In Part 1: Real Estate Mobile Marketing, we discussed how mobile marketing can be a tremendous asset for realtors/agencies in their listing strategy by taking advantage of the time-sensitive nature and accessibility of cell phones. Now, let’s talk about how mobile marketing can help with on-property marketing efforts.

As noted, the recent softening of the real estate market has led once hot areas to grow cold, while competition continues to grow. Therefore, any sort of competitive edge is critical for realtors and agencies to help get through these tough times.

Here are just a few examples of how mobile marketing can augment or even replace your current real estate listing marketing practices.

Replacing Flyer Boxes with Shortcode/Keyword

Drive by/walk by traffic historically has been targeted via a flyer box with basic information about the property and a contact number. While this is a technique that can still be effective, it also involved a lot of manual maintenance of making sure the boxes are filled with flyers. Instead, mobile marketing can be replace this with a shortcode/keyword that can quickly send a prospect most if not all of the same information as a text message. Plus, unlike a flyer box, you now have their cell phone number for future follow ups.

Toll Free Hotlines Are Costly and Limited

Another common strategy is to have an 800 number for people to call to learn more about the property. Costs can a couple of hundred dollars per month for the number alone plus having a staff to man the lines. Plus, unless you have a 24/7 staff (which of course would dramatically increase your costs), you will have gaps of coverage, which could lead to lost sales in the end. Switching this to a mobile model gives you 24/7 coverage for any incoming inquiries with your properties. Plus, you can track any responses for immediate follow up by one of your agents, even get alerts when new replies are received.

Location Based Services for New Listing Alerts

Like I discussed in part 1, Location Based Services (LBS) will eventually be a major advantage for realtors using mobile marketing. Unfortunately, the time isn’t quite there but eventually you will be able to use LBS to alert prospects driving/walking near one of your properties. This will help make the relatively reactive walk up strategy into a much more powerful proactive one. Privacy laws will probably inhibit overly aggressive proactive mobile marketing but there will eventually be a balance between consumer interests and marketer intent.

As you’ve now seen, mobile marketing and the real estate industry can be a very powerful combination. Like any other marketing program, it must be executed correctly and efficiently but can yield great results. In future weeks, I’ll cover more vertical industries and how mobile marketing can work there as well. Until next week…

Steve Chipman
COO
Analog thoughts in a digital world