The real estate market has dramatically shifted over the past couple years, and let’s face it: higher interest rates aren’t doing you any favors. When you’re trying to cut through the “noise” of your competitors trying to push through the uncertainty and fear of home buyers and sellers, your secret weapon isn’t a louder megaphone. It’s a smarter content plan that resonates, engages, and keeps you top-of-mind. By focusing on creating valuable, engaging content that keeps you top-of-mind with your sphere of influence (SOI), leads, and prospects, you’ll stand out in a market crowded with agents who haven’t caught on yet.

This guide isn’t about quick fixes or flavor-of-the-week trends. Instead, we’ll tackle the foundations of building a strategic, intentional, and consistent approach that addresses the needs of your ideal clients, sparks meaningful engagement, and ultimately results in more closed deals for you!

Buyers and sellers aren’t simply looking for an agent who can complete a transaction. They want someone who understands what they want, communicates effectively, and provides real value. A content marketing strategy helps you:

✅ Establish yourself as the local, go-to expert.

✅ Build trust and credibility with your leads and SOI.

✅ Create a predictable stream of opportunities (clients and referrals).

✅ Save time and reduce stress through consistency and automation.

This guide is broken into steps you can read through, reflect on, and immediately implement to create a sustainable content marketing strategy that leaves an unforgettable impression.

Effective marketing begins with knowing who you are speaking to. Clearly defining your audience provides direction (no more “shotgun approach” to lead generation) and helps you craft a more compelling message that attracts and converts more clients. The goal is to deeply understand your most valuable clients' goals, fears, and motivations.

1️⃣   Who Do You Want to Serve?

Ask yourself the following:

· What kind of clients energize me?
· Which types of transactions am I most passionate about?
· Who do I enjoy working with the most (age, profession, stage of life)?

2️⃣   Fill in the blanks:

· I want to work with people who ___________________ (are buying their first home, upgrading their space, investing in properties, etc).

· My ideal client is someone who struggles with ______________________ and dreams of ______________________.

3️⃣   Analyze Common Pain Points and Motivations:

Reflect on your ideal client’s personality traits, life stages, and challenges. Then, think about what motivates them to move forward.

Love working with first-time home buyers? You might create a persona like this:

· Name: “First-Timer Fiona”

· Age: Late-20s to mid-30s

· Story: This is her first time buying a home after renting for years. Her rent is way too high, and she can’t afford the annual increases much longer. She’d love to have her own space to customize however she wants instead of being limited by her strict landlord, and would love to complete some light upgrades in her new home so she can build equity. She considers herself to be fairly tech-savvy, and prefers to do her own research online before officially consulting with an agent. She’s active on a variety of social media platforms, but typically scrolls Instagram and TikTok more than Facebook.

· Goals: Wants to stop paying rent and start building equity. Needs an affordable home while still having some money left over for light upgrades.

· Fears: She doesn’t have 20% to put down on a home and thinks that is the only option. Concerned that interest rates will severely limit the type of homes she can even look at, and is uncertain if she can afford anything.

· Pain Points: She’s come up with an estimated budget using online mortgage calculators, and struggles to find listings online that check all the boxes in that price range. She doesn’t quite understand her options, which makes the whole process completely overwhelming.

Perhaps you want to focus on established homeowners with more knowledge on the market and overall process?

· Name:“Downsizer Dan”

· Age: Late-40s to late-50s

· Story: His kids have been out of the house for a couple years now, and he feels like it’s finally time to downsize. He’s built up a lot of equity in the home after owning it for the last 15 years and wants to use a chunk to pay off debt and travel the world. He’s not quite as concerned with affordability as long as the home checks off all the boxes, and knows he can refinance in the future. He keeps tabs on home values in his neighborhood and monitors the real estate market in general.

· Goals: Sell quickly for the highest price possible so he can pay debt and have money to travel.

· Motivations: Needs to pay off debt and wants to finally take that European vacation he’s been dreaming about.

· Pain Points: Worried about how interest rates will impact buyer demand once his home hits the market. He’s a leader in his company with a pretty full schedule, so the process of selling his home and buying a new one at the same time has been daunting.

👉   YOUR TURN:   👈

Create at least 2 fully realized client personas. Use their profiles to keep your messaging consistent across all channels. You can even steal the above examples word for word if you want!

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Each of these criteria ensures your goals are clear, trackable, and realistic.

1️⃣   Specific:

· Define exactly what you want to accomplish.
· Avoid vague wording. Instead of “I will get more clients,” say “I will get 10 new buyer clients.”

2️⃣   Measurable:

· Quantify your goal so you know when you’ve reached it.
· Include numbers, percentages, or other metrics.
· Example: “I will increase my monthly seller leads from 20 to 30.”

3️⃣   Achievable:

· Set goals that challenge you but are still realistic based on current resources, market conditions, and personal bandwidth.
· Consider past performance. If you typically close 1 deal a month, jumping straight to 10 might be unrealistic. Aim for an increase to 2 or 3 a month to start.

4️⃣   Relevant:

· Align your goals with your long-term business strategy and values.
· If your focus is on luxury homes, a goal about entering a completely different market segment may not be relevant. A relevant goal might be “I will increase my luxury listings by 25% in the next quarter.”

