Marketing for Property
Developers in 2024

We have some bad news. You see, many people in charge of the marketing for property developers are living in 2010. They’re solely relying on REA Group (the team behind realestate.com.au), and we’re here to warn you that, unfortunately, their lead costs aren’t worth the money.

Other agencies across Australia charge hundreds of thousands of dollars for branding and creative concepts, which is great. A strong brand and visually rich marketing assets are foundational to a successful property marketing campaign. But, where these agencies fail is in delivering the enquiries you need to sell your inventory.

Here we’ve compiled this exhaustive list of marketing tips and tricks that all property developers need to know to grow in 2023 and beyond.

Why Do Property Developers Need a Marketing Strategy?

First, let’s discuss marketing for property developers and why you need it. Desperately.

to stand out from competitors

Property development is one of the country’s most competitive industries. As you know, there are hundreds of new property developments cropping up across Australia annually.

There’s only one way to stand out from the crowd—with an efficient marketing campaign. It will not only boost brand awareness but increase leads, which is precisely what you need.

To find and build a relationship with your target audience

Building a relationship with targeted clients is essential for property developers, as most home buyers aren’t going to make an instant purchase. The idea is to foster a nurturing relationship with them through content marketing strategies like blog posts, social media updates and email marketing newsletters.

This list of potential clients will be integral to your business’s future success. A quality client portfolio also helps you establish a good name and image in the real estate industry–a name that equals trust, credibility and satisfied customers.

The aim of the game is for these clients to become free brand ambassadors for your business through positive reviews and by sharing social media posts.

To generate sales leads

As with every other business, if you don’t actively promote your development through multiple marketing channels, no one will know about it. No one can buy what you’re selling if they don’t know it exists. This is why an effective marketing campaign is imperative.

To generate sales leads

Key Property Development
Marketing Strategy Tips

Your property development won’t get anywhere without an effective marketing strategy. When it comes to marketing for property developers, these are the key ingredients.

brand identity

The first thing you need to do is create a strong brand identity. This includes designing a compelling logo, creating a tagline, formulating your main messaging and designing cohesive visual elements that convey the essence of your development. These visual elements should include:

Perception is everything in property development, so you want to create professional brochures made of high-quality paper stock. It should contain valuable information about the development. It should also reflect your business’s brand identity and ethos.

Most real estate developments include big banners in prominent locations highlighting the work to pique the interest of passersby.

Your digital footprint should all be symmetrical and reflect your brand identity, from the logo to the messaging.

Your branding should include the same fonts and colour scheme as well. A seamless brand identity from the digital space to the showroom will give people the right perception of your work and company.

Website

Your website is critical to the brand identity puzzle. This will be the first point of contact as they search for a new home or investment. Therefore, you want to develop a user-friendly, responsive, and aesthetically pleasing website highlighting the most important information.

Website inclusions

Your website should include:

A section that highlights your company’s background, mission and vision.
The property development’s top features and unique selling points include amenities, views, and energy efficiency.
Professional images, videography and rendering (more on that is below).
Floor plans
Pricing
Location. Highlight surrounding natural attractions, public transport links and amenities to attract buyers.
Lead generation, like email marketing pop-ups.
Blog posts, updates or a news section focusing on wider real estate market trends. Every post should include a call-to-action (CTA) to entice potential clients to connect with you.

Focus on unique content that will increase website traffic, boost leads and ultimately increase your sales conversion rate.

invest in 3d render

A study by Redfin found that homes with 3D walkthroughs and floor plans were viewed 10 times more than homes without. (Redfin)

As mentioned, an interactive 3D render of your development is another important element to include on your website. A render allows people to visualise themselves in a property being sold off-the-plan. It’s a property development’s version of an open-house inspection.

The render provides visuals for your entire marketing campaign, making it worth its weight in gold. It’s also a pivotal way to build confidence in prospective buyers.

A high-quality website is going to set you apart from competitors, so it’s an area that’s always worth the investment.

seo

Over 60% of property developers use search engine optimisation (SEO) to increase visibility.

Do you know what goes hand-in-hand with your beautiful website? SEO or search engine optimisation.

You want to ensure your website is both search engine optimised and mobile-friendly so you don’t miss out on any leads.

According to SEO gurus, Moz, SEO can help boost website traffic 20 times more than a pay-per-click campaign. Yes, that’s how paramount it is to rank high in search engine results for property developers in your area.

Your agency’s team should optimise your website from top to bottom, including everything from the home page to landing pages to blog posts and images. Optimise for evergreen keywords, trending phrases and local SEO.

For example, optimising your entire website for “Melbourne property developers” or “property development” if that’s where you’re based. This will collaboratively work to rank you higher on Google and increase your organic traffic.

At Evolving Digital, we use analytic tools to our advantage to understand how consumers behave on your website and then adjust and optimise accordingly.

One of the things we love about SEO is that you can reap the benefits for an extended period of time without spending any extra time or money. This is why optimising your content and website needs to be a part of every property developer’s marketing strategy.

