Looking for more real estate marketing ideas to grow your business in 2023? Even if you’re a brand-new agent, you’ve probably realized that there is only one rule in real estate marketing: What worked for you (or that flashy top producer on Instagram) last year might not work this year. If you want to improve your marketing, you need to be open to change.
To make your search a little easier, we updated our list of 31 proven strategies to improve your marketing in 2023 and beyond. I included my best tips with some from our team of real estate experts here at The Close and our friends at SERHANT. We also include links to our deep-dive strategy guides, buyer’s guides, and scripts so you can start transforming your marketing today.
So grab a cup of coffee, turn off your notifications, and dig in to our 31 best real estate marketing ideas for 2023:
Branding & Engagement Marketing Ideas
1. Build a Personal Brand That Attracts Clients While You Sleep
While it may seem like a waste of time if you’re struggling with day-to-day marketing tasks, starting your journey by building a compelling personal brand is still my best advice for every agent. Why? Simple. A personal brand that resonates with your target audience does something that a flashy website or glossy headshot never will. It helps you build a unique selling proposition that separates you from your competitors. This is more important than ever in 2023 because every agent in your farm area has access to the same marketing tools.
Here’s Kyle Scott, president of SERHANT. Ventures, to explain:
“A personal brand is not just what people say about you when you’re not in the room; it’s how to get people to talk about you when you’re nowhere near that room! Your personal brand will generate compound interest on your investments and, over time, the daily deposits you make into your brand turn into a massive lead generation machine that gets prospective leads coming to you, even when you’re sleeping.”
Real Estate Branding: How to Build Your Brand (+ Case Studies)
2. Create Clear & Honest Mission, Vision & Values to Guide Your Marketing
Since most leads make purchasing decisions based on emotion rather than facts, finding your why should be at the top of your list of marketing goals for 2023. This is the advice Sean Moudry gives to every single new coaching client he meets. It’s the most important lesson he learned in his 28-year career in real estate sales and coaching. Here’s Sean:
“If you want your leads to resonate with your brand, your marketing needs to resonate with their values and ideals. After all, who will get excited to work with someone who’s just in it for the money?
“So take the time to really think through why you became a real estate agent and create a clear and honest mission, vision, and values statement to guide your marketing. Maybe you were excited about the idea of helping people build generational wealth. Or maybe you wanted to help build your community. Whatever the answer is, I guarantee it will help you find lifetime customers better than, ‘I want to make lots of money.’”
You can learn how to create a clear and honest mission, vision, and values statement that you can use to steer your real estate marketing ideas in our guide below. It was written for brokerage owners, but don’t worry—these lessons apply to agents too.
How to Create an Inspiring Mission, Vision & Values for Your Brokerage
3. Become the ‘Digital Mayor’ of Your Farm Area to Get More Referrals
Experienced agents know that local business owners can be a goldmine for referrals. Who else is as plugged into your community as the local salon owner, restaurateur, or florist? They know when people are getting married, getting divorced, or making other life changes that might lead to a transaction. Even better? People trust them. So if you want to generate motivated referrals, you can’t go wrong building relationships with local business owners.
The problem is that building relationships with these social connectors can take years. Parkbench makes it faster and much easier to execute on this real estate marketing idea. They provide hyperlocal websites and expert training to help you generate more referrals from business owners in less time. They also only allow one agent per ZIP code. Check if yours is available today.
4. Write a Compelling Slogan & Use It in Your Marketing Materials
Once you’ve created your mission, vision, and values, you should have a clear and honest idea of what you have to offer your local community. The next key element of your marketing identity is a slogan: a short, memorable phrase that summarizes that value. Think of it as a one-sentence elevator pitch.
Summing up your value prop in one short sentence isn’t easy, but the benefits for your brand and marketing materials can be enormous. Writing a compelling slogan you can use on all of your marketing is a great way to make a personal connection with your local community. Great slogans are short, memorable, and ideally inspiring.
If you don’t already have a great slogan, or think yours needs work, check out my list of the 107 best real estate slogans below for inspiration. If you’re still not inspired, try using my free real estate slogan generator, which is embedded in the strategy guide.
