37 Clever Real Estate Marketing Ideas for 2023

Use geofencing technology to target potential buyers or sellers when they enter a specific geographic area, namely your farming area. You can create ads that will show up on their mobile devices when they enter certain neighborhoods. Think of how effective it could be to get ads for listings you have in the neighborhood popping up whenever someone is in the vicinity.

Did you know that a recent study showed curb appeal can add 7% to the sale price of your listing? If not, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Many listing agents I know ignore curb appeal entirely. But since your fiduciary duty actually requires you to get the best price possible for your sellers, you owe it to them to learn how to improve it—even if you only have a tiny budget to work with.

Here are some simple low- or no-cost curb appeal fixes to try with your next listing.

• Create an inviting seating area on the porch
• Perk up drab brown grass with lawn paint
• Replace the mailbox and house numbers
• Decorate the entrance with potted plants and flowers
• Upgrade porch lighting

For more ideas, check out my curb appeal strategy guide.

Related article: The 29 Best Curb Appeal Ideas for Every Budget (Yes, Even Yours!)

Even though the housing market is a mess, 2023 could very well be the easiest year in history to market your listings. Artificial intelligence (AI) apps like ChatGPT are finally starting to deliver on their promises and could become a goldmine for smart Realtors. You just need to find the right picks and shovels to mine them.

My only caveat is that these tools are much better at improving copy you already wrote or helping you brainstorm and write outlines than writing from scratch. Think of them as the editor you never had. Here are three AI tools you can use to write better marketing copy this year:

Of course, you need to know the basics of compelling listing descriptions to get the most from these tools. Check out my guide and examples of creative listing descriptions to learn more.

Related Article: How to Write Creative Real Estate Listing Descriptions (+ Examples)

“Those who list, last” is a well-worn real estate cliche, but for good reason. Almost all the long-term real estate agents we know are listing agents. And whether you’re a seasoned listing agent or still working on getting your first seller client, a detailed marketing plan is your key to success.

A marketing plan is one of the most powerful tools you have to pitch homeowners to get listings. After all, marketing skills are probably the main reason most homeowners hire an agent to begin with. So before you pitch your next homeowner, make sure you have a comprehensive marketing plan to show them. You can get started by checking out Sean Moudry’s 10-point listing marketing plan here.

Related article: The Ultimate Real Estate Listing Marketing Plan (PDF Checklist)

Hard truth time: According to the most recent Gallup Ethics Survey, 19% of Americans have a low or very low opinion of the honesty and ethical standards of real estate agents. That means nearly one-fifth of the people who see your marketing won’t trust you. Realtors are taught to address objections to build trust over the phone, but you will never get them on the phone if they don’t trust the profession as a whole.

Instead of waiting until you get them on the phone to address their objections, why not address them in your marketing materials? You can create an educational video series or email drip campaign explaining pricing strategies or commissions, or better yet, address their objections in your listing presentation before they can even voice them.

Related article: [Video] 6 Buyer Objection Handlers + Examples From Real Cold Calls
Related article: 21 Real Estate Videos Top Agents Use To Generate & Nurture Leads
Related article: How to Anticipate & Overcome Emotional Seller Objections
Related article: What You Need for a Killer Listing Presentation

If you or another listing agent in your farm area has an empty listing to sell, spending a few bucks to have it virtually staged is a great way to increase interest and show buyers what it might look like in different contexts.

For example, a spare bedroom might look great virtually staged as a kid’s room with bunk beds, but staging it as a home office might appeal more to buyers who work from home. If you’re showing the listing and a potential buyer wants a home office, you’ll have a picture ready to go to help them imagine what it might look like. Check out our virtual staging software buyer’s guide here:

Related article: The Best DIY & Pro Virtual Staging Software (+ Tips)

One of the best ways to market your listing is to get as many influential locals as possible to see it. Hosting special events with local clubs is a great way to do that. While the odds of finding a qualified buyer who’s ready to sign at your event will be slim, attendees might know someone else who is. Even better, they will all see you as a skilled Realtor who knows how to have fun. So think of it more as IRL influencer marketing than a strategy to find a buyer.

Here’s an excellent example: Founder of the Luxury Listing Specialist designation and high-end agent Michael LaFido leveraged his relationship with a local exotic car club to create an event that transported 80 high-net-worth individuals in 40 Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and other supercars to his $9 million listing: a mansion featured in the hit series “Empire.”

