The Best Marketing Materials For Real Estate Agents: A Complete Resource Guide (2025)

Last Updated on November 3, 2025 by Elizabeth Nolan

The right marketing materials don’t just make you look professional—they help you stay visible with past clients, attract new prospects, and ultimately close more deals. But with countless design platforms, printing services, and promotional products available, how do you choose what actually works?

Whether you’re at a large brokerage with branded templates or building your marketing from scratch as an independent agent, this guide will help you select the platforms and services that fit your needs, budget, and marketing system.

Why Marketing Materials Matter for Real Estate Agents

According to the National Association of REALTORS’ 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 89% of sellers work with a real estate agent. In a competitive market where clients have plenty of choices, your marketing materials serve as tangible proof of your professionalism and attention to detail.

The goal isn’t to have the fanciest brochures or most expensive business cards. It’s to have consistent, professional materials that support your overall marketing system and keep you top-of-mind with your database.

Think of your marketing materials as the visual extension of your personal brand. When done right, they create recognition, build trust, and make it easy for clients to remember and refer you.

Working With Your Brokerage’s Branded Materials

If you’re affiliated with a major brokerage like Keller Williams, RE/MAX, Coldwell Banker, Compass, or eXp Realty, you likely have access to branded templates and marketing resources as part of your affiliation. This is valuable—and you should absolutely use what you’re already paying for.

Here’s the reality: Most agents at large brokerages use only a fraction of the marketing resources available to them. Your brokerage probably provides templates for business cards, flyers, social media posts, and email campaigns. Some even offer design services or partnerships with printing companies at discounted rates.

Before purchasing additional tools or services, audit what your brokerage already provides. Then use the platforms in this guide to either supplement those resources or customize them to reflect your unique brand within your brokerage’s guidelines.

Most brokerages allow personalization of marketing materials as long as you maintain their logo requirements and branding standards. This means you can add your personality while staying compliant with brokerage rules.

Essential Platforms for Creating Marketing Materials

Design Platforms: Where Your Materials Come to Life

Canva Pro

For agents who aren’t designers, Canva has revolutionized the creation of professional marketing materials. With thousands of real estate-specific templates, you can create everything from social media posts to listing presentations in minutes.

What makes Canva valuable:

• Real estate-specific template library that’s constantly updated
• Brand kit feature to save your logo, colors, and fonts for consistent use
• One-click resize functionality (create a Facebook post, instantly resize it for Instagram Stories)
• Team sharing if you work with a marketing assistant
• Background remover tool for creating clean property photos

Best practices for Canva:

• Set up your brand kit on day one with your headshot, logo, and color scheme
• Create templates for your most-used materials (market updates, listing announcements, testimonial graphics)
• Batch-create content—spend two hours creating a month’s worth of social posts rather than making them one at a time
• Keep designs simple and text minimal; your goal is quick visual impact

Canva Pro costs approximately $120 annually, making it one of the most cost-effective investments for consistent marketing materials.

Adobe Express

For agents comfortable with more advanced tools or those who want access to premium fonts and sophisticated design elements, Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark) offers professional-grade capabilities with a gentler learning curve than full Photoshop.

Adobe Express works well if you’re already using other Adobe products or if you need more advanced customization than Canva provides. The Creative Cloud package includes Express plus industry-standard tools for agents who want to take their visual marketing to the next level.

Print Materials: Making a Lasting Impression

In an increasingly digital world, quality print materials still matter. According to personal branding research, consistency across both digital and physical touchpoints strengthens brand recognition and trust.

VistaPrint

VistaPrint remains the go-to option for essential print materials at reasonable prices. They’re perfect for agents who need reliable quality without breaking the budget.

Best for:

• Business cards (multiple finish options from matte to glossy)
• Postcards for farming campaigns
• Flyers and brochures for open houses
• Presentation folders for listing presentations
• Yard signs and banners

How to maximize VistaPrint:

• Set up a business account for automatic volume discounts
• Use their design upload feature with your Canva-created designs for maximum brand consistency
• Order in bulk during their frequent sales (they run promotions almost weekly)
• Keep reorder templates saved for quick turnaround on repeat materials

Moo

When you want to make a memorable first impression with premium materials, Moo delivers exceptional quality. Their business cards have become somewhat legendary in professional circles for their thick, luxurious stock and unique design options.

What sets Moo apart:

• Soft-touch coating that feels substantial
• Printfinity feature (every card in your batch can have a different image—great for showcasing multiple listings)
• Gold foil and spot gloss options
• Sustainably sourced materials

When to choose Moo: Use Moo for materials you hand directly to clients—business cards at networking events, closing gifts, or exclusive client appreciation pieces. For mass mailings where quality matters less than quantity, VistaPrint is more cost-effective.

