Raine & Horne Ocean Shores recently won their State Marketing Award. Principal Julie-Ann Manahan believes her success is a direct result of her digital advertising system, Amplify, and that its not only sold property but increased their real estate market share too.
Becoming the real estate regional leader
Julie-Ann’s objective is to be the real estate market leader in her region. She says that “Raine & Horne Ocean Shores is well on its way to achieving this outcome by gaining mass attention through the introduction of its new digital platform, Amplify, which successfully converts attention from liking a property to trusting our business before ultimately engaging us as preferred agent.”
Julie-Ann shares that she “entered the Northern Rivers/Tweed Coast region in 2015. At this time, there was very little by way of digital marketing locally. Having relocated to the area from Sydney we were well and truly versed in the digital space.”
Julie-Ann says that “A large percentage of our business stems from interstate migration and families looking for the type of lifestyle offered by a “sea change” or “tree change”, or those who are simply looking to escape the “rat race” of city living.”
Taking a systematic approach to digital marketing
The Amplify digital advertising platform has significantly increased Raine & Horne Ocean Shores’ website traffic and the volume of sales coming from buyers located in city and interstate markets.
The introduction of digital marketing tools has significantly benefited this real estate team in 3 distinct ways;
- Raising our visibility and profile in the marketplace – keeping us top of mind with buyers and sellers alike including the passive market.
- Increased website traffic, with buyers and prospective clients remaining on the real estate office website for longer periods of time.
- More buyer and seller leads through form completions than before, meaning visiting prospects are prompted to reach out to do business with the Ocean Shores team, whilst on the website.
Julie-Ann shares that there are secondary benefits too for her real estate business;
- Minimising production costs, or the need to employ additional marketing staff.
- Vendors can see real-time campaign reports, by logging into the Amplify system clients see what’s happening with their property in , without contacting our office – vendors gain feedback after open homes, finding out how many people inspected the property and what they thought of the home.
- Minimising the business’s carbon footprint and demonstrating this real estate teams awareness of their environmental impact.
Marketing automation complements the human touch
Julie-Ann shares that she “strongly believes that AI and automation are the future.” Rather than replacing people, Julie-Ann believes AI has the potential to complement the human element. She adds, “if we don’t know how to do something there’s often an app that can do the task just as efficiently if not faster than our team can do it.”
Julie-Ann says “the uptake from our clients and prospects has been phenomenal so far and we expect to gain easier traction in the future as we have more success stories to share.”
In addition to property campaigns, Julie-Ann highlights that she’s used digital marketing, particularly social media, to educate her clients and prospects, buyers and sellers, on property matters, local market trends and to encourage a sense of community in her marketplace.
“Our clients and prospects have responded enthusiastically to the transparency and speed at which they are able to access information online via our digital tools,” adds Julie-Ann.
The most effective digital marketing channels
The Amplify system targets web users based on their interests and behaviours, going beyond demographics to tailor ads to users’ online profiles. The system effortlessly creates up to 72 different targeted advertisements from just one property upload and displays these highly effective ads across multiple online platforms which include Facebook, Instagram and Google.
Below is an example of a Facebook ad, from Ocean Shores real estate, that is retargeting people that have already shown interest in their real estate agency.
The Amplify system has a strong focus and success with;
- Facebook attention campaigns using video
- Google, Youtube and Instagram 15 second video ads
- Facebook, Google and Instagram remarketing (with anyone who engages once)
Amplify drives increased traffic to the property listings on our website, demonstrating significantly higher reach than existing real estate marketing platforms. As our 24/7 marketing assistant, the Amplify system finds those in both active and passive property mode, highlighting the various aspects of the property which align with their online profile to drive sales. It builds a picture of potential buyers over time, providing insights to enhance our overarching marketing strategy.
As a result of their increased confidence in their digital marketing abilities, the Ocean Shores team have significantly reduced their spend on press ads within our marketing strategies – another example that digital marketing is truly the way forward.
Written by Melanie Hoole
My team and I specialise in helping real estate and property professionals perfect their personal brand, build a first-class digital profile and implement inbound marketing activities to attract leads. If you are unsure which direction to take with your digital marketing contact me for help.
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