Real Estate Lead Generation
The business is ultimately lead generation. He who owns the leads owns the business. Even if you are paying for leads now, start working on a way of earning them yourself.
Most paid leads come either from the major portals (Zillow, Realtor.com), Facebook ads, or Google AdWords.
Perhaps you want to skip the expensive middleