Why Real Estate Brokers Must Adopt A Digital-First Marketing Strategy

Real estate agents make money by bringing home sellers and potential buyers together and helping them strike a deal. While it is not that hard to find properties that are up for sale, identifying a prospective homeowner who is ready to buy isn’t as easy. This is the objective of real estate marketing.

Guess what? After you identify a potential buyer and the property you have for them meets their specifications, your job gets a lot easier. Don’t believe us, here are a couple of stats from a 2020 survey by the National Association of Realtors in the US that will make every real estate broker sit up and take notice:

• 88% of recent homebuyers bought through a real estate agent,



• 73% of recent homebuyers interviewed only one agent.

While these are not earth-shattering discoveries as people have been buying homes through agents for as long as we can remember, they confirm that people still trust real estate agents. Perhaps more now than ever before. 

Pursuing A Digital-first Strategy for Real Estate Marketing

The big takeaway from the stats we just shared is that to steal a march on the competition, you need to get in front of prospective home buyers by intercepting them at the earliest point of their research. 



As the statistics show, homebuyers aren’t lining up five brokers for interviews. The first one to get their attention usually secures the sale. This is because very few if any potential homeowners back out of the buy decision. The process that took them here is exhausting enough to then dither about deciding on the choice of a real estate broker.



When they start looking at properties, the buying decision will be long made, with financing secured. Identifying the right property is the final piece of the puzzle. In short, these are among the warmest leads in all of selling.



So you want to be the first broker they talk to because you very likely will be the only one they will speak to. Speaking of that, where do prospective homeowners go to research properties for sale?



You guessed it, it’s the internet. As much as 51 percent of homebuyers trust Google and other digital platforms to point them in the right direction. This entails using digital marketing tools to get your real estate brokerage in front of potential home buyers. 



Printing business cards and putting up yard signs are some of the sales strategies you can use but those no longer work as they used to. Going all-in on real estate marketing with a digital-first approach has a greater chance of working. 

What Is A Digital-first Marketing Strategy?

A digital-first marketing strategy recognizes that the modern homebuyer is a digital native. Their default for fixing most problems is to look for a digital tool of some kind, typically using their mobile phone. And make no mistake, not finding the right house to buy quickly enough is a problem that needs fixing.



So your marketing must assume a digital form, whether it is a website, social media, or an app. If you look around, everything has gone digital. Everyone is digitally connected in some way. Instead of driving to an open house, homebuyers want to know if they can view the house virtually, at their convenience.



To get the attention of any shopper, you need to retrace their digital footprint and identify the best places to intercept them. For people shopping for a house, this means going to places when they go to find service providers and solutions to specific problems.



Because attention spans have shortened, in no small part due to the influence of digital media, most buyers prefer to shop where real estate brokers gather in one place than wandering around the internet. They also use social proof to validate their purchase decisions so they will shop where other homebuyers have shopped before. Not only that:



If they could, homebuyers would handle the entire home buying process in one place. So they are naturally drawn to places like Souqh that cater to the different needs of homebuyers. 



Google is now smart enough to match the intent of its users with the right service providers, however they search. This means Google is more likely to refer homebuyers to places like Souqh if they start their research on the search engine. You need to be there waiting for them. 



Consumers are naturally drawn to online forums and marketplaces that are created with their specific needs in mind. If they could, they would bypass Google and go straight there. Because they know that by switching between Google, Facebook, their accounting software, and their email, among other pit stops searching for a property and negotiating a price, they risk exposure to online scams, or a Facebook rabbit hole. 

An All-In-One Digital-First Real Estate Marketing Tool

What if we told you that you could prospect for home buyers, find leads, get referrals, attract potential clients to your firm, drive traffic to your other online properties, communicate with your clients, and get paid from one place, online?



In a nutshell, that is what Souqh offers - an all-in-one digital-first marketing solution for real estate brokers. It is a place where home buyers and homeowners come to look for realtors, mortgage brokers, lawyers, contractors, and other service providers. 



As far as qualified, warm leads for realtors go, Souqh is the place to be. Listing on Souqh gives you a digital storefront and marketing channel that never sleeps. 



At Souqh we make it easier for homebuyers to find you by service area, which in turn makes it easier for you to match their needs. We provide a secure environment where you and your clients feel safe to do business.



The result is an enhanced customer experience, lower marketing costs, a deeper market insight, and more sales, which are just a few of the great perks of pursuing a digital-first marketing strategy.



Keen to give Souqh a try and digitalize your marketing? Learn how the online marketplace for home buyers and homeowners can help your real estate business grow here.