A recent survey of more than 2,000 real estate professionals by U.S.-based ActiveRain Corp. says overall spending on technology and technology-related marketing services is increasing, especially among the most successful agents, but real estate professionals continue to invest in direct mail as a preferred marketing vehicle.
The survey focused on measuring what software and marketing support real estate agents are using in their business and how much they are spending on these necessary tools of the trade.
“Real estate professionals are accelerating their investments in technology-based marketing options, but there’s not always a direct correlation between where they’re spending money and where they’re getting value,” says Nikesh Parekh, CEO for ActiveRain. “More agents are investing in the technology and pipeline management systems necessary to build successful, long-term businesses.”
Other highlights from the survey include:
– IDX websites, CMA software, contact management and email marketing continue to be the most important tools in the real estate industry with the highest overall usage
– Real estate agents earning more than $100,000 per year are willing to pay a premium for top IDX websites, contact management solutions, virtual tour software and team management
– Most other categories of software/technology show a reasonable fixed price per month regardless of the annual income of the agent
– More kinds of marketing and advertising solutions are used by agents with no single solution having dominant share
– Online agents are spending the most on lead generation, U.S. real estate websites (Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com) and pay-per-click advertising
– Social media, blogging and SEO have the broadest agent participation but low monthly spend, due to the predominance of free tools
– Direct mail has the largest agent participation of any offline marketing and advertising solution, regardless of agent income
– Top-producing agents earning more than $100,000 per year spend more in general across all categories but spend more money on online lead generation, national real estate websites and search engine marketing. Top-producing agents spend significantly more per month on marketing personnel and training/coaching
An infographic and deeper summary of the survey’s findings can be downloaded at www.activerain.com/real-estate-marketing.
ActiveRain is a real estate social network and real estate blogging platform. The ActiveRain community is composed of more than 220,000 real estate agents and affiliated real estate professionals.
