Where do you possibly start with advertising your real estate project? There’s so many channels to choose from, and if you don’t know the first thing about running a Facebook ad, you can quickly feel in over your head. You know you need to spend money to make money, but with all the options given to us these days, choosing the best direction to go in can be overwhelming.
Many real estate developers and brokerages partner with an advertising agency to help them create and execute a successful marketing plan. If you decide to outsource your marketing, it’s crucial to prepare these things ahead of time to get the most out of your time and money.
4 Must-Have Items Before Hiring an Advertising Agency
Before working with an ad agency, it’s crucial to have a few things in order. By being prepared with the following items, you’ll be setting yourself up for success!
1. Branding & brand guidelines – Before you start working with an ad agency, it’s essential to understand your brand and how you want to be portrayed. This includes having a well-defined colour palette, typography, brand voice, positioning, key messages/slogans, and logo.
2. A website – One of the most important things you’ll need before working with an ad agency is a website for your real estate project, or a page on your developer website dedicated to your project. After all, you can’t run ads if there’s nowhere to direct your audience! Make sure your website is up-to-date and looking its best before starting any advertising campaign.
3. Assets – Another important thing to have ready before working with an ad agency is high-quality images or renders that can be used in the ad designs. This will help the agency create ads that are on-brand and visually appealing.
4. Budget – Advertising isn’t magic — if you come to an agency with a tiny budget, you can’t expect miracle results. Budget is directly correlated with how many registrations or leads you’re able to generate with your real estate campaign. Your agency can likely provide industry benchmarks of how many leads you can expect for a given budget. Be prepared to spend at least a few thousand dollars per month to see significant results, as well as more on top of that for the agency’s service fees. We recommend having at least $5,000 set aside per month to see results from your campaigns.
5 Things to Consider
Advertising can be a powerful tool for businesses, but you need to be clear on the following:
1. Your unique value proposition
Advertising is all about creating a specific image for your company, so you must clearly understand what your company stands for and what kind of message you want to communicate. How does your real estate project differ from others in the area, or your own other projects? Without this direction, it will be difficult for an ad agency to create an effective campaign.
2. Target Audience
Another crucial piece of information for an ad agency is who your target audience is. This will determine the advertising campaign’s tone, style, and overall approach.
Ad agencies can help you target specific demographics, but they need to know who you are trying to reach in order to do so effectively. Without a clear target audience, creating ads that resonate with your intended consumers will be challenging.
| 💡 Periphery Digital specializes in reaching Chinese communities. We can translate your messaging to effectively resonate with this audience like we have with many other clients. Contact us today for a free consultation. |
3. Goals and Objectives
What exactly do you hope to accomplish with your advertising campaign? Do you want to increase brand recognition? Drive sales, or collect leads? It’s important to have specific goals in mind before working with an ad agency so that they can create a campaign that is tailored to your needs.
Have clear goals and desired outcomes for the campaign. Knowing how you measure success will help the agency develop an effective strategy and ensure you’re happy with your results.
4. Timeline
When do you need the advertising campaign to launch? When do you need results? It is crucial to plan ahead and have a realistic timeline in mind. This is essential information for an ad agency to know so that they can plan and execute a workback schedule accordingly. Without a clear timeline, it will be difficult to gauge the campaign’s success.
Note that it’s not unreasonable for it to take weeks or even months to see results from an advertising campaign. Be patient and work with your ad agency to develop a timeline that works for you. When working with Periphery Digital, expect to launch a campaign at least 15 business days after signing off on the project.
Important Tips
By taking the time to establish your company brand and values, understand your target audience, set a budget, and determine your goals and objectives, you’ll be well on your way to creating a successful advertising campaign.
Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind while you look for the ideal advertising firm for your company:
- Don’t be shy to share your previous advertising experience, even if you did it in-house and didn’t know what you were doing. This information can help inform your new advertising campaign about what worked and what didn’t. Ad agencies might be able to predict results based on previous experience, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some testing involved, and knowing past campaign data can help inform the direction of the new campaign.
- Have realistic expectations — don’t expect miracles or jump to conclusions that your advertising isn’t working too early. Advertising can help grow your business, but it’s not a magic bullet that can solve all your problems immediately, and takes time to see results. Good things come to those who wait!
- Be prepared to commit. Marketing campaigns take time to plan and execute, so you’ll need to be ready to commit for at least a few months.
- You’ve hired the marketing agency to help generate leads — consider what will happen to them as they come in. We recommend having a CRM system to store your leads and follow up with them — we’re big fans of Spark. In a pinch, a spreadsheet can work, but ensure you have a process in place for qualifying your leads.
- Do your research. Not all ad agencies are created equal. Some may be more expensive but reflect that in the level of service, industry experience, and expertise they provide. Make sure to read reviews, comb through their website and case studies, and get recommendations before making a decision. This ensures that you choose one specializing in the type of advertising you want and has an excellent track record.
Final Thoughts
Working with an advertising agency can be a great way to achieve your business goals, but it is important to do your homework first and ensure you are prepared before reaching out and jumping in the deep end. With an experienced agency, it’s possible to get some outstanding results from your campaigns.
However, advertising is not magic. The agency you choose will need time to research your market, develop a strategy, and create materials. Be patient and give them the space to do their job. Finally, consider investing in a CRM system to help manage your leads. While it’s not essential, it can be helpful in keeping track of your leads and ensuring a successful campaign.
Contact us to learn more about what we do here at Periphery and how we can help take your organization’s advertising to the next level.
