Many agents ask for a review on Zillow, Facebook, and Google and leave it at that. This tactic is impactful, as those testimonials come up when a buyer or seller looks up agents online. However, there are many ways to reuse testimonials in a marketing campaign — and most of these tactics are free to implement. Read over ten creative ways to reuse reviews and where to put them.

How to repurpose client testimonials

Getting a praising quote from a client is step one. It’s also important to ask the client if reusing the quote in promotional materials is OK. Once they approve, the testimonial can take many different forms.

Social media posts: Agents can shorten the quote (if necessary) and create enticing graphics with the testimonial included. These can be evergreen, recurring social media posts that agents can schedule throughout the year on all platforms. Quotes can also be part of social media ads. Potential clients want to know what it would be like to work with a specific agent, so advertising positive reviews can help.

Video testimonials: This is tricky, but if clients are willing, agents can ask for video testimonials (ideally in front of the property they just bought or sold). Videos can be shortened for social media posts, or agents can use the recording for podcasts.

Print materials: Many agents use direct mail marketing tactics, so why not include a short quote on those mailers. Testimonials can also go onto all other print materials and presentations.

Short eBook: Agents can create an eBook of success stories, including information on neighborhoods where they sold properties, how quickly they sold, and more. This doesn’t have to be long, but a two- or three-page ebook to showcase success stories can help potential clients envision working together.

Infographic: A visual guide is also helpful. Agents can take numbers (days on the market, number of offers, etc.) and turn them into an infographic. This marketing piece also makes a great touchpoint when converting clients in the sales funnel.

Agents can pick and choose how to reuse testimonials and then strategically place them across their website and in emails.

Where to put customer testimonials

In addition to posting client quotes on social media (and having them live on Zillow, HomeSnap, etc.), agents should use testimonials strategically across their website and email campaigns.

Testimonials page: Some agents choose to have an entire page dedicated to testimonials. This makes it easier for prospects to find reviews on the site. Agents can put the quote next to the property bought or sold so potential clients can see how agents work within specific price ranges or neighborhoods.

Widgets on the homepage: Agents can embed widgets on their homepage (or any website page) that automatically upload new reviews. These reviews can then be refreshed or rearranged accordingly.

Blog: Especially if the sale was difficult (or particularly noteworthy), consider creating a blog post that describes the process, challenges, and results. Potential clients can then read through to know what to expect when working with the agent. Of course, add a variety of images and videos to go along with each post.

As a CTA: Since all webpages will have a call to action (CTA), agents can consider making the CTA a link to testimonials. Instead of immediately asking the reader to “contact us,” agents can lead them to read about happy customers first.

A blurb in newsletter: For agents that send a newsletter to past and present clients, adding a new client quote is a good idea. Especially for a home that just closed or sold, adding a blurb about the client’s experience can be a great promotional tactic.

Email drip campaign: Many agents have drip campaigns set up to push prospects down the sales funnel. Sending a new, updated client testimonial can act as an excellent touchpoint to convert the prospect to a client.

Investing in client referrals

Agents genuinely understand the value of referrals; 43.8% of real estate agents would invest in referrals if they had extra in their marketing budget. While asking for referrals can be tedious, agents should not forget to reuse quotes and put them into marketing campaigns. Real estate agents can create a process for when a new testimonial comes in, such as adding it to the testimonial page and ensuring it goes live on social media quickly. While repurposing reviews takes time, it will be well worth the effort as new clients come in.

“it’s possible to layer a map of a neighborhood with demographic, socioeconomic, or even local crime data to assess the opportunities and risks involved with a specific property based on its location and historical patterns.”

It’s not uncommon for real estate professionals to find new clients from word-of-mouth referrals and networking. But with the abundance of information now available online, property buyer and seller behaviors are shifting, and real estate agents need to find new ways to market and sell their services in order to stay relevant.

One of the most recent advancements helping those in the real estate industry is location intelligence. This essentially means taking large sums of data about a place and transforming it into useful insights to understand and visualize the context around where a property is located.

The global location intelligence market is anticipated to reach $25.25 billion by 2025, according to market research and consulting company Grand View Research Inc. What’s more, 66 percent of enterprises currently rank location intelligence as either critical or very important to their ongoing revenue growth strategies.

Of course, the idea is nothing new in real estate. Buyers agents routinely perform this task for their clients, helping them purchase property in areas with good schools, convenient public services, or nearby other developments that may positively affect the value of the property in the future.

But with big data tools and advancements in location-based technologies, agents are able to visualize a property’s surroundings and target their advertising efforts like never before, helping them save time, impress clients, and ultimately, grow their businesses. Here’s a look at how location intelligence is entering the real estate industry and a few of its use cases for real estate marketing.

DATA VISUALIZATION

Location intelligence tools can help real estate agents aggregate and visualize data for better insights into a property. For example, it’s possible to layer a map of a neighborhood with demographic, socioeconomic, or even local crime data to assess the opportunities and risks involved with a specific property based on its location and historical patterns. By combining data from a variety of sources, this helps buyers see what it would really be like to live in a certain area.

Real estate agents can also incorporate intelligent tools in their marketing plan for listings. The Walkscore widget showcases the ease of getting around a neighborhood, such as the distance from a property to a grocery store, park, school, or public transit system. Agents can also use REALTORS Property Resource to create reports and maps that incorporate school data, flood zones, tax information and other important points of consideration for potential buyers.

GEOFENCING

Geofencing allows businesses to advertise to potential clients within a specific geographic area by constructing virtual limits around a location. Typically, geofencing uses some combination of GPS, radio frequency identifiers, Bluetooth technology, and beacons. While the technology is not new, the increasing presence of mobile devices has made geofencing more accessible to the average agent.

Geofencing allows real estate agents to create virtual boundaries around areas where they want to advertise their properties. For instance, a geofence could be set up nearby certain office areas or shopping centers where target demographics are likely to spend their time. The easiest way to do this is by using a mobile app. For instance, a brokerage might work with a developer to create an app so agents can select boundaries around a specific location. As customers enter that area, the app will trigger mobile alerts. Typically, customers will need to opt into location services on their devices for the geofence to work. Building a geofencing app from scratch can cost thousands of dollars; however, services such as Reach Local and Simpl.fioffer more affordable options.

A mobile app that allows customers to opt in to receive notifications is recommended, as some operating systems, such as Google’s Android, have recently disabled automatic “nearby notifications,” typically pushed by marketers to users without making them download an app.

HYPERLOCAL AD TARGETING

Location technology can also help your ad budget go further. Facebook, Twitter, and most other social networks offer businesses the ability to target audiences based on their location or specific geographic area. This is just one example of how location intelligence has worked its way into the marketing world, helping businesses tap into the demographic data of their target audience.

To bring this tactic to the next level, think about what other types of information can be layered onto location to give you even better targeting abilities. Transactional data, or information about consumers’ spending habits, can help you segment audiences more accurately. With an understanding of a target market’s lifestyle choices and spending power, real estate agents can design more accurate ad campaigns to reach those consumers at the right time. For instance, consumers who have the ability to purchase luxury vehicles may also be interested in luxury properties in specific areas.

As attention spans continue to shrink and competition for buying and selling properties online intensifies, brokerages must deliver relevant offerings at the right time—and the right place. Moving forward, location intelligence will play a major role in helping agents gather insights and make better decisions about listing ads, marketing, and strategic planning for their business.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM NAR.