5️⃣   Time-Bound:

· Assign a deadline or time frame. · This creates urgency and a clear endpoint for measuring success.
· Example: “I will increase my quarterly buyer leads from 50 to 75 by the end of Q2.”

👉   YOUR TURN:

Write out 3 SMART goals for the 90-day plan. This ensures all your content has direction.

Start with a clear vision and break it down into a SMART statement.

“I will gain 200 Instagram followers in 2 months with engaging content for first-time buyers.”

“I will generate 30 engaged leads in 3 months through content that motivates the reader to complete an action on my website (showing request, contact form, lead magnet download, etc).”

“I will schedule 3 buyer consultations this month through targeted email marketing.”

By following these steps, you’ll create goals that are clear, trackable, aligned with your business strategy, and time-sensitive, giving you a roadmap for success.

Remember good ol’ First-Timer Fiona and Downsizer Dan? Their pain points and goals should directly guide your content topics. Think about what they want to learn or what resources they need, and go all-in on that type of content.

Using Fiona as an example:

✔️ A blog post called “First-Time Buyer 101: Navigating Rising Interest Rates Like a Pro” explains how Fiona can make sense of current interest rates, offering practical tips on budgeting and comparing lenders. It addresses her current pain points and helps her feel more equipped to start the buying process.

✔️ A short-form video called “How to Spot a Great Starter Home in Under 60 Seconds” sparks curiosity and provides great tips Fiona can use.

✔️ An attractive Buyer’s Roadmap infographic showing what to expect throughout the buying process addresses her fears and positions you as a trusted guide.

✔️ A market trends email newsletter or social post keeps Fiona educated and helps set her expectations.

Content Creation and Automation:

Depending on what data you look at, around 80% of buyers research online before contacting an agent, and you want to be easy to find. Providing consistent content ensures you’re always present when they need you. While creating the actual content takes time, there are tools out there to help organize, create, distribute, and automate the process, freeing you up to focus on other aspects of your business.

· Use Google Sheets, Google Calendar, or this downloadable Editorial Calendar, to outline what you will post, when you will post it, and where you will post it.

· Customize and download Breakthrough Broker’s content and designs in just a few clicks. Why reinvent the wheel when it’s already created for you?

· Third-party platforms like Hootsuite allow you to schedule all of your social posts in advance.

⚠️  NOTE: While scheduling tools are designed to save time, keep in mind Meta (Facebook/Instagram) and other social platforms have algorithms that favor manually posted content over posts from third-party scheduling tools or apps. In other words, you’ll likely see FAR less engagement across your posts by using third-party tools.

· Email platforms like Mailchimp and Constant Contact allow you to send emails in bulk, while still allowing for personalization through “merge tags” that automatically populate your emails with the recipient’s name.

👉 YOUR TURN 👈
The following step-by-step instructions are designed to help you create your own 90-day content calendar.

• Aim to publish at least three pieces of content each week.
• Select a day where you’ll post content related to a specific topic each week that connects with your ideal client personas:
• Example: “First-Time Buyer Fridays” focuses on offering tips, resources, and insights specifically for first-time homebuyers each Friday.
• On the other days, vary your content types and subjects to maintain diversity and keep your audience engaged.
  
  1️⃣ Outline Your Schedule, Content Types, and Channels:
  
• Mondays: Short-form video (like Instagram Reels, TikTok, etc) highlighting a quick tip, market insights, or debunking a common real estate myth.
• Wednesdays: A rotating format - an infographic on market trends one week, a social post with helpful info and tips, a relevant email campaign or newsletter, or a Q&A poll on social media another week. Each Wednesday can be something different as long as the content remains relevant to your personas.
• Fridays (“First-Time Buyer Fridays”): Start by listing out the different parts of the homebuying journey. Examples include pre-approval steps, mortgage basics, navigating inspections, negotiating offers, understanding closing costs, etc. Create a blog article for each of these stages, or break the more complicated ones into a 2-part series. Each Friday tackles a different sub-topic, ensuring variety while staying true to the theme.
  
  2️⃣ Create a Simple Calendar Layout:
  
• Use a spreadsheet or table with columns for Date/Day, Content Type, Topic, Channel, and Focus (download an Editorial Calendar here).
• Add your content ideas for each week, ensuring a variety of formats (videos, infographics, emails, direct mail, etc). Fill Fridays in first with your “First-Time Buyer Fridays” topics to ensure your theme is consistent. You do NOT need to have all of this content written out in advance.
  
  3️⃣ Schedule Follow-Up Tasks:
  
• For each email newsletter, plan a follow-up email to non-openers 3 days later. Most email platforms have options to automate this.
• For any direct mail pieces, track responses by including a QR code directing them to take action on your website (download a Homebuyer 101 guide, search for properties, submit a form, etc) and follow up with an email or text to those who submitted their info on the landing page to offer additional help
• For Q&A sessions, compile top questions and answer them in a subsequent blog post or video.

