Why spending your marketing budget on "Big Tech" real estate companies might not be your best option.
There is no better strategy in the world of real estate marketing than building your own brand. Unfortunately, most realtors have no time to invest in making their own, and they tend to go to big-name companies to generate new leads. While this is a common threat in the Real Estate business, it is only convenient for those who are not fully committed to being a full-time Real Estate agent or are just working as realtors as on-a-side gigs.
Investing money and time in big companies such as Zillow and Realtor dot com might be an immediate option to connect with prospects that are interested in areas where you work. However, there is no guaranteed lead when investing with those big names. On the flip side, having a tailored real estate website in which all traffic is directed to your email address is a long-term investment. This will not only fill your inbox with new leads but will also generate trust in those who are interested in investing since they will have a recognizable face to contact if questions/interests come to the table.
Why “Big Tech's” shared lead generation platforms have a vicious cycle?
Investing in a real estate website that is not tailored to you is simply feeding others at your own expense. When supporting big companies and paying to receive new leads, most of the money will not be addressed nor allocated to you. On the contrary, those financial efforts tend to only benefit the listing agent of any of the property showcased on the website. The downside of this is that neither you nor your brand will be reflected on the prospect client screen. Sounds like a bad investment right?
Another arising problem relies on the lack of knowledge of where those financial efforts are placed. When such big tech companies receive new leads, they are able to market the client using their own brand, having the last word on who the lead goes to; which in most cases is the one who invested the most. Meaning that the only way to generate good leads on those websites is by investing heavily in their services, all coming out of your pocket.
But the biggest concern in the near future with these big tech companies is their business plan. By converting their employees into agents, they are able to direct the best leads to themselves, making it a highly profitable business scheme for them. New realtors that are spending money on leads with these companies are practically letting them swallow their businesses. In today’s landscape, those agents are fueling the fire that will eventually burn them.
It is important to note that those that decide to invest with them may see immediate responses from that company. However, when going into the detail of the investment, most Real Estate agents realize they are on a vicious cycle that provides little to their financial goals.
Invest your marketing budget in no one else, but you.
But like any other story, there is always a solution to the problem. In this case, the best way to stop bad investment on leads and giving your money away is by building your own Real Estate website. Having a tailored website is one of the smartest moves on successful real estate agents. It allows them to smartly invest in their local market. By having their own local exposure development, those realtors start to build a brand perception of local authority over certain places that will bring trust to the prospective clients when surfing through the internet. Not only is adding value to your overall brand, but it is also a strategic move that those big tech companies cannot do at this point. Building a hyper-niche setup will be enough to compete hand in hand with companies that are larger than most realtors.
Connect with your home buyers and sellers in a human way.
If there is one thing that no big tech company will ever be able to match is the human connection a Real Estate agent can develop with its prospective client. According to Digiday, Real estate is an emotional “belly-to-belly” business, where agents and clients work closely together, and often face-to-face during the home buying process. Building a Real Estate website where your content can automatically generate that human connection will put you on the top of the list for those who are looking to invest in a new property.
Build a real estate marketing engine that works for your business.
There is more than one option to strategically utilize a marketing budget. In fact, building a marketing strategy that works only for you and your brand is a project with multiple opportunities. Investing in the right technology and developing your own Real Estate Website is the best first move to make when thinking about a long-term successful Real Estate career.
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