Online Marketing Vs Offline Marketing: Which one is Better to Generate Real Estate Leads
“Real estate cannot be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid for in full, and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Real estate has thrived significantly in the past decade and its prospect of development looks promising when you look at the bigger picture, globally. Therefore, real estate is not only one of the largest employment sectors today but also is one of the most sought-after investment options in the world.
With rapid development in the realty sector, the way real estate is sought and sold has evolved as well. Different mediums strike a chord with different people. Both online and offline marketing techniques work at different levels and its results may vary accordingly to generate real estate leads.
Importance of Marketing to Generate Real Estate Leads
The key purpose of marketing is to boost user engagement. Along with setting your business and providing reliable realtor services, it is equally important to advertise for people to notice you in the market. Getting noticed is the key to generate leads and build conversions for your business. For any marketing strategy to work, firstly, specify your real estate categories i.e. ready possession flats, new launch projects, resale, etc.
Once you finalise your niche and sub-categories in real estate, the next important aspect is to get noticed and earn business. Real estate marketing comprises both offline and online marketing strategies. Both the strategies are interdependent and are pivotal to generate leads for real estate.
What is Lead Generation?
The process of grabbing potential buyers’ attention and compel them to enquire about the product or services your company or business offers is known as lead generation. A business can generate leads by running various advertising campaigns i.e. lead generation campaigns through various online and offline mediums.
CHG Today aptly defines it as, “Lead generation campaigns are marketing operations aimed to create interest in a particular service or product to build a lasting relationship with the target audience. These are long-term strategies that need careful research, planning, and testing. Lead generation campaigns can either be online or offline.”
Online Marketing
Online marketing strategies have made it possible to cater to a variety of budgets within minutes. From insufficient information to information overload, evolution of the internet has proved to be a boon for several businesses.
Online marketing comprises all the strategies to grab users’ attention through social media posts, blogs, web content, enticing offers, etc. In the case of real estate, it’s always about the key features of a project. Mentioning the key features of a project are mandatory.
- For example, consider a project titled, “Gera’s World of Joy” in Kharadi, Pune. World of Joy is a child-centric project, and thus, majorly includes all the amenities that are suitable to nurture a child right from an early age. This can be considered as the key feature of this project.
- The digital advertisement must also include all the unit configurations of the project i.e. 2 BHK homes, 2 BHK duplex apartments, 3 BHK row house, studio apartments, etc.
- It must include price range and whether it’s inclusive or exclusive of taxes.
- Don’t forget to mention its location and neighbourhood i.e. the project’s connectivity to IT hubs, highways, healthcare centres, and recreation centres.
- And essentially, mention contact details.
Design a well-optimized website and relevant landing pages for your potential leads. Branding plays a key role here. As a realtor, your website must enlist realty hotspots and projects based in these locations.
One additional benefit of online marketing in real estate is that you can target a range of audience based on demographics, and age group without having to leave your space.
Preferred channels to generate real estate leads through online marketing are:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Content Marketing
- Social Media Marketing (SMM)
- Pay-per-click (PPC) Campaigns
- Email Marketing
- Blogging | Guest Blogging
- Webinars
- Audio-Visual Content
Offline Marketing
Before the advent of the internet, offline marketing was the only way to generate leads and build conversion for real estate. Offline marketing strategies can cater to people from different walks of life at once.
Offline marketing strategies include:
- On-air commercials (Radio)
- Word-of-mouth Publicity
- Print Advertising (Magazines, Hoardings, Flyers, Leaflets, Newspapers, etc.)
- Television Commercials
- Commercials in Cinema House
- Event Sponsorship
- Telemarketing
- SMS Campaigns
In offline marketing, crucially remember to highlight the contact number along with mentioning the other key aspects of a project. While designing for print media, ensure that you make the right use of colors to grab the attention of people.
Online Marketing Vs Offline Marketing
Both the marketing strategies work well to generate leads for real estate. Online and offline marketing strategies are interdependent. Every potential homebuyer may not be an active social media user but can probably be an avid magazine/newspaper reader, radio auditor, T.V. enthusiast, etc. Therefore, offline marketing plays a crucial role in generating leads for your business.
How are the two types of marketing interdependent? A potential customer who listens to your on-air commercial and wants to know the details about the project, will apparently either call on the given number or search on the internet about the project. And that’s where online marketing comes in the picture.
Your website and other online marketing campaigns must be optimized for different screen resolutions and include keywords that you think your potential customer will look for. Today, the internet has become a resourceful tool to seek information.
One disadvantage of offline marketing is that it can be strenuous to manually distribute leaflets/flyers in area/s. Comparatively, SMM lets you reach a wide number of audience within minutes especially for people who want to sell their apartment at the earliest.
You can run different campaigns highlighting different key features of a project gradually within a span of a week to a month as opposed to leaflet distribution. Therefore, focus on advertising the project and highlight the key details.
Remember that the sole purpose of marketing is to generate leads and build conversions. We cannot say which one is better of the two but online surely is more beneficial since according to a report by Digital Vidya, nearly 92 percent of all the homebuyers used the internet at some point to search for homes.
*Note: The given particulars are based upon market analysis and may or may not work for every realtor.
Featured Image Source: American Home Shield
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