107 Best Real Estate Slogans & Taglines (+ Slogan Generator)
Social Media Marketing Ideas
5. Use Social Media Templates to Quickly Scale Your Instagram & Facebook Accounts
If you want to scale your social media accounts quickly enough to generate leads, you need to increase the number of times you post per week, or even per day. In a 2021 Q&A, Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri suggested posting “a couple feed posts a week and a couple stories a day.” While that might sound like a lot, it’s what the algorithm rewards. So if you want to build your social media accounts to market your personal brand, you need to start posting more.
One of the best ways to tackle this real estate marketing idea is to use templates from marketing companies like Coffee & Contracts, Lab Coat Agents Marketing Center, and Agent Crate. Unlike Canva templates, their offerings are real estate-specific. They create beautifully designed and prewritten posts providing first-time buyer education, market updates, home maintenance tips, staging advice, and more. They even include templates for Stories and Reels. If you follow my advice on vertical video (which you should), you’ll understand the value add here.
Here is a quick rundown of my take on the best social media template providers:
| Template Platform | Best For | The Close Score | Deep-dive Review |
|---|---|---|---|
 Coffee & Contracts | Agents focused on increasing engagement on Instagram | 4.7 | Read full review |
 Lab Coat Agents Marketing Center | Teams and brokerages | 4.6 | Read full review |
 Agent Crate | Agents on a budget who want automated social media posting | 4.6 | Read full review |
9 Real Estate Marketing Companies to Boost Your Business in 2023
6. Copy Successful Social Media Strategies From Top Real Estate Influencers
If you want your social media accounts to help you market your brand and generate leads, you need to learn from the best and copy what they’re doing. If it worked for them, chances are it will work for your accounts too. Just make sure to put your own personality and spin on their strategies! Copying their content verbatim is not only unethical, but might turn off your followers if they follow the same influencers you do.
Getting started is easy. Start following a few real estate influencers you resonate with and see which topics get them the most views and engagement for their Reels, Stories, and posts. Then write them down and add them to your marketing calendar.
Here are a four must-follow influencers to start with:
| Real estate influencer | Best For | Instagram handle |
|---|---|---|
| Taya Dicarlo | Fun and educational Reels | @tayadicarlo |
| Leigh Brown | Humor and actionable advice for buyers | @leighthomasbrown |
| Glennda Baker | No-nonsense advice for buyers and sellers | @glenndabaker |
| The Broke Agent | Real estate humor and viral memes | @thebrokeagent |
For more social media tips from top influencers, check out my guide to their best social media strategy tips here:
21 Social Media Marketing Techniques That Actually Generate Real Estate Leads
11 Must-follow Real Estate Instagram Accounts for 2023 (+ 5 Growth Hacks)
7. Learn How to Make Engaging Vertical Videos
The shocking success of vertical video platforms like TikTok over the last two years is a crucial trend that you need to pay attention to—even if you’re not using the platform. Instagram, Facebook, and even YouTube have all taken note and are now pushing quick-hit vertical videos in a major way. So if you want a chance of getting your content in front of your followers on any platform in 2023, you need to learn how to make compelling vertical videos. FAST.
Don’t worry, they’re easier to make than you think. Here’s Cody D’Ambrosio, head of SERHANT. Studios, with a quick viral vertical video format for listings that you can steal:
Cody D’Ambrosio, Head, SERHANT. Studios
“Start your videos by shooting a quick introduction of yourself and the property—trying to take up as much of the frame as possible—before cutting to footage of your listing for the remainder of the video. We’ve seen a 3x increase in performance (both views and engagement) for videos that start in this fashion.”
If you want some more inspiration, check out my list of 147 viral real estate social media ideas below. It’s chock-full of dozens of vertical video ideas you can try.
147 Real Estate Social Media Post Ideas (+ Viral Examples)
8. Boost Engagement With Contests, Polls & Q&A Stickers on Instagram Stories
Once you start making vertical videos, you will quickly learn that engagement, not views, is what prompts Instagram to show your content to more people. While there are many ways to get engagement on Instagram, contests, polls, and Q&A stickers are what most influencers use to make their posts go viral.