Digital Advertising

First, let’s discuss marketing for property developers and why you need it. Desperately.

It’s time to take control of your lead generation. We’re going to be real and break it down for you. You see, Google Ads will deliver just as good lead quality as REA. The catch? Well, Google Ads is often anywhere from 50% to 80% cheaper than REA.

Dedicated Google advertising strategies and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns are a cost-effective way to generate leads and sales easily. This includes Google Ads, keyword optimisation that directly targets your desired audience and landing page optimisation so those clicks become potential clients.

A key part of your digital advertising strategy is maintaining cohesive social media accounts. In particular, focus on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Paid Social Media Advertising

We’ve come to realise that so many agencies and marketers aren’t aware of the power of paid social media campaigns. Nor do they know how to effectively structure a paid social media advertising campaign. We highly recommend leveraging paid social advertising to help build brand awareness.

Facebook and Instagram ads are not only one of the most budget-friendly paid advertising strategies available. But you can also use the data to your advantage and measure everything from impressions to conversions.

The other added benefit (if you need one) is that you can specifically focus on your target audience and demographic. Two key ways to use paid social media advertising are to increase clicks to your high-quality website or generate leads by gathering contact information.

Investing in the Australian property market is secure and shows no signs of slowing down. Increasing in value by an average of 7% per year over the last 10 years is predicted to continue to rise. It means there has never been a better time to present your development to potential investors via digital advertising.

Cut through the noise with incentives that create urgency and present your brand as the one that will attract liquid investors looking for potential opportunities.

Over 80% of property developers use email marketing to reach potential buyers. (Zillow)

While we’re on the topic of digital marketing, we need to take a moment to talk about email marketing. Because email marketing works and works well, it’s one of the most cost-effective digital marketing methods we know will be music to many businesses’ ears.

Home purchases are often people’s biggest lifetime purchases, whether they’re an owner/occupiers or investors. The bigger the purchasing decision, the longer people can convert.

We want to do away with paying to constantly re-market to these users (and frankly, burning ad dollars). Instead, capture first-party data like emails and use this to communicate the following ideas:

Email Marketing Ideas for
Property Developers

Project developments and updates so that you keep in touch with these prospects.

New and exciting promotions and offers.

Links to blogs or other website landing pages where they can gather more information.

You can also use your email list to collect reviews and testimonials to add to your website to build credibility. Another option is to conduct surveys and gather information about your local market. Email marketing options are endless.

Building sequences = building successful sales

You don’t want to stop at just standardised email marketing, either. By that, we mean you must do more than send one email to your list. Instead, build sequences that ensure that no matter what stage of the journey your prospect is at, they’re being communicated with in a meaningful and contextual manner.

An effective way to categorise your leads and build sequences is through a multiple-choice lead generation form. For example, ask consumers what stage of their buying process.

The right marketing agency will use email marketing software that creates personalised emails and automatically segments leads, saving you time and resources. It will send the right information to the right person at the right time. Once again, don’t underestimate the power of a call-to-action that directs people to your website, either.

Understand Your Target Audience

For property developers, now is not the time to focus on first-time buyers. With rising interest rates and increases in rental prices, the best audiences that will capitalise on this current financial situation are high equity and liquid property investors.

Property developers use data-driven marketing to track customer behaviour and develop more effective marketing campaigns.

Email Marketing Ideas for
Property Developers

Use census data to learn about the area’s current demographic. It includes everything from age to gender, income and education levels.

Research the competition and see who their marketing campaigns target.

Analyse your website traffic to determine visitors’ browsing habits.

Once your target audience is locked down, creating a buyer profile is a great idea. As mentioned below, the marketing team and sales agents will benefit from an in-depth understanding of your ideal client.

Digital advertising is about spending smarter and effectively focusing on your target audience. Your marketing strategy should always include researching your consumer demographics and building your campaigns based on this demographic data.

Lead Generation

Lead generation is a key component in any marketing strategy. It’s collecting personal information from prospective clients, building relationships, and persuading them to become paying clients. How do you convince them?

With effective sales talk and “leads.”

We’ve already discussed several lead-generation strategies for real estate developers. But here’s a quick breakdown and recap:

Lead
Nurturing

A report by Marketo found that companies that nurture leads make 50% more sales at a cost that’s 33% less than non-nurtured prospects.

By investing in lead generation and promoting campaigns, property developers can increase the likelihood of converting leads into sales while minimising the cost per acquisition. (Marketo, 2022)

Evaluate and improve lead quality

The most under-utilised approach, above all else, is to analyse your lead quality. This should be a part of every marketing strategy. Too many agencies (and businesses, too) just focus on the numbers. Anyone can get 100 leads, but what does the quality of those leads look like? Do the consumers even know what they are signing up for?

If you’ve ever utilised a pay-per-lead model, you will know exactly what we’re talking about.
Make sure you’re able to attribute low-quality leads to a particular campaign activity.

