Internet Marketing might call for a new order for certain industries. Recently, I was speaking to a rep from one of the larger pay-per-click advertising firms. She has, at her fingertips, the monthly spend she recommends per industry in order to place in the top five paid ads for Google search. We talked about various industries and the Real Estate market came up. “Typically,” she said, “I won’t take real estate clients any more. Paid ads have grown out of a local newcomers reach,” she said. The established sites (here she named a few) are spending thousands a day for paid search. “Unless the real estate newcomer has a boatload of money to throw at this, it’s not going to be successful.”

I like her ethics. I feel the same. Is there anything more sour than an unsuccessful marketing campaign? But I’m curious about what kind of strategy I might suggest to a real estate company that wanted to start from scratch or enhance their current marketing efforts?

A general rule in the marketing department at Uncommon Solutions has been to begin both organic and paid ad search strategies as soon as a client signed up. Paid ads can provide a lot of keyword information, can drive early traffic and can be a great testing ground for conversion methods and landing pages. Because it’s pay-to-play I never recommend that a client only purchase paid ads, though I have had some clients who wanted to. (I will note here that those clients have faded away, convinced that internet marketing doesn’t work.)

My campaigns almost always incorporate a three-sided strategy: paid ads, organic search and a mix of proactive traditional and technology-based marketing methods including social marketing. A good organic campaign sets the foundation. A good proactive marketing strategy builds brand and reach. A good paid ad campaign is a great testing ground. Over time the site climbs in organic results, even when if you stop actively marketing it, at least for a while, anyway.

So what could I do for this real estate newcomer? One of the first things I do with a new client is research the competition. I looked into one of the companies my ad rep mentioned. They entered the market when it wasn’t so crowded. They spent a lot of money in those first years on paid ads. But they used their spend only in the months that really mattered to real estate. They focused on organic search and built a web of influence in the industry. A sound strategy many, many companies in many industries have employed.

In the last year or so, though, their paid budget has dropped considerably. They are coming up #2 organically. They don’t need to pay for it anymore.

So how do I help my newcomer client compete with that? By creating a long-term focus on organic marketing and investing heavily in proactive marketing strategies – both traditional and technology-based. I will make sure they have a writer on board, or offer to be the writer for them so we can focus on content. We will need to incorporate all the long tail keyword strategies and build towards the more competitive keywords. I will spend some pay-to-play dollars in less expensive engines and mine social marketing for whatever it will offer their industry.