Why Real Estate Businesses Should Care About Localization
Whether you work in a professional real estate agency or operate as an independent broker, you should always aim to attract as many people as possible to your properties. However, it’s sometimes difficult to find the right buyers for whatever housing, apartment complexes or vacant lots you have available.
According to Forbes, real estate agencies can look forward to a rise in prices of their properties for 3% on average compared to last year. They also point out that nearly 50% of US properties often end up overvalued and rarely see the day of purchase. This makes it pivotal for agencies to attract as many varied customers to their properties to increase the chances of final sales taking place.
One of the best ways to do so is through marketing content and website localization. But why would you invest additional revenue into marketing optimization, especially one that includes extensive translation into multiple languages? Let’s take a look at several benefits of localization and the best reasons as to why real estate agencies should take a closer look at the process and what it has to offer.
Localization and Translation
Before we get started on the benefits of localization, it’s worth pointing out the difference between it and translation. Translation represents one-for-one “translation” of a text into another language without modification or added context. Localization on the other hand also represents “translation” but it takes language-specific, country-specific, and lifestyle choices of different customers into consideration.
According to Dave Ramsey, 45% of real estate buyers will consist of millennials in 2019, which means that you should aim to attract as many different people as possible to your open properties. Just imagine telling a joke in Greek to someone from Germany, France or the Philippines.Not only would they be left confused but you also run the risk of offending them and losing touch with an acquaintance. The same can happen in real estate business and corporate marketing, so make sure to localize rather than translate your online content.
- Better Online Visibility
Potential real estate clients usually look for interesting properties and housing online before contacting an agency. Without online content, optimization, and localization, however, it will be very difficult to find interested buyers. Once you translate your content into other languages, you should consider language-specific SEO of your writing.
Tools such as Google Keyword Planner and SEM Rush are designed to allow businesses to optimize their written content based on individual languages and their keywords. This will add a lot to your online visibility and ensure that people from across the globe can find your website and available properties easily.
- Positive Public Image
Real estate agencies should typically strive towards a positive public image no matter the time of year or marketing campaign currently underway. A positive image can help you attract families interested in real estate, elderly couples or anyone who might be on the fence about what agency to contact.
Localization can add to your public image in a number of ways due to the globalization phenomenon we are a part of in 2019. The world is smaller than it ever was and people often move to other countries such as the Philippines for professional reasons, retirement or to build a family. These are typically the customer profiles you should target in your marketing efforts and localization can add to your credibility in a number of significant ways.
- Industry Competition
Every industry works based on competitive companies, businesses and agencies – real estate is no different in that regard. This means that you should offer more options and satisfy a larger demographic than your competition at every chance you have.
Localizing your marketing content, property information, online descriptions and other data written in your native language will do wonders for your brand. You will instantly be recognized as a real estate agency that does more for their clients than others on the local market, ensuring that you attract more clients as a result.
- Global Exposure
Given the nature of localization, you will likely attract an international clientele quickly as a result of your translation efforts. People from around the world will become more interested in your local properties which can be great for your business and revenue. Just imagine attracting clients from the UK, Canada, France and the Philippines using the same marketing content localized into different languages.
This type of international marketing is typically difficult to pull off without some form of paid promotion or overseas collaboration with another agency. This can be avoided altogether and you can enjoy a global brand exposure and popularity if you localize your content into other popular languages for potential clients to see.
- Influx of Foreign Investors
Attracting clients to your open properties is a great way to use localization as your primary marketing tool. However, you will also attract other companies, agencies, and lucrative investment partners through your localization. Individuals and corporate entities will likely want to work with you for mutual gain, including international marketing, promotional events, and other types of advertisement.
According to Bloomberg and their analysis of global real estate markets such as New York and London, only around 25% of newly-built properties will sell in 2019. Even though agencies drop their prices over time and make properties more affordable, external factors such as marketing exposure and lack of localization can be attributed to the low sales numbers.
Make sure to be open to potential partners and collaboration if someone reaches out to you due to your translated content. However, this will also open the floodgates for companies who might want to exploit your agency in order to make revenue off of your clients so it’s important to choose your partners wisely.
- High Return on Investment
Lastly, localization should never be seen as an unnecessary expense – quite the opposite in fact. Localization does cost money due to the need to hire native writers, editors or translators in different languages. However, each property description, blog post or website page which gets translated will bring a number of new clients to your agency.
These localized pages are yours for good, meaning that once a translation is done there are no additional expenses to speak of (apart from new pages and new property descriptions later on). Whether you need to translate your content to languages popular in Spain, Italy, the Philippines or the US, know that the return on investment is well worth the initial costs of localization.
In Summary
The real estate industry is evolving with each passing year and 2019 is no exception. Make sure to give localization a chance before dismissing it as a passing trend – which it certainly isn’t. Once you attract your first foreign clients and overseas interest in your properties, you will understand the benefits localization can bring to the table.
Author Bio: Elisa Abbot completed a degree in Computer Science. She finished her study last year but is already a true expert when it comes to presenting a text in a creative and understandable manner. Now she’s engaged in assessing translation services for PickWriters. Elisa is thirsty for knowledge and is always on the lookout for tips to share with her readers.