So the next time you have a killer listing, think of an influential local club that might want to host a special event there. Chamber orchestras, Rotary clubs, and historical societies are all great options. Learn more about how to leverage the marketing ideas of luxury real estate agents in this strategy guide:

Related article: How to Become a Luxury Real Estate Agent

When it comes to marketing your listings, the words you use matter. Simple, direct language tends to work best, but adding evocative words can help paint a picture for your leads—making it easier for them to daydream about actually living in the home. Instead of wracking your brain for new words to describe your listings, create a swipe file and use it to write listing descriptions faster.

For example, if the kitchen in your listing gets lots of light, you could just call it “sunny,” or you could call it “sun-soaked.” While sunny gets the job done, which room would you rather spend your mornings drinking coffee in? If you want more words that sell in your copywriting arsenal, grab my free swipe file of 723 descriptive words that sell here:

Related article: 723 Descriptive Real Estate Words Top Listing Agents Use to Sell Homes

The latest in virtual reality technology allows potential buyers to immerse themselves in a property. You can create interactive virtual tours where potential buyers can feel like they’re walking through your listings.

You start with 3D video and a virtual reality headset. Some agents give away headsets to buyer clients who don’t live in the local area as a gift after signing the buyer’s agreement. Then, they have the opportunity to use the headsets to view any property from an immersive virtual perspective, whether that’s a listing on Zillow or listings you send. If there’s a 3D walk-through video, like Matterport, the headset will work.

Imagine you have clients overseas who want to buy a home in your area. And you’re the agent who gives away virtual reality headsets to your clients. And now, see yourself cornering the market on buyers from outside your local area. Oh, and did I mention you can buy virtual reality headsets on Amazon for around $20 a pair?

Marketing plans are a key component of any business. But since you’re a salesperson, marketer, and psychologist for nervous buyers 😉, designing one for sustainable growth is a must. Your real estate marketing plan needs to focus on success for the long haul, not just the next six months.

If you don’t already have a marketing plan, or just want to improve the one you do have, my guide to creating a marketing plan designed for sustainable growth will help. I walk you through all the steps of building your plan, tips to make sure you stick to it, and how to change as your business evolves.

Related article: The Real Estate Marketing Plan Template for Long-term Growth

One of the most important lessons in marketing is that effective planning is equally as important as being creative. Crafting a detailed marketing plan for the year that spells out exactly what to write and post every day will make your life much easier. For example, instead of brainstorming what to post on Instagram every day or which postcards to send out each month, you can plan them out in advance in your marketing calendar. This saves you time and energy that could be spent showing properties.

If you’re a newer agent or just want to brush up on the latest techniques, choosing a different marketing focus each month can help you learn the ropes and master every aspect of marketing this year with less stress. Here are some suggestions to plan out your monthly focus.

To start creating your own, check out our free marketing calendar and holiday guide for 2023 here:

Related article: The Complete 2023 Real Estate Marketing Calendar & Holiday Guide (+ PDF)

You can host an informational event around a specific real estate topic, like buying a home for the first time, investment strategies, or market trends. Partner with another vendor (a lender is great for a first-time homebuyers seminar, for example) who has additional knowledge of your topic to help boost the event’s prospecting potential. These are really easy to put together—you just have to market it well to get a good turnout. Use Facebook Events as well as print marketing to get the word out.

Although blogging is time-consuming and, let’s face it, hard for many agents, it is still an excellent way to market your personal brand. While you probably won’t rank on Google for “homes for sale in Beverly Hills,” a well-structured personal blog will show off your local market expertise and just might give a first-time buyer the advice they need to understand the market enough to call you.

In order to get the most out of blogging, create a detailed content plan of the articles you will write and publish for the next quarter. Start with the basics. Your first few articles should focus on educating buyers and sellers. Once you have that covered, you can move on to more timely topics like guides to school districts, local restaurant reviews, or news about the crazy 2023 market. Here are 101 viral blog ideas you can add to your content calendar today.

With the endless variety of marketing tools out there claiming to do everything except wash your dishes, staying up to date is hard. Worse, many agents end up chasing the latest fads and waste time learning to market themselves on doomed apps like Clubhouse. If you want to make real gains in marketing this year, you need to think strategically about the marketing tools you choose to spend time learning.

