Why Your Real Estate Marketing Plan Needs SMS Outreach
The first step to every business transaction is reaching the customers. The real estate business is no exception.
As door-to-door sales were diminished by phone calls, emails (and phone calls as well) are becoming less favorable when compared to texting.
Texting is no longer optional. It is a necessity to your real estate marketing plan.
Texting is More than a Simple Message
Texting is not only just another channel of communication, but it is the most popular activity on a cell phone (more than making actual phone calls), with 81% of American adults texting on a daily basis.
Recent studies even actually show that 31% of the population in the United States actually prefer a text message over a phone call.
This trend is only growing. The majority of young adults text much more frequently every day and take less and less actual phone calls.
Not only is SMS marketing (or text message marketing) giving you a third channel for even more potential home buyers to establish contact with you, but it’s creating a 24/7 channel with a self-sustaining automated system. Clients can get information at any time.
The automated SMS system is doing the work for you, giving the potential buyer the information they seek instantaneously without the need for an email or phone call.
This system is also saving you time (and money) while creating more contacts and leads (and therefore more sales and profits) with no effort required from you.
The Benefits of Texts in Your Real Estate Marketing Plan
The Hassle of House Hunting Without SMS
Potential buyers drive by a house. They may have enough time to scribble down the phone number or email address from the “For Sale” sign, but they didn’t get the house number or maybe didn’t even see the street sign.
They want to look up the house online for details but have trouble finding the home. Perhaps they called the number and left a message, or sent an email and are waiting for a reply back.
In the meantime, they continue their search online, but see a different house which interests them instead.
Worst yet, there is always the possibility that the interested party may have forgotten about the house, or thought their way out of it. Maybe they assumed the house was either probably too expensive or didn’t have a requirement they were looking for.
Think about the potential number of people who drive by a home every day that is for sale, have a minor interest, but never act upon it.
They have someplace to be, and don’t have time to turn around, park, and get out of the car to grab a brochure from the sign. They are also uncertain in their interest, so they don’t want to put in the time and effort to make a phone call or send an email.
Now think about the simplicity and the minimal amount of time it takes to send a text message and the opportunity you would give these potential buyers (and the increased amount of interested buyers you would have).
How Texts Change the Game
With SMS messages as part of the real estate marketing plan, when they drive by the available house, they get the custom keyword assigned to each house (“Text HOUSE12 to 9999999”) from the “For Sale” sign and text the number.
The automated system, able to respond 24/7, promptly sends them the address, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the number of square feet and the asking price.
You could also include the phone number for the real estate agent, a link to the website with more pictures and information, and any other information you wish to include in the text.
The curious party didn’t have to write anything down, and all the information is now saved to their phone via the text message within seconds.
Texting is so simple and quick. It allows a potentially interested buyer to act on an impulse instantaneously.
Even if there is a very minor interest, some of the information the SMS system texts them may intrigue them to consider a more serious interest in the property, and give their curiosity more merit.
The Benefits for You, the Real Estate Agent
How SMS Outreach Helps with Potential Clients
On the real estate agent’s end, you receive an email or notification of the text with the interested party’s phone number.
The interest in the house is now already known to you and you now have a lead, willingly given to you by the potential buyer with the assistance of your SMS service.
An invitation to start a relationship with the new client has also been opened as soon as they texted the keyword to the phone number. You can text them the information for the open house, or inquire if they would like to schedule an appointment to look at the property.
Even if the potential buyers don’t close on the house, you can show them similar homes for sale or notify them of new listings.
The texts will help you gather information from the clients on what they like, what they don’t like, and what they are looking for in a potential new home.
How SMS Outreach Helps with Current Clients
Besides creating new clients, the mobile database of phone numbers that will be created from your SMS outreach will give you a list of contacts to inform about any new property listings in the future (with their permission, of course).
Texting is also a great way to send reminders for appointments, or keep in touch when someone needs a real estate agent to sell their home.
Sending texts is also environmentally friendly, as you are saving paper with your paperless messages (and also on costs to print off paper ads).
If there is one thing that should be clear by now, it’s that text messaging in your real estate marketing plan continues to grow in being the preferred method of communication.
It has the distinct advantage of speed and convenience. By utilizing it, your sales will increase across the board.
What better way to make communication more effective with your current and potential clients than by focusing on those two highly-valued traits in the hunt for a new home?