Online marketing, the genius behind every successful home sale…

Years ago, real estate agents had to rely on direct mail marketing.  We’ve all received a branded mail file, a magnet or even a calendar from a local realtor at some point in our lives.  This is great to create awareness and possibly build a relationship, but does it really offer any value to you as a home seller? This is where online marketing comes in. We understand the value of a dedicated marketing team that keeps a pulse on the trends in this ever-changing industry.

The bottom line is that getting more eyeballs on a property will ultimately result in more interest and significantly more money.

It’s not just views that count, however.  It is making sure that the product is something a potential buyer wants to see.  There is no point in sending people to a website if it isn’t entirely gorgeous, informative, easy to navigate and complete with all relevant information about a listing.  Toronto’s real estate buyers have high price points and high expectations.  We know firsthand how online marketing benefits the sale of a property and meets these expectations.

What is the goal of online marketing in real estate?

To make a long story short, the goal of online marketing whether it relates to real estate or not is to show your product or service to more people in a convenient way.  This is crucial for real estate because many, let’s say this again, MANY buyers often wait for the perfect home to come to market.  Even when a buyer has taken a break from house hunting, our marketing team will still get your listing in front of them, potentially introducing them to their dream home without them having to do much legwork. Using various forms of social media and paid advertising will introduce your property to many more buyers where they hang out online.

MLS, while useful, is really just a barebones info sheet about a home.  It doesn’t truly convey the real charm or even value of the home.  It’s easy to skim an MLS sheet and just keep looking, they all look the same.  A professional property website will captivate a viewer and, when done well, can increase the value of your home in a potential buyer’s mind. This gives a buyer confidence to pay more money for a home.

At Nested, we have a dedicated online marketing team. The online marketing world changes at the speed of light.  Having a team with a pulse on what works, what is changing and where people are looking, is integral to a successful sale. If the message isn’t being amplified to the right people in the right spaces, then what is the point?  This is why it is a full-time job. Our marketing team knows where potential buyers are looking, what they are looking for and how to reach them.

Learn more about our bespoke marketing strategies right here.

So how should it be done?

When you list your property, the marketing package should craft a beautiful story about your home.  Your property website should look like a magazine feature with invaluable info all about your home and its charms.  Pair this with beautiful, professional real estate photos and you have a perfect piece of real estate marketing.

Why is this important? 81% of shoppers conduct online research before making a big purchase. 

That means before a potential buyer even considers your home, they will have looked at many, many listings online. It’s important to stand out!  And that is where a solid multi-layer online marketing strategy comes into play.

Let’s dive in, shall we?

What do professional online marketers do? They cut through the noise.  With over 60,000 realtors in Ontario alone, the market can feel pretty saturated.  When looking at listings online, they all start to look the same, especially with the limited capabilities of Toronto’s MLS system which has limited information about the property.  A dedicated digital marketer devotes 100% of their time and energy to ensuring your listing is the best it can be, ensuring it stands out and above the rest.

At Nested we know the value of meaningful marketing and have gone above and beyond to find a dedicated marketing team, who work around the clock to make sure your listing will shine. Here is what we focus on in our marketing efforts:

Looking for more resources to help you sell your home? Read these blogs next:

• How Long Does it Take to Sell a House in Toronto?
• Key Steps To Selling A Home In Toronto
• How To Successfully Price And Sell Your Home
• Are You Truly Maximizing Your Home Sale?

Trendy home staging

Professional home staging is integral for online marketing, and even in person.  A well-presented home professionally staged to appeal to the right buyer is guaranteed to add value to the sale.  Our stager, like our marketers, have a finger on the pulse of what is trending in interior design.  When we stage a home, it is always modern, current and in style.

Professional photography

Sure an iPhone takes great photos, but a DSLR camera, in the right hands, takes phenomenal photos.  As much as we are super-multi-taskers, we are not professional photographers.  For every listing, we hire a trusted photographer to take stunning lifestyle photos of every room of your home, as well as the exteriors.  These photos are then put to use in our marketing material.  It’s no secret that a stunning interior photo can stop you in your scroll on Instagram, and that’s exactly what we do.  Using high-quality, high-resolution photos on our website, Instagram and Facebook page ensures we get the most amount of eyes on our posts as possible.

With the rise of image sharing on social media, lifestyle photography has become more popular than ever.  Every day we are bombarded with high-quality, gorgeous images.  This is now an expectation when shopping online for a home or even for a new rug.  High-quality, well-lit photos that keep you coming back are what we all want to see.

