Marketing Automation

One of the easiest ways to manage your leads is with the use of a marketing automation system. You don’t need the biggest, brightest and newest system on the market, just one that you feel comfortable with and gets the job done. A good marketing automation system allows you to collect leads via your online forms and segment those leads based on characteristics such as stage in the buying process, location they are looking for, property price ranges and more.

Any platform you utilize needs to give you the option to setup drip campaigns. This way, you can automate emails to go out on their own without manually scheduling them yourself. Drip campaigns also give you the option to send out specific campaigns based on certain actions recipients make on your hub. Want to send them a follow-up email after they’ve clicked a specific link? Want to hold a day or two before sending out another email to someone who didn’t open the original? All this can be done by creating specific nurture paths with strong calls-to-action.

Managing Content Development

Once you’ve chosen your marketing automation system you’re now set to start developing content to send out to your new leads. It’s imperative that you create nurture content that goes out to your clients on a regular basis in order to stay top of mind when customers are ready to buy. Here are a few topics on creating great nurture content:

• Develop emails or content pieces on what it’s like working with you as an agent. This is a great way to build your personal brand and show your clients how you differentiate from other agents. It’s important to let customers know your accomplishments!
• Keep a steady stream of open house announcements either on your website or in a weekly/bi-weekly email contact. Let customers know what properties are coming up on the market!
• For clients that are selling their property, send them a regular list of comparable homes that are also up for sale. This will give them a good idea if they’re priced competitively for their market and help you work together to reach the correct selling price.
• Make sure you’re developing unique content for both buyers and sellers. Provide them with helpful tips, especially for first time sellers and buyers. They’ll need your guidance throughout the process so make sure you’re giving them the necessary tools to feel confident in their choices

Nurturing Leads

Nurturing leads is an essential part of the hub and spoke model. If you don’t have the proper content once consumers start visiting your site, you’re going to lose them fast. Take the time to develop a strategy and stick to it as best you can. Clients are looking for agents and brokers that can illustrate that they’re experts in their respective markets and a content strategy is a great way to reinforce that perception.

Over the course of this blog series, we’ve provided helpful tips and insights on managing your website and it’s traffic. With a solid understanding of the Hub & Spoke Model, you’ll soon be able implement effective strategies to increase your client base.

Check out our previous two entries in this series to learn more: The Hub & Spoke Model: Laying the Foundation, The Hub & Spoke Model, Pt. 2: Establishing Your Spokes.

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Defining Your Spokes

So what exactly are the spokes in this model? Put simply, you won’t get as much value from your hub if you don’t have spokes, or links, leading people back to it. The spokes are the ways in which you amplify or share everything that’s located on your central hub. Very few people are going to know about that awesome blog post you just wrote, or the tour video you spent hours producing, if you don’t promote your content. Knowing the most effective way to get your content out and use it to drive people back to your site is critical to the success of the hub and spoke model.

• Email: Direct emails are a great way to send a message out to your client base that links directly back to your website. Make sure emails are timely and relevant otherwise your click-though rates won’t look to great and the content you shared won’t be engaged. Spread them out and make sure links back to your site are prominent throughout.

• Syndication: Do you subscribe to larger networks or websites within the real estate industry (i.e. RETechnology, Inman, Active Rain)? Networks like these are always looking for content to share through their daily or weekly emails to their members. Take the time to research and develop relationships with these networks in hopes that your content gets picked up!

• Guest Blogging: Not only is this a good way to lead people back to your hub, it’s just genuinely a valuable option when making connections in your market or industry. Offer to guest write for other industry related sites, it’ll help build your credibility and presence.

• Comments: Staying active doesn’t always mean you need to be the one creating the content. Providing valuable opinions, feedback and insights on other blogs, article etc. are a great way to increase your presence and web traffic as well. You don’t want to be that person that has tons of comments on your personal blog but never provides any feedback of your own!

• Social Media: This is probably one of the easiest ways to drive traffic back to your hub. Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are a great way to interact with your client base and amplify any existing content you may have.

While this only covers some of the major ways to create the spokes of your model, there are plenty of other opportunities such as YouTube videos, social advertising, search engine ads and more. Anything that leads directly back to your site or content hub is considered a spoke.

Learn how to use these spokes effectively to continue to drive traffic and potential leads back to your hub. The next question then becomes – you have all this traffic, now how do I manage it all? We’ll cover that in the final part of our Hub & Spoke Marketing series.

The post The Hub & Spoke Model, Pt. 2 – Establishing Your Spokes appeared first on WolfNet.

Understanding to the Hub & Spoke Model

So what exactly is the Hub & Spoke model, you’re asking? Let’s look at it this way; your website is the center hub that houses everything. You’ve got your property search, blog content, video streams, virtual tours, listing information etc. – it’s the brains of your operation! Now you add the “spokes” that branch out from the brain or hub. The spokes reach out to everywhere else you have an online presence that  help bring people in and drive them back to your main site. They play an important role in lead capture and development. Make sense now? I’ve added a helpful image below for those of you that are visual learners!

Establishing Your Hub

So where do you begin in the hub and spoke model? Well, it all starts with creating a solid foundation. It makes no sense to put out spokes or links back to a website that doesn’t offer anything of substance to consumers. Here are a few ways to make sure your hub is truly the best place for your clients to visit:

• Responsive Website: Clients are viewing your website across multiple platforms, so it’s imperative that you’re optimized for every device. If they’re unable to access your site while on the go, they’ll be on to another agent’s site.

• Property Search: This is the most important part of the site and the place your clients will visit the most. Just like your website itself, your property search needs to be responsive so clients can easily use it on the go.

• Personal Branding: Take time to establish a logo, brand colors, and a vision or mission statement. This will give your business a personality and differentiate yourself

• Testimonials: Nothing works better at building credibility amongst potential clients than testimonials. Clients value the insights and opinions of previous clients over anything else so don’t be afraid to share testimonials.

• Blog: Creating relevant content for your clients helps establish yourself as a though leader and at the same time improving your SEO value.

• Buyer/Seller pages: Clients have specific needs whether they’re a buyer or a seller. Make sure you have specific pages set aside for each type of client providing helpful tips, advice and resources.

• Bio & Contact Info: Clients need to be able to reach you at any time while they’re on your site. Make sure your contact info is readily available on every page of your site. Also, create a bio page for yourself, tell your personal story. This goes a long way towards establishing your brand and making a genuine connection with your clients.

With a well-established hub, you’re now ready to start setting your spokes. Remember, clients are looking for you to be a thought leader and expert in your market so make sure you’re providing them with the necessary information they need. Once you have a solid foundation, placing your spokes will be a lot easier.

In my next post, I’ll go into further detail about the spokes of the model and how you can effectively place them to drive traffic and potential leads to your business.

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