Zillow is now your competitor. More consumers visit Zillow every day than the top 10 real estate brokerage websites combined. You are never going to have 179 million unique visitors a month like Zillow.com. Yet Zillow has made its mission clear: to dominate real estate’s entire ecosystem.
The good news? You can do what Zillow can’t do. You have knowledge Zillow does not have. You can turn on a dime, and Zillow can’t.
Here are five action steps to Zillow-proofing your business:
1. Be powerful. Your local brand is powerful and pervasive. It connects and engages your sphere in ways Zillow can’t. Expressing your brand begins with a beautiful website. Yes, it should capture leads, but your website should also showcase why you are an expert in your marketplace. It should tell your story. And despite the myths, your brokerage can compete with Zillow on SEO. SEO is as vital as ever. We are SEO masters. Our brokerage clients generate hundreds to thousands of ready-to-act leads at a fraction of the cost of Zillow.
2. Be efficient. Brokerages must focus on efficiency. Automation provides one of the biggest opportunities for brokerages and their agents to increase their efficiency. Automation frees up time, allowing you to generate more business and offer more time for building relationships. Because most business comes from past client referrals, it’s the perfect place to focus your automation efforts. We help brokerages automate their business with 10 different systems in a single day.
3. Be creative. How you present your brand to the consumer is vital to compete with Zillow. Don’t discount the power of print and digital marketing combined. A creative postcard can be more effective and cut through marketing clutter faster than a polished ecard. But you should use and test both. Being creative in your marketing is as vital as ever when you are going up against a firm that attracts millions of consumer eyeballs each day. But creativity can help you win. That’s why we built a platform that allows the maximum flexibility for fully custom designs while offering hundreds of beautiful pre-built templates.
4. Be reliable. Your customers know you better than they know Zillow. They worked directly with you to buy or sell a home. The vast majority of consumers say they want to work with their real estate agent again. Remain reliable and responsive. Technology, like safe searches for buyers, can set you apart from everyone. Automated weekly seller reports can keep your sellers fully updated. Most importantly, you need a reliable marketing technology partner.
5. Be different. Take actionable steps for your brokerage and your agents today. Don’t wait to see what Zillow is going to do next: make your moves now. Be aggressive with your brand and tell your story about what makes you different.
Every brokerage can Zillow-proof their business. If Delta Media can help, let us know. Learn more at deltamediagroup.com.
Michael Minard is CEO and owner of Delta Media, a leading and trusted technology partner for many of real estate’s top brands.