Promotional Products: Marketing That Doesn’t Feel Like Marketing

The best promotional items are useful, well-made, and actually used by your clients. According to real estate branding experts, promotional products work best when they align with your niche and provide genuine value to recipients.

4imprint

4imprint specializes in customizable promotional products with a massive inventory and quick turnaround times.

Top items for real estate agents:

• Moving day survival kits (water bottles, snacks, first aid items)
• Branded tape measures and levels
• Custom keychains (practical and inexpensive)
• Reusable shopping bags
• Seasonal items (hand warmers in winter, sunscreen in summer)

4imprint best practices:

• Order larger quantities to reduce per-unit costs dramatically
• Choose items relevant to your local market (branded snow scrapers in New England, insulated water bottles in Arizona)
• Include your name, photo, and contact info—not just your logo
• Plan seasonal orders 6-8 weeks in advance

Positive Promotions

For agents who work primarily with home sellers or want to create memorable closing gift packages, Positive Promotions offers real estate-specific collections designed to delight new homeowners.

Their pre-curated packages take the guesswork out of closing gifts. You can also mix and match items to create custom packages that reflect your brand and market.

Digital Marketing Tools: Extending Your Reach

Email Marketing Platforms

While your marketing materials create the visual impact, email marketing delivers your message consistently. According to industry research, email remains one of the highest ROI marketing channels for real estate agents.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp offers user-friendly email campaign creation with automation features that work well for real estate marketing systems.

Key features for agents:

• Pre-designed real estate templates
• Automation for drip campaigns (new lead welcome series, past client nurture)
• List segmentation (separate messages for buyers, sellers, past clients)
• Basic CRM functionality at lower tiers
• Mobile-optimized templates

Mailchimp’s free tier works for agents with databases under 500 contacts. As you grow, their pricing scales with your list size.

Constant Contact

For agents who send frequent emails or host regular open houses, Constant Contact offers unlimited sending within their pricing tiers and strong event management features.

The platform includes excellent customer support—valuable if you’re not particularly tech-savvy and need help setting up your first campaigns.

Related article: The Ultimate Guide to CRM Platforms for Real Estate Agents: Boost Your Client Relationships and Close More Deals in 2025

Social Media Management

Creating marketing materials is only half the battle; you need to distribute them strategically. Rather than posting manually across platforms multiple times daily, social media scheduling tools let you batch-create and schedule content in advance.

Later

Later specializes in visual content scheduling—perfect for real estate marketing where images and videos dominate.

What Later does well:

• Visual content calendar (drag and drop to schedule)
• Instagram first-comment scheduling (great for managing hashtags)
• Analytics showing best posting times
• Link in bio feature for driving traffic from Instagram posts
• Multi-platform scheduling (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn)

Buffer and Hootsuite

These platforms offer more robust analytics and team collaboration features. Buffer is simpler and more affordable; Hootsuite includes more advanced monitoring and reporting.

Many agents find that their CRM includes basic social scheduling. Check what’s already included before purchasing a separate tool.

Related article: Leveraging Social Media for Lead Generation: Platform-Specific Tactics That Work

Photography and Virtual Tours: Show, Don’t Just Tell

According to real estate statistics, 73% of homeowners prefer working with agents who use video, and listings with professional photography sell faster and for more money.

Photography Equipment Basics

B&H Photo Video

For agents who want to shoot some of their own marketing content (property features, neighborhood tours, behind-the-scenes content), B&H offers professional equipment with expert guidance.

Basic kit for agents:

• Wide-angle lens for interior shots
• Portable lighting kit for evening showings
• Smartphone gimbal stabilizer for smooth video
• Quality tripod for consistent framing

Important note: While owning basic equipment is useful for supplementary content, always hire professional photographers for listing photos. The ROI on professional photography far exceeds the cost.

Virtual Tour Platforms

Matterport

Research shows that 71% of home shoppers would make an offer after viewing a 3D tour. Matterport has become the industry standard for immersive property experiences.

Matterport advantages:

• Creates 3D dollhouse view, floor plans, and virtual walkthrough from single scan
• Generates measurement data automatically
• Integrates with MLS and marketing platforms
• Analytics show how viewers engage with tours

Many agents partner with Matterport photographers rather than purchasing equipment themselves, especially when starting out.

