If you’re a real estate developer, chances are that you depend on brokers to manage the majority – if not all – of your international sales. Brokers are essential if you’re located in urban areas or high-demand locations, but they are not suited to all projects. You might find they promise more than they can deliver, especially if your project is opportunistic, non-traditional, or if you have diversified investments in different countries. 

We’ve seen first-hand that the majority of luxury real estate marketing campaigns struggle to gain sales traction when they’re reliant on broker sales alone. Yet 80% to 90% of upper-upscale and luxury hotel projects feature some form of a residential component, meaning an increasing number of mixed-use projects are being financed by real estate sales. 

The role of digital marketing in real estate

If you’re concerned about sales risk, take the time to consider mitigation through digital marketing for real estate developers. When managed correctly, digital real estate marketing can allow you to:

• Generate extensive interest before you’ve even broken ground.

• Manage how your story is told - directly to your end-buyer.

• Grow and control a large database of qualified leads.

If your project has a hotel component, you’re also building awareness and interest for the future success of that asset. A successful digital marketing campaign will not only capture leads, it could also give you the competitive edge that guarantees your project’s ongoing success.

6 Real Estate Online Marketing areas worth consideration

1. Real Estate Marketing Tools for an Outdated Industry  

Even though proptech vanguards like Rightmove, Zillow, and Trulia have been revolutionizing aspects of the industry since the mid-2000s, real estate as a whole has been slow to embrace digitization. A 2019 report by the National Association of Realtors shows that 98% of buyers search for property online, showing that consumer trends have changed far faster than the industry itself.

Many brokers simply don’t have the experience to help you succeed online:

• 46% of real estate brokerages surveyed say that keeping up with technology is one of their biggest challenges.

• only 29% of consumers said they were “completely satisfied” with their brokerage’s tech. 

• A 2018 Technology Survey found that 47% of brokers that said social media brought them the most high-quality leads, yet only 29% use Instagram, a highly visual platform that recently began to reach 700M monthly active users. 

2. Brokers are Not Real Estate Marketers - and are Not Investing in Digital 

Even if your broker is tech-savvy and has built a reasonable online presence, they are unlikely to be spending enough to reach your ideal buyers. 65% of agents surveyed spent less than $250 on technology (including marketing) per month in 2019. To provide some context, the majority of top producers spend $20,000-80,000 per year on marketing.  

Brokers are simply not incentivized to invest into out of pocket costs such as digital marketing, and are understandably reluctant to commit to these types of expenses. Agents are also not marketing experts - in fact, a Placeter study found that 46% of agents say they struggle to understand how to market a property development.

Can you afford to sit and hope that your broker is one of the very few who may actually leverage digital marketing for you? Creative and compelling marketing in real estate developments can be the difference between success and failure.  

3. Own Your Real Estate Digital Marketing Strategy 

No matter how excellent your broker is, you’ll never be their only client. They may be great at what they do and be an indispensable ally in helping you make a certain amount of sales. But what if they belong to a large brokerage or firm and they’re facing internal issues? Or what if another, more expensive development requires more of their attention? 

The fact is that it never hurts to create and invest into back-up plans - and doing so will give you more control over your sales results. Your property development marketing efforts can even save you money, as any direct leads that come through your online channels will be commission-free. At a time when international brokers fees could be anything up to 8% or 10%, that could represent a substantial saving. 

4. Capitalize on Your Expertise 

As wonderful as your broker may be, there’s not much chance that he or she will be as well-versed about your project as you and your team are. You’re uniquely qualified to speak to your project’s unique selling propositions, as well as define and set realistic buyer expectations. 

When you control your real estate digital marketing, you control how people see your project and brand. By formulating a strong visual presence and consistently delivering brand messaging that targets your ideal customer, your marketing and advertising efforts will have a much stronger impact. This will lead not only to direct sales but it will also bolster your broker’s marketing efforts. 

5. Invest in extensive Real Estate Lead Generation

Having a compelling brand and a digital marketing campaign that generates leads is an investment of time and money, but your database will thank you for it. Although your primary goal is to sell each unit at the fastest pace and the optimum price, your secondary goal should be to capture clients that aren’t quite ready to buy yet. 

Investing into the construction of an extensive database of qualified buyers will mean that you have a captured audience waiting for your next project to come to market. This audience will have been warmed up by your current marketing, which will help to grow trust in - and familiarity with - your brand.

6. Update Your Real Estate Marketing Materials in Real Time 

Having a direct connection with your potential buyers gives you valuable insight into their concerns and barriers to purchase. This allows you to adjust your real estate development marketing efforts in real time to address and overcome these barriers. 

If, for example, you find that your ideal client’s main concern is location, you can address this by highlighting the unique local character of your area, or by showcasing the “hidden gems” that can be found in your neighborhood. Dissolving buyer objections will increase your conversion rates at every part of your funnel and will invariably convert into sales.  

A Real Estate Digital Marketing Agency To Bring the Best out of your brokers 

Brokers will always represent a certain portion of your sales, and hopefully you have a team that consistently delivers for you. But in a world that exists increasingly online, you’d be crazy to bet against the impact of digital marketing for property developers.

Ultimately, when you grow your online presence, you’re taking control of your project’s future. If you’re an international developer who would benefit from specialized real estate digital marketing, that’s what we do. Drop us a line, we look forward to learning more about your needs.