With interest rates over 6.5% on average, analysts at J.P. Morgan Research expect that the “U.S. housing market is likely to remain largely frozen through 2025.” Demand is at its lowest point since 2010. 

That means you have to pull out every stop to move the inventory you do have and close deals. 

In a market like this, getting in front of the right buyer with the right property at the right time makes all the difference. That’s why nailing your real estate advertising strategy is more important than ever.

The value of a strong real estate advertising plan

A well-executed advertising strategy isn’t just about visibility—it’s about velocity, reach, and reputation. In a competitive 2025 market, here’s what a smart plan can deliver:

• Faster sales with fewer days on market: Professional visuals and compelling listings generate early interest, which leads to quicker offers and fewer price reductions.

• Qualified buyers beyond your zip code: Digital tools help you reach relocation clients, out-of-state investors, and international buyers who won’t see your yard sign.

• Stronger positioning in a crowded market: Marketing assets like video walkthroughs and drone shots make your listings stand out when buyers are comparing options online.

• Better branding alongside every listing: Consistent, high-quality promotion builds your reputation and earns seller trust, helping you win future business through referrals and recognition.

Key advertising channels for real estate agents

Real estate advertising in 2025 requires a multichannel approach. Each platform (both digital and traditional) plays a distinct role in reaching buyers, generating leads, and amplifying your marketing message. 

Before you can start weaving together cohesive multichannel campaigns, you have to know all the advertising channels available to you. Here are the main ones to consider.

Online marketplaces

Sites like Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com remain essential. These are often the first stop for buyers and should feature polished, media-rich listings. And using the advertising features of these channels can put your properties front-and-center for ideal buyers.

Incorporating professional photography, 3D virtual tours, and video walkthroughs can dramatically improve a listing’s visibility and performance, helping it stand out on crowded platforms.

Social media

Social platforms—especially Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok—continue to dominate in visual storytelling. Agents are leveraging vertical video, Reels, and Stories to tease listings and build brand presence organically. But all of that organic content you’re creating can perform even better with paid promotion. Putting advertising budget behind short video clips, carousels of home features, and behind-the-scenes content can spark interest and turn passive scrolling into active inquiries.

Paid & organic search

SEO and PPC remain crucial for capturing high-intent traffic. Optimized listing pages that include address-based keywords, neighborhood highlights, and embedded tours perform better in search. Paid campaigns can be used to drive targeted traffic to high-value listings or unique properties that benefit from added visibility.

Email marketing

Still one of the most cost-effective tools, email marketing allows agents to promote listings directly to a warm audience. With attractive visuals and compelling copy, email campaigns can drive traffic to listings and maintain top-of-mind awareness with past clients and prospects. Interactive elements like GIFs or embedded video thumbnails boost engagement.

But don’t just think about email marketing in terms of your own lists. Look for advertising opportunities in local newsletters or partnership opportunities with related vendors to expand your email reach.

Billboard & outdoor advertising

While digital dominates, outdoor advertising still has its place—especially in building brand recognition and catching hyperlocal buyer interest. Yard signs, open house directionals, and local billboards can feature QR codes that link to digital listing pages or virtual tours, bridging offline attention to online engagement.

TV commercials & streaming video ads

Streaming ads on platforms like YouTube or Hulu are growing in popularity among agents looking to connect with local audiences through emotional storytelling. Short video ads that highlight lifestyle aspects of a property can drive awareness, especially when repurposed from listing footage.

Print advertising

Print remains effective for luxury listings, direct mail campaigns, and local publications. Flyers, postcards, and magazines offer a tactile touchpoint that can reinforce the quality of a property. Including scannable QR codes or links to virtual tours ensures that even print materials drive digital engagement.

9 effective real estate advertising tactics to drive more sales in 2025

With more tools, platforms, and content formats available than ever before, agents need to think creatively and execute strategically to cut through the noise.

