At The Studio, We’re All About Digital

It’s a digital world we live in, and it’s changed the face of marketing in a way few could imagine just 20 years ago. Electronic devices and the internet are now the tools to get your message out, generate leads and make a real impact on customers. Whether it’s a real estate agent looking to stand out on social media or a brokerage using email marketing to drive leads, digital is an essential part of real estate marketing today. That’s why The Studio is focused on delivering the digital marketing services our Anywhere Real Estate clients need, from content, social media and email marketing to search engine optimization (SEO) and advertising.

Unlocking Your Online Success

It’s hard to imagine any business that wouldn’t benefit from digital marketing. So much of our day is spent glued to a screen, which creates a tremendous opportunity to reach customers in a personalized and interactive way. One major advantage is the boost in brand visibility and awareness, ensuring you’re seen by customers and prospects.

But it’s not just about attracting eyeballs – a billboard on the side of the highway will do that, casting a wide yet indiscriminate net. Not to bash billboards, because they can still be useful, but it’s now easy to reach highly targeted audiences who are the most likely to use your services. Through the data analytics and tracking tools that digital marketing offer, we can gather valuable insights into your audience's interests and preferences, which help us create highly targeted and personalized marketing campaigns that generate leads.

Another quite significant benefit is the cost. Traditional advertising usually comes with a hefty price tag, but with digital marketing, you can reach a much larger audience with a fraction of the budget. Channels like social media, email and search engines offer cost-effective strategies that allow you to make the most of your money and get the best return on investment.

So, if you're looking for a way to boost your visibility, reach your target audience more effectively, save money and make data-driven decisions, digital marketing is the way to go. Our online lifestyle offers a treasure trove of opportunities, and digital marketing is the key to unlocking its potential.

Content Marketing Can Captivate Your Audience

Content marketing is all about creating and sharing awesome online content like blogs, videos and social media posts. But here's the cool part – it's not about direct promotion. Instead, it's about piquing people's interest in your services by offering them valuable and engaging information. This no-pressure, educational approach helps our clients connect with their audience in different formats, catering to everyone's tastes and preferences.  

One major advantage of content marketing is the ability to measure its impact on business goals. Through the use of UTM links – which allow us to track exactly which digital marketing channels are driving traffic to your website – and analytics tools, we can analyze the performance of your content marketing efforts, including the number of clicks, engagement, web traffic and conversions. This data allows us to evaluate the success of campaigns and make necessary adjustments.

However, content marketing also has its challenges. Success largely depends on the quality and relevance of the content, as well as staying current on the constantly changing algorithms that drive Google and social media platforms. What works well one month may not six months later. Additionally, content marketing takes time to produce results, as building an audience and establishing thought leadership requires consistent effort and valuable content.

At The Studio, we produce loads of strategic, eye-catching content to help our clients engage and educate their customers. Our talented copywriting team crafts compelling blog posts, case studies, bios and email campaigns, while our designers whip out eye-catching landing pages, infographics and videos. Through consistent messaging and an on-brand design style, the content all works together to support other elements of our clients’ digital campaigns.

From Likes to Listings – Social Media Delivers Connections

Social media has transformed the way real estate brands, brokerages and agents interact with consumers. Shoot, it’s changed the way everyone interacts. There are so many benefits – audience targeting, creating brand awareness, high conversion rates, ability to educate customers, opportunities to engage audiences through comments and DMs, and the list goes on. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn have evolved into powerful tools to reach highly targeted audiences based on demographics, interests and online behavior. YouTube is widely credited with being the second-largest search engine after Google and has become much more than just a repository for video content. For real estate agents and brokerages, the ability to pinpoint niche audiences with advertising and the relatively low cost of that advertising, particularly on Facebook and Instagram, is game changing.

One of the biggest benefits of social is the potential for interaction. While many see it as a way to deliver messages (and this is definitely a benefit), it’s the conversations that happen on social that provide value. Think of it like a cocktail party: If you’re just there to talk at people, it’s not going to go over too well. But if you’re there to start a conversation, listen and react to others, that’s where relationships are built. When a consumer comments on a brokerage’s post or shares an agent’s story to their feed, that’s a unique opportunity to reach out and interact with them to build that relationship. For example, if you see a high school friend talk about how they’re running out of space, comment about how you can help them find a new home. It just takes time and diligence. If you take the “set it and forget it” approach to social, you’re missing out on those vital connections.

