Automated Real Estate Marketing with CRMs
Even before the pandemic, automated real estate marketing with CRMs, or Customer Relationship Management systems, had overtaken database management systems to become the world’s largest software market in total revenue representing $39.5 billion in 2017. Now, however, the pandemic has made nurturing those customer relationships even more important.
Unfortunately, statistics show that a whopping 91% of the data in CRMs is stale, duplicated, or incomplete. That represents a huge amount of data that could be put to work growing businesses and serving clients. If CRMs are so important and represent such a significant investment for most business owners, why are they so poorly utilized?
What is a real estate CRM?
For real estate professionals, a CRM offers a way to track and communicate with leads, current and past clients, and members of the sphere of influence. According to the National Association of Realtors, almost a third of agents and brokers said that a CRM was their go-to source for quality leads in 2021.
Why are CRMs so effective? Because in most cases, CRMs represent warm leads rather than the cold leads you’ll find in online marketing platforms. That’s because the folks in a well-maintained CRM are friends, family, referrals, referral sources, and leads with whom you’ve already started working and with whom you’ve established a relationship.
In addition, as you develop and properly maintain your real estate CRM, you’ll find that there’s always a reason to reach out. You can develop original video or blog content and share it with the leads in your CRM. You can send market stats to past clients and talk to them about their home’s current value. You can provide value-added information to potential clients at every stage of the home buying or selling journey.
The importance of marketing in real estate
Many real estate agents and brokers think of marketing as something to do when times get tough and bank accounts get low. That’s when you’ll see them moving into high gear, posting on their social media accounts and sending out mailers to target neighborhoods.
However, marketing should instead be a constant part of your real estate business. The lifecycle for a home sale or purchase is often several months, so today’s marketing initiative may not pay off until next year. Consistent marketing, therefore, provides a consistent stream of leads and transactions, making your level of activity and income more reliable, as well.
One of the most overlooked sources of income in real estate is past clients, whether they’re renters or buyers. Your rental clients will need to find a new home when their lease is up, or they may be ready to become first-time home buyers. Effective rental client management can help you stay in the loop and make you part of their planning process.
Most homeowners spend just a few years in their homes before upsizing, downsizing, or relocating. That means that they’ll be ready to work with you again as long as you’ve stayed top of mind.
By continuing to market your services and provide value to past clients, you’ll not only be their first call when they’re ready to buy or sell down the road. You’ll also be the one they refer friends and family to for their real estate needs.
Benefits of automation in real estate
If you find it difficult to come up with content to share or new marketing collateral for your latest initiative, you’ll love the power of automated real estate marketing. It allows you to identify pain points and opportunities in the real estate process and provide consistent value-added information and services to your leads.
For buyers, you may want to automate content around the lending process, home inspection, and keys to a targeted home search. For sellers, you may want to automate content around staging, marketing, and maintaining the home in preparation for potential buyers. You can create automation geared toward first-time home buyers, downsizing for retirement, or investment property purchases and management.
With automated communication, you never have to wonder what you’ll share next with your audience. You can ensure that you’re sending the right message at the right time in order to generate those all-important conversations that build trust and authority.
The role CRMs play in automation
You won’t know what message to send, however, if you’re not keeping your CRM up-to-date and current. That means updating client contact information, personal information, and steps in the decision-making process.
When you update your CRM with a renter’s lease end-date, you can schedule a reminder to contact them and find out their plans a few months ahead of time. They may be planning to stay put or they may be thinking about purchasing a home. You can be part of that decision-making process when your CRM is up-to-date.
For new leads, you can automate information around the most commonly asked questions from buyers and sellers. You can make predictions based on the timeline they’ve established when you record it in your CRM during the initial contact. That gives you a way to reach out at key moments in their process and touch base as needed.
Sitting back and waiting for leads and clients to contact you is inefficient and can lead to missed opportunities. When you implement an effective plan for updating and utilizing your real estate CRM, you increase the potential for being in the right place at the right time to make a sale.
With rental client management and a host of ways to make your marketing more effective, RentSpree provides more ways to promote your real estate services. Learn why our streamlined solutions are beloved by MLSs and industry leaders all over the country and find out how we can help you make your marketing more meaningful.