This next section walks through nine practical, high-impact tactics that today’s most effective real estate marketers are using to drive results. Whether you’re looking to fine-tune your photography, leverage community groups, or integrate analytics into your strategy, these tips are designed to help you market smarter in 2025 and beyond.

1. Take great care with your property photos

When it comes to selling homes, visuals do the heavy lifting. Buyers form impressions in seconds, and if your listing photos are poorly lit, cluttered, or blurry, they’ll scroll right past—even if the property itself is a gem. In 2025, high-quality photography isn’t a “nice to have,” it’s the bare minimum.

Today’s most successful agents treat photo shoots like launch day. That means thoughtful staging, professional lighting, and equipment that delivers crisp, high-resolution images. Whether you’re hiring a photographer or capturing stills from a 3D tour platform, your goal is to make the home look both accurate and aspirational.

What to focus on:

• Use natural light when possible. Schedule shoots mid-morning or late afternoon for the best results.

• Stage the space. Clear clutter, open blinds, and add inviting details like fresh flowers or neatly arranged furniture.

• Capture full rooms. Wide-angle shots from the corners help buyers understand layout and flow.

• Highlight key features first. Lead with the gourmet kitchen, renovated bathroom, or stunning backyard—whatever sets this property apart.

Avoid:

• Uploading low-res images to portals—buyers notice.

• Overediting to the point of deception. Keep it real, just at its best.

Pro-quality photos help you stand out on listing portals and marketing channels, but they also signal professionalism to sellers. It’s your chance to show you take the listing—and their home—seriously.

2. Engage prospects with immersive 3D experiences

Buyers want more than static photos—they want to feel what it’s like to be in the home. That’s why 3D virtual tours and digital walkthroughs have become a cornerstone of modern real estate marketing. These tools allow prospective buyers to navigate a space on their own terms, zooming in on details and moving through rooms at their own pace.

Unlike video walkthroughs, which are linear and passive, Matterport 3D tours are immersive, interactive, and data-rich. Compared to platforms like Zillow 3D, which rely on smartphone-based captures and have limited navigation options, Matterport delivers a vastly superior experience to the end user. Matterport scans are captured with advanced imaging hardware and AI-powered processing to deliver true-to-life, photorealistic walkthroughs. The result? A virtual experience that feels like you’re actually there.

Why Matterport 3D tours stand out:

• High visual fidelity: Matterport captures every detail with clarity, offering HDR-quality imagery and true depth perception.

• Smooth navigation: Buyers can move naturally through a home, exploring on their own terms instead of following pre-set paths.

• Advanced features: Only Matterport includes a “dollhouse” view, automatically generated floor plans and measurements, guided tours, and interactive tags that spotlight unique features like hidden storage or upgraded appliances.

• Wider compatibility: Matterport embeds beautifully across MLS platforms, agent websites, social media, and even Google Street View.

Engagement tips to maximize your 3D tour:

• Embed your Matterport tour everywhere—MLS listings, your website, Google Business Profile, and all social channels.

• Add interactive tags to highlight premium details (like built-in speakers, smart thermostats, or custom cabinetry).

• Include both a “dollhouse” and floor plan view so buyers can instantly understand layout and scale.

• Pair with a strong call to action: “Schedule a tour,” “Request more info,” or “Download listing brochure.”

What to avoid:

• Relying on photos or smartphone-only 3D tours as they don’t provide the immersive quality or navigation experience that today’s buyers expect. 

• Letting the tech speak for itself — use voiceover or text overlays to help tell the story behind each space.

When done right, a Matterport 3D tour becomes your hardest-working marketing asset, a 24/7 open house that never closes, driving interest, building trust, and helping buyers take the next step with confidence.

3. Leverage as many distribution channels as possible

One post on Instagram isn’t a strategy—it’s a starting point. In 2025, the most effective listing campaigns show up in multiple places at once. That’s because buyers aren’t following a single linear path. They’re jumping between email, social media, search engines, listing portals, and yard signs. Your marketing needs to meet them wherever they are.

