*We seriously looked for a better real estate marketing checklist and could not find one. So perhaps you could interpret this checklist as The Best In The World That We Could Find. We’ll let you be the judge…
Before we get started, I want to make one thing very clear. We are not suggesting that you need to check off every item on this checklist in order to be successful. Remember the 80/20 rule – roughly 80% of the effects come from roughly 20% of the causes. If you focus your attention on 20% of these checklist items, you are likely to see some solid results. The Ninjas suggest starting with one and going from there at your own pace.
A few months ago, my good friend became a REALTOR®. Last week he says to me “Man, my stress levels are staggering.” Our ensuing conversation was what inspired today’s article. In that chat, I discovered that he was in the dark on how to market himself and his business. He was looking for some guidance. I did my best to help him out, but it got me thinking: So many other new agents are facing this exact same challenge every day.
I decided to write a complete modern marketing checklist that real estate agents (new and experienced) can use as a guide to success. As long as you’re aware that success isn’t achieved overnight… even on social media.
In my many conversations with agents, I find that most focus on promoting their listings without placing much emphasis on the brand itself. This checklist will focus on every aspect of your modern marketing, including listings. In fact, I’ve broken the checklist into multiple smaller checklists. Listings, for example, have their own checklist entirely. So in reality this checklist is actually a checklist of checklists! (I just said checklist way too many times)
Keep in mind, this real estate marketing checklist isn’t going to give you specific how-to’s. It’s your brand, which means you make the strategic decisions. Use this list as a top-level look at everything that needs to be done, not how it should all be done. Please also remember, you can’t just set it and forget it. All of these checklist items need to be executed, monitored, measured, revamped and re-executed. Until your marketing strategy is as tightly woven and effective as the ancient greek phalanx formation – impenetrable.
You will most likely not want or need to use all of these items either. Don’t worry about checking off all the items on the list, just focus on the ones that make sense for your brand – and focus hard. For instance, PPC ads require budgets so you might not be able to afford every channel. In which case you could chose to focus your budget on just Facebook & Google Ads, and ignore the others.
Again, use this checklist as a guideline, and please let us know if you recommend any changes in the comments. This is a living document and will be updated regularly so bookmark and check back.
Download this checklist in PDF format!
Content Checklist (Ongoing)
Creating content is one of the most important basic modern marketing practices today. As a real estate agent you have a wide array of categories to create content within.
Create Photo Content
- Listing beauty photos
- Listing detail photos
- Listing aerial (drone) photos
- Neighbourhood & community photos
- Headshots & photos of you
- Business & lifestyle photos
- Transparent Photos for social media
Create Video Content
- Listing video tours
- Listing trailers
- Listing aerial (drone) tours
- Neighbourhood & community tours
- Website welcome videos
- About me videos
- Meet the team videos
- Meet the architect videos
- Client testimonial videos
- Entertainment & viral videos
Create Written Content
- Educational & utilitarian
- Community related
- Listing related
- Copy for website pages
- Guest content (for other blogs)
- Read: Helpful Tips for REALTORS® Who Want to Blog Better
Create (Embeddable) Virtual Tours
- Hire a professional
- 3D rendered tours
- Immersive VR tours
- 360 photo tours
- Video tours
Create Infographics
- Monthly market reports
- Real estate trends
- Community guides
- Listing factsheets
Website Checklist
Every REALTOR® needs a website – even you. As more and more agents, and agent websites are created, you need your site to be awesome if it’s going to stand a chance online.
Build a Website With MLS® Integration
Give Your Website The Design Edge
Add a Blog to Your Website
- Publish written content to your blog weekly
- … Daily if possible
- Include embedded Photo and Video Content
- Include relevant animated GIFs and Memes
- Include social sharing functions
- Host guest content from relevant bloggers
Add Photo Content to Your Website Pages
- Neighbourhood & community photos
- Headshots and lifestyle photos
- Photos of happy customers
Embed Video Content (Hosted on YouTube) on Your Website Pages
- Client testimonial videos
- Meet the team videos
- About me videos
- Welcome videos
- Neighbourhood & community tours
Add Call to Actions on All Pages
- Phone numbers
- Emails
- Forms
- Buttons
- Links
- Lightboxes
Add These Plugins to Your Website
Add These Pages to Your Website
Optimize Your Website for Search Engines
- Practically everything listed in this article helps with SEO.
