The benefits of SMS marketing in real estate

"We are rapidly getting to the point where the single most important medium that people have is their wireless (mobile) device. It's with them every single moment of the day. It’s genuinely the convergence box that everyone has been talking about for so many years." – Andrew Robertson, CEO of BBDO WorldwideCan you remember when email marketing was “the next big thing” in real estate marketing? Today people get so much advertising email (junk email) in their inboxes, that they’ll either ignore and delete your email (even if they are an active buyer) or they’ll open it just so they can click on the unsubscribe link. Their thinking behind this action is that they can look at any new listings on property portals in their own time.The days where a real estate ad in a newspaper was the sole most effective way to sell a house were over with the advent of Internet and email marketing. Internet marketing is still going strong but email marketing is slowly dying because technology and people have changed – and if you as a real estate agent want to keep up, you need to be utilising the power of SMS marketing!Tech savvy agents have been using SMS to keep in contact with vendors and buyers for years – confirming an OFI with a vendor and confirming private inspections with buyers. By leveraging the power of SMS, these tech savvy agents are now successfully and effectively marketing to their buyers via SMS.SMS marketing works because people have their mobile phones on them all day, every day and you’re able to contact people with information instantly. Usually within minutes of sending your SMS, you buyer’s will have read it.What are the benefits of SMS marketing?Instant DeliverabilitySMS is lightning fast. Your message will get to your buyers almost instantly. While email is also very quick, nothing compares to the speed of SMS.High Open RateIn comparison to email marketing, SMS has a significantly higher open rate. Almost every single SMS sent will be opened and read, compared to open rates as low as 5% for some email marketing campaigns. As soon as a person feels their phone vibrate or hears their SMS tone, they look at their message.ReliabilitySMS is a direct connection to your buyers as there are no barriers like email spam filtering that will prevent some of your emails getting to their destination.Won’t it be hard to manage?SMS marketing would be very difficult to manage if you were using your mobile phone to send out your mass messages. It would be a time consuming process that you’d likely give up on after a week!To make SMS marketing easier, real estate CRM systems like Rex Software have varying levels of SMS functionality. With Rex, you’re able to input a buyer’s details including their buying criteria, and the system will automatically SMS them whenever a new listing matching the requirements is listed in your agency. This functionality is not only using SMS to market to your buyers, but it also happens automatically for you with no further input required from you.What about cost?It’s a marketing cost for your vendor – so add it to the vendor paid advertising (VPA) charges! No vendor is going to be silly enough to refuse to pay you $20-$50 (depending on the size of your buyers database) to cover the SMS’s one you’ve explained to them how SMS marketing works and how it will help sell their property sooner!When should I start using SMS marketing?Right now! If you haven’t started SMS marketing, you really need to get on the bandwagon! If your CRM doesn’t offer SMS marketing (or you’re not using a CRM), make sure you contact me for a demonstration on how Rex makes SMS marketing easy.