How to measure real estate digital marketing performance and improve ROI
Today, investing in at least some form of digital marketing is a necessity for any business that wants to get noticed in a highly competitive digital marketing ecosystem. They usually invest in conversion-boosting tactics like social networking, creating killer content, and paid to advertise for their real estate digital marketing performance. However, there is another very important element that is often forgotten, namely monitoring online performance.
Setting clear goals and auditing your major KPIs regularly gives you the opportunity to identify the major strengths and weaknesses of your real estate digital marketing performance, understand your target audience’s preferences, build a strong online reputation, and tailor your marketing tactics to the industry trends.
Set clear business objectives
Of course, your ultimate objective is likely to generate more leads and sales, but to measure how you’re tracking towards that goal you need to break your activity down into goals using the SMART goal setting principle.
SMART goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.
As an example, one goal might be to increase brand awareness, in which case you should be focused on driving more traffic to your website within a specific time frame. Another goal might be lead generation and you can track how many more (or fewer) leads you’re generating on your website each month.
Identify your target segments
Real estate professionals are usually dealing with multiple target segments from first home buyers, second home buyers, investors, and vendors.
Many agencies decide to go with a broad, uniform approach with their marketing, but this ‘one size fits all’ method means that more often than not, your digital marketing efforts don’t generate the responses you want.
To get attention and turn an audience into potential leads, you need to segment your content and messaging. Include the needs and problems to be solved for each of your targets in your marketing strategy to improve cut-through and engagement.
Social media is a great asset in terms of getting to know your target segments better as it enables two-way conversation and allows you to learn which segment is most interested in your services.
Establish your main KPIs
Before launching any new digital marketing, you should be selecting KPIs. In other words, the metrics you’ll track so you can measure actual performance against the goals you have set.
There are three main types of KPIs to consider:
- Traffic metrics – number of website visits, new vs returning website visitors, bounce rates and time on site
- Conversion metrics – number of contact forms completed, number of content downloads, number of ‘click to calls’ and lead to customer ratios
- Revenue metrics – cost per click and cost per conversion
Examples of common metrics are 500 new website visitors in the next 30 days or a 10% increase in online conversions within 90 days.
Take actionable steps based on your stats
Remember that measuring digital marketing is only half of the job and once you have the data you need, it’s important to make adjustments based on the insights you gather.
One outlying result may not justify a complete rethink of your marketing, but if you see persistent trends that either represent challenges or opportunities for you, the faster you jump on them the faster you can optimize your overall digital marketing strategy.
As competition in the real estate industry continues to heat up, the more significant a role your digital marketing efforts will become in your ultimate success.
Without a high-performing website or strong social media presence, you are missing out on potential leads and a chance to rise above the competition.
To get the most from your digital marketing, you need to remove the guesswork and focus on the data. Tracking your performance regularly is the easiest way for you to make smart, data-driven decisions quickly and ensure the best possible ROI for your agency.
