Even though selling and buying property might look straightforward, a lot of the processes involved can only be undertaken by a real estate agent.
When it comes to the Singapore property market, the number of real estate agents in Singapore was approximately 30,399 in 2021, increased to 32,414 in 2022, and has reached about 34,427 in 2023.
Real Estate Agents’ Obstacles and Challenges
While the number of property industry agents is increasing, so are the challenges faced by real estate agents. Three of the more prominent issues being grappled with are listed below.
1. Competitiveness
Most often than not, real estate agents must rely on large property listing sites or directories to list their properties.
In this regard, it is difficult for property agents to make their listings stand out from a sea of competition.
Even though some of them pay a monthly fee to the property listing sites or directories, their exposure is still limited.
2. Need for a proper process
Real estate sales comprise multiple stages, from listing a property to closing the sale. Most real estate agents need a reliable system to keep their work organized.
The more organized a real estate process is, the easier it is for clients to trust the property agent.
This is also because a streamlined process ensures the same set of services can be provided to all clients without bias.
3. Not leveraging technology
Technology has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years and has also been introduced in real estate.
But most real estate agents are slow to use technology, which gives their competitors who are tech-savvy an edge to gain more leads.
One of the norms is acquiring and retaining customers with age-old traditional methods, which need to be replaced by modern, efficient methods.
This is because traditional processes are not only time consuming, but they may not offer the expected results and outcomes.
4. Buoyant property prices
According to the Singapore Property Market Report Q3 2022, the prices of Singapore property, including private homes and Housing and Development Board (HDB) resale flats, remained buoyant.
In Q2 2022, the Singapore Property Sale Price Index picked up, recording a 3.69% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) increase, compared to the 1.98% QoQ growth seen from Q4 2021 to Q1 2022.
Moreover, HDB resale flat prices continue to rise in small increments in the coming quarters, even though the average buyer is unwilling to match these high asking prices.
This brings us to a very vital question; how can a real estate agent create credibility and visibility through their digital presence?
A Well-Connected World – Digital Marketing Channels
The world is connected over the internet today, with a big population actively seeking convenience, whether by buying vegetables or looking for a house online.
Websites are the best way to communicate what you do as a real estate agent, your client testimonials, and your expertise.
Most importantly, property agents with their own websites can showcase their own listings and help customers look for properties around town.
Instead of placing themselves as one among many on real estate listing websites, they can stand out from the competition, gain their own leads, and establish their personal branding as an expert property agent.
Let’s look at some of the ways in which Singapore real estate agents can leverage a website and their own domain name to distinguish themselves in the Singapore property market:
1. Lead Capture
In the present digital age, a real estate agent must have a personal website for lead capture.
According to the 2018 National Association of REALTORS Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 50% of buyers found the home they settled for on the internet.
So, real estate agents who don’t have a website and their own domain name are missing out on lead capture and business growth.
A domain name should be easy to remember, relevant to your business, and unique so that it stands out from the competition
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In fact, real estate agents can collect data, learn about their target audience and visitor behaviour and preferences, and showcase the type of property most visitors are looking for on their own website.
2. Increase Organic Leads
Real estate agents in Singapore can set themselves apart from the competition with organic lead generation SEO practices instead of relying on highly competitive property directory sites.
The more content a search engine can find about your property listings, the higher your website will rank, which will result in more organic leads to your website.
Besides providing accurate property details and the like, a website can also showcase customer reviews. Online reviews help establish trust and are one of the most preferred local ranking factors.
According to Search Engine Watch, 90% of consumers read reviews before visiting a business, and 72% take action only after reading a positive review. Moreover, a real estate agent should consider optimizing on-page elements.
Recently, there has been a trend in which more and more property agents are using the digital marketing services to run their Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising and email marketing campaigns on their behalf so that they can focus on serving the clients and maintaining great client relationships.
3. Stay Ahead of the Competition
Half the marketing battle is won when property agents have a website. Keeping an eye on the visitor count allows a real estate agent to know and formulate brand awareness campaigns according to the kind of audience that visits their website.
This can also work the other way around with strategizing brand awareness for a pre-decided target audience.
A real estate website also boosts individual social media marketing campaigns, allowing people interested in the listed properties or areas to connect with property agents easily.
4. Communication and Relationship Building
Real estate agents can use the customer engagement and sales solution for communication and relationship building.
The customer and sales solution such as Freshsales, Zoho CRM, and Salesforce enables sales and follow-up to work in a manner that helps develop long-lasting customer-agent relationships.
5. Become an Influencer or KOL (Key Opinion Leader)
Additionally, leveraging the power of content marketing via blogging on the website renders valuable knowledge to property buyers and acquaints them with the agent’s thought process.
Blogging (sharing industry insights, good tips, and special deals) enables real estate agents to be perceived as opinion leaders, a voice of the real estate market.
The blog on your website can initially be used as an informational tool and later be utilized for lead generation as well.
Additionally, SEO keyword insertion is the best thing you can do for your site’s SERP, website traffic, and organic leads. The right SEO practices can promote your blog to the right audience and create a strong personal brand presence.
Real estate agents can go digital for all the right reasons, as it generates more revenue and helps acquire and close customer deals faster.
This allows property agents to create a hassle-free, seamless experience for customers that comprises property listings and a blog as opinion insights, leading to referrals.
Real Estate Agents Going Digital
As per Sprout Social, 77% of realtors make use of social media in some way or another. Being an influencer in your own way on social media can have a lot of benefits.
Leverage social channels like Twitter and LinkedIn to directly talk to your target audience.
Ultimately, leveraging a website and going digital is the way to overcome competition, retain customers, and grow your personal brand as a trusted real estate agent.
Final Takeaways
To all the real estate agents reading this post, now is the time to move from traditional advertising and customer acquisition to a more convenient, profitable, and efficient digital way.
According to Mr Lim Yong Hock, the Key Executive Officer of Propnex Realty, properties and real estate have evolved by leaps and bounds in the past few years, and so has the way customers look for property.
Today, real estate agents in the Singapore property market can promote property listings to a wider audience via their own website, highlighting their real estate portfolio, which will attract more and more website visitors, leads, and clients.
“This will also allow for greater savings as traditional methods like print advertising and newspaper advertisements are often ignored by readers and are more expensive than websites and other digital platforms,” added Mr Lim Yong Hock.
Exabytes, Southeast Asia’s leading allzin-one Business Cloud, Digital and E-Commerce solution provider, powers more than 160,000 businesses globally by helping SMEs digitalize and take their businesses online.
For further information, feel free to schedule an appointment with our digital experts for a full consultation.
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