Professional copywriting

When our team writes about your home, they write as if it will be published in Toronto Life, and sometimes it is! When a new listing comes in, the marketing team comes along for the house tour, taking note of all the features and benefits of the space.  Having a dedicated team member to focus solely on writing about the qualities of a home results in an attention to detail second to none.  Real information about the property is relayed in a clear, easy-to-read, descriptive style. Well-crafted copy will enable a potential buyer to envision a life in this home, in ways that photos and specs alone cannot.  A buyer can fall in love with a home just by reading about it.  Enticing copy increases the value of a home in a buyer’s mind, as they’ve already pictured themselves having coffee on the terrace, or cocktails in the garden.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Why we do it, and why it is important.  In a nutshell, SEO is what makes a website discoverable through a Google search.  When a user types in key search words, Google will crawl all relevant pages using that search term.  What this means for you is potential buyers will be sent directly to your property website, and when done well, the property website hooks the viewer immediately.  All of our copy is strategic and deliberate.  We base it on well-researched keywords, ensuring that your property website will turn up under multiple search terms. This guarantees more people will know your home is for sale and result, again, in more potential buyers.

Discover more home-selling resources here:

• The True Cost of Selling a Home in Toronto
• Hiring the Right Realtor to Sell Your Home
• 5 Staging Tips to Help Sell Your Home For More Money

Individual property website

This is where all of the above comes together in a beautiful, professional website featuring all the information a potential buyer could ever want or need.  This website is designed by a professional website developer who understands the value of a clear, easy to navigate user experience and how that translates into converting potential buyers into confirmed appointments.

We always include a stunning gallery of all the professional photos of your home, the aforementioned magazine-style copywriting as well as key information buyers are looking for, beyond the aesthetics.  Each property website includes a high quality, clear floor plan, a feature sheet, highlighting key aspects of the property and a neighbourhood Q&A.  This is a one stop shop for potential buyers and buyer’s agents on the house hunt. This is a major difference between professional online marketing and an MLS datasheet.  Buyers shop for houses at all hours, and want all the information in one place.  A buyer can email a realtor at 3 am to ask about a potential home, but they won’t get an answer until the next day.  When all the information is presented in a clear, easy-to-digest way, a buyer has all the information at hand.  This translates into booking an appointment to see the home in person, which ultimately means more potential buyers for a listing.

See what we mean by checking out our latest West End Toronto real estate listings right here.

Social media

We love beautiful things, who doesn’t? Our social media is a well curated mix of neighbourhood photos and real estate photos.  On our platforms, we highlight your home with digestible bits of info, gorgeous photos and strategic hashtags designed to find the right buyers. From here, potential buyers can save images or even share images with their followers.  The potential reach is massive. With new listings, we always have a coming soon campaign and teasers which often leads to early enquiries before the listing date.  We build hype for our listings and don’t wait for listing day to get things moving!  Often this will result in showings already booked the day the listing goes live. On social, we are always available online through direct messages, ready to answer any enquiries about a listing, a neighbourhood, or even a restaurant recommendation. This gives us a competitive edge as a potential buyer is going right to the source when they send us a message on social.

We love social media, take a look at our Instagram page here.

Paid social media ads

When we use paid ads to promote a listing, it is guaranteed to get in front of our target market which ultimately results in more interest and more buyers for your property.  With more buyers bidding on your home, you will get a higher price. We can’t stress enough how important it is to show your home to as many potential buyers as possible.  The only way to maximize that opportunity is through paid social media ads across all of our online platforms. Not taking advantage of this powerful tool is leaving money on the table in the sale of your home.

As digital marketers, we build a connection online within the community in which we work and live.  These valuable connections allow us to get the word out about our upcoming listings, or any community initiative we are undertaking, such as our annual winter coat drive. Amplifying our message through these connections is yet another opportunity to attract the right buyer in your neighbourhood.

Real estate marketing is constantly changing and evolving. Learn more about what trends we predict in real estate marketing for this year here.

There is a lot that goes into marketing a listing, from start to finish. Each piece is as important as the next, working synergistically to produce a gorgeous final product.  Bonus, these marketing materials are always on our website, as well as hard copies for showings etc. which means you also have a beautiful keepsake of your home after the sale.

Want to know more about how we use digital marketing to sell your home? Send us a note, we’d be happy to chat!

Our West End Expertise

We know West Toronto like the back of our hands. From real estate to restaurants to neighbourhoods, we have the intel you need to know. Learn more about our local expertise here.

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