The Guide to Hyperlocal Marketing for Real Estate
When Craig Beggins received his real estate license at 18, his father, a Tampa, Fla., developer, told him to learn everything he could about the 83-acre, 300-lot Apollo Beach neighborhood Beggins still calls home.
To this day, he can quote every lot size, setback, bridge height, where the best restaurants are and how to get there. Need a referral? He knows all the local seawall and dock builders, contractors and every repairman who works in the neighborhood.
Likewise, Amy Broghamer, founder and lead agent for Amy B Sells in Anderson, Ohio, has served almost 10 years on the Anderson township’s economic and development committee and is actively engaged in the chamber of commerce. Her kids attend the local public schools, play local little league sports and use the local parks on a regular basis. For Broghamer, being deeply embedded in the community allows her to get to know many local people and stay current on events affecting the community.
With inventory levels tighter than ever and home values and prices fluctuating market to market, a real estate agent’s local expertise has never been in such high demand. In today’s market, agents need to get hyperlocal with their knowledge and marketing of those niche areas that buyers are shopping.
“Right now, the supply of homes in my market is very low, and the amount of buyers for those homes is very, very high,” says Broghamer. “After 18 years in this business, I know the top agents and listing leaders, and we have a trust between us to share opportunities and work together. You truly have to have your ear to the ground in this market on a daily basis to get opportunities early and often for your clients.”
10 Marketing Strategies to “Own” Your Local Market
Hyperlocal marketing sharpens the target market focus to a location as specific as Atlanta’s Inman Park neighborhood or East Austin in Texas and positions the agent as the local real estate authority.
When done correctly, hyperlocal marketing rewards with a rich source of search engine traffic, (read: more search results and clicks) when your keywords match potential clients’ search terms.
But how does an agent – whether acting on behalf of buyers or sellers – “own” a neighborhood or local market when so many agents are clamoring for so few listings? Here are 10 strategies to help you strengthen your position in your local market and become the local “super-agent.”
1. Know your boundaries.
Of course, an agent can’t be everywhere at once, so it’s important to select a core location and focus on that market to “own it” with authority. Therefore, the first step is to define your boundaries. Establish an area where you can master the neighborhood’s new developments, local agent relationships and hyperlocal price points. You can always widen the boundaries as you expand your network and grow your business.
For example, Broghamer recently learned of a family who was trying to buy in Anderson but was using an agent based in Oxford, Ohio, which is a one-hour drive away. “That’s not going to help that family get a house in Anderson. They need someone local who drives those streets every day and knows hundreds of people in the community,” she says. “This market in 2023 is based on community and relationships – who you know and how many people you know.”
For Clay Horan of Horan Rosenhagen Real Estate, Newport, Ky, even a quarter mile can make a big difference in home values in Newport’s historic “East Row” district, where one house might sell for $600,000 while another, located 150 yards down the street, may sell for $125,000. Having that hyperlocal market knowledge helps Horan maintain a competitive edge.
You’ll also want to make sure your area is not too large to cover and that you can drive end-to-end to easily take your buyer to showings. Speaking of showings, as a buyer’s agent you can quickly set up tours by using a showing cart, available with ShowingTime+’s showing management solutions. It works just like a shopping cart: Put listings in the cart, then submit your showing requests all at once. The feature simplifies the task and helps you plan tours in minutes and even includes an optimized Smart Route.
Once you have established clear boundaries, farm the local area for leads and contacts with the goal of becoming a familiar name to every buyer and seller in the local market.
2. Show personality in your social media.
A great way to develop a relationship with prospects is by sharing images on Instagram of your team’s charitable work, blogs from your site content and personalized posts that say a bit about who you are as a person. Join local Facebook groups and tag your location to “check in'' with a specific neighborhood on Facebook and Instagram, which will help boost your chances of showing up in search results. Or create informative videos about your community and post them on YouTube, the world’s second-largest search engine.
3. Collect testimonials of happy local customers.
You might also assemble an album of photos and video testimonials of clients in their new homes. Ask buyers and sellers for reviews in the days immediately following a closing, when they’re still excited about the outcome and can offer fresh details about your aboveboard service.
Tools like dotloop transaction management system’s automated templates, which can automatically remind admins to ask recently closed clients to share their agent reviews, make it easy for your transaction coordinators to collect testimonials.
4. Monitor your local market.
A fast-changing market requires a mastery of local trends, home values, days on market and other useful stats characterizing a niche location. The Target Market Analysis Report and Pricing Benchmark Report from ShowingTime+ give you real-time market-level data to provide accurate listing pricing in your town and the number of showings in different pricing brackets.
