Content marketing is the process of creating high quality and valuable content for a pre-defined target audience to drive engagement and generate leads. Content can come in various forms such as:
- Blog Articles
- Infographics
- Free guides
- Case studies
- Videos
- Industry Reports
Content marketing bring a whole lot of <benefits> for real estate agents such as:
- Increased website traffic
- Generate new leads
- Builds trust and credibility with potential clients etc
However, what most real estate agents who are new to content marketing encounter is the costs associated with content marketing and how to justify the investment when they’re not sure of when they will start enjoying the return on investment (ROI).
When it comes to determining the cost of content marketing, there are four things to keep in mind that directly impacts how much you will invest:
- Handle your content marketing needs yourself
- Hire a content marketing specialist to work full time as part of your team
- Outsource to a freelance blogger or copywriter
- Outsource to a real estate content marketing agency
Each of these options has their advantages and disadvantages such as the cost, time and resources needed to produce high quality content that your audience will find valuable.
Handling your content marketing needs yourself
Costs: Ranges between Free to a few hundred dollars per month
Advantages: Gives you full creative control over your content; free to manage except you want to use some tools like Hubspot, and social media paid ads
Disadvantages: Requires strong copywriting skills and a huge time investment that might not readily be available.
Hiring a content marketing specialist to work full time as part of your team
Costs: Ranges between $48,000 to $150,000; depending on experience and relevant skills
Advantages: Content marketing specialists with experience and skills will be a very good addition to your team because of the skill sets they bring on board such as lead generation, email marketing, social media marketing etc.
Disadvantage: Hiring a content marketing specialist without experience in the real estate industry will be a total waste of money because you will have to proof read every article before approving their articles.
Outsourcing to freelancers and copywriters
Costs: Prices are charged per piece of content such as article, eBook or whitepaper and can start from as low as $50 up to a staggering $3000
Advantages: If you’re on a tight budget and you want to work with affordable professionals, outsourcing to freelancers is the way to go. A lot of high quality freelance writers will offer you very low rates in order to build a long term working relationship with you.
Disadvantages: In a bid to reduce content creation costs, you might be tempted to outsource to an extremely cheap content writer from non-English speaking country. That is bad and will reflect in their work. You will realize that correcting their work takes more time than doing it yourself.
Outsourcing to a real estate content marketing agency
Costs: Prices can range between $1,000 to $10,000 per month depending on the scope of your work, their level of involvement and their experience
Advantages: Hiring a content marketing agency with expertise in the real estate industry is a huge plus because you can be rest assured that they will provide you highly valuable content that will appeal to your target audience. Another advantage of working with an agency is because they have a team of professionals that can help you develop a content marketing strategy that will deliver ROI
Disadvantages: Some content marketing agencies are very expensive. Proving ROI might be difficult for others especially if they don’t have any experience in the real estate industry.
Conclusion
How much you finally spend on content marketing will vary, but it largely depends on your budget, your goals and how you expect it to impact your bottom line.
Are you looking for a low-cost real estate content marketing solution that delivers high quality original content guaranteed to generate leads? Contact us today for a FREE consultation.