Review & Adjust Monthly:
This calendar does not need to be set in stone. After each couple weeks or month, evaluate which pieces of content performed best. If certain blogs, social posts, or emails resulted in more engagement, plan more content around those areas in the following weeks. Continuously tweak your formats, posting times, and channels to match audience preferences and engagement patterns.

🚨 Pro Tip: 🚨
Only include the types of content you realistically see yourself doing. Don’t like being on video? Focus on high-quality written content instead, or share videos from relevant pages you follow and include your own thoughts in a caption.

Social platforms are powerful tools for engaging your audience. While other agents are busy talking TO people with self-promotional “look at how good I am at real estate” content, you’ll be having conversations WITH them by actually providing value.

• “Stop the Scroll” with Eye-Catching Visuals: Incorporate high-quality images, branded graphics, or short videos that immediately draw attention as users scroll through their feeds.
• Write Compelling, Concise Captions: Keep your copy clear and to the point. Use a strong hook in the first sentence and break longer text into short paragraphs or bullet points to maintain readability.
• Include a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): Tell your audience exactly what you want them to do next, whether that’s clicking a link, commenting, sharing, or sending a direct message.
• Utilize Relevant Hashtags and Location Tags: Research trending, industry-specific, and local hashtags to increase discoverability. What are other successful agents using? Location tags also help attract users interested in your area.
• Use Platform-Specific Features: Experiment with Stories, Reels, Live Videos, Polls, and other interactive features native to each platform to boost engagement and showcase your personality.
• Respond Promptly to Comments and Messages: Show your audience you care by actively engaging in conversation, answering questions, and thanking them for their support.
• Experiment with Different Content Types: Mix up your formats. Try short videos one week, carousel posts the next, and infographics or behind-the-scenes photos the following. Variety helps you understand what resonates best.
• Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC): Share testimonials, success stories, or buyer experiences your clients submit. UGC builds trust, authenticity, and encourages your audience to get involved.
• Track and Analyze Performance: Keep an eye on what content is performing best to refine your strategy and continually improve.
  
  
  🔥Read more ways to effectively grab attention and drive engagement on social media.🔥

• Consider using your own personal profile instead of a separate business page. You have a network of friends and followers already established. You don’t need to start over from scratch. It can take quite a long time to build any sort of actual community on a brand new business page, so why not use the connections you already have?
• Having 10,000 Facebook friends does NOT mean that 10,000 people will see each of your posts. The algorithms only show your content to the most relevant audience, or those who regularly interact with your profile and posts. This is also known as your “reach”. Consistent, high-quality content gets more people to engage (like, comment, share, click), which expands your reach over time.
• Video content typically has a higher reach than text, and results in higher levels of engagement.
• Size matters. Pay attention to the recommended image and video dimensions/orientations for each social network. For example, Facebook’s ideal images are more rectangular, while Instagram’s are square. Posts and Stories have different orientations as well.
• Leverage your SOI. Ask your friends and family to engage with your content. This will expand the post’s reach and allow more people to see you regardless if you’re connected with them or not.
  
  Tracking Success:
  To ensure your efforts are actually working, you need to track your progress. Focus on key performance indicators (KPIs) based on your SMART goals. You can integrate Google Analytics into your site to monitor content and see what posts are generating the most traffic, or use your email platform to track how many people open your emails, click a specific link, or unsubscribe.

If you feel a little overwhelmed after reading this plan, that’s completely normal! Remember, you don’t have to get it perfect all at once. Start by breaking the process into smaller, manageable steps and tackle them bit by bit. Here’s how you can knock this out in a single weekend with your own “content boot camp”:

Saturday Morning:
- Define your ideal client personas: Describe the characteristics, goals, and pain points of your target audience. Create profiles like “First-Time Buyer Fiona” or “Downsizer Dan,” detailing their budget ranges, ages, preferred communication methods, key motivations, and common pain points.

Saturday Afternoon:
- Draft your weekly theme idea (“First-Time Buyer Fridays”) based on what your personas care about most. - Brainstorm 12 related subtopics (one for each week) that address the specific needs of each persona. Constantly ask yourself, “Will this matter to First-Timer Fiona?” - Sketch out a rough schedule, deciding which days you’ll post and whether you’ll create videos, blogs, infographics, newsletters, or any of the other resources in Breakthrough Broker’s Marketing Center.

Sunday Morning:
- Set up a content calendar in a simple spreadsheet or downloadable doc. - Assign each piece of content to a specific date.

Sunday Afternoon:
- Create your first piece of content to get the creative juices flowing. Write a rough draft of a blog post, shoot your first short-form video, or download a social post.
- Make a list of follow-up tasks, like contacting new leads or responding to comments on your posts. This will help you track engagement and see if you’re effectively reaching your personas. Download this “Things to do Today” checklist for ideas.

By the end of this weekend, you’ll have a clear roadmap and well-defined personas that guide every topic choice and messaging angle. It may still feel like a lot, but remember that every top-performing agent started somewhere. Take it step-by-step, stay true to your personas’ needs (and your own personality), and watch as your consistent, targeted efforts build a presence that truly stands out in your market.

🏃‍➡️ Head over to Breakthrough Broker’s Marketing Center and tap into our library of ready-to-use content today. 🏃‍➡️

You can do this!