- Creating content = SEO
- Social Media engagement = SEO
- Blogging = SEO
Promote Your Website Everywhere
Know Your Website Visitors
Listings Checklist
Your real estate listings are your prized possessions, and promoting them is hard work. Use this list to make them as useful and impressive as possible.
Add High Definition Listing Photos
- Beauty/lifestyle photos
- Detail photos
- Aerial (drone) photos
Embed High Definition Listing Videos
- Video tours
- Listing trailers
- Aerial (drone) tours
- Neighbourhood & community tours
- Meet the architect videos
Write Compelling Listing Descriptions
- Abbreviate as infrequently as possible
- DON’T USE ALL CAPS
Embed Virtual Tours
Embed Floor Plans & Other PDFs
Enable Walk-Score
Enable Map View
Add Call to Actions on Listing
- Request a showing
- Request more info
- Contact
Add Social Share Functionality to Listing
- Note: RealtyNinja website listings include social sharing automatically.
Social Media Checklist
You can’t be a real estate marketer without a social media presence. Is just having a presence enough though? (No, it isn’t)
Use an Editorial Calendar to Plan Your Future Posts
- Download: Our Free Editorial Calendar Template.
Request Reviews & Testimonials
- Google+
- Yelp
- RankMyAgent
Publish Photo, Video & Written Content
- Plan these out in advance in your editorial calendar
- Publish weekly, if not daily, if not multiple times per day
- Note: Some content is better suited for certain social networks
Use Professional Tools
Publish Your Listings
- As part of your overall blend of content. Sharing only listings is less effective.
- Use unique descriptions on social media from what’s on your website/listings/other networks.
Employ an Effective Hashtag Strategy
Highlight Your Brand
- Include brand colours and imagery
- Customize cover photos and display pics
- Maintain consistency across networks
- Use the correct tone and voice in posts
- Correctly tag all 3rd parties in posts
E-Mail Marketing Checklist
Maintaining a highly engaged and growing email list has a great deal of benefits for your real estate business. Optimize it to do more for you.
Understand Canada Anti-Spam Law (CASL) Compliance
- Read (important): About CASL
Create List Groups
- Create groups within your master list to categorize subscribers
- ie. “Interested in Market Reports”, “Subscribed at Open House”, etc.
- Contact those subscribers with unique materials
Create Email Marketing Automation
- Send a “Thanks for coming” email when someone subscribes at your open house
- Send an automated series of emails once someone subscribes to your mailing list in general
- Send a unique welcome email when someone subscribes from a specific source
- Send clients a customized birthday email, with attached gift card
Give People a Compelling Reason to Join Your List
- Tell them what it is right where they subscribe
Reach Out to Your List Every Week
- Weekly newsletter
- Promotions & special offers
- New content (photo, video, written)
- New listings
- Community information
- Exclusive content, unavailable elsewhere
Make Your Emails Look Great & Function Well
- Work off of pre-built templates in Mailchimp
PPC Advertising Checklist
Once your website and social networks are optimized, you can start sending traffic to them. Paid ads are undoubtedly the easiest way to do that.
Create Facebook Ad Campaigns
- To promote your content (New Buyer’s Guide!)
- To increase fans of your Facebook page (Like our page and win!)
- To promote your listings or open house
- To earn mailing list subscribers
Create Google AdWords Campaigns
- To promote your website
- To promote your marketing campaigns
- To promote your listings
Create Instagram Ad Campaigns
- To promote your listing through beautiful photos
- To promote your Instagram account in general and increase followers
Create Remarketing Campaigns
- To promote your content to past website visitors
- To convert past website visitors into mailing list subscribers
- To try and convince past visitors to return for a new reason
Modernization Checklist
Modern marketing refers to the ability to learn from every campaign in real time, make improvements, and re-launch better campaigns. Time to start measuring and making iterative improvements based on data. (aka science)
Adopt the Modern Mindset
Link Google Analytics to Website
- Measure your website traffic data
- Make adjustments based on data
- Measure effectiveness of adjustments
- Make more adjustments
- Repeat…
A/B Test Whenever Possible
- Email headlines
- Optin form designs
- Blog article formats
- Promotional offers
- Advertisement headline
- Website call to actions
- Test 2 variations of everything, pick the winner, then keep testing
Use Link Shortening Services
- Shorten and track the performance of your links using bit.ly
Modernize Offline Advertising
- Use unique phone number on print ads using CallRail
- Send feature sheet readers to unique landing page using UnBounce
- Promote a social media contest through direct mail with Smartmail.
