Four Tactics to become Millennial Ready

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If there’s one thing that consistently holds true about the real estate market, it’s that it is always changing. Over the past decade, we’ve experienced every phase from peaks to troughs and from recession to recovery.

Property values aren’t the only things changing, though. We’re also seeing a significant shift in the demographics of the people who are buying and selling homes. Despite getting off to a slow start as a result of high student loan debt, limited job opportunities, and an all-around weak economy, millennials – people born between the early-1980’s and the mid-to-late 1990’s – are no longer strangers to homeownership.

In fact, millennials now represent a huge portion of the real estate market. According to the 2014 Generational Trends Report released by the National Association of Realtors®, they currently make up 31% of all home buyers and 12% of home sellers. As we move forward through the next few years and a greater number of millennials graduate from college, settle into their careers, and start families, it’s very likely will see these figures increase even further.

As a real estate professional, you need to be changing as well. If you’re not already catering to the millennial market, you’re already missing out on a huge portion of your potential clients. If you want to stay competitive down the road, you need to begin adapting your marketing and communication practices to the quickly-growing millennial demographic today.

What Are Millennials Looking for in a Real Estate Agent?

Before you can effectively market to millennials, you need to understand a little bit more about them and what they’re looking for.

First off, it’s important to remember that real estate transactions are pretty complex. Despite having nearly limitless access to information, millennials acknowledge that there’s a lot they don’t know about the home buying and selling processes.

When polled by the NAR about the benefits of working with a real estate professional during their recent purchase, 78% of millennial homeowners reported that their agent helped them understand what was going on. This is more than twenty points higher than any other age group’s response to the same question, and is likely a result of the fact that many millennials in the market are first-time homebuyers.
As an agent trying to gain the business of millennials, you need to not only be well-informed on specific details of the buying and selling processes, but also able to accurately convey them and educate your clients.

Millennials aren’t just looking for a knowledgeable agent, however. When asked about the single most important factor when hiring a real estate professional, the number one answer given by buyers aged 33 and younger is that they want to work with someone who is honest and trustworthy. The second most popular answer, one that is still somewhat related to the first, is that an agent’s reputation is highly weighted in the decision-making process as well.

To sum it all up, millennials are extremely resourceful. They’re less likely than any other age group to want an agent to help them search for listings and find the right home. They don’t need someone to show them what they already know how to find on their own online. Instead, they’re looking to work with a real estate professional that will be by their side to guide them through the oftentimes confusing real estate experience, and one who boasts a strong positive reputation which highlights their honesty and trustworthiness.

How Are Millennials Communicating?

Another thing that you need to make sure you know about millennials is how they’re communicating, and how they prefer others – including real estate agents – communicate with them.
Millennials are definitely the most connected consumers out there. While Pew Research Center data shows that 58% of all adults in the United States own smartphones, that figure skyrockets to 83% when focusing on the 18-29 age group – a big chunk of the millennial demographic.
But being connected to their phones around-the-clock doesn’t necessarily make millennials fond of talking on them. Many actually find phone calls less effective than other modern methods of communication. This is reinforced by the fact that average person spent 3.03 minutes each day talking on the phone in 2006, but by 2012, that figure had dropped down by more than 40% to a daily average of just 1.8 minutes.
As an alternate to lengthy phone calls, millennials spend more time communicating through text messaging, email, and social media. They prefer their communications come in small, easy-to-comprehend chunks, and value the ability to process and respond to messages at their leisure – a convenience that live person-to-person phone calls can’t offer.
What this does not mean, however, is that all millennials are all equally fond of the same types of communication. In years past, when the telephone was the only practical way to communicate quickly and easily, it made sense as the main way to get in touch with clients. But now, with so many different options open to them, it’s important to find out up front what your millennial clients prefer. You’ll likely discover some are only receptive to text messages, while others would much rather you reach out to them through social media. You might even find some who actually still prefer that you call them up on the phone directly.

Best Practices for Connecting with Millennials

We already know that millennials are technologically savvy, prefer modern communication methods, and value reputation, honesty, and trustworthiness, but how does that all tie together when it comes the best marketing practices for real estate professionals?

1. Be Technologically Savvy Yourself

If you hope to come across as a technologically savvy real estate agent, you’re going to need to do more than send text messages and post Tweets. You’re going to need to embrace technology in every aspect of your business, from posting visually appealing high-definition videos of your listings, to using tablets and other mobile devices to stay connected on the go.

2. Focus Heavily on Social Media

Millennials love social media, and there are few very better places for real estate professionals to engage with them. Among adults aged 18-29, 89% report being active on at least one social media platform, with many participating on multiple platforms each day. Although Facebook is the unquestionable frontrunner with 87% of online adults under the age of 29 on the site, Instagram and Twitter are also popular alternatives, respectively boasting 53% and 37% usage among younger online consumers.

3. Don’t Just Market - Engage

Thanks to growing up connected to the internet, millennials can spot a marketing gimmick from miles away. Instead of flashy claims and promises, they’re looking for someone who can connect with them one-on-one – they love personalized attention. To keep the notice of this demographic for very long, you need to have an active online presence. Simply starting a Facebook page won’t cut it – you also need to be responding to and interacting with your prospective clients on a regular basis.

4. Build a Strong Online Reputation

Sure, millennials are looking for real estate professionals that are reliable and trustworthy, but how can they tell one agent from another? This is where having a strong online reputation comes into play. In a Google poll, two-out-of-three consumers reported researching an agent extensively online before deciding to work with them, with credible and independent reviews making up a vital part of their research.

Leveraging Millennials to Grow Your Business

With their technological acumen, millennials make more than just good clients – they can also be powerful proponents to help grow your business. They love to share feedback of their experiences, both good and bad, and know where to spread their message to reach the largest number of their peers.

Apart from the obvious benefits of having your clients express support for you on social media, millennials can also be a big help in build your online reputation.
Review sites have become widely used in recent years as consumers have begun demanding a better way to decipher all of the different information that’s out there on the web. Unlike company-provided testimonials, reviews are generally free of any marketing bias and provide independent insight that offer value when it comes to making a decision.

They may not blindly trust a company’s marketing message, but they do trust what other people have to say, at least when they feel they’re dealing with a credible source. In some cases, asking your past clients to leave online reviews for you can do more good than even the deepest marketing budget.
There’s no getting around the fact that millennials are now one of the biggest demographics buying and selling property. As a real estate professional, ignoring them puts you at risk of missing out on a huge portion of potential income, whereas embracing millennials and their needs and affinity for technology can help set you up for success – especially as a greater number of younger consumers enter into the housing market.

The key to take away, if you really want to reach out to the millennial market, is to never become complacent in your marketing practices. Technology is going to continue to change, and millennials will continue to change along with it. To stay relevant, you need to always be keeping up with new innovations and popular trends, all while maintaining the honesty, trustworthiness, and positive reputation that today’s internet-savvy informed millennials are looking for.



Written by Riti Verma, Founder and President of RankMyAgent