How Are Florida Marketing Agencies Enabling Local Real Estate Agents To Compete With Large Brokers

It’s no secret that the pandemic wreaked havoc on both the local and global economy, and no sector was able to escape from its grasp. It wasn’t any different for the real estate scene in 2020 in Florida.

If one thing’s changed, then it’s the super boom in the Florida real estate market brought about by the happenings of 2021. Investors, potential home buyers, and sellers all rejoiced like never before following the boom, and field experts are forecasting even more opportunities for 2022.

All of this begs one important question: what changed? Although there are multiple factors, there’s no denying the impact brought about by the Florida marketing agencies.

The Changes in the Florida Real Estate Scene

Not long ago, there were heavy attacks on Florida realtors from customers and the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) alike. This was all thanks to Florida laws that allow transactional brokerage without having to disclose it to the customers. As a result, most real estate agents work as facilitators and transactional brokers, not as single agents.

Various real estate agents exploited this opportunity to facilitate deals that work in their favor. As long as they closed the deal, they didn’t care much about the sellers’ or buyers’ end of the deal.

However, the scene of real estate in Florida is gradually changing, and we have the marketing agencies to thank for that. Marketing agencies know that the customer should be the focus of any transaction, and that’s how they’re slowly changing Florida’s real estate brokerage.

So how is it that local real estate agents are now able to compete with large brokers? For starters, they analyzed IDX and home search data to understand what consumers think about when they’re using real estate websites. By using the information they unearthed, they were able to integrate the latest marketing and IT technologies and trends into the real estate sector.

How Marketing Agencies Are Empowering Local Realtors in Florida

It takes a lot of commitment and experience to bring a local agency up to a global level, and that’s something all marketers know. That said, here are a few of the various steps marketing agencies are taking to empower local real estate agents in Florida:

1.   Build a Solid Marketing Foundation

For real estate businesses, the first success marker lies in how efficient a marketing funnel is. That makes sense since the majority of today’s customers will first search the internet when looking for properties to buy, and real estate agents are bound to lose the chance of attracting those customers if they don’t have a professional website that helps them attract and convert leads.

That’s where marketers come in to change the game. After analyzing Stellar MLS at https://showcaseidx.com/mls-coverage/stellar-mls-stellar/, one of the largest MLSs in the US, they realized the importance of picking the right MLS, or Multiple Listing Services. This service gives the broker access to the listings posted by other brokers. There is a myriad of MLS sites, so using the right software is crucial to accessing the latest and most sophisticated listing data.

The marketer’s job covers building a solid marketing foundation by fulfilling various other tasks as well. This includes building a responsive and well-designed website, branding, lead-capturing landing pages, area pages, and others.

2.   Use IDX Integration

A real estate agent can only fully utilize the data they access from MLS by using IDX integration. IDX, or Internet Data Exchange, is a plugin that can be integrated into a current website. This plugin allows the user to pull their MLS listings into their websites.

●     Applications of IDX Integration

The most basic IDX application is integrating the plugin into the website. Creative marketers know this isn’t the extent of its capabilities. So, in search of better ways to use the IDX integration, they can create leads, notes, contacts, and new interactions using different tools like Salesforce, Wise Agent, SugarCRM, or others.

3.   Tailor Websites to Buyers’ and Sellers’ Needs

Moving beyond the foundation, there are various ways to optimize a website for a better user experience. For instance, savvy marketers offer home valuations for customers in return for acquiring their email and basic information. This data goes straight to their lead acquisition funnel to attract more customers.

They can also get creative in how they showcase the listings. Instead of posting a listing with a basic description and subpar photos, they shoot professional videos for the for-sale properties. A real estate agent can benefit from these services by requesting an explainer video that showcases their agency.

4.   Infiltrate Different Platforms

Although the website will always be a realtor’s biggest project, they can’t miss out on the opportunities provided by using various social media platforms. A marketing agency will focus on improving the website’s user experience and SEO ranking, but they’ll also provide social media marketing services to expand the real estate agents’ reach.

However, merely establishing an online presence on various social media platforms isn’t enough. Today’s customers are always looking for marketing tactics that will awe them, so the marketers keep getting creative.

An experienced marketer will know how to use Instagram stories to promote a realtor’s business, rather than just relying on publishing posts. They’ll use Facebook and Twitter but also go deeper into the web to attract Reddit users. They’ll strengthen the realtor’s website and social media presence, then create listings on Pinterest to reach an even wider customer segment.

5.   Provide Valuable Information

Content is every marketing strategy’s cornerstone. It doesn’t matter how flashy the content is if it doesn’t provide any substantive value to the consumer. Rather than focusing on selling properties, marketing agencies take it a step further to help the readers make the decision that best suits their needs.

When put that way, the amount of content that can be created is infinite. You’ll understand when you see how the marketing agencies create a blog or video series that highlights the best attractions in certain neighborhoods. Their blogs are often filled with in-depth diagrams, statistics, maps, and charts. It’s not uncommon to even answer the buyers’ and sellers’ questions on the blog.

The Florida real estate scene has come a long way. Although multiple factors contributed, we mostly have the marketing agencies to thank for that with the new technologies and tools they introduced. The result is that now local real estate agents in Florida are able to compete with large brokers on equal grounds!

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