Here’s Dustin Brohm, host of the Massive Agent Podcast, to explain:
“Ask questions, use GIFs, and make the content as easy to engage with as possible. The more people engage with you, the more they will remember you. You can also run contests and giveaways within Instagram Stories. Master how to get people engaged and coming back for more, and you’ll win.”
9 Easy Instagram Hacks to Get More Likes, Comments & Followers
9. Give Your Social Media Accounts a Boost (Without Hiring a Marketing Manager)
If you’re a busy agent, spending hours each day creating content for social media is probably not a good use of your time. In 2023, smart agents are using services like Porchlyte to give their social accounts a boost from the pros while they concentrate on selling houses.
Unlike some social media marketing platforms, Porchlyte doesn’t just offer templates for Instagram and Facebook posts. They also offer monthly content strategies and fully done-for-you content creation and posting with their new Posted by Porchlyte feature so you can get the benefits of social media while their team does all the work.
10. Beat the Instagram Algorithm by Marketing Yourself on Instagram Stories & Reels
At this point, you are probably sick of me suggesting you try vertical video, but trust me, every single social media platform has been pushing that approach over the past couple of years and that trend will only increase as TikTok gobbles up market share.
While there are opportunities for Realtors on TikTok, focusing your vertical video efforts on Instagram Stories and Reels will be much easier and more effective than starting a whole new account on a different social media platform.
Here’s Eric Simon, Los Angeles Realtor and founder of The Broke Agent, on why Stories and Reels are so important for Realtors this year:
“This isn’t speculation. I built my own Instagram account to over 400,000 followers by focusing more of my marketing efforts on Stories and Reels and making sure they both gave the algorithm what it wants: engagement.”
Instagram Stories for Agents: 12 Easy Ways to Drive Engagement
11. 10x Email Engagement Rates With Facebook Messenger Ads
If you’re not getting the results you want from Facebook advertising or email marketing, Facebook Messenger ads can be an excellent addition to your marketing tool kit. Here’s why. Your potential customers probably get dozens of emails and see hundreds of Facebook posts per day. But they only get a handful of private Facebook messages.
Studies have even shown that open rates for Facebook Messenger ads are 242% higher than email. If you’re still not convinced, remember that the median age of home sellers in 2022 was 60 years old and more than 35% of Facebook Messenger users are over the age of 45.
Facebook Messenger Ads Get Open Rates 242% Higher Than Email
Referral Marketing Ideas
12. Build More Trustworthy Social Proof With Video Testimonials
A few years ago, the only social proof Realtors needed was a few 5-star reviews on Zillow. This has changed. Zillow reviews are still a crucial part of your online presence, but they are not enough. With so many fake reviews on sites like Amazon, people are starting to get a little bit skeptical of written reviews. They are too easy to fake. Video testimonials are nearly impossible to fake and as an added bonus, can be used across Instagram, Facebook, your landing pages, website, and even YouTube.
Here are a few quick best practices to help your video testimonials shine this year:
- Keep them short: Shorter videos are more likely to be watched through to the end, an important signal for YouTube and other social media platforms.
- Consider shooting vertical video: This will make them easier to share on Instagram Stories, Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts.
- Send questions in advance: This will make it easier for clients to think of responses, and they will be less nervous the day of the shoot.
- Done is better than perfect: You don’t need to make a big production out of your testimonial videos. Sometimes candid videos shot on your phone work better.
If you need more tips and inspiration for shooting testimonials, check out our strategy guide below.
14 Real Estate Testimonial Examples to Inspire Your Referral Marketing
13. Automate Your Review Gathering Process to 4X Social Proof
Instead of manually chasing down past clients to leave reviews on multiple websites, smart agents automate their review-gathering process with reputation management platforms like Birdeye.
Birdeye reduces the friction (and awkwardness) of asking for reviews on multiple platforms so you get more reviews on more websites with less work. The company estimates that agents using Birdeye see a 420% increase in reviews on average.
