Key Highlights
- New survey by digital marketing company Curaytor indicates 50% of agents to spend more on social media
- 30% of agents to spend less on leads from third-party portals or gatekeepers
Real estate marketing budgets in the second half of 2020 are beginning to look very different than those budgets did during the first half of 2020. In a recently released survey by the digital marketing company Curaytor, nearly 50% of real estate agents are intending to up their spending on advertising during the second half of 2020.
Download Your FREE Ultimate Agent Survival Guide Now. This is the exact ‘do this now’ info you need. Learn NOW How to Access All The Bailout Program Cash You Deserve. Including Unemployment and Mortgage Forbearance Plans. To Access the Ultimate Agent Survival Guide Now Text The Word SURVIVAL to 47372. 4 Msgs/Month. Reply STOP to cancel, HELP for help. Msg&data rates may apply. Terms & privacy: slkt.io/JWQt
Where will those extra marketing dollars go? Social media…specifically Facebook and Instagram…and video. How will those channels be used? For audience retargeting and local geo-targeting.
If more advertising dollars are going to social media and video, where are advertising dollars not going? Curaytor found that 30% of agents are planning to decrease their spending on lead generation from third party portals such as Zillow, realtor.com, and Trulia. 56% of agents say they intend to spend the same amount on lead generation from third-party portals and 13.21% of agents intend to increase their spending with Zillow, realtor.com, etc.
What’s going on here? Why are one in three agents intending to spend less on third-party portals?
Jimmy Mackin, co-founder of Curaytor, devoted a recent episode of his company’s podcast “Water Cooler” to this question. Mackin thinks it’s because “people are starting to wake up…we can go direct to consumers…” via social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google, etc. for less money and better ROI.
Mackin said, “You’re seeing our industry realize that their proximity to the customer is their value.” Rather than spending $500 on lead generation via Zillow where agents compete with each other for the same leads, agents can spend $500 to advertise as part of a beta group on a Hulu TV show and be directly in front of a potential customer.
“What that represents to me is the great democratization of advertising, which is you now can run ads and reach people at a low cost through any channel…you as a business can reach consumers directly – you do not need a middleman.”
Some 70% of the Curaytor survey respondents said they intend to change their digital advertising messaging in Q3 and Q4 2020 and 70% intend to increase their digital advertising messaging to emphasize their branding awareness messaging strategy. Why? 88% of respondents view their brand identity as an important differentiating factor in their digital advertising.
What else do agents intend to highlight in their digital advertising during the second half of 2020? Their market knowledge, their listing promotions and their sellers’ calls-to-action.
Hmm…creating your own opportunities and ability to build direct relationships with your clients, creating your own leads, creating proximity with your customers, exuding expert market knowledge? It sounds like some of these Curaytor survey respondents could be clients of Tim and Julie Harris Real Estate Coaching.
Thanks to Curaytor and InmanNews.
Also read: Instagram, Twitter & Facebook – Secret Weapons for Savvy House Hunters, Best Social Media Marketing Tools for 2020 – Part II, Top Social Media Sites for Real Estate Businesses