That way, your property marketing partner can analyse where they came from and optimise accordingly. If your marketing partner cannot tell you exactly where your leads are coming from, you need to find someone who can.

Conversion rate optimisation

Another way to improve lead quality is through conversion rate optimisation (CRO). This involves analysing different website elements to improve the user experience and increase the number of visitors who take action. Taking action might include signing up for your emails, sending an email, or, you know, making a purchase!

The three main CRO tricks include user testing, where you evaluate how real users interact with the website. Then there’s heat mapping, which tracks where users click on the website so you can visualise the areas attracting the most attention.

Finally, A/B testing is when you have two different web page versions, and you track to see which outperforms the other. The differences might be headlines, photos or the call-to-action.

Collaborate on Marketing Efforts With Sales Agents

To establish an effective advertising and marketing campaign, your sales agents and marketing agency need to be best friends. Personify your brand by leveraging your commercial sales team to start the sales process inside your marketing campaign. Once again, perception is everything, so create a high expectation of what the customer can anticipate, and it will undoubtedly improve your conversion rates.

How can your sales agents collaborate on marketing efforts? They can start by doing the following:

Appeal to a buyer’s senses by creating mood boards. Allow them to touch and feel proposed finishings like carpets.
Conduct site walkarounds. (Construction updates are great too!)
Promote the area and the opportunities available if they were to live in the neighbourhood, show the different types of land and the other lots — help to paint the picture of your prospects living there!
Focus on the potential return when speaking with investors. Talk about future population growth, rental yields, opportunities for landlords and all things that translate to an increase in equity.
When speaking with owners/occupiers, sell the picture of the unique and growing community they can shape.

Six Steps to an Effective
Property Marketing Strategy

Now we know the key ingredients every property development marketing campaign needs, let’s break down the steps to create this strategy.

01 Confirm Your Purpose

This includes determining what you want to achieve and how you’ll reach those goals. For example, do you solely wish to to generate leads and turn these consumers into paying clients?

02 Define Your
Target Audience

As discussed, most property developers should focus on high-equity property investors. But your target audience might differ. Once you have it locked down, you can skip to the next step.

03 Confirm Your Budget

The big one. This helps your marketing agency understand where to allocate funds to create the most cost-effective yet useful marketing strategy possible. Your agency should have a clear benchmark of what your expected cost-per-lead will be so that you can reach your monthly sales targets.

Confirm Your Purpose

This includes determining what you want to achieve and how you’ll reach those goals. For example, do you solely wish to to generate leads and turn these consumers into paying clients?

Define Your Target Audience

As discussed, most property developers should focus on high-equity property investors. But your target audience might differ. Once you have it locked down, you can skip to the next step.

Confirm Your Budget

Conduct Market Analysis

This is when your agency’s industry experience is essential. They’ll use their skills and knowledge to conduct market research on your desired audience. It will help them, and you understand the market, including what your target audience wants and what sets you apart from the competition.

04 Conduct Market Analysis

05 Implement the Marketing Strategy

You’ve got your purpose, target audience and budget. Now it’s time to implement all the elements discussed above.

06 Analyse the Results

One of the key things you and your agency should be doing during the campaign’s duration is analysing the results. On your side, the first step is to keep an eye on sales. If they’re not increasing, something needs to change. Secondly, asking customers how they heard about your development is always valuable.

As for your marketing team, they should be analysing the various advertising and marketing channels and their outcomes, plus sales conversion rates. That way, they can determine what elements generate leads and adapt your marketing and advertising strategy accordingly.

Are you on the hunt for a dedicated team to handle your digital marketing needs?

When looking for an experienced agency that knows the ins and outs of marketing for property developers, look to Evolving Digital. We know how to create an effective marketing strategy for your real estate business that increases brand awareness and transforms leads into profits.

Marketing for Property Developers in 2024

Why Do Property Developers Need a Marketing Strategy?

to stand out from competitors

To find and build a relationship with your target audience

To generate sales leads

To generate sales leads

Key Property Development Marketing Strategy Tips

brand identity

Website

Website inclusions

invest in 3d render

seo

Digital Advertising

Paid Social Media Advertising

Email Marketing Ideas for Property Developers

Building sequences = building successful sales

Understand Your Target Audience

Email Marketing Ideas for Property Developers

Lead Generation

Lead Nurturing

Evaluate and improve lead quality

Conversion rate optimisation

Collaborate on Marketing Efforts With Sales Agents

Six Steps to an Effective Property Marketing Strategy

01

Confirm Your Purpose

02

Define Your Target Audience

03

Confirm Your Budget

04

Conduct Market Analysis

05

Implement the Marketing Strategy

06

Analyse the Results

Are you on the hunt for a dedicated team to handle your digital marketing needs?

Marketing for Property
Developers in 2024

Key Property Development
Marketing Strategy Tips

Email Marketing Ideas for
Property Developers

Email Marketing Ideas for
Property Developers

Lead
Nurturing

Six Steps to an Effective
Property Marketing Strategy

Define Your
Target Audience