Co-Founder and Managing Director at Edkent Media, a boutique digital marketing agency servicing local, startup and enterprise companies.
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Marketing is the key to success when talking about real estate or any other form of business, and when you automate some of the work involved in running your campaigns, you can boost your ROI. According to HubSpot, 68% of businesses use marketing automation in some fashion.
Whether you’re automating email marketing or printed mail campaigns, the right resources can strengthen your marketing strategies and help you get the desired outcomes. I have experience with setting up marketing automation for real estate brokers and agencies. Generally, the benefits of using automation are that it greatly reduces a lot of manual workflows, saving you a lot of time. It also automates prospect follow-ups, greatly enhancing engagement with your customers. This in the end can produce better opportunities with your prospects and increase your sales conversion rates. Let’s dive a bit deeper into the subject.
The Benefits Of Marketing Automation
One of the most difficult tasks for any marketing team is making progress with each campaign. By automating some of the work, you can build momentum and keep it up. The most apparent benefit of automating your campaigns is that it provides you with more time to spend on other important tasks, which ultimately may help you earn more.
Here are some additional benefits:
• Increased control: Using customer relationship management software and other marketing tools gives you better control over your marketing goals and strategies. Most businesses face difficulties when it comes to organizing different tasks. Automation can help you create a smooth flow of operations.
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• Improved lead conversion and engagement: As your leads receive strategized content and informational resources from you, they may be more inclined to reach out and do business with you.
• Smart and precise targeting: Tailored marketing content is often the key to success. Intelligent marketing tools offer more detailed insights into your audience. These useful insights can help you craft more personalized content. Additionally, smart tools can help you narrow down your target audiences. As a real estate company, for example, you can use ZIP code filters to expand your outreach in specific areas. Providing the right content for the right audience leads to maximum leads and conversions.
All of these benefits can lead to higher conversion rates, better engagement and, ultimately, a better ROI.
Getting Started With Marketing Automation
When it comes to marketing automation, I recommend trying to automate as many tasks as makes sense for you. If you can put certain marketing efforts into motion without having to be too personally involved in them, you can see a big boost to your ROI.
Here are some good places to start:
• Automated email marketing: If you spend a lot of time creating email campaigns to send to your clients and potential clients, consider setting up a system that will automatically send emails to those who’ve opted in.
• Automated direct mail: Many real estate companies use printed materials to alert target audiences about the latest listings. Digital marketing works for this too, but we’ve found that the market is too saturated and that physical mail can provide you with more leads. Mailchimp found that the average open rate for emails in the real estate market is 19.17%, which is not very impressive. On the other hand, according to the United States Postal Service, 98% of people check their mailboxes daily. So for real estate companies, the efficiency of physical mail and email are miles apart. Automation of physical mail can be quite easy as direct mail companies typically cover all aspects of campaigns from printing to sending the materials. Without the help of a professional company, automating physical mail may be quite complicated. There are steps like address validation where it’s usually best to have professionals help you.
Maximizing The Potential Of Marketing Automation
You may have some upfront work to do before you can step back and let your marketing automation take over.
I recommend tackling the following key tasks:
• Grow your email list. A strong email list can work wonders for your marketing ROI, allowing you to send highly targeted messages to those who are interested in what you’re selling. Having a strong email list is key before you start sending automated emails.
• Develop a marketing plan. Marketing automation can help you a lot, but it’s important to have a good marketing plan in place before you start automating tasks. Creating a marketing plan includes identifying your vision and goals, and determining what strategies you’ll use to achieve them. Your plan should also include a systematic way to measure your progress toward your goals, which makes it easier to allocate time and resources to things that are working while cutting back on the things that aren’t.
• Increase your reach. One of the best ways to increase your reach and maximize your marketing ROI is by boosting your social media presence. Social media can be time-consuming, though, so it’s important to find the right balance between the time you’re spending and the value you’re seeing from it, especially as you ramp up your efforts.
Marketing Automation Is Worth It
For real estate companies, marketing automation can be a game-changer. Think about where automation can save you time and money, while ultimately helping you get more calls and visits from potential clients.
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Author: Kenny Tripura, Forbes Councils Member
