If you are you stuck in a spiral of feast and famine when it comes to generating new business then this is the blog for you. We put a spotlight on the great debate between ‘pull’ versus ‘push’ in real estate marketing and explain why the right strategy can take you from hustling for business to generating a steady flow of leads.
What is pull marketing?
Also referred to as inbound or permission-based marketing, pull marketing works on the basis of using online tactics to make your presence known. How? By targeting people that are already looking for the information, services or products you sell.
Pulling relies entirely on your audience naturally gravitating towards you. But this isn’t left up to chance! The customer is given the illusion that they have found you themselves, but the way in which they discover you has been expertly planned.
Examples of pull marketing in real estate are content marketing, websites, blogs and social media. Successful agents use these to create their own personal or company profiles. By developing a strong brand around your services, customers will find you or become aware of you long before they need your services.
Pulling works well in industries where the general public is aware of the service that you offer, they have a need for it and are looking for the right provider. Therefore, this strategy lends itself perfectly to real estate agents.
What is push marketing?
Commonly known as outbound marketing, this is the traditional tactic associated with promotion and advertising. Focused on gaining wider audience attention. The concept rests on the belief that the larger the audience, the greater the likelihood of finding interested people.
The idea is to take your service to the consumers, instead of waiting for them to approach you. This is usually done around the launch of a new product to build visibility and generate interest. Typically, they take place offline and are more dominant in addressing the public.
Examples of common forms of push marketing in real estate are cold calls and paid advertising, such as print, TV, radio or direct mail.
What’s the difference between pull and push marketing in real estate?
At this point, it’s clear that pull and push marketing approaches in real estate take opposite stances. The primary difference centring on how they build consumer audiences. Pushing is about audience numbers, concerned with gaining exposure in the hopes of building an audience. Whereas pulling is focused on the quality of the audience, encouraging engagement from an already interested consumer base to curate a community. The best way to break this down is by viewing pushing as going to the consumer, and pulling as bringing the consumer to the product.
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So, are you pushing or pulling? The answer is simple. If you find yourself constantly reaching out to the public to find potential vendors or educating them on your available listings you are pushing. When individuals seek you out to find or sell properties, congratulations you are successfully pulling.
A pull marketing strategy typically can’t deliver results overnight. This is why many agents are tempted by the short term allure of push marketing, which might generate a listing or sale of a property quickly. But beware of a single-minded approach. Whilst pushing is initially effective this tactic only provides a short-term solution and can create a vicious cycle with supply and demand or feast or famine when it comes to new business.
Push marketing can be effective in leading to spikes of new clients but eventually, it drops back off, having left no real impact in building your brand long term. This often leads to entering an expensive never-ending promotion cycle. Conversely, pulling is all about building a successful long-term loyal tribe. Agents who effectively pull, reap long-term benefits, through building a consistent and lucrative brand tribe.
Want to move towards a ‘pull’ strategy? Social media and content marketing is your best friend. Make sure to post quality content and valuable information regularly. Once your content is sorted look into developing an SEO campaign for your website or paid search campaign (i.e. Google Ads), centred on keywords that your potential customers will search for to make yourself easier to discover.
Need help with your digital marketing?
Chronicle Republic Communications specialise in social media for real estate, property and interiors professionals.
If you are looking for social media for real estate, property or interior design our digital marketing experts can help you bring your brand’s story to life.
