted aficionados, it makes your job that much easier if you’re trying to either market, source, or wholesale deals.

Related: 3 Tips for Marketing Your Multifamily Investment Property [Video!]

Another marketing tactic you can use, Holmes says, is what he calls “mass liking.” Target audiences will post pictures using a location, he says—a perfect tool for investors looking for local followers.

“If I’m targeting students, I’ll open the Instagram app on my phone while I’m in my bed watching TV and search a location near me like ‘Arizona State University.’ I will go through those pictures and try to like as many of their pictures as possible which helps drives them to my page based on curiosity of them not knowing who I am.”

By having content that appeals to their interests, your following naturally goes up. And from there, so does your reach—and deal flow.

What it works for:

• Wholesaling
• Brokers
• Bird dogs
• Building an online presence/brand

4. Canva

Not a “set” way in itself but an extremely helpful tool nonetheless. When it comes to drawing investor interest or closing deals, presentation matters. And if your experience is low, this is where you can stand out and win big.

For instance, I get pitched stuff on a daily basis. I don’t care how good the deal is—if you send me a spreadsheet or a paragraph with a bunch of numbers, I’m absolutely clicking delete.

Now, I’m far from a design guru or even all that creative. But Canva is an epic tool to spruce up your stuff—and it’s fast become my team’s go-to for all sorts of project. The image above took me about a minute to do, if that.

This image below comes from a real JV proposal I printed out to a current partner on a Jersey City development deal. Once printed out, you make a big statement.

Slightly off topic, but I also created my logo on there after paying various people thousands of dollars over the course of a year. Did it in 15 minutes.

I even designed my book cover on there. And it became a bestseller in under 48 hours. Obviously that wasn’t the only reason, but a nice cover probably didn’t hurt.

Lastly, if you must do direct mail (I wouldn’t), you at least owe it to yourself to give yourself the best chance of impressing the receiver.

What it works for:

• Facebook, Instagram ads (see tip #2)
• Quick powerpoints
• Infographics
• Content marketing/production
• Whatever the heck else you want to get out there

Any resources you’d add to this list?

Comment below!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.