A strong multichannel approach increases the chances of being seen, remembered, and acted on. It also reinforces your brand: when a buyer sees your listing in three different places, it feels like a hot property—and makes you look like a pro.

How to execute this well:

• Start with the MLS, but enhance your listing with richer media where possible.

• Schedule social posts across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok using tailored formats (e.g. vertical video for Reels).

• Send email alerts to your network with a clear subject line, high-res visuals, and a link to the 3D tour.

• Use QR codes on printed flyers, signs, and postcards to drive traffic back to your digital content.

• Track performance by monitoring clicks, views, and inquiries across each channel—and optimize accordingly.

Avoid:

• Copy-pasting the same message across every platform. Instead, tailor your message and media for each format.

• Ignoring platforms that don’t “feel like you.” Your audience might be active in places you’re not—reach them there.

When in doubt, think like a campaign manager: launch across multiple platforms, measure results, and refine your messaging as the listing evolves.

4. Create multi-platform ad assets from 3D tour content

One of the biggest mistakes agents make? Creating amazing content—and only using it once. If you’ve invested in a 3D tour, you’re sitting on a goldmine of reusable marketing assets. With just one high-quality scan from Matterport Marketing Cloud, you can generate everything from still images and teaser videos to floor plans and guided walkthroughs, all of which can be repurposed to reach buyers across multiple platforms.

In a market where speed and scale matter, creating once and publishing everywhere isn’t just efficient—it’s essential. It ensures message consistency while helping you show up wherever buyers are looking.

How to repurpose your 3D content across platforms:

• Website & landing pages: Embed the full 3D tour on the property’s detail page. Use snapshots from the tour as header images or to populate image carousels. Add measurement tools or floor plans as downloadable PDFs. These assets keep visitors on-page longer and provide the transparency today’s buyers expect.

• Social media: Pull short, vertical video clips from the tour to use as Instagram Reels, TikToks, or Facebook Stories. Create swipe-through carousels using stills from key rooms. For listings with great flow or stunning features, highlight them in a 15-second “first look” teaser and link out to the full tour.

• Email marketing: Drop a GIF preview of the 3D tour into your email blast with a CTA like “Take the full walkthrough.” Use stills from the tour as visual anchors throughout your copy. And don’t forget the floor plan—adding it as a visual attachment can help buyers understand layout at a glance.

• Print & signage: Include snapshots or a stylized floor plan in your flyers or brochures. Add a QR code linking directly to the virtual tour so interested buyers can move from offline to online in seconds.

Avoid:

• Uploading your 3D tour once and never referencing it again.

• Using generic visuals when personalized, property-specific content is readily available from your scan.

Pro tip: Think in formats. A 3D scan can generate square photos for Instagram, vertical clips for Stories, horizontal videos for YouTube, and high-res stills for print—all from one source. Planning ahead for these uses means you won’t be scrambling later. You can also easily use any of these assets in your listing presentation to help win future listings and referrals. 

Ultimately, your 3D tour isn’t just a feature—it’s a content engine. Use it to fuel every part of your listing campaign, and you’ll create a more consistent, compelling experience for buyers wherever they find you.

5. Rank your property-related pages in Google results

Great listings deserve to be found—and not just through Zillow or Redfin. When buyers Google an address or search for “homes for sale near me,” your property should show up. That’s where real estate SEO comes in.

Optimizing your listing pages for organic search helps drive high-intent traffic to your site and increases visibility in a way that’s both scalable and cost-effective. And when combined with pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, you create a two-pronged search strategy that captures buyers at every stage of their journey.

To improve your search visibility:

• Create SEO-friendly landing pages for each listing. Include the full address in the title tag and URL, and add relevant keywords like the neighborhood name, school district, or home features.

• Embed rich media like a 3D tour or interactive floor plan. These boost time-on-page, which can improve your ranking.

• Write unique, descriptive copy for every listing. Don’t copy/paste from MLS. Use natural language that answers buyer questions.

