Using Emotion in Your Real Estate Marketing Strategy

By Jessie Trapp, Marketing Coordinator 

The drive that leads us to buy a Coke over a Pepsi or a Toyota as opposed to a Honda can be summed up in one single word: emotion.

Not only do emotions influence our choices, but it has been found that consumers often place a higher value on emotions when making purchasing decisions than they do the factual information related to those decisions (features, brand attributes, etc.)

Although this is yet another example of humans not necessarily being the most logical creatures, it’s how we’re wired. It means that the emotions that potential clients associate with you and your brand likely play a major role in whether or not they choose to work with you, regardless of your impressive closing record and swanky sales materials.

While every emotion could arguably help you strengthen your brand in some way or another, according to a study conducted by Unruly, advertising content that leverages four specific emotions have been shown to gain significant traction. Those emotions are:

1. Happiness
2. Warmth
3. Inspiration
4. Friendship

These seem to align perfectly with the major themes commonly seen in the real estate industry, so read on for our tips on using emotion for your real estate marketing strategy! 

Happiness.

We all want to feel happy. As a brand, leveraging happiness in your marketing strategy gives you the chance to positively impact those within your sphere while strengthening your image and extending your reach at the same time.

You want your target audience to associate your brand with the positive, happy, and cheerful emotions that they’ll feel when you help them buy the dream home they’ve been searching for or get an unexpectedly high offer on their listing. This means that incorporating content specifically associated with happiness into your channels is essential. Funny gifs, videos, smiling faces, success stories, positive news articles, puppies, and sold houses should all be in the running.

Color psychology is also extremely powerful when it comes to triggering emotions, so make sure to keep it in mind when selecting colors for fonts and social content. When it comes to evoking happy feelings, orange and yellow will be your best friends.

Warmth.

Although professionalism is important, it’s also essential that your audience views you as being warm and approachable.

We all feel more comfortable with people that we know and can relate to, so make a conscious effort to humanize yourself as much as possible.

• Having a stressful day preparing for the holidays? Let your audience know. They’re probably in the same boat.
• Tried a DIY project that resulted in an epic fail? Share a video making fun of your attempt. They’ll appreciate the self-deprecating humor and might even comment an “LOL”. It’s all about encouraging engagement.
• Rescue a puppy? Post about it (a lot).
• Have a favorite feature of a listing that you just can’t stop thinking about? Record a video of you talking about it and include it in the listing presentation you send to your clients.

The more those within your sphere view you as someone they’d feel comfortable talking to and asking questions, the more likely you’ll be the one they want to work with throughout their buying and selling journeys.

Inspiration.

The awesome people that you have the opportunity to meet and the amazing stories that you get the chance to be a part of are undeniably two of the biggest perks that come with being a real estate agent.

If you ever find yourself working with clients who have a particularly inspiring story, consider sharing it (with their permission, of course). Highlight how far they’ve come, all it took to get there, and how you worked with them to find their dream home. Make your clients feel so inspired that they know you’re who they should come to when it comes time to buy or sell a house.

Friendship.

Just as it’s important to appear warm and approachable, it’s also important to come off as enjoyable to be around.

Not that you’ll necessarily want to be best friends with every client that you work with, but people would much rather work with someone they’ll enjoy going to open houses with. Make sure to include pictures of you AND your clients in front of sold signs, post about any fun gifts you send them, and highlight any “LOL” worthy moments. The more you show yourself being a good friend, the easier it will be for clients to feel confident that they’ll enjoy working with you.

Just to be clear, by saying that you should incorporate emotions into your marketing, we don’t necessarily mean that you need to cover your channels with sob stories and memes. Just make sure that you keep in mind the power of emotion and use it to craft your content accordingly – even if it’s in the smaller details such as formulating your color palette or choosing which images to include in your Facebook ads.

Want to see more tips for your real estate marketing strategy from the experts at MoxiWorks? Good, because we have plenty waiting for you!