26 must-have real estate marketing tools for 2024 by Megan DeMatteo, Jodie Cordell for HousingWire

Do viral videos get leads? Gen Z’s favorite Realtor weighs in

Best SMS marketing tools

There’s no denying the power of SMS marketing. After all, 75% of millennials prefer texting, finding it more convenient than calling. Reaching this audience, currently the largest homebuying segment according to the latest data from NAR, is imperative to earning their business. So, if you haven’t tapped into one of the best real estate marketing tools, here’s your invitation to jump in and get started.

EZ Texting

EZ Texting harnesses momentum by helping you build your contact list with bulk sends, opt-in tools, contact management, and automation. With its AI-powered software, AI Compose, EZ Texting saves agents time and improves response rates by up to thirty percent.

Best features: 

Unlimited contact storage

AI integration to optimize your text messages

Smart scheduling with automated responses

Starting price: $20/month = 500 messages/month (6,000 messages annually)

Visit EZ Texting

Sinch ClickSend

Sinch ClickSend offers functionality and customization options to tailor your SMS marketing to your needs. Depending on the type of messages you want to send, you can choose SMS, MMS, or even voice-to-text speech calls. ClickSend integrates with your existing CRM (with several favorites like Follow Up Boss, Agile, and Soho) and offers flexible billing. You can easily incorporate it into your existing tech stack to enhance your workflows.

Best features: 

Unlimited contact storage

SMS and MMS options 

Tons of integrations to make adoption smooth

Starting price: Under 5K messages = $0.0246/message

Visit ClickSend

Textedly

Build your database with a custom keyword that allows anyone with a mobile device to sign up for your list. Textedly makes it simple to send automated text messages for birthdays, house-iversaries, or even reviews. Textedly offers tons of options to help your business grow.

Best features: 

Ability to send extra-long (455 characters) SMS messages

Comprehensive analytics

Custom keywords to allow users to opt-in to your SMS marketing

Conversation triggers and automated chats

Starting price: $26/month = 500 messages/month

Visit Textedly

Best email marketing tools

Email is one of the best marketing tools for real estate agents. Unlike social media platforms, you aren’t at the mercy of an algorithm. Email gives you a direct line to customers who eagerly give you their email addresses. Choosing the right marketing platform will help you nurture long-lasting client relationships.

IXACT Contact

IXACT Contact is a robust real estate marketing tool and CRM solution. Its email capabilities include drip email campaigns and a monthly newsletter feature. Notably, it complies with CAN-SPAM and CASL regulations, helping you communicate with your clients worry-free.

Best features: 

Unlimited sending

Branded email headers

Campaign insights

Template for E-cards and Just-Listed/Just-Sold email announcements

Starting price: $38/month

Visit IXACT Contact

Constant Contact

With a well-earned reputation, Constant Contact offers a robust CRM solution on top of its flagship email marketing features. The platform’s email editor is highly intuitive, with hundreds of templates to choose from. Its analytics-driven features help you track opens and clicks, plus give you additional tools like sign-up forms, surveys, polls and SMS integration to help build client engagement.

Best features: 

AI-assisted content writing

Dynamic and functional templates

Mobile app for on-the-go management

Starting price: $12 per month

Visit Constant Contact

Best SEO tools

There’s no reason to build a beautiful real estate website if nobody can find it. That’s why SEO data and analytics software is one of the most valuable real estate marketing tools out there.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an SEO industry go-to that helps you audit and optimize your website copy on site structure to improve your Google rankings. Use the keyword feature to optimize your website, content, and more.

Best features: 

All-in-one SEO data toolset to find the highest value keywords to target

Rank tracker (see how you rank for important keywords over time)

Site explorer to research your competitor’s backlinks and keyword ranking

Starting price: $129/month

Visit Ahrefs

Semrush

Semrush offers more than 55 tools and reports to help you supercharge your SEO and content marketing efforts. Most notably for real estate marketing, the local SEO tool helps you figure out what people in your geographic area are searching for online so you can create content to answer their most common search queries.

Best features: 

Keyword research, search intent indicators and topic clusters

On-page SEO performance ratings

Local SEO to get more searchers in your area

Starting price: $140/month

Visit Semrush

Real estate marketing tools: The full picture

That’s a wrap! We’ve covered the best paid and free real estate marketing tools for agents.

Finding the right mix of real estate marketing tools can help you revolutionize how you connect with potential clients, be more productive and, ultimately, grow your business. Use these real estate marketing tools to streamline your workflow and get in front of more potential buyers and sellers to close more deals this year.