Which is probably the biggest downside to social – it takes time to do it right. And work. To fully leverage the benefits of social, you’re going to need a steady stream of engaging content that your audience finds interesting and valuable.

But that’s where The Studio comes in. We work with clients to create social content that attracts attention and starts conversations. Social media is fueled by content, so we create a wide range from Instagram video reels highlighting a brokerage’s market share to holiday posts, “just listed” templates and award posts agents can use to showcase their accomplishments.

The Art of Email Marketing

One of the most frequent things The Studio is asked to do for clients is create emails, whether it’s a consumer drip campaign to get sellers off the sidelines or a one-off internal announcement to agents. Email marketing is an effective strategy for keeping in touch with your customers and nurturing relationships. Unlike social media and search, email marketing isn't at the mercy of constantly changing algorithms, so you can count on your emails reaching your audience and keeping you top of mind.

Despite these advantages, there’s one major drawback on emails – they can gather virtual dust in crowded inboxes. That’s why we follow several best practices to create engaging emails that drive results:

• Subject Lines – Did you know 69% of email recipients can spot spam from a subject line? If you don’t have a great subject line, your emails won’t even get opened. Length is important, as you want the recipient to be able to read it in their email preview. The sweet spot is between 40-65 characters or about seven words.

• Length – Harvard University ran a study testing email length using two emails: one that was 127 words and one just 49 words. The more concise email generated a 4.8% response rate, while the longer one had just a 2.7% response rate. Less is definitely more.

• Call to Action – You want readers to take action, whether it's clicking through to your website or signing up for an event. We opt for using visual buttons to call out the CTA, so it’s super clear what action they need to take.

• Content – This seems obvious, but it’s important to consistently send relevant and valuable content that readers will actually want to open.

• A/B Testing – This is a game changer. Test everything from subject lines to CTAs, videos vs. images, using GIFs and motion graphics and certainly content to determine what works best. But only test one element at a time so you can clearly tell what is driving the KPI.

By following these best practices, we’re able to deliver email campaigns that deliver strong open and click-through rates for our clients.

Boosting Online Visibility With SEO

When a potential customer Googles you, how far down in the search results do they have to look to find your site? Search Engine Optimization plays a crucial role in digital marketing by increasing a website's visibility. Organic search results are highly trusted by users, making SEO an essential strategy for improving your online presence. You can do it organically through keywords and carefully built websites, or you can use Pay Per Click advertising to quickly achieve those coveted top rankings on search engine results pages. While PPC can be costly for popular keywords, it takes less time and can be used to test new strategies.

Even if you do decide to pay for search, it’s still very important to optimize your website for SEO by improving website speed, performance, accessibility and responsiveness. Things like keyword usage, optimizing blog meta descriptions and incorporating alt text for images to increase visibility in search engine results are best practices for helping the search engines find and catalogue your site so it shows up in search results.

Our design and copywriting teams are skilled at making sure the right keywords are placed in the right places and at the right frequency, and that all the backend stuff that impacts SEO is taken care of as well.

The Shift to Digital Advertising

We’ve seen a huge shift in advertising over the past few years, as our clients move from traditional print advertising to a more digital focus. And it makes sense – not only does digital often cost less, but it’s a powerful strategy that allows instant feedback, measurable results and the ability to target specific audiences. With digital advertising platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads, we can make better use of our client’s budget and pinpoint the target audience much more effectively. Digital advertising is relatively low-cost compared to traditional advertising methods, providing businesses with cost-effective opportunities to expand their reach.

These days, the choices of where you can place digital advertising seem almost endless. Website banner ads and social media are the most obvious, but there’s also in-app ads on games and Amazon, display and native ads online, pre-roll video on YouTube, ads on streaming services, text-based ads and more. Digital has even impacted the out-of-home category, with digital billboards, transit ads like bus shelters, in-store displays and video ads that automatically play while you’re pumping gas.

However, as with anything, there are a few potential downsides. Security and privacy concerns surround online ads – I once clicked on a kitty litter ad as a test and then started seeing ads for every cat product known to man across every digital platform. And I don’t even own a cat! Digital ads can seem intrusive and annoying at times, so it’s important to create engaging and relevant ads that provide value to consumers.

Digital marketing has become an absolute must for any marketing strategy with the hope of delivering results. The benefits are huge – boosting visibility, reaching your target audience with laser precision, saving on budget and making smart decisions based on actual data. If you want to stay relevant and stand out from your competitors, it’s time to embrace the power of digital marketing.