The most frequent question I get from Real Estate Developers is “How to Start with Digital Ads and What Works Best for Real Estate?” In this second part, we are digging into the hot sauce.
This is the second part of how to start with Digital Ads for Real Estate.
D.A.R.E. is a simple yet very easy-to-follow framework. If you have read part 1 you have already read about the first two steps so let’s move forward to:
Step Three: Digital Ads Budget
How much money is enough to begin?
Budgeting is a hard task but necessary. In this framework, I do not want you to break your bank account or go into debt in order to achieve the desirable digital presence.
So what I would like you to do is to define a comfortable budget that you can afford and feel okay to spend.
Starting something new is kind of intimidating, so if I ask you to spend X amount of money on digital ads, that may be an amount you are not ready to invest in the unknown. That is why I would like you to set a realistic yet possible yearly budget that you are willing to spend to begin with.
This budget is subject to change. You can expand to a higher amount when you begin to see some results and feel comfortable.
Now if you have close to zero budget for your digital ads, then what you can do is allocate a budget from your current activities that are not performing so optimally in step TWO.
Step Four: Marketing Strategy + Tactics
Now that you have set your goals and budget, you can select a marketing strategy and tactics and finally begin the digital ads journey.
In short, I am going to help you set the outline of your strategy and tactics.
The strategy is the overall theory that you are going to use and the overall value proposition that is going to generate all your ads. To structure the strategy, you must select your target audience and write down why your prospects should choose your properties. Be simple and specific.
Once you have your strategy in place, you have to choose the channels that you would like to advertise on.
Online advertising has lots of possibilities and channels that can fit your needs. My always-win tactics are using 80% of sales promotion through Google ads and 20% of brand awareness.
This is a good beginner’s starting point because your first aim is to test if your digital ads convert and bring paying clients. The reason you are not 100% focusing on hard sales (bottom of funnel) advertising is the fact that digital ads can offer a really valuable asset called reputation and brand building.
Reputation and brand building is a long-lasting efficient tactic. The thing is that it is not accurately measurable, and it takes a lot of time to build. That is why I suggest putting only 20% of the budget and effort when beginning with digital ads. If you choose only to invest in branding, then you will have to be extremely patient and spend a lot of money before you see some actual results. That is why we start with hard selling.
Another reason we want to start with hard selling is the fact that we would like to have results that will help you continue your journey for a long, long time. So, if your ads generate sales and profit, then you will be more willing to increase the spending and keep on investing in your digital presence in the long run so that you enjoy the fruits of converting through brand awareness.
I am not going into details on why Google ads are the hard-selling option, and the reason is that this is a whole other story. I just want you to understand that through PPC advertising you can have measurable results and Google is the go-to platform when you are looking for high-intent clients. People that are googling properties for sale are already in the market. You already reach a ready-to-purchase audience. You do not have to persuade them of the value of purchasing a property. They are ready and looking for you.
Step Five: Just do it
You are ready.
Make a schedule and begin advertising now.
If you have zero experience with digital ads, you can learn to do it yourself or hire an agency to run them.
Whichever option you choose, if you follow the framework you will be able to have control over what is happening with your digital ads and what you should expect from them.
Remember to be patient and resilient with your ads. It will take some months before you are ready to evaluate your results and move forward with feedback and optimization.
Millions of companies, small and large, use digital ads to promote and sell their products and services online, and they do that because it is a proven method that works.
So once you have run your initial ads, you have to get the feedback and metrics, study them, and optimize your ads and run them again. This final step closes the loop and then you move to step ONE and do everything all over again.
Good luck!
Haven’t Read Part 1? Click HERE
