3 Top Real Estate Marketing Tools for Organization, Branding, and Social

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The top tool for staying organized in both your real estate marketing and your business

My favorite social media marketing, scheduling, and planning tool for REALTORS

The easy-to-use tool for your graphic design needs (without being an expert)

The right tool for your real estate marketing can mean the difference between seeing success and struggling to see results. And you're not alone if you've ever felt like you're not tapping into the power of tech to enhance your marketing.

Because the tools and tech you use in your marketing have the ability to make you more efficient and create the professional style you're looking for. So, if you've ever had difficulties staying organized and consistent with your marketing, adhering to a cohesive brand, or showing up on social, then listen in to today's episode where I share my favorite tools to give you an edge with your marketing.

Top Marketing Tools for REALTORS

Before we begin, I want to share a helpful resource on my site with you, and that's my favorite tools page. If you go to ideasforealestate.com/favorites you'll find I've curated a list of the very best to help you in your business. Each tool has been personally tested and used by me with great results. As a former Chief Marketing & Tech officer, I know exactly what to look for in tech and how to evaluate systems.

That way, you can spend less time frustrated by tech and more time empowered by strategic systems designed to help you succeed in your business. I also have discount codes and free trials for many. So, visit ideasforealestate.com/favorites to see my recommendations and to take advantage of the special offers. 

Now, let's get into the 3 top real estate marketing tools we're covering today! I chose each of these tools to focus on because they each solve a challenge that holds many agents back.

Oftentimes, marketing is ineffective because it's not supported by a plan or there's no follow-through to complete what you've set out to do. Business and life get busy, and your marketing plans are put on the back burner. So, the first challenge we'll be addressing is organization. If you're not organized, it's incredibly difficult to make any progress, whether you're promoting your business online or even following up with the people you know to generate referrals. 

It's important to have a tool where you can access everything you need to be successful all in one place. If you have a long list of tools to stay organized, you may fall behind in one or avoid your systems all together because it's overwhelming. That's why I recommend Evernote to organize both your real estate marketing and business.

Best Real Estate Tool for Organization: Evernote

Evernote is an app you can use on your computer or any mobile device to stay organized. It's a place where you can store information, assign yourself tasks, and create an organized system for everything that's important in your business. So, whether you're on the go or working from a desk, you'll have access to everything you need to do and all of your information in one place.

I made the switch to Evernote at the beginning of the year and haven't looked back since! For me, it's replaced Google Docs or Microsoft Word as a place to write and store documents. It's replaced folders on my computer where I used to keep information like branding guidelines and resources, which makes it much easier to share this vital info with my team. And, it's a way to assign tasks and create easy to-do lists. I have an entire episode that dives deeper into how you can take advantage of Evernote across your real estate business - check out Episode 61 to learn more.

But where Evernote really shines is in organizing your real estate marketing! You can take advantage of Evernote's easy organizational system comprised of "Notebooks," similar to folders on your computer, and the "Notes" inside each Notebook. Within each Note, you can add text, tasks, events, to-do lists with checkboxes, photos, attachments, or even audio recordings. So, there are many features to answer your specific needs, and my favorite feature involves attachments. You can upload an attachment to a Note, and instead of downloading it to your computer to view, you can simply scroll through it right in the Evernote note! This is a big time saver and a way to streamline all of your important documents.

Ways to Leverage Evernote in Your Real Estate Marketing: 

• Create a Notebook in Evernote where you store all of your branding elements. That way, if you ever need a logo or your specific branding colors for a graphic, you can easily access your branding toolkit right away.

• Create a Notebook called "Social Media" with Notes for your social media calendar, ideas of what to post, a collection of images to share, and any inspiration that you have. I have a Note where I add links to Reels for inspiration that I can put a unique spin on. I also have a note that outlines my overall social strategy each week. Learn more about "Instagram Reels for Real Estate" here.

• Create a Notebook called "Staying in Touch," and use this as a way to stay connected with your sphere of influence and past customers. You can make a Note for "Home Anniversaries." Simply add each customer you have a closing with to this Note. Then, under their info, you can add a "Calendar Event" that can sync with your Google Calendar that reminds you to call them on their one-year home anniversary. Likewise, you can create a Note for your "follow-up plans" and assign yourself to-dos such as friending them on social, writing a personal note or even sending an email. However you want to communicate, you can keep track of it in Evernote.

