Closing Deals with SMS: Real Estate Marketing Tips

In this digital age, it's imperative to leverage every type of tool available to elevate your marketing strategy.

Text message marketing is just one of many highly effective marketing methods for quickly connecting with your target audience. The prevalence of email marketing and social media marketing oftentimes overshadows SMS marketing.

However, SMS marketing for real estate agents can be a powerful tool in an industry that relies on networking and maintaining relationships. Real estate professionals can utilize SMS marketing to close deals faster while creating personalized experiences for clients and prospective buyers.

Advantages of SMS marketing for real estate agents

Real estate businesses need to consider all avenues for marketing and reaching interested buyers. Marketing text messages are especially successful in the real estate industry. Here are a few reasons why SMS marketing works so well:

• High open rates: Compared to traditional marketing methods like email marketing, SMS messages generally have higher open rates. SMS messages also lead to higher engagement rates meaning real estate agents should share important links in the text message.
• Instantaneous communication: SMS reminders allow you to instantly connect with your audience. Timing is critical in the fast-paced real estate market. That's why client communication via text message works so well. You can easily notify potential buyers about new listings, open houses, or price changes.
• Personalized messaging: Add a personal touch to texts by adding the recipient's name and other details to engage clients and promote two-way communication.
• Cost-effective: SMS marketing is typically quite cost-effective, especially as opposed to advertising. Sending text messages is more affordable and more easily accessible thanks to a variety of SMS marketing platforms.
• Compliance with regulations: Using opt-in and opt-out models ensures compliance with regulations and laws regarding marketing communication. It also ensures you are reaching recipients who are genuinely interested in hearing from you, increasing the likelihood of action.

More and more businesses are incorporating text messaging into their marketing efforts. Reports indicate that while only 39% of businesses at large use texting to communicate with their target audience, 73% of real estate businesses text clients making it one of the leading industries from SMS marketing.

Building a targeted SMS marketing list

As a real estate agent, you can leverage SMS marketing to generate leads and collect opt-ins to build a targeted and engaged list.

Ensure that your list only includes individuals who have given explicit consent to receive SMS messages. You can gather contacts simply through sign-up forms on your real estate website or at open houses.

Craft compelling messages that clearly communicate with potential buyers or clients. Client communication can be elevated through personalized and the use of a clear call to action (CTA) such as "Schedule a viewing" or "Request more information". Concise and compelling text messaging helps your real estate business stay in touch with your client's preferences and needs.

Segmenting your audience

Segmenting your audience is a fundamental aspect of all marketing strategies. In real estate marketing, you can focus on a few key areas when dividing your audience into different groups. Here are the main areas to focus on:

• Buyers vs. sellers: Buyers are looking for information about available listings, financing options, and homebuying tips while sellers could benefit from your real estate expertise.
• Location-based segmentation: Property values, buyer preferences, and market values can differ vastly depending on location. Segment your audience by city, neighborhood, or specific region.
• Past clients vs. prospects: Stay connected with past clients by expressing gratitude and offering ongoing support. Nurture prospects by sharing informative content, new listings, and property recommendations.

Successful SMS marketing for real estate relies on compelling content, concise messaging, visual elements, and enticing CTAs. Start with a captivating opening to grab the recipient's attention. Directly share the most important information and unique selling points. Appeal to prospective buyers' emotions by describing how the property can fulfill their dreams and lifestyle.

Embracing conciseness is key in SMS marketing. Since SMS messages have a character limit of approximately 160 characters, every word counts. Use abbreviations and symbols to save space while cutting unnecessary words.

For example, write 3 bedrooms as "3BR". Text messaging is primarily text-based, however, you can add emojis and shortened URLs to link to images, virtual tours, and property listings.

Finally, clear CTAs are vital for creating compelling content that sparks action. Clearly state the action you want the recipient to take. Also, consider adding a sense of urgency or exclusivity to your CTA such as "Limited-time opportunity". Here is an example of a gripping real estate marketing SMS:

🏠 Exciting opportunity! 🏠 Find your dream home! Stunning 4BR/3BA in [desirable neighborhood]. Open house Sun 2-5 PM. Reply 'YES' to RSVP or visit [URL] for more info.

Timing and frequency of SMS campaigns

When and how often you send SMS messages can significantly impact your campaign's effectiveness. Finding the right frequency for text message marketing is a critical factor for success in the real estate industry.

Avoid overloading your audience with too many text messages and this can appear spammy. Instead, focus on adjusting frequency around events in the real estate cycle and maintaining a consistent schedule so subscribers know when to expect your messages.

The ideal times for sending SMS for real estate marketing may differ from other industries. Generally, it's vital to keep text message marketing within regular business hours to avoid disrupting or annoying recipients. Don't send messages early in the morning or late at night.

However, weekends are a prime time to send real estate messages. Many people have more time to focus on real estate and attend open houses on the weekends.

Incorporating automation tools in your real estate marketing strategy is a powerful way to streamline your efforts and enhance the customer journey. SMS marketing platforms are software tools that enable you to send automated, timely, and personalized texts to nurture relationships, capture leads, and share property information.

These platforms offer an array of features for real estate professionals, including contact management, message scheduling, and analytics, making it easier to manage and optimize SMS marketing campaigns. Let's review a few use cases for SMS marketing automation in the real estate world:

1. Price reduction alerts: When a property listing's price is reduced, an automated SMS can be sent to interested buyers in your database. 2. Appointment reminders: Automatically send reminders and confirmations to prospects who've scheduled property viewings or consultations to provide a smoother client experience. 3. Open house notifications: Send automated messages about upcoming open houses in the area to keep interested leads informed. 4. New listing alerts: Promote listings by notifying subscribers when a new property matches their preferences. 5. Market updates: Send periodic market updates, including inventory levels, mortgage rate changes, and price trends. 6. Referral requests: Automatically request referrals from existing clients following successful deals. 7. Holiday greetings: Send out holiday messages for special events to foster positive relationships and demonstrate appreciation.

Benefits of automation

Real estate agents can experience a multitude of benefits by leveraging automation in their marketing efforts. Using a real estate texting service offers time savings, increased consistency, and scalability. Automation in real estate text messaging allows for drip campaigns to nurture leads over time. Drip campaigns help build and maintain relationships while guiding potential clients through the sales funnel.

Automation also allows for personalization at scale, leading to higher engagement rates. As a real estate company, sending bulk SMS with personalized elements is a huge time saver. It also shows prospective clients that you understand their unique needs.

Utilizing automation tools can also help you measure real estate success. Most platforms provide data on open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and more to help inform your marketing strategy. Tailor your SMS campaign based on what's working and what needs to be improved.

Compliance and privacy for real estate agents

Real estate agents need to stay compliant with regulations and laws in multiple areas, including SMS marketing. Text message marketing is regulated to protect customer data, including phone numbers, sensitive information, and personal details.

Proper use of opt-in and opt-out mechanisms protects you as a real estate marketer and the text message recipient. Opt-in mechanisms ensure your text message list contains subscribers who are genuinely interested in receiving SMS messages. Opt-out mechanisms are a mandatory requirement, providing a clear and simple way for recipients to opt out of future text messages.

Learn more about how to set up SMS marketing with Mailchimp tools. Take your real estate business to the next level by leveraging our SMS platform to streamline your marketing efforts. From how text message marketing functions to utilizing SMS marketing credits, we have you covered. Explore more strategic tips to keep your business thriving.