The real estate market is fast-paced and highly competitive, with buyers often browsing dozens of listings in a single session. It’s common for interested prospects to move on without taking the next step, leaving your carefully curated properties overlooked. For a real estate agent, this presents a unique challenge: how to re-engage these potential buyers and ensure your listings remain at the forefront of their minds.
The solution? Become a retargeting real estate agent. This digital marketing technique allows you to reconnect with people who have already visited your website or viewed your listings. By serving tailored ads to these individuals as they browse the web or scroll through social media, retargeting keeps your properties visible and helps guide buyers back to your listings.
When integrated into your marketing strategy, retargeting can boost engagement, increase inquiries, and ultimately drive more leads—turning casual browsers into serious prospects. Let’s break down how this strategy works and why it’s so effective for real estate agents.
What Is Retargeting?
Retargeting is a digital marketing strategy that is utilized in many real estate online marketing campaigns. This form of marketing allows you to re-engage users who have previously interacted with your website, social media profiles, or property listings. Instead of targeting new audiences, retargeting focuses on people who have already shown interest in your content, ensuring your ads are seen by those most likely to take the next step.
How Does Retargeting Work?
This particular digital marketing strategy relies on cookies and pixel tracking to identify and follow your target audience as they navigate the web. When someone visits your website or engages with your social media content, a small piece of code—called a pixel—is triggered, storing a cookie in their browser. This cookie enables your ads to appear on other websites, search engines, or social media platforms they visit later.
For example, a potential buyer who views one of your listings could later see a tailored ad for that same property while browsing Facebook or reading an online news article. This repeated exposure helps reinforce their interest and nudges them closer to making contact.
What Platforms Does Retargeting Work On?
Several platforms make it easy to implement retargeting as part of your digital marketing strategy, including:
- Google Ads: Re-engage users with display ads across Google’s vast network of websites. This network includes millions of sites and apps, giving you the ability to target people wherever they browse online. Google Ads also offers targeting options like location, demographics, and interests to ensure your retargeting campaigns reach the right individuals.
- Facebook Ads: Use Meta’s robust targeting tools to retarget users on Facebook and Instagram. Whether it’s showcasing new listings, highlighting virtual tours, or sharing success stories, Facebook Ads gives you the flexibility to create content that resonates with your audience.
- Instagram Ads: Create visually compelling retargeting campaigns tailored to Instagram’s dynamic platform. With its more visual format, Instagram is ideal for showcasing properties through images, carousels, or video tours.
These tools enable you to stay connected with potential buyers across multiple channels, creating consistent touchpoints that keep your listings top-of-mind. By applying retargeting to your real estate digital marketing strategy, you can reinforce your brand presence, drive more traffic to your listings, and increase the likelihood of converting leads into clients.
Why Retargeting Works for Realtors
In real estate, buyers rarely make decisions on the spot. They often browse multiple listings, weighing options before narrowing their choices. Retargeting helps ensure your properties remain at the forefront during this process, giving you an edge over competing listings.
Here’s why retargeting as a real estate agent makes sense:
Builds Visibility and Trust: Consistently showing your ads to potential buyers as they continue browsing the web or scrolling through social media is an easy way to build visibility. This repeated exposure not only reinforces your brand but also fosters trust. When your name, face, or logo becomes familiar, buyers are more likely to view you as a credible and reliable agent.
Keeps You Front and Center: Through the brilliance of retargeting, your listings—and your expertise—follow buyers wherever they go online. Whether they’re conducting unrelated internet searches or checking social media, your ads remind them of the properties they viewed and encourage them to return to your listings for a closer look.
Showcasing Your Success to Sellers: Retargeting isn’t just about reaching buyers—it also works for sellers. By advertising your listings to a remarketing list that includes your CRM contacts, you demonstrate that you’re actively marketing properties. This visibility can impress current sellers by highlighting your efforts and attracting potential sellers by showcasing how busy and effective you are.
Converting Browsers into Buyers: Most online visitors don’t convert on their first visit. Retargeting helps bridge the gap between casual interest and serious intent by keeping your listings in front of prospects. The more frequently they see your ads, the more likely they are to take the next step—whether that’s scheduling a showing or reaching out for more information.
How to Set Up a Retargeting Campaign for Your Listings
Setting up a retargeting campaign is an essential part of digital marketing for real estate agents, helping you stay connected with potential buyers and sellers.
Here’s what you need to do:
1. Identify Your Target Audience: Decide who you want to reach, such as people who’ve viewed your listings, visited your website, or are in your CRM. Your existing CRM is a great resource for segmenting people who may be interested in receiving more information or seeing new listings. Defining your audience helps ensure that you’re targeting the right people with relevant ads.
