The 7 best real estate marketing ideas are most effective when you:

• Select a geographic area in which you want to become the premier agent;

• Establish credibility by positioning yourself as the local area expert;

• Use multiple ideas concurrently so you are seen frequently by potential sellers in your area, building name recognition and trust.

Why? Real estate success is a long game. These ideas are not get-rich-quick, lead generation hacks. These ideas have been tested and proven to be highly successful in the past 14 years that we've partnered with premier real estate agents, all over New Zealand.

All the following real estate marketing ideas are designed with one outcome in mind:

To build a large, loyal community of homeowners who know, like and trust you, then call you when it’s time to sell.

Idea 1: Send a monthly email newsletter to generate repeat sales & referrals

Did you know that historically in New Zealand, around one in every 24 homes sells, every year?

If you have 500 homeowners on your database, that’s around 21 sales annually. Staying in touch with a friendly and professional email newsletter reminds the people who already know, like and trust you that you are active, successfully selling real estate and ready to offer obligation-free marketing advice or a free appraisal whenever they, or their friends and family, are ready to sell.

Send your email newsletter to everyone on your database monthly. Include every homeowner you know - past vendors, past buyers, appraisals, open home visitors, local businesses, friends and family.

Idea 2: Letterbox drop a print newsletter in your local area to position yourself as the friendly and professional, local area expert

Interestingly, print marketing is still very effective. Arguably, it is more so now that less people are doing it.

To position yourself as the area expert, letterbox drop a print newsletter with a local community feel. Target a clearly defined geographic area to ensure the exact same homeowners are seeing your marketing time and time again, achieving the frequency and consistency which is essential for successful real estate marketing.

Use your print real estate newsletter to demonstrate your expertise by offering local market insights and helpful information for vendors. Showcase your success with current listings, recent sales and "social proof" in the form of testimonials from delighted clients.

As per the tip under the email newsletter recommendation above, “future-proof” listings by including interesting and entertaining newsletter content that appeals to people not currently considering a sale, but who are likely to sell in the future.

Idea 3: Distribute "Just Sold/Just Listed" flyers using the 20/20/40 Rule to capture listings coming to the market soon

Success breeds success. Within six months of a successful sale, it’s extremely likely that at least one nearby neighbour, spurred on by another successful sale, will bring their home to the market too.

To identify these listing opportunities early on, use the “20/20/40" rule. Whenever a home is listed for sale, or successfully sold, drop a “just listed” or “just sold” flyer in the letterbox of 20 houses either side of the listing, and 40 across the street.

Idea 4: Post authentic social media content to establish credibility

A professional social media presence is crucial to establishing your professional credibility. In today’s digital culture, homeowners will always search for you online before they call you. What they see in your social media feeds could either convince them to:

a) Trust you enough to take the next step and contact you, or
b) Dismiss you as inactive or unprofessional, and call your competitor instead.

• Post at least once a week so you always have fresh content.
• Use both Facebook and Instagram posts, Reels and Stories.
• Use story-telling content that demonstrates your professional success and that showcases your personality and the unique way you do business.
   

Idea 5: Implement social media advertising to convert name recognition into listings

To maximise exposure and generate leads from Facebook and Instagram, paid Meta Ads is one of the most powerful marketing tools available, but only when expertly implemented as part of a comprehensive real estate marketing strategy.

Meta advertising reaches thousands of homeowners, far beyond the people who already “Like” and “Follow” you on social media.

In addition, Meta lead generation leverages the name recognition and trust you've already achieved from distributing a print newsletter and DLE cards in a geographical area. Using Meta Ads, Facebook and Instagram users are encouraged to submit their name and contact details which are added to your database and nurtured with a monthly email newsletter, Facebook and Google retargeting.

This layered real estate marketing strategy continually builds your large, loyal community of people who know, like and trust you then call you when it's time to sell:

Idea 6: Setup a personal real estate marketing website

take your prospecting to the next level with a personal website.

"www.yourname.co.nz" becomes the end point for directing traffic from all your other real estate marketing - social media content and ads, print and email newsletters, DLE cards and more.

Directing traffic to your own, personal website - not your profile page on your agency website - prevents "leakage" to your competitors whose profiles can also be viewed on your agency website.

Elevate your real estate marketing using a personal website with:

• A landing page with an appraisal request form;

• A QR code to drive traffic to your personal website from your print newsletter, DLE cards and other marketing;

• Social media ads linked to your personal website, not your agency website;

• A links page for your Instagram bio so Followers can easily find what they’re looking for - links to details of a current promotion, current listings, sold properties, your agency profile page, other social media accounts etc.

• A map of all your sales emphasising your area of specialty and expertise;

• Search engine optimisation to make sure you get found on Google;

• Your own, professional-looking domain name eg www.yourname.co.nz (which you can take with you, even if you change agency!)
  
   

Idea 7: Partner with a specialist real estate marketing agency to ensure the ideas are implemented

Turn ideas into action. Use a professional real estate marketing agency to have it all done for you.

In the past 14 years of working with top-performing real estate professionals all over New Zealand, at Open Door Marketing we've noticed that although most know what they need to do to create listings, they are so busy helping people buy and sell houses, they just don’t have time to do their own marketing.

The result is a roller coaster ride.

A wave of listings comes in; it’s crazy busy then - all of a sudden - the stock is all sold and there’s nothing left in the pipeline. It’s a scramble to launch new marketing campaigns to source more listings.

A few months on, another wave of listings arrive and the marketing stops. The listings sell and the pipeline dries up. And so the roller coaster continues.

Engaging professional help to ensure your real estate marketing is done on time, every time, even when you're busy, is an easier, more effective, and far less stressful way to create a continuous supply of new listing opportunities.