Every week, I meet agents who’ve spent thousands on digital marketing with nothing to show for it. Facebook ads that generated likes but no listings. Google campaigns that burned through budget without meaningful enquiries. Social media agencies that posted consistently but delivered zero business impact.

Digital marketing works when it’s strategic. It fails when it’s scattershot. Here’s where your budget should actually go.

The Fundamental Mistake

Most agents approach digital marketing backwards. They start with tactics (“I should be on Instagram”) rather than objectives (“I need to generate vendor leads in Mosman”).

This leads to activity without purpose—posts that look good but don’t move the business forward.

The correct sequence:

1. Define what success looks like (listings won, specific suburbs, vendor demographics)
2. Identify where those vendors spend attention online
3. Create content and campaigns designed to reach them
4. Measure against actual business outcomes, not vanity metrics

Everything below assumes you’ve done this strategic work first.

Portal Investment: Still the Foundation

Before you spend a dollar on social media or Google ads, ensure your portal presence is optimised.

REA Group and Domain profiles: Updated photos, current testimonials, recent sales prominently displayed. This is often the first thing vendors check before an appraisal.

Premium listings for the right properties: Not every listing needs premium placement, but for properties where maximum buyer competition matters, the investment pays off.

Listing quality: Professional photography, compelling copy, virtual tours. These aren’t “digital marketing” in the traditional sense, but they’re your most visible digital presence.

Budget allocation: 40-50% of per-campaign marketing spend should go here.

Google: Capture Intent, Don’t Create It

Google advertising works when people are actively searching. For real estate, that means:

Search ads for high-intent keywords: “Real estate agent [suburb]” or “sell my house [suburb]” capture people already looking for an agent. These campaigns can deliver strong ROI.

Avoid broad awareness keywords: “Property prices [suburb]” or “real estate news” attract people who aren’t ready to transact. You’ll pay for clicks that never convert.

Local SEO investment: Claiming and optimising your Google Business Profile costs nothing but time. Appearing in local pack results for “[suburb] real estate agent” generates consistent enquiries.

Budget allocation: 15-25% of total digital budget for search advertising, more for agencies with strong landing pages and conversion tracking.

Social Media: Build Relationships, Not Reach

Social media’s strength is relationship maintenance, not cold lead generation.

What works:

• Content that demonstrates local expertise
• Just-sold and just-listed updates that keep your database engaged
• Market updates that position you as informed
• Behind-the-scenes content that humanises your brand

What doesn’t work:

• Cold promotional posts (“Looking to sell? Call me!”)
• Generic real estate advice that any agent could post
• Inconsistent posting that signals disorganisation
• Paid advertising to cold audiences

The role of social media is keeping warm leads warm and reminding your sphere of influence that you’re active. It rarely creates new vendor relationships directly.

Budget allocation: 10-15% of digital budget, primarily on content creation rather than paid promotion.

Content Marketing: Long Game, High Return

Blog content, video, and guides have compounding value that paid advertising doesn’t.

A well-written suburb guide ranks in Google for years, generating enquiries long after you’ve forgotten writing it. A helpful video about the selling process builds trust with vendors who watch it months before they’re ready to sell.

Effective content types:

• Suburb guides with genuine local knowledge
• Market updates with your interpretation of the data
• Process explanations that reduce vendor anxiety
• Case studies of successful sales (with permission)

Ineffective content types:

• Generic tips copied from other real estate blogs
• Overly promotional content that reads like advertising
• Content published once and never maintained

Budget allocation: 10-15% of digital budget for content creation, with expectation of 12-24 month payback period.

Email Marketing: Highest ROI Channel

Your database is your most valuable digital asset. Email marketing to engaged contacts consistently outperforms every other channel on ROI.

What works:

• Regular market updates (monthly or fortnightly)
• Just-sold notifications to relevant segments
• Personalised check-ins automated at sensible intervals
• Valuable content that recipients actually want to read

What doesn’t work:

• Sporadic campaigns when you remember
• Generic newsletters with no local relevance
• Over-frequency that trains recipients to ignore you

Budget allocation: 5-10% of digital budget, primarily on email platform costs and automation setup.

Video: Worth It, But Do It Right

Video performs well across platforms, but poor-quality video backfires.

Worth the investment:

• Property videos shot professionally
• Agent introduction videos for your profiles
• Market update videos (can be simple, consistency matters more than production value)

Not worth amateur attempts:

• Poorly lit, badly framed videos signal unprofessionalism
• Overly long content that viewers abandon
• Inauthentic scripts that make you seem uncomfortable

If you’re going to do video, commit to doing it reasonably well. A smartphone with good lighting and clear audio beats an expensive camera with poor technique.

Budget allocation: 5-10% of digital budget for video production, often included in per-listing VPA.

What to Skip

Several popular digital marketing tactics don’t deliver for real estate agents:

Display advertising: Banner ads on websites generate impressions but almost never generate vendor enquiries. Skip it.

Influencer partnerships: Unless you’re a developer marketing apartments to specific demographics, influencer marketing rarely makes sense for agents.

Paid social media to cold audiences: Facebook and Instagram ads targeting people who don’t know you have very low conversion rates for real estate. The platforms optimise for clicks, not quality leads.

Marketing automation beyond basics: Sophisticated marketing automation has its place, but most agents should master simple email sequences before investing in complex tools.

Measurement That Matters

The metrics platforms emphasise aren’t the metrics that matter for your business.

Vanity metrics (track but don’t optimise for):

• Follower counts
• Likes and comments
• Impressions and reach
• Click-through rates

Business metrics (what actually matters):

• Enquiries generated
• Appraisal bookings
• Listings won
• Cost per listing won

Set up tracking to connect digital activity to business outcomes. If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.

The Recommended Stack

For an agent spending $1,000/month on digital marketing:

• Portal presence optimisation: $400-500
• Google search ads (targeted): $200-250
• Content creation (blog, video): $150-200
• Email platform and automation: $50-100
• Social media content creation: $100-150

Adjust proportions based on your specific market and goals, but this allocation puts money where returns are measurable.

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Linda Powers consults with real estate agencies on marketing strategy and technology adoption. Her background includes running an agency during the transition from print to digital marketing dominance.