10 Jan What’s Effective in 2012 for Real Estate Marketing?

So, it’s 2012 and there are a multitude of options for marketing real estate. What should you spend your advertising dollars on? What funds allocated in your budget will offer the biggest reach, influence and return in the new media world?

ActiveRain, the largest blogging platform and professional social network in real estate, conducted a survey of 1,910 real estate professionals asking the simple question of “what is the most effective real estate marketing or advertising that you do?”

Here are some highlights from the survey results and how you can make it work for your community:

• Referrals and word of mouth were the most preferred, making up an overwhelming 26% of the responses.
• Second place was tied with 13% of responses: Blogging and traditional Direct Mail. This includes postcards, mailers, and printed newsletters.
• Next 12% of responders listed Internet Marketing as a general category. It can be assumed that this category is comprised mostly of pay-per-click ads, such as Google AdWords.
• Finally, networking received 8% of the responses. This includes partner referrals and face-to-face meetings.

Most Effective Real Estate Marketing Plans

Even in this digital age, real estate professionals continue to favor more traditional offline, hand-to-hand marketing techniques: referrals, direct mail, networking, and open houses. Blogging is viewed as an effective medium as well, but it must provide value in order to stay in that 13%.

Most Effective Real Estate Websites

Real Estate professionals polled consistently listed ActiveRain, Craigslist, Facebook, Zillow and Google as the most effective sites for their business.  There were very few mentions of WordPress, though as an agency we find it to be at the top of the list for delivering valuable information and gaining a targeted audience. Noticeably absent were Trulia and Realtor.com.

What do you think? Do you agree with the poll? Is there something that works for you that the survey left off?

If you need help with your 2012 marketing plan, let us create a balanced, effective mix of traditional and new media customized for your community’s needs.