The Pricing Benchmark Report offers agents the data they need to navigate pricing conversations with sellers, particularly those who may have a different idea of how to price their home when the market says otherwise.
While this report helps agents midstream when the listing is still for sale, the Target Market Analysis Report helps listing agents become the experts – and acquire new business – when they’re able to share with sellers that they have access to data that identifies the optimal pricing range for a specific zip code, house size, neighborhood and more. They can also look at the number of showings the listing is likely to receive based on price and location.
5. Talk to local lenders.
As the level of inventory and buyer demand fluctuates greatly by market, many agents and brokers are getting granular with zip codes to give buyers and sellers the specific information that pertains to their individual neighborhood. In this challenging market, some brokers are engaging in regular dialogues with their lenders to gain a better understanding of local mortgage application activity.
As Peter Chabris, Keller Williams University Master Faculty, Keller Williams franchisee, and owner of The Chabris Group, says, “We do a large number of transactions and have our finger on the pulse of the market, but our lender will have an even better feel for the front end of the pipeline with new loan applications. It's a foreshadowing of what local buyer activity will look like 30 to 60 days from now.”
6. Use your blog.
Think about the process a client uses to find an agent in their local area. They typically go to Google and search agents in their city. Agents who have websites with rich content that includes mentions of your market by name are far likelier to show up in their first page of search results.
Take it one step further and start a monthly newsletter teasing your content and driving clients and prospects to your site. Maybe offer helpful checklist PDFs like this Seller’s Pre-Photography Showing Checklist in the form of free “gated content” that you can use to capture prospects’ emails and market directly to them via email communication.
Create pages that talk about individual neighborhoods in your market that clients may search, like Los Angeles’ Eagle Rock or Milwaukee’s Whitefish Bay. Talk about local restaurants and feature a few of your favorite places, like a bakery, a children’s park or the Saturday morning farmer’s market. Post about upcoming local events like a summer fair and offer tips to out-of-towners. Or use video to interview a young family who just moved to the area to get their take on what it’s like to live in your community.
7. Get involved in local events.
One way to market your brand across the community is by pitching an article idea with a key topic of local interest. Sign up to speak at the public library on a forum for homeowners to capture leads while delivering high-value content for prospective buyers and sellers, or organize a fundraiser to provide supplies to local schools, a shelter or non-profits.
Broghamer supports a local education foundation with a 5K race sponsorship and supports and raises money for the local school levy campaign. “Most everything I spend money on is giving back to the community in some way and it’s got my logo on it, so people see the support and know, if they need a Realtor®, that I’m giving back to their community,” she says.
Whatever the cause, make sure to take lots of pictures and post to your social channels.
8. Differentiate your listing media.
Rich, vibrant photography is only the beginning of an eye-catching listing media package. Today’s discerning customer demands the latest in imagery technology, like interactive floor plans with virtual tours, which create an immersive viewing experience, allowing buyers to see not only where they are in the home but also from which direction and location the images were taken. ShowingTime+ Listing Media Services packages the photo localization experience of a virtual tour and interactive floor plan with high-resolution stills, virtual staging and aerial drone photography to distinguish your listing from other listings and help you stand apart in your local market.
The media is auto-synced to Zillow, and you can easily upload it to your personal site and social media. You can also post the drone videos on YouTube to expand exposure and attract viewers interested in your specific community.
9. Position yourself as a local authority.
The way you position yourself in your marketing will help you stand out as the go-to authoritative real estate leader in your local area. On your neighborhood pages, include local listings for each and highlight unique features and facts.
Top-performing listers will also be interested in discovering Zillow Showcase, a new way to win listings with a differentiated listing experience. This innovative service from ShowingTime+ offers an exclusive set of agents the keys to a best-in-class listing display with prominent branding, including their photograph, name, firm and contact information displayed and differentiated in the listing; vibrant photography and listing media; and increased access to the largest online consumer audience on Zillow. For more information and to get on the waitlist in your market, click on Zillow Showcase.
10. Cross-market with other local businesses.
Partnering with key ancillary third-party providers like lenders, property managers and contractors can help you cross-promote your business and widen your sphere of influence, especially in a hyperlocal market. Add a directory on your site to share with clients and maybe feature these local business providers on your blog.
Consider a giveaway where you offer a free listing assessment using a tool like the Ultimate Listing Presentation while a local lender provides a free preliminary qualifying report. You might also start a joint referral program or host an eWebinar presentation to capture leads.
Hyperlocal real estate marketing requires hyperfocus on many levels in one area. By getting involved in the local community, building local relationships and posting consistently about local events, you can help strengthen your position as the premier, go-to agent in your community.