When you’re not stressed out from handling admin and marketing tasks and getting bogged down in tech, you can simply show up as yourself at showings, walk-throughs, on social media , at in-person events — and at the closing table.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best real estate marketing tool?

The best marketing tool is the one you will actually use consistently. Tons of fantastic software, apps, and more are available to real estate agents to help market their businesses. But if you tend to sign up for tools and then not use them, you’re wasting valuable resources. The best course is to find a handful of tools that fit you and your specific personality, goals, and style. There are a ton of great tools listed here, but you don’t need all of them. Choose your top three to five to get started and add additional tools as your needs change.

What type of marketing is best for real estate?

In real estate marketing, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Marketing should fit your personality, goals, and your unique market. For example, in some markets, postcards work exceptionally well, while they fall flat in others. It may also depend on who your target audience is. Video works great, especially for clients not local to your market, whereas postcards may be a little more difficult to use effectively.

What’s the best real estate marketing tool to market me and my business?

Video is the fastest way to establish a connection with your target audience. Even if you’re an introvert and don’t think your audience is interested in your personality, you will attract the audience that gets you. Don’t be afraid to lean into your quirkiness and just be your authentic self. Video allows your audience to get to know you and your personality and helps them make connections that keep them coming back to your brand.

What’s the best real estate marketing tool to market my listings?

You can use many platforms to market your listings, but you should always include high-quality images and video walkthroughs on your website and social media platforms. Your MLS feed gets picked up by sites like Zillow, Homes.com, and Realtor.com. Increasingly, agents are including video components in their listings to give prospects a virtual tour experience before they make an appointment to see a property in person.

What are the 4 P’s of marketing in real estate?

The four Ps of marketing in real estate are product, price, place and promotion. Let’s dig in

Product: Another word for a product in real estate is simply the property. What is being sold or rented? This “P” includes not just the physical characteristics of the property (square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms, design, etc.) but also its added features like school district, acreage, views, proximity to amenities, etc.

Price: In real estate, the price isn’t always straightforward. Included in this “P” are the property’s current value, its property taxes and factors like who is financing the deal. You also have to consider market conditions, which always impact the price and demand.

Place: Another way to think of this “P” is “positioning.” How are you positioning the property in the market? Of course, its physical location matters, but this category also relates to where you market the property. A luxury property might be shown by appointment only (instead of an open house) or shown to luxury brokers at a broker’s open, with invites sent to the leading luxury agents in your area. Meanwhile, land might be marketed to enterprising buyers willing to build their dream home from the ground up.

Promotion: This “P” involves the marketing strategies used to sell or lease properties. Promotion includes advertising, public relations, marketing collateral, digital marketing, media outreach, open houses, broker’s open, caravans, showings, livestreams, 3-D virtual tours and all of the tools we included on this list of best marketing tools for real estate agents.

What marketing works for real estate?

Real estate marketing is most effective when it blends digital and in-real-life (IRL) activities. Focus on your reputation and building a personal brand around what types of clients and properties you work with. Once you define your niche, participate in community events, host learning opportunities for potential buyers and sellers, stay in touch with clients via a newsletter, and organically find ways to bring up your work to anyone you think you can serve.

If you’re just starting out building your email list, start with your existing networks of friends, colleagues, fellow volunteers, club members, or sports enthusiasts. Tap the folks you went to high school or college with, as well as your book club or rowing club teammates. The more networks you have, the better. People want to work with people they know and trust.

You can also buy real estate leads or cold-call to kickstart relationships with new prospective clients. However, focus on prospects within your local zip codes who have demonstrated interest — either through attending an event or entering their email address in Zillow or another lead capture website — in your services.

A few tried-and-true real estate marketing methods include content marketing (sharing valuable, hyperlocal content like blogs, videos, and infographics), networking and referrals, open houses, cold-calling, and targeted ads. Offer to host other agents’ open houses to meet active buyers. Don’t give up and continue being your authentic self — over time, your reputation will grow and people will learn they can trust you as a go-to resource.

Our methodology

HousingWire is the destination for industry leaders and decision-makers to stay informed and stay ahead of what’s going on in the constantly evolving U.S. housing industry. As an experienced real estate agent and instructor in Florida, I have years of experience using many platforms on this list. Coupled with my hours of research, testing, and delving into online comments to learn other agents’ experiences, I leaned on my knowledge of real estate agent pain points to create this list of marketing tools. I considered several factors for this review, including:

pros and cons of each tool

price 

special features 

ease of use 

return on investment 

client support 

customer reviews

I curated and evaluated each platform, analyzing a broad sampling of reviews across social media, the Better Business Bueau (BBB), and online discussion forums so you wouldn’t have to.

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