From SEO to social media to paid ads to email marketing, there are a ton of great opportunities to market your real estate brand and win new business. So, how do you make smart, informed decisions about which marketing channels will be the most effective and get you the results you want?
It all comes down to the numbers. And for SMS marketing, those numbers are staggering. Nearly 98% of text messages are opened, making SMS real estate marketing an excellent tool for creating awareness. And 64% of consumers think businesses should contact them via SMS more often—yet 61% of marketers still don’t use SMS messaging to their advantage.
SMS real estate marketing is proven to be an incredibly effective way to drive more leads, build brand awareness, and win more business.
Whether you’re looking to start an SMS real estate marketing program from scratch or refine your existing strategy, we’ll detail exactly how and why you should be incorporating this powerful marketing channel and give you the scoop on some of the best SMS providers for building a successful SMS real estate marketing strategy.
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Benefits of SMS real estate marketing
SMS marketing has a ton of benefits and can be a really smart part of your marketing plan. These are some of the top reasons real estate companies should consider sending real estate SMS messages.
SMS real estate marketing is highly affordable
Compared with other marketing channels, SMS marketing is incredibly inexpensive, often costing just cents per message or a low flat fee. It’s low-risk, low-investment, and can dramatically bring down your cost of acquisition and boost your ROI.
SMS real estate marketing is personal
Receiving an SMS naturally feels more personal, as the majority of texts people receive are from people they know in real life. This is particularly true if you craft your real estate text messages in a thoughtful, customized way (more on that later).
SMS real estate marketing has fewer roadblocks
According to DataProt, nearly 85% of emails are spam. Your emails, even if they’re legit, may end up in a potential buyer’s Junk folder, or simply go unread. In contrast, an SMS program doesn’t have to battle Spam filters and is a much more reliable way to get through to clients and prospects.
SMS marketing gets faster responses
Quick responses can make or break a real estate deal. And SMS is an ideal marketing channel when speed is of the essence: 90% of text messages are read within three minutes of receipt and SMS messages have a response rate of 45%, compared to email marketing at just 10%.
Getting started with SMS real estate marketing
Ok, so you’ve decided that sending SMS real estate messages is a smart marketing channel for your business. Here are some tips to help you get started with your SMS marketing campaign.
Research and identify your target audience
Like with any marketing channel, you’ve gotta know who you are trying to reach.
Start by zeroing in on your target market’s pains, fears, dreams, and desires (we call this the PFDD framework). It’s important to be specific about exactly who you’re talking to, so you can create the right real estate SMS messages to connect with them. Think about details like their location, age, profession, income, gender, and other important demographic information.
Create a database with phone numbers
In real estate, your database is one of your most important assets. And you should be using it to develop marketing campaigns, including SMS real estate messaging. Whenever you run paid media campaigns to attract new leads or do any kind of networking, make sure you’re collecting the phone numbers of prospects and potential buyers so you can later use them in your SMS marketing campaigns.
Get permission to send SMS real estate text messages
First and foremost, you should only be sending real estate SMS messages to people who have consented to receiving them, for both legal compliance and strategic reasons. When gathering phone numbers, make sure to include a place for potential buyers and sellers to opt-in to receive these messages. This can be gathered by simply having them check a box on a piece of paper or digitally.
You must also comply with opt-out requests and remove someone from the list if they have asked you not to text them.
Choose the right SMS provider
There are a ton of different SMS platforms on the market. Choosing which to use is a personal decision that can depend on your budget, the features you’re looking for, and how tech-savvy you are. These are some of the most popular and best-reviewed options. For more, check out this article on the 7 best SMS apps for small businesses.
EZ Texting
EZ Texting has helped thousands of customer-centric small businesses engage their target audiences via SMS. It’s highly rated for its ease of use, customer support, and reliability. While less feature-rich than some other platforms, reviewers say it’s efficient and easy to use for sending bulk real estate texts.
Text Magic
Text Magic is an easy-to-use, reliable solution with a 99.95% uptime guarantee. It integrates with popular CRM and marketing tools and includes features such as two-way messaging, autoresponders, scheduled real estate texts, personalized messages, and more.
Podium
Podium is known for being user-friendly and intuitive, making it a great option for both newbies and tech-savvy agents. Features include two-way messaging, autoresponders, scheduled messages, personalized real estate SMS messages, and more. The service also integrates with popular CRM and marketing tools.
Salesmsg
Salesmsg is highly rated for its user-friendly platform, automation, and personalization. Automation tools include drip campaigns, autoresponders, and keyword triggers, and personalization tools include custom fields, dynamic fields, and merge tags, which can boost engagement and conversion.
Simple Texting
SimpleTexting gets raves for its affordable pricing models, user-friendly design, and extensive features. Tools include two-way messaging, autoresponders, scheduled messages, personalized messages, and SMS surveys and polls, and the service also has integrations with popular CRM and marketing tools.
Creating effective SMS messages
Once you’ve gotten your list of opted-in clients and prospects together and have chosen an SMS provider, it’s time to start crafting your messages. Here are some tips for how to write SMS messages that resonate and drive results.
Keep them concise
If you’ve ever gotten a political text, you know how people can react to long SMS messages. For real estate texts, it’s best to be concise, clear, and to the point. That’s not to say your messages shouldn’t have some personality. In fact, every message you send should reflect your brand voice and appeal to your ideal client.
Share compelling information
Put yourself in the shoes of the people receiving your messages. Don’t just send messages that you want to send—send messages they want to receive. Here are some examples of the types of real estate SMS templates you might create:
- Details about upcoming open houses
- Celebratory messages for the anniversary of a home closing
- A poll that encourages them to share opinions about local matters
- Appointment confirmations and reminders, with all the details they need to know
- Property info about a listing that’s about to go on the market
- Property info about a listing that has lowered the asking price
- Follow-up texts answering questions a potential buyer asked
Create a sense of urgency
A sense of urgency can boost responses and drive results—but it’s important that this urgency is based on something real, so it doesn’t come off as salesy or untruthful.
This approach is especially great when messaging about open houses and listings. For example, you might send an SMS about an open house that only allows a limited number of visitors, or share that a listing’s deadline for offers is approaching.
Don’t overdo it
No one likes to be bombarded by text messages and information. Sending real estate SMS messages way too frequently can backfire, and might cause prospective clients and potential buyers to get annoyed, opt-out, or even move their business elsewhere. It’s important to figure out when your ideal clients best engage with your SMS messages and tailor your strategy accordingly.
Measure success
Pay attention to the details about how your SMS real estate campaigns are performing, so you can do more of what works and change what doesn’t. You might find that a specific time performs best for you, or that dynamically inserting a potential buyer’s name increases your response rate.
Your SMS provider should make it easy to see these insights—and once you’ve figured out what works best for your business and clients, you can set up real estate SMS templates and follow-up texts to make it even easier to send out effective messages moving forward.
Build your brand and uplevel your real estate marketing with Luxury Presence
SMS real estate text messages are an extremely effective marketing channel to add to your overall marketing plan, which should also include strategies for building your brand and online presence and attracting new business.
At Luxury Presence, we offer a full platform of products, services, and solutions that help you do just that. Schedule a call now to learn more about our award-winning real estate website designs and expert marketing solutions.
