7 ways to boost your local brand awareness

Unless you run an online estate or letting agency, all other agents in the UK cover a specific location. This could be where your actual office is based and the locations you physically cover when you go to valuations and viewings.  

The goal of every estate or letting agent should be to reach as many of your neighbours as possible on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis via different channels. A well-known local agent focuses on what matters to the local community, and not about themselves.  

Who you are online is made up of a combination of your website, blog, social media profiles, and paid ads. All these represent your online brand. 

Local estate agents know that digital marketing is critical. Unfortunately, many fail because they cannot maintain consistency or because they run out of ideas. 

Regardless of your experience level, these local marketing ideas will help you become the best-known local agent you can be. 

1.Create blog articles relevant to the local community and promote them locally 

Instead of creating content that talks about yourself or is “for keywords,” start planning your content with your neighbours and neighbourhood in mind.

• Are there any events that you can feature and give more information about?
• Can you create in-depth guides that help your buyers when relocating?
• Can you help a local school and cover their story?

Everyone knows what an estate or letting agent does – the key here is not to focus on selling your service with your blog content but to attract your local community with something of interest to them. The selling will happen later.  

2. Launch a remarketing campaign for your blog visitors 

If your blog appeals to the local community, your visitors will likely be local people. So here is your chance to include them into your retargeting pot. This will help you follow them up with a sales message. Both Google and Facebook offer remarketing.  

3. Make sure your Google Places profile is up to date 

Google Places is the local Yellow Pages – and it’s free. The top three agents that are listed on Google Places for your area will get the most traffic and enquiries. It’s one of the best forms of advertising you can get, yet many pay little attention to their listings or rankings.  

Here’s how to make the best use of this service: 

• Use relevant keywords properly but avoid overusing keywords, otherwise your rankings could be adversely affected. 
•  Add images and videos and make it easier for customers to find and identify you. 
•  If you have more than one branch, make sure you create a separate Google Places page with the location’s address and phone number for each branch.  
•  Ask satisfied customers to review and rate your services on Google Places. The higher your ratings, the more enquiries you can get. 

4. Find and register with the local directories and sites

Apart from Google Places, there are other sites that act as local directories or listings. Register your address (for each branch) with as many of your local directories as possible, and this will help your Google Places ranking as well.  

5. Become a guest writer 

Maybe writing is not your thing (you can always hire a copywriter) or maybe it is, but being featured on local publications can make all the difference when it comes to recognition. Find the sites that publish regular local content and ask them if you can contribute with a guest article. Some may accept the article for free while others may charge you for it, but it’s worth it. Positioning yourself as the ‘local expert agent’ is credibility worth paying for.  

6. Engage with local social influencers  

There are people on social media who just know how to attract followers. Becoming one of them might be quite a mountain to climb, so instead, get to know them. Are there any local personas who everyone seems to know online? Reach out to them and see if they will be happy to share some of your blog posts or be featured in one. Rubbing shoulders with established local influencers can really accelerate local awareness.  

7. Setup a radius location targeting in AdWords 

Taking advantage of the radius targeting feature in Google AdWords along with location bid adjustments is what will turn you into a targeting king. 

Apart from targeting people with keywords such as ‘estate agents in YOUR LOCATION’, you can target people who are searching for ‘estate agents’ or ‘local agents’ and are physically situated one or two miles away from your office. Give them a reason to pop round and see how you can help. 

Happy marketing! 

PS Got to our Knowledge Bank for more tips and advice on how to improve your marketing.