Related article: The Complete Guide to Walk-Through Videos for Real Estate Agents: Boost Your Listings and Win More Clients

How to Choose the Right Mix of Tools

With so many options, how do you decide what to invest in? Follow this framework:

Start with the essentials:

1. Design platform (Canva Pro)
2. Print service for business cards and basic marketing materials (VistaPrint)
3. Email marketing platform (use your brokerage’s tool or start with Mailchimp’s free tier)

Add as you grow: 4. Premium print service for special materials (Moo) 5. Social media scheduler 6. Promotional products budget 7. Professional photography partnerships

Advanced additions: 8. Virtual tour services 9. Advanced design software 10. Specialty promotional items

The key is building your marketing toolkit gradually. As branding experts note, consistency matters more than having every possible tool. It’s better to use three platforms exceptionally well than to have accounts on ten platforms you rarely use.

Best Practices for Implementation

Create Templates Once, Use Forever

The biggest time-saver in marketing materials is creating reusable templates. Spend a weekend setting up:

• Social media post templates (listing announcements, testimonials, market updates, tips)
• Email templates (welcome, follow-up, market reports, event invitations)
• Print templates (flyers, postcards, brochures)

Once templates exist, you’re filling in content rather than designing from scratch each time.

Maintain Brand Consistency

According to real estate branding research, consistency across marketing materials increases brand recognition and trust.

Non-negotiables for consistency:

• Use the same headshot everywhere
• Stick to your color palette (choose 2-3 colors and use them exclusively)
• Use the same fonts across digital and print
• Include the same contact information formatted identically
• Maintain consistent tone in written content

Batch Your Creation

Rather than creating marketing materials on demand, batch-create content:

• Design an entire month of social posts in one sitting
• Write all your standard email templates in one afternoon
• Create multiple versions of flyers and postcards to have ready

Batching dramatically reduces the mental energy required for marketing and ensures you’re never scrambling to create something last-minute.

Test and Measure

Not every marketing material will perform equally well. Track what generates the best response:

• Which postcards get the most calls?
• Which email subject lines have higher open rates?
• Which social posts generate the most engagement?
• Which promotional items do clients mention most often?

Double down on what works and eliminate what doesn’t.

Cost-Effective Strategies

Annual subscriptions save money: Most platforms offer significant discounts for annual commitments versus monthly billing. Canva Pro, for example, is roughly 30% cheaper annually.

Volume ordering reduces per-unit costs: When ordering promotional items or print materials, larger quantities dramatically reduce per-piece pricing. If you know you’ll use 1,000 business cards over the year, order them all at once rather than in batches of 250.

Professional association discounts: Check if your NAR membership, local board, or brokerage offers discounted rates with marketing vendors.

Bundle services: Some platforms offer package deals. Adobe Creative Cloud includes Express plus other tools; some CRMs include email marketing and social scheduling.

Integration With Your Marketing System

These platforms and services work best when integrated into your complete marketing system. Your design tools create the materials, your email platform delivers them systematically, your CRM tracks who received what, and your social scheduler extends your reach.

Everything connects to support your goal: staying consistently visible to your database with minimal daily effort.

As outlined in a comprehensive marketing system for agents, the most successful agents aren’t necessarily the best marketers—they’re the most systematic. Your marketing materials are simply the visual components of that system.

Next Steps: Building Your Marketing Materials Toolkit

This week:

• Audit what your brokerage already provides
• Create a Canva account and set up your brand kit
• Order professional business cards
• Choose one email marketing platform to explore

This month:

• Create templates for your most-used materials
• Order your first batch of promotional items for upcoming closings
• Set up social media scheduling
• Establish relationships with a photographer and printer

In 90 days:

• Have a complete library of reusable templates
• Implement systematic use of promotional items
• Track which materials generate the best response
• Refine and optimize based on results

Final Thoughts

The right marketing materials help you build a recognizable brand, stay top-of-mind with your database, and present yourself as a professional worth referring. But remember: having beautiful materials means nothing if you don’t use them consistently.

Choose platforms that fit your skill level, budget, and actual usage patterns. Start simple, use what you have systematically, then expand as your business grows.

Your marketing materials should make your life easier, not more complicated. When chosen wisely and used consistently, they become one of the most valuable investments in your real estate business.

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Related Resources

• The Complete Marketing System for Real Estate Agents Who Hate Marketing
• National Association of REALTORS Research and Statistics
• How to Customize Canva Real Estate Templates: Complete Step-by-Step Guide
• Google Business Profile: Why It’s Essential for Real Estate Agents

About the Author: With over 15 years as a licensed real estate agent in Connecticut and extensive experience in marketing and administrative roles, I understand the unique challenges agents face in creating consistent, professional marketing materials. This guide reflects real-world experience of what actually works for busy real estate professionals who want to build their brand without becoming full-time marketers.