If you ask anyone, I bet they’ll admit that digital marketing is the future. Despite this, a lot of agents still allocate over half of their marketing budgets on print media. I was astounded when a client told me that they spent over $6,000 per month on print media alone. This is just shy of 10 times more than the average digital marketing spend.
With this in mind, if print media is on the way out, what digital marketing tactics should agents adopt to improve their strategy? And what are the exact perks?

Digital marketing perks:

1. Cost

Compared to print media, digital marketing is a bargain. If you have some time and know-how, it could be one of the lowest costs of your business with one of the highest ROIs, whether using email, social media, or Google Ads.
But we get it, how much time do you have to spare? If you’re time-poor there is a lot of value in outsourcing. Whether you need help emailing your database, social media management, strategy creation, or opting for a fully-managed service, there are suitable options for a range of budgets. For as little as $50 you can promote your brand or a listing to over 1000 potential clients.
An effectively targeted digital marketing campaign can reach the right customers at a much lower cost than traditional marketing methods.
 

2. Analytics and Reports

If “Knowledge is Power,” digital marketing will be your doctorate.  Unlike print media, digital marketing allows you to gain knowledge about your contacts by tracking their interactions with your campaigns. Through following their interactions, you learn their likes, dislikes, behavioral patterns, and can discover when they’re prepared to make a move in the market. You can then leverage this knowledge into better relationships, more leads, and increased commissions.
Google analytics, Facebook Business, and some email marketing platforms, like iRealty, offer informative reports on cost per results and customer insights. Whether you are taking the time to do your marketing yourself or outsourcing, smart agents use these reports to understand their ROI and improve strategy implementation. This means you can quickly shift resources where they matter most and improve your investment.
 

3. Ease of use:

Starting on your digital marketing journey can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. These days digital marketing tools can be very simple and user-friendly. Every year better, more intuitive software replaces the aging, clunky systems that have caused so much frustration in the past. On top of this, most will offer expert training and advice to empower you to understand more about your digital marketing.
This means anyone can build a property newsletter, or live stream a new listing on Facebook. Whether you’re a young go-getter straight from uni, or a baby-boomer looking to shake things up, you can be using digital marketing in no time.
 
When you weigh the benefits of digital marketing v print media it is easy to see why digital marketing should play a key role in your overall marketing strategy. Although long gone are the days for searching the local paper for OFIs, we aren’t saying to completely abandon all print media. Print media should play a supporting role in your marketing strategy. Digital marketing benefits agents and offices through leveraging targeted campaigns and client knowledge to find and convert leads in a cost-effective and measurable way.