The traditional way of marketing is an interruptive process. It’s convenient for the marketer or salesperson, but not for the consumer. And they’re tired of it.

But what does interruption look like?

• SPAM email
• Cold calling
• Interruptive ads
• Pop-up ads

You know the interruptive process; it’s those ads that pop up before you watch a video online or read an article, or the random phone calls you get just before sitting down for dinner. They’re all over the place and succeed at blocking people from what they want when they want it. In the end, the do more harm than good to a brand’s image.

Real World Scenario: Imagine walking down the street one morning after moving in to a new coastal neighborhood. You’re enjoying a cup of coffee and the sunny day when you decide to turn on the next street to the beach. Suddenly, ruining your moment of Zen and focus, some random dude in a one-piece ski suit jumps out in front of you with a sign yelling in your face about buying a home in the mountains on the other side of the county.

Out-of-place interruptions are a big swing and a miss that companies routinely perform, wasting valuable time and money in the hopes that casting a wide net will attract people. Their conversion rate is low and they don’t see a great ROI.

So how does this apply to the real estate market?

On June 27, 2003 the National Do Not Call registry opened as a way to offer consumers a choice in regards to telemarketing calls. In just four days more than 10 million people registered their phone numbers, tired of the interruptive calls coming in, especially in the evenings. By July 27, 2010 more than 200 million numbers were added to the list. The population of the country at the time; just shy of 309 million people. Do the math. The largest litigation in Do Not Call’s history was to the sum of $7.5 million in civil penalties from Mortgage Investors.

The consumer is tired of the abusive relationship with companies who throw the wrong content into their faces at the wrong time. This outbound marketing holds consumers hostage before providing what they are interested in. This practice sends a salesperson into a situation of skepticism and hostility where more time is spent patching a broken relationship and establishing credibility than moving a potential lead along in the sales process.

But outbound marketing is everywhere. It’s too big to fail, right?

Wrong.

The fact of the matter is, times have changed. With an ever-growing platform of unlimited space (the Internet) providing a limited barrier to entry across industries, home buyers and sellers (The Consumer) have the option to go elsewhere until the find what they are looking for. Before a buyer even talks to a salesperson, 60% of the sales cycle is already over. The consumer has made up their mind through accessible and thorough research online.

As members of the real estate industry, what’s your alternative?

Inbound Marketing. Inbound marketing earns the attention of your buyers and sellers, makes your company easy to be found online, and draws visitors to your website by the production of quality content that is interesting and helpful to home buyers and seller.

Ninety percent of home buyers report using the internet to begin their search for new property. If you’re still focused on the interruptive way you’re looking at obtaining leads from a shrinking piece of the pie. Companies that provide a product or service use content to tell truthful stories about their products to attract consumers. The Inbound Marketing methodology is the creation of quality content attracting people at different stages in the buyer’s journey.

Don’t believe that Inbound is here to stay, check out these stats on Inbound Marketing.

• Inbound marketing is less expensive and more effective than print.
• It drives people to your website’s MLS search rather than your competitor’s.
• It replaces cold calling.
• It makes lead qualification and follow-up more efficient.
• Providing education through content makes client expectations more reasonable.
• Helpful content establishes your company as the expert in real estate and gives people a strong reason to choose and refer you.

Home buyers and sellers are tired of being pushed and persuaded into making a decision. They want to reach a conclusion on their own. Over the past 10 years, the Internet and the digital information age has provided a platform to make research possible. Inbound Marketing done correctly harnesses this opportunity by providing valuable information first as a way to educate and attract the consumer, rather than trying to pitch and promote a service to someone. This is done through:

• Compelling and quality content on websites and blogs
• Social media management and distribution of the content
• Search Engine Optimization

Home Buyers are not oblivious to pitches, nor are they oblivious to content created to entice and allure. Inbound Marketing is not another vehicle for creating pushy content, the point is to provide insight and expertise in an area to establish credibility in the marketplace while winning over a consumer at various stages in their respective buyer’s journey and not treating everyone’s needs equally.

Utilizing content, SEO, and social media will attract strangers to your website, converting them into visitors. Providing useful offers and content for free will help convert these visitors into interested consumers and educated leads. Following up with free evaluations, subscribed emails and maybe even a phone call where warranted converts those leads into sales. And the magical part about the Inbound process is that those who were first strangers become referrals and the evangelists that spread the word about your company.

Interested in learning more about the Inbound Methodology and how it can work for your Real Estate company? Click here to download your FREE eBook. For more news and helpful information on Inbound Marketing, visit Paveya’s Inbound Marketing Blog.