There are so many ways to use Evernote to stay organized and on track when it comes to your real estate marketing! But one of the best ways to stay consistent is to rely on a "set it and forget approach," and this idea works best when it comes to scheduling your social media.

Best Real Estate Tool for Social Media Scheduling: ContentCal

Scheduling your social media is the only surefire way that you can guarantee you'll be able to post. Because let's be honest, you get busy! If you're in the middle of negotiating a contract or showing homes, you might easily forget to post on Instagram or Facebook for the day. That's where the beauty of a social media scheduling tool comes in! You can plan your social media strategy in advance so you don't have to worry about it every day.

As a professional marketer for over ten years, I have tested and tried all the major social media scheduling tools. But what drew me to ContentCal was the ease of use and the pricing. I want a dashboard where I can easily schedule posts across multiple platforms without having to click around on too many buttons. (The only drawback is there isn't a visual grid for Instagram, but you can use other tools for this if it's a must for you.) It's also important to me that I have a bird's eye view of what's scheduled to be shared across the platforms. ContentCal makes it easy to schedule, is quick to use, and is reasonably priced compared to the alternatives.

Ways to Leverage ContentCal in Your Real Estate Marketing: 

• Schedule a week's or month's worth of posts all at one time. You can even share the same post across multiple platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn with the click of a button. If you need help with ideas of what to post, download my free 30-day social media plan at https://ideasforrealestate.com/calendar

• Create a library of content so you can easily create posts using ContentCal's "Content Hub" feature. From here, you can upload images, graphics, and even videos to share later. If you need some content ideas, be sure to check out my episodes -

  • Where to find creative real estate content ideas

  • How to turn old listing photos into new social posts

  • What to post on social for real estate

• You can also use the analytics section of ContentCal to determine the best times to post for your audience, engagement, how your social is growing, and view your best performing posts (so you can create similar content!).

A tool like ContentCal for social media will save you time moving forward and will help you show up on social media. And social media isn't the only place where you can promote your business and brand yourself as a real estate agent. Marketing extends both online and offline, and you might be looking for a tool that helps create your marketing collateral and streamline your branding.

For over 15 years, I've used the Adobe Suite for graphic design. Whenever I wanted to create a flyer, a business card, or a social media graphic, I'd turn to Photoshop, Illustrator, or Indesign. Now I have no problem admitting that I've replaced much of my daily work (that before could only be done by professionals) with the easy-to-use site, Canva.

Best Real Estate Tool for Branding and Marketing Collateral: Canva

If you aren't familiar with the platform or haven't used it in a while, you might be surprised to learn all you can do! Canva started as a platform where you could easily create graphic designs without being a graphic design expert. You can still use Canva to create custom graphics that match your branding, but now Canva does so much more. There are templates you can easily edit or customize for social media posts, flyers, presentations, and even videos. I'll admit, as someone who was once a skeptic, I am a full Canva convert now!

Ways to Leverage Canva in Your Real Estate Marketing: 

• Create custom presentations for buyers or sellers using the presentation tool within Canva. You can present right within the platform, download your slides, or get a shareable link to email. This is handy for any follow-ups with customers.

• Promote your latest listing by making social media graphics to share on Instagram or Facebook, or create print materials like flyers or postcards.

• Ensure that you are consistent with your branding by upgrading from the free account to access the brand kit. Here, you can save your logos, fonts, and colors so that it's easy to say consistent with your real estate branding.

Canva helps you create a polished look that is on brand and replaces many tools with one platform. My favorite feature of Canva is just how fast it is to create what you need and move on with your business and life!

In fact, Evernote, ContentCal, and Canva are all designed to be easy to use while making you more efficient. A tool will do nothing for your real estate marketing if you dread using it. I can honestly say that I enjoy each of these tools for very different reasons and use them every day for marketing.

And if you want to try any of the tools I mentioned today, head to ideasforrealestate.com/favorites. There, you can get access to trying Evernote for free, a 14-day free trial of Content Cal, and a trial of Canva. I also have other tools you might be interested in on that page. Just head to ideasforrealestate.com/favorites or take a look at the show notes for a link.

Because with the right tools on your side and a solid strategy you can follow, you can accomplish anything when it comes to your real estate marketing. And I'm all about having an extra advantage like these tools to make my life just a little bit easier and my marketing a whole lot better.

UP NEXT:

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I’m Heather Colby, host of the “Ideas for Real Estate Podcast.”

If you like what you read here today, I’d encourage you to take a listen to the episodes. :