• Claim your Google Business Profile and post listings as updates to appear in local map searches.

Avoid:

• Neglecting organic search because of listing portals. Your own site builds long-term value.

• Keyword stuffing. Write for buyers, not bots.

6. Connect with communities using social media

Social media isn't just a channel—it’s a conversation. Today’s best real estate marketers use social media to create community connections, not just to push listings. From hyper-local Facebook groups to Instagram Reels and TikTok walkthroughs, platforms are now tools for storytelling, relationship-building, and organic reach.

In 2025, visual-first content still wins—but it's the context that gets shared. A drone shot of a backyard is good. A drone shot with a caption that says, “Where Friday night BBQs happen under the stars” is better.

How to build engagement:

• Tailor your content by platform. Short-form video for TikTok, carousels for Instagram, long captions for Facebook.

• Join local groups (e.g., “Homes in [Your Town]”) and post new listings with a friendly intro—not a sales pitch.

• Respond to comments and DMs quickly. Social isn’t just a broadcast—it’s a dialogue.

• Use local hashtags and tag neighborhood landmarks or popular businesses when relevant.

Avoid:

• Only posting “Just Listed” or “Sold!” without context or value.

• Copying what top producers do in big markets without adapting it to your local audience.

By giving you social-ready images and video clips from a single 3D tour, you can post faster and more consistently—no scrambling to edit or reformat. This supports content velocity while keeping visual quality high.

7. Make data-driven decisions about your marketing

Smart agents don’t just market—they measure. With so many channels in play, it’s critical to understand which ones are delivering traffic, inquiries, and actual leads. In a tight market, knowing what works (and what doesn’t) can be the difference between wasted budget and strategic growth.

Tracking your performance lets you tweak campaigns in real time and double down on what converts. Whether it’s changing your subject line in email or swapping images in a Facebook ad, every small adjustment compounds over time.

What to track:

• Engagement data like views, clicks, and time spent on tour pages or videos.

• Lead source attribution: Are your inquiries coming from Instagram? Zillow? Direct search?

• A/B test performance: Try two headline variations or visuals and allocate budget based on results.

• Tour analytics: Matterport lets you see how users are interacting with 3D tours. Use that information to guide your messaging in follow-up emails or retargeting ads.

Avoid:

• Running identical campaigns for every listing.

• Relying only on vanity metrics (likes, views) without connecting them to leads or sales.

With Matterport Marketing Cloud, you get analytics dashboards that can show you how buyers interact with your content—what they click on, where they drop off, and what rooms get the most attention. This insight can inform future campaigns and listing optimizations.

8. Use story-driven advertising with annotated tours

In real estate, people don’t just buy square footage—they buy the story. They imagine birthday dinners in the dining room, quiet mornings on the porch, movie nights in the basement. Your job as an agent isn’t just to show a space—it’s to help buyers see themselves living there.

That’s where story-driven advertising comes in. With tools like Matterport Marketing Cloud, you can annotate your digital twin with Mattertags, notes, and embedded media that bring the home to life. This isn’t just listing specs—it’s lifestyle storytelling, built into the tour experience.

How to build a compelling property narrative:

• Add lifestyle-focused Mattertags. Instead of labeling the kitchen with “Granite countertops,” try: “Whip up Sunday pancakes on this sun-drenched island.” For a back patio: “S’mores and stargazing, just steps from the kitchen.”

• Use annotations to guide the story. Walk buyers through a “day in the life” of the home. What does it feel like to wake up in the primary suite, start coffee in the kitchen, work in the home office, and unwind in the backyard?

• Embed multimedia. Drop in a voiceover from the seller (“We hosted Thanksgiving here for 10 years”), a video flyover of the neighborhood, or a captioned photo of the local park. These touches add emotional resonance and help differentiate your listing from others that just list features.

• Anchor the story around the home’s unique value. Is it a historic craftsman with original detail? A sleek, modern condo near nightlife? Use your annotations to amplify what makes it special—and who it’s perfect for.