14. Keep Former Real Estate Clients Engaged With Experiential Marketing
As any experienced agent will tell you, five minutes of in-person engagement is worth hours of engagement online. That’s why many top-producing agents today are offering their former clients exclusive offline experiences like dinners, wine tastings, educational seminars, and charity drives. This is called experiential marketing, and it is one of the hottest trends of the year for Fortune 1000 companies.
How hot is it? Well, one study showed that a whopping 91% of consumers said that they were more likely to make a purchase after attending a brand’s event or experience.
Can Experiential Marketing Save The Real Estate Industry…Again?
15. Give More Thoughtful Closing Gifts That Keep You Top of Mind
While closing gifts are an excellent way to boost referrals, most Realtors focus too much on promoting themselves instead of taking the time to learn what past clients actually want.
Here’s Beth Incorvati, real estate coach and founder of Agent Activator, on why taking the time to choose a closing gift that your clients actually want is so important:
“If you’re still giving low-quality steak knives with your logo on them as closing gifts, STOP! The odds of them being stashed in a cupboard and forgotten about are virtually 100%. Instead, do the work to figure out what your clients want or need so you can give them a gift they actually want that still keeps you top of mind.”
Take Beth’s advice and check out my buyer’s guide with 32 examples of gifts that do just that below. Now you have no more excuses for giving cheesy closing gifts.
The 32 Best Real Estate Closing Gifts
Property Marketing Ideas
16. Learn How to Improve Curb Appeal (on a Shoestring Budget)
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.
17. Leverage AI to Write Better Listing Descriptions
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:
| AI Copywriting App | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Free-$42 per month | Everything from short marketing copy to e-books, lead magnets, and listing descriptions |
| Jasper.ai | $49 per month | Copywriting templates so you don’t have to start from scratch |
| Copy.ai | Free | Agents who want a 100% free tool |
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.
18. Create a Detailed Listing Marketing Plan to Pitch Homeowners
Whether you’re a seasoned listing agent or still working on getting your first listing, a detailed marketing plan is your key to success. “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.
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 43-point listing marketing plan.
19. Anticipate Emotional Seller Objections & Address Them in Your Marketing Materials
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.
20. Virtually Stage Listings in Different Themes & Bring Them to Showings
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 buyer’s guide, The Best Virtual Staging Software & Tips (DIY & Pro), for more.
21. Work With Local Clubs to Create Special Events for Your Listings
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, they 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.
22. Create a Swipe File of Words That Sell to Use in Your Marketing Copy
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.
Marketing Planning & Strategy
23. Create a Marketing Plan for Sustainable Growth
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 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 and tips to make sure you stick to it and change as your business evolves.
24. Create a Yearly Marketing Calendar With a Monthly Focus
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.
| January: Email Marketing | July: Video |
| February: Facebook + Instagram | August: Networking & PR |
| March: Referrals | September: Website + SEO |
| April: Open Houses & Farming | October: Seasonal Marketing |
| May: Print & Branding | November: Seasonal Referrals |
| June: CRM & Prospecting | December: Content |
To start creating your own, check out our free 2023 marketing calendar and holiday guide here.
25. Create a Detailed Content Runway for Your Blog
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 runway to plan out 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 80 viral blog ideas you can add to your content runway today.
26. Choose New Marketing Tools Strategically
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.
27. Learn My Tips for Hiring & Getting 2x Results From Freelance Designers
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 Creative Cloud 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 meets 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.
Creative Marketing Ideas
28. Use My Buyer Presentation That Turns Leads Into Clients in 15 Minutes
While most 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 more informed, more savvy, 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 five tips for delivering the perfect buyer presentation:
1. 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
5. Role-play your presentation with another agent before doing it live
You can download my 15-minute buyer presentation template for free learn how to create your own here.
29. Write Scripts & Prerecord Videos for Text Messaging
A recent study 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. Writing text scripts and prerecording videos you can send instantly is an easy way to improve the response rates of your leads and answer their 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 [agent first 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.
30. Turn Your Social Proof Up to 11 Using HARO
Your Turn
Have any killer real estate marketing ideas that you think our readers need to know about? Let us know in the comments.
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