Real estate is built on relationships –  whether it’s with your clients, team, partners, local businesses, and ancillary service providers. And, real estate companies that offer additional services outside of traditional real estate sales are growing. According to a survey conducted by the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), 21% of real estate companies offer common ancillary services now. And that number is only expected to grow as consumers expect more from their experiences with service providers.

Today, many companies are looking to extend their services and add even more value to what they offer. As a strategy to stand out and attract more clients, adding ancillary services can be incredibly effective, and there are opportunities to rethink the most effective digital marketing strategies for real estate that take advantage of new lead sources and broader customer interest. The result is more new customers and more business from each customer.

What are ancillary businesses for real estate?

Whether you started your own, acquired, invested in, or partnered with an existing business, ancillary businesses are a great way to provide a one-stop shopping experience for your clients, to market your real estate business to people at different stages in their buying and selling journey, to diversify your revenue sources, and to make more money from each transaction. According to that same study conducted by NAR, the most popular ancillary businesses for real estate include mortgage lending, relocation services, home warranty, home improvement services, title, and escrow.

Just as you put effort into marketing your real estate company, dedicating time and resources to marketing your ancillary businesses can be incredibly worthwhile. You can use marketing to target people in-market for one service and then sell them additional services. You can sell the value of your one-stop-shop service to people unsure of what they need to ensure they reach out to you first, a key indicator that they’ll eventually work with you. And because competition and ad costs vary, looking at potential customers holistically allows you to find the best, and most cost effective, strategies to reach and engage them without being beholden to one specific targeting strategy. 

All that said, keep in mind that although some strategies can and should be used to market all businesses providing products and services your customers might need, each business should have its own strategy as well. Looking at your business units’ digital marketing holistically and individually will ensure you can maximize the benefits of online advertising and leverage the most effective messaging to drive action for those who know what they want when they want it, which isn’t always the same for different services.

Keep reading to discover some of the ways you can market your real estate and ancillary businesses, and get more from each of your relationships. 

8 ways to market your real estate and ancillary businesses

1. Create a landing page 
2. Incorporate into blog posts
3. Feature on social media
4. Use advertising to find the path of least resistance
5. Leverage forms that funnel leads
6. Include testimonials
7. Showcase case studies
8. Host a webinar 

Create a landing page with high-quality content

Landing pages are some of the ways to market your ancillary businesses. When creating these landing pages, make sure that you have a link in your main navigation that clearly points users to that page. Make it easy for people on your site to find information about the business by also including links to that landing page elsewhere on your site. For example, at the end of a blog post (more on them later) that incorporates the services your ancillary businesses offer, place a call to action that links to the landing page. 

And, content on your landing page should showcase why your ancillary businesses are great to work with, a little bit about who/what they are, and links to their website as well. You can also include testimonials and case studies as well (keep reading for more details on those!) 

Incorporate into blog posts

Blog posts offer an insight into your company and give you plenty of opportunities to highlight your ancillary businesses. Consider creating blog posts that incorporate your ancillary services. Consider writing a post on tips for a smooth move-in, and include information on how your ancillary businesses can help clients move in. And, as mentioned previously, you should add a call to action at the bottom to get in touch with you and/or learn more about your ancillary business. 

Feature on social media

Dedicating a post to shouting out your ancillary businesses and highlighting their services is a great way to not only raise brand awareness for those services, but also your real estate company. Social media continues to be a highly valuable way of attracting and engaging your audience and prospective leads. Select a platform that makes sense for you and your content and be sure to tag or link to your ancillary businesses to maximize exposure. Often, you can get a share in return which boosts your real estate company’s visibility. 

Use advertising to find the path of least resistance

Online advertising is an effective way to create interest in your company, and increase buyer and seller leads. Imagine though that you don’t have to compete with everyone looking to find sellers immediately before they decide to list. Instead, you target people looking for home improvement services, financing, or relocation services, as signals they are getting ready to move. Using advertising to test different audience targeting and messaging strategies, to ultimately find the right person, at the right time, with a message that resonates, is a lot more effective when you can understand all the products and services they’re looking for and then identify the path of least resistance to create a relationship with them. Is everyone bidding on mortgage search terms? What about home improvement loans? While everyone competes for seller leads, what about looking at relocation services and audiences and keywords like “what are the best places to retire in the U.S.?” With options comes power, and the beauty of online advertising is your ability to quickly create and test many different strategies to hone in on what works best to grow your business, in all the ways possible.

Leverage forms that funnel leads

By incorporating forms on your website for your ancillary businesses, you can get more information on potential leads and connect them to the right people to answer their questions. Consider adding a form on the landing page dedicated to your ancillary businesses, on a blog post, or part of your email marketing efforts. Add fields to ask about other services in which they may be interested and then route those leads differently to ensure they get a fast and thorough response.

Include testimonials

The power of testimonials can’t be understated. Including testimonials on your website is a great way for potential clients to see how you and your ancillary businesses can help them in their buying or selling process. Consider featuring testimonials on your real estate and ancillary businesses’ homepage or dedicated landing page. Use video whenever possible and have your customers go into the specific pain points and challenges they had, as well as how you helped them overcome them.

Showcase case studies

Similarly, including case studies on your website is a great way for potential clients to see why your ancillary businesses are a great resource. Case studies allow you to go more in-depth on how you helped your clients achieve their goals and provide more detailed examples. 

Host a webinar 

Webinars are a great way to get in front of your audience and interact with them live. Hosting a webinar with your partner or partners at your ancillary businesses showcases all the services you offer and how you can help your clients. Consider webinars that are in a Q&A format or are educational and explain a specific pain point clients typically have, such as how to simplify the home financing process.

As always, implementing thorough tracking for your marketing efforts is one of the best ways to be able to see what’s working and not, and know when you need to pivot your strategy (as well as where you get the highest return and make the most money). Track click-throughs to and conversions (forms filled out) on ancillary service provider websites, as well as calls from ads and web pages, engagement on social media, the most popular blog posts and service based content, and email marketing click-through rates.

Want to learn more about the most effective digital marketing strategies for real estate and your ancillary businesses? Connect with us today to get personalized recommendations to grow your business.