But when it comes to tools like social media automation or marketing-focused customer relationship managers, you need to do your homework before diving in. To get you started on the right path, here are my picks for 26 marketing tools every agent needs.

Unless you want your graphics to look like every other Realtor’s, taking the time to learn how to hire—and more importantly, get the best results from—freelance designers is fast becoming an important marketing skill for agents.

If you have the patience and a dash of artistic talent, you might try downloading DIY design apps like Canva or Adobe Express and using templates from Envato Marketplace or Etsy to create fresh designs. But at some point in your career, you are going to need to work with a design professional. Even if you’re just using companies like Tailor Brands that create your logo for you, you need to know what you want and how to get it.

Here are my best tips for getting the most out of any design professional:

1. Work on your mission, vision, and values statement first
2. Decide on fonts, brand colors, and style before you hire a designer
3. Shop around for a designer who will meet your needs
4. Don’t share feedback on revisions right away

To learn more about the best DIY graphic design apps and working with freelance designers, check out my strategy guide here.

While many agents work hard on their listing presentations, most just kind of wing it with buyers. This can be a huge mistake! Today’s buyers are almost as picky as sellers when it comes to choosing an agent. They are better informed and savvier, and take more time to research agents than ever before. That’s why creating and practicing an effective buyer presentation is the key to getting more buyers this year and beyond.

Here are four tips for delivering the perfect buyer presentation:

1. Role-play your presentation with another agent before doing it live
2. Break the ice with small talk
3. Tell them exactly how long the presentation will take
4. Use specific and open-ended questions to build a buyer profile

You can download my 15-minute buyer presentation template for free and learn how to create your own here.

A recent survey found that 51% of consumers reply to text messages within one to two minutes. That’s 10 times the percentage that respond to emails in that same time frame. So if you’re going to use this rapid-fire communications tool in your marketing campaign, you need to be ready to answer prospects’ questions faster.

Most customer relationship managers (CRMs) will let you save frequently used texts as templates, and others—such as Wise Agent or BombBomb—will let you save and send video messages. Your text messaging scripts don’t have to be Shakespeare either. Just make sure they are clear, friendly, and get straight to the point. For example:

“Hi {lead first name}, this is {your name} with {brokerage name}, and I am looking forward to talking with you about your home search. I will try calling as soon as I can, but in the meantime, are there any homes you wanted to take a look at? {auto-login link}”

Learn more in our related strategy guide: 11 Best Real Estate Text Message Scripts for Agents Who Don’t Like Calling Leads.

Over the past few years, I’ve been quoted as a real estate expert in The New York Times, Yahoo! News, Realtor Magazine, Fox News, U.S. News & World Report, and many other publications. Does that mean I know more about the real estate industry than you do? Well … maybe, but that’s not why I get quoted so often. The reality is that I know what kinds of quotes journalists need, and I know how to reach them with those quotes when they need them.

You can easily do this too. HARO (Help a Reporter Out) is a service that journalists use to source quotes from experts. If you want to get quoted and turn your brand’s social proof up to 11, sign up for HARO and start pitching reporters. You can learn more about this approach and other PR strategies for agents (including scripts) here.

Starting a podcast is a simple way to showcase your communication skills, personality, and knowledge of your local area. Use your podcast to spotlight local businesses, interview other adjacent business owners (think vendors you work with like lenders or photographers), or spew some of your market wizardry and real estate expertise. It won’t take long for you to build up your authority and establish credibility in your area. You can also be a guest on other podcasts to grow your audience quickly.

If you’re lucky enough to have a local influencer who has a decent following in your area, seek them out and offer to work with them. They can help promote you and your listings to their followers to boost your visibility in your local market. Consider being a guest on their blog or podcast where you answer questions about the current real estate market in your area.

You can pretty easily find a local influencer by doing either a Google search or just going to the platform you want to focus on and using hashtags. Try something like #{yourcity}realestate, #{yourcity}mortgagelender, or #{yourcity}homestager to find people in your market to connect with. Hopefully, you’ll find someone who has an adjacent business with whom you can start a long-term business relationship.

Make videos highlighting specific neighborhoods or communities in your market area. Showcase any unique features, amenities, schools, and local businesses that stand out to give your potential buyers a wide-lens view of what it’s like to live in the neighborhood.

These videos are easy to make, and you can do them in either long or short form. Post them to your YouTube channel or social media. Don’t forget to use hashtags and geotags so your audience can find your videos.