Getting eyeballs and leads from your website and marketing is difficult. The big portals rule the listing search game. The good news is you can compete and don’t have to pay the big bucks to buy online leads from third parties. 

Engaging effectively with your client base in the ultra-competitive world of digital real estate marketing requires a different set of skills. The integration of fundamental personal skills, relationship building, and digital tools are the secret sauce to competing against large industry portals (you know who we are talking about). 

Follow these five strategies to get hyperlocal with your mindset to stay hyper-competitive in your business.

1. Going from a Zip Code to Neighborhood Mindset

Traditionally, agents based their marketing messages on MLS data pulled from a zip code that could include 30 plus neighborhoods. However, stop and think for a moment about what your clients are really searching for. You will then understand that it is the “hyperlocal” or small place information on a specific, established neighborhood that they are seeking.

So how do you shift your marketing to a hyperlocal focus? First, you must create content at a super local level. Understand the five to ten neighborhoods that you regularly serve and develop content that speaks to areas of interest such as the local housing market, lifestyle trends, municipal resources, shops, restaurants, schools, vendors, etc., for those specific communities, NOT the zip codes. You want to be known as the go-to neighborhood expert!

2. Provide Neighborhood-Level Market Trends and Listings Information

You can wrap many data points into your local content. Still, the statistics must be at the level of geography to be truly meaningful to your audience. Demographic data, such as lifestyle trends produced through a neighborhood boundary, becomes more interesting to the consumer. For example, updated school data can be hard to access from a municipality. However, by using a dynamic and accurate data source such as LiveBy, you can share that neighborhood-level content with greater relevance to your clients.

3. Understand How People Think in Your Market

You know the characteristics of the neighborhoods and the interests of the audience you serve better than anyone. Knowing the motivation behind what your clients are searching for is key to keeping them engaged in your content and messaging. For example, they may want to live within walking distance of the downtown area or live in a specific school district or within X number of miles of a highway interchange. The key is to identify those soft needs and pull in the hyperlocal statistics (i.e., drive times, walking scores, school data) to enrich the experience when clients engage with you in person or online.

One creative idea is to record a video walking or driving tour of a neighborhood. Narrate the time it takes to reach points of interest like the neighborhood swimming pool, schools, and shopping. If it’s a bike-heavy neighborhood, segment your database with hyper-targeted messaging towards the neighborhood’s benefits for bike owners such as greenways and dedicated bike lanes. The takeaway here is to master your neighborhoods! Your customers are searching large data portals but are not finding the information they want. So, this is your opportunity to come to the rescue with relevant, meaningful content and data for the neighborhoods they are interested in learning about.

4. Make it About the Community!

Homebuyers and sellers want to partner with a genuine, authentic person that can provide visibility in what’s happening in the community beyond just real estate. Whether it be social, email, or personal interaction, make sure your neighbors think of you first! Then, your sphere will know you genuinely care for them beyond just providing the standard listing search. It’s all about meeting the emotional and lifestyle aspects of your client in their home search.

5. How to Execute a Hyperlocal Strategy for Your Business

Tools and technology must support a hyperlocal mindset to execute your plan efficiently and effectively. The fundamental steps include:

• Social media set-up and optimization to disseminate hyperlocal content
• Website and landing pages to showcase this information with appropriate calls-to-action
• Data analytics to track audience engagement and conversion
• A CRM and marketing automation system set up with tags and automations to support hyperlocal content
• Ability to segment the CRM into targeted audiences
• An accountability plan with actionables based on inbound results

From a search engine optimization (SEO) perspective, there is a lot of competition for a search on “Homes for Sale in Charleston, SC.” Still, there is not much competition for “Homes for Sale in the Regency Woods Subdivision in Charleston, SC.”

So pick three neighborhoods that you want to work in, then make a list of 10-15 points of interest that people talk about the most, such as housing inventories, home prices, trending community issues, vendors, school information, or interesting photos while you are out and about. Then, deliver unique details regarding these topics in content that only a community expert like yourself would know. Refresh your content frequently, then “rinse and repeat.” 

At Fathom, our 100% commission allows agents to reinvest those savings back in their business. In addition, using cutting-edge technology and resources provided to our agents from intelliAgent, LiveBy, Naberly Solutions offers an integrated solution to compete in this highly competitive, ever-changing housing market.