The date for the open house has been set. Now, it’s time to engage as many prospective buyers as possible. Remember, an open house is an incredible opportunity as a free marketing event to get face-to-face time with multiple potential buyers or sellers and initiate high-quality interactions with them. To ensure you reach many clients, you need to combine traditional real estate marketing tactics with more modern tactics to reach your target audience. Here are some unique ways that will bring the highest amount of interest—and hopefully offers—to your open house.
Use Direct Mail
Direct marketing is a traditional real estate marketing tactic that still holds high value in today’s digital age. According to Allegiant Marketing Group, 79% of households read or scan direct mail ads. On top of this, direct mail provides value in unique ways, like emotional connection; sixty percent of people find enjoyment in checking their mailboxes, and a startling 90% of millennials find direct mail to be a trustworthy source of information—and find it influential when making a purchasing decision. As you prepare for your open house, then, consider producing those pamphlets, brochures, and guides. Use the digital marketing center in the BHGRE GreenHouse for an easy, professional start!
Don’t forget the in-person print marketing opportunities as well; hand out “just listed” door hangers in the neighborhood, and offer neighbors BHG magazines with flyers, to encourage area participation and support.
Use Physical Signage and Decoration
Let passersby know that you’re there! After all, a large amount of open-house traffic still comes from locals in the immediate area at the event time. Use balloons, a large amount of branded signs, and notices everywhere. Not only will this increase excitement, but it will also increase your brand exposure in the neighborhood as well. With proper decorations on the actual property, people will feel welcome to come inside, and you’ll begin the experience on a positive, inviting, and celebratory note right away. Be sure to get your signs out early so you’re not battling traffic and busy sidewalks, and include an address so people can plug it into their GPS systems; this way, you can spread your physical marketing opportunities even further.
Blog About It
As a real estate agent in today’s digital age, you need to have a website. Blogs are an excellent way to provide your prospective clients with valuable, engaging, and informative content they would not have seen otherwise. Use this to your advantage prior to the open-house weekend. Produce a highly visual blog post that captures the unique features of the home for sale. Keep the written content short and precise, providing important details about the property, but don’t give too much information away. The key is to attract prospective buyers, but also to leave them wanting more. Be sure to drive people to your blog so they can discover this information, whether by social media posts, pay-per-click advertising, or having contacts share the link with their networks.
Send a Newsletter Blast
Email campaigns have the power to draw in a large range of prospective buyers to the open house weekend. Access your list of homebuyer leads in your BHGRE CRM tool, and send out a newsletter blast designed to spark interest in the open house. Similar to the blog post, the idea is to grab readers’ attention while encouraging them to attend the open house to satisfy their interest. Provide visuals and highlight important details of the home within the content, but don’t forget about creating a captivating subject line. This is the first thing potential buyers will see, and it needs to inform, encourage, and intrigue in order to encourage opens. Don’t forget to include other agents in your blast as well, and you may find referral traffic by association.
Share it on Social Media
Social media is a force to be reckoned with, with an estimated 2 billion total active users. Prior to the open-house weekend, share various images and videos across all of your social media platforms. Provide visuals that showcase the characteristics of the property, along with key details about how prospective buyers can attend the open house. Don’t forget to add a link where followers can find more information, as this will be key to converting them.
Make it Virtual
Not all interested buyers will be able to attend the open house weekend. However, that doesn’t mean that they have to miss out on the opportunity altogether. Virtual home tours are quickly becoming a popular alternative to hosting an open house. While it’s not suggested to go completely virtual, incorporating a house tour that can be viewed online or by a live stream, perhaps started through Facebook Live, and shared across networks, will ensure the highest amount of prospective buyers can participate.
A combination of traditional real estate marketing and digital marketing tactics is sure to reach the highest amount of homebuyer leads. The key is to keep the prospective buyers wanting more to draw a large crowd to the open house weekend.