Avoid:

• Listing features without context (e.g., “4 beds, 2 baths, granite counters”). Those are table stakes, not selling points.

• Overloading the tour with text. Every annotation should add something meaningful and be easy to digest.

Our tools ensure you don’t need advanced technical skills or design experience to create this kind of tour. Matterport’s annotation features are intuitive, visual, and flexible—meaning you can turn a passive virtual walk-through into an immersive narrative journey that stays with buyers long after they click away.

9. Develop retargeting campaigns for interested buyers

Not every buyer converts on the first click. In fact, most don’t. They view a listing, poke around the tour, maybe even favorite the page—but then life happens. Retargeting gives you a second (or third) chance to re-engage those warm leads and move them closer to taking action.

Effective retargeting isn’t about nagging buyers with repetitive ads. It’s about strategically reintroducing the listing, often with a refreshed message that addresses hesitations or highlights something new.

Smart ways to retarget real estate leads:

• Segment your audience by behavior. Show one version of your ad to buyers who viewed the tour but didn’t inquire, and another to those who clicked but didn’t book a showing.

• Update your message. Use retargeting to announce a price drop, new photos, an upcoming open house, or simply remind them what made the home special in the first place. A well-timed headline like “Still thinking about the home with the wraparound porch?” feels personal and timely.

• Tailor your visuals. Pull a new set of images or a short clip from the 3D tour to make the ad feel fresh—even if it’s the same property. A different angle or a focus on a feature they may have missed (like a finished basement or upgraded appliances) can spark renewed interest.

• Leverage email remarketing. If someone viewed the tour from an email campaign but didn’t inquire, follow up with a quick message: “Any questions about the home you toured last week?” Include a link back to the tour or add a new detail you haven’t mentioned yet.

Avoid:

• Blanket retargeting that repeats the same ad over and over. It leads to ad fatigue and gets ignored.

• Generic calls to action like “Click here” or “Learn more.” Instead, use phrases like “Explore the tour again” or “Schedule a private showing.”

By using platforms like Facebook Ads Manager or Google Display Network, and integrating them with analytics from your virtual tour (e.g., time spent in specific rooms, click-through rates), you can fine-tune your messaging and maximize conversion opportunities.

In a market where buyers are overwhelmed with options, retargeting gives you a powerful advantage: the chance to follow up with purpose, not pressure.

Make an impact with your real estate marketing

Today’s buyers expect more than listings—they expect experiences. And agents need more than scattered tools—they need a system. 

That’s the intersection where Matterport Marketing Cloud thrives. It’s an all-in-one property marketing suite that helps you create, organize, and distribute polished content for every listing in your portfolio.

From the moment you scan a property, you're generating high-impact visuals that power your marketing across every channel: websites, listing portals, social media, email, print, and more. Everything—photos, videos, floor plans, 3D tours, even property descriptions—is created from a single scan and delivered in a centralized workspace that saves you time and keeps your brand consistent.

Whether you’re managing one property or fifty, Matterport Marketing Cloud simplifies your workflow without compromising on quality:

• Capture once, market everywhere. Create rich media content from a single scan.

• Stand out with interactive 3D tours. Give buyers transparency, convenience, and confidence.

• Build trust with better visuals. High-res images and floor plans show your listings in the best light.

• Speed up your marketing cycle. Publish to multiple platforms in just a few clicks.

• Access analytics that guide better decisions. See how buyers interact with your content and adjust accordingly.

Real estate groups around the world are already using Matterport to differentiate themselves in crowded markets and close deals faster. From boutique brokerages to national franchises, the impact is clear: fewer days on market, more qualified leads, and stronger listing presentations that win clients' trust.

Whether you're helping a first-time buyer tour remotely or giving a seller peace of mind that their home will stand out online, Matterport Marketing Cloud gives you the tools to market with confidence—and with consistency.

Ready to upgrade your marketing engine? Check out our full suite of tools.