Mobile Marketing (along with Social Media) seems to be one of the buzz terms in the Real Estate industry lately. Because of this interest a number of companies have popped up over the last year that claim to have a Real Estate Mobile Marketing solution. Invariably, many of them  have a similar concept; text in a keyword to a number and get back information on the property via a text message. And that is where most of them stop.

Many of these new companies leave out the essential features, options and controls necessary to help REALTORS generate qualify leads via mobile marketing. We have compiled a list of features (and why they are important) that you should look for in your Real Estate Mobile Marketing solution.

• Instant Notifications- These notify you as soon as an inquiry comes in. The notification should provide both the number of the person inquiring and the basic information about the property.  You should have an option of receiving notifications via text (SMS), email or both.

• Link to Mobile Optimized Website or Virtual Tour- Many services claim to be a complete mobile package.  They include a link to the property’s virtual tour in the text message but they leave it up to the real estate agent to make sure the virtual tour is mobile optimized. By having a mobile optimized virtual tour you ensure that the prospective buyer can get the information they want without having to decipher a web site that shows up poorly on their phone.

• Email Package- Text Messaging by its nature is limited to 160 characters.  While you can pack a lot of information into that 160 characters you can’t get it all in there.  Make sure that your Real Estate Text Message provider has an email option.  This will provide you with a way to capture a leads email address and provide the lead with more information on demand.

• Call Me Now Option- I know, the lead is texting because they don’t want to call.  But, once they have the information they requested and have been able to qualify the home as one they want to see more of they are more likely to want to speak to an agent.  Why not make it easy on them and have the agent call?  It is also a way of qualifying very interested leads.

• Reporting- no program, no matter how inexpensive or simple to use is worthwhile unless it provides reporting. All reporting should include date and time of day, property information, phone number and type of inquiry (text, email package, call me, etc…).  In addition to online reporting a weekly or monthly summary that is automatically emailed to you should be part of the package because, let’s face it, you are busy and the last thing you need to do is log in to yet another web site just to run activity reports.

Before you start using Mobile Marketing for Real Estate make sure your provider has these features.

About 5 years ago we were deep into research about the commercial use of text messaging.  At this time there weren’t many companies that were providing commercial text messaging services.  We actually managed to find about 5 in the country at the time, none of them had a product specifically designed for the real estate industry.  So we set out to create the best real estate text messaging system possible.  We wanted to create an easy to use lead generating system that REALTORS would love.

Along the way we learned a number of things abut what REALTORS want and need and how to generate leads for REALTORS.  As it turns out we didn’t create the best real estate text messaging system possible.  We ended up creating what we consider to be the best real estate digital marketing system available on the market.

Why is Digital Home Info the best Real Estate Marketing system?

Customer Service- Yes, Customer Service is the number one reason we are the best.  Our customers are the most important part of our business.  Without them we wouldn’t have a business.  So we listen to them when they have an issue or request.  Many REALTORS work everyday of the week, so do we.  When our customers have questions they can pick up the phone and get a live person.  When you send in an email we guarantee you’ll get a response and the issue/question will be addressed. This level of customer service has enabled us to grow and retain our customer base.

Technology- Second only to Customer Service is our technology.  We have yet to find a competitor that offers the same combination of technology that Digital Home Info does.  Some of them have some of the components but there isn’t one that does everything we do:

• Text Messaging
• Toll Free Call Capture
• Virtual Tours
• Mobile Virtual Tours
• Social Media Integration
• Automated Video Creation
• Syndication
• Lead Reporting
• REALTOR.COM Posting

Value- This is the final piece of the puzzle that makes us the best.  While our service and technology are enterprise class our pricing is not. We know that many of our competitors charge double or triple what we do and all they offer is just one of the services included in Digital Home Info.  Our philosophy is that by providing a great service at a reasonable price everyone wins. This is value.

Want to learn more?  Try giving us a call, 877.250.5277

This week we thought it would be a good idea to post some tips for our realtors that we think might help them maximize the Real Estate Mobile Marketing tools at their disposal.

Is it really just as easy as placing a sign in the yard? The answer to that is yes and no. Placing a sign in the yard will develop leads and those leads will turn into customers, but in order to get the most out of your mobile marketing tools you should first exercise the full options of your mobile tools and then integrate the mobile tools into your overall marketing strategy.

The first part of this is utilizing the full options of your mobile tools. What does this mean? Well for the package that Digital Home Info offers this means using the Toll Free Call Capture, Email (adding attachments, pictures, MLS sheets, etc… to the email), Contact, More Information and Mobile Tour features that come with every listing.

Once you have set up the options you want to use, it is time to integrate the messaging tools into your overall marketing plan. This means setting up the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Syndication features so that we can push your listings out to your social media networks and multiple real estate related sites on the Internet.  It also means including the property code and Virtual Tour links in your other advertising.

Here are just a few things that some of our clients attribute their success with using our service:

1) Include the property code in your newspaper, magazine and online listing ads. A great way to do this is to modify the picture of the property to include a small banner across the bottom with the texting instructions.  You will enhance your ability to deliver information to a buyer and your ability to capture lead information for follow up.

2) Remove the paper flyers from the property and place only the Text Messaging and Toll Free signs in the yard. This will encourage buyers to seek information through this service increasing your lead captures and driving additional traffic to your Virtual Tours.

3) Promote the Text, Toll Free and Virtual Tour service as a part of your marketing strategy to prospective sellers to let them know that you are up to date with the latest technology and using it to sell their home.

4) Include links to your Virtual Tour, web site, your email address and contact information in the Text Messages and Toll Free message. This will drive traffic to you through your site or direct contact.

5) Use the Text Messaging , Toll Free and Virtual Tour service on every property! The more visible your service is, the greater the usage will be.

Thanks to all of our realtors who have shared their success stories.  We look forward to hearing more.  How have you used mobile applications for real estate?

The Short Code is 71813.  To get the property information via text message put 71813 in the “TO” (phone number) field and the property code (HOME2000) in the message body.  For example:

To: 71813

Message: HOME2000