2. Choose the Right Platform: Select platforms like Google Display Network, which offers broad visibility, allowing you to show your ads across a wide range of websites that potential buyers are visiting. If you want to focus on more engaging, visual campaigns, Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) is a great choice for capturing the attention of potential buyers while they scroll through their feeds.
3. Create Engaging Ad Creatives: Design ads that showcase your listings. Use carousel ads to highlight multiple properties or video tours to immerse your audience. Video tours offer a virtual experience that helps the buyer imagine themselves in the space. High-quality images and clear, concise copy are necessary to catch your audience’s attention and drive them to take the next step.
4. Set Up Tracking: Implement tools like Facebook Pixel or Google Analytics to track website visitors and gain insights into how people are interacting with your content. With this data, you can define and segment your retargeting audience based on their actions, such as whether they viewed a listing, clicked on an ad, or filled out a contact form.
5. Monitor and Optimize: Keep an eye on reach, impressions, and clicks. If you’re not seeing the results you hoped for, make adjustments to improve performance. You can tweak your ad creatives, modify your audience targeting, or adjust your budget to maximize your campaign’s effectiveness
With a well-planned retargeting campaign, you can effectively bring buyers back to your listings and keep your brand in the spotlight.
Types of Retargeting Ads That Realtors Can Use
Retargeting offers realtors a variety of ad formats to engage potential buyers and highlight listings effectively.
Here are some options tailored to real estate online marketing:
Location-Specific Ads: Focus on buyers interested in specific neighborhoods or areas by highlighting local amenities, schools, and features unique to the community. These ads are perfect for showcasing your expertise in the local market while driving interest in properties within those areas.
Video Ads: Engage viewers with dynamic content such as virtual tours, drone footage, or client testimonials. Video ads allow buyers to experience the property in a way that static images can’t, creating a stronger emotional connection to the listing.
Seasonal Promotions: Capitalize on holidays or market trends to re-engage buyers. For example, run a “Fall in Love with Your Dream Home” campaign or promote year-end incentives. Seasonal ads create urgency and remind buyers to revisit your listings.
Best Practices for Successful Retargeting
To make the most of your real estate retargeting strategy, it’s important to strike a balance between visibility and strategy. Start by being mindful of ad frequency—while staying top-of-mind is key, overwhelming potential buyers with too many ads can lead to frustration or ad fatigue. Carefully control how often your ads are displayed to maintain a positive impression.
Segmenting your audience is another critical step for success. Tailor your campaigns based on how individuals have interacted with you. For instance, someone who browsed a specific listing might respond well to ads that feature similar properties, while someone who signed up for a newsletter or attended an open house may need broader messaging about your services.
The visual appeal of your ads can make or break their effectiveness. Professional photography, polished videos, and attention-grabbing copy are essential to capture interest and keep your listings in the spotlight. Pair this with a strong call-to-action (CTA) that prompts users to take the next step, whether it’s scheduling a showing, contacting you directly, or exploring additional properties.
Regularly monitor performance metrics to fine-tune your campaigns. Pay close attention to click-through rates, conversions, and cost-per-click to understand what’s working and where improvements are needed. By combining strategy, creativity, and data-driven adjustments, your retargeting efforts will yield stronger results and help you connect with the right buyers.
Why Retargeting Should Be Part of Your Marketing Strategy
Retargeting provides a range of benefits that make it a must-have in your marketing toolkit:
- Increased Visibility: Keep your listings in the sights of potential buyers and ensure you become their go-to when they’re ready to buy.
- Better ROI: A little nudge will be all it takes when you focus your ad spend on individuals already interested in your properties; maximum efficiency.
- Stronger Client Relationships: Build trust and familiarity through consistent and targeted engagement.
Retargeting works best when integrated with other digital marketing efforts like blogging, social media, and email campaigns. While these channels drive traffic to your website and listings, retargeting ensures you continue engaging with those visitors after they leave. This synergy amplifies the effectiveness of your marketing, creating a cohesive strategy that keeps potential buyers engaged at every stage of their journey.
Start incorporating retargeting into your real estate marketing strategy today to elevate your results. If you’re unsure where to begin or want expert guidance, Asterisk Marketing can help you create and manage effective campaigns that connect with potential buyers and drive results. Begin your campaign today!
Overall
Retargeting is a powerful tool for keeping potential buyers engaged, ensuring your listings stay visible and top-of-mind throughout their decision-making process. By consistently reaching out to interested buyers with tailored ads, you increase the likelihood of converting casual browsers into serious leads. In today’s competitive real estate market, leveraging modern marketing techniques like retargeting is essential to staying ahead of the curve. Embrace these strategies to not only enhance your marketing efforts but to truly thrive in the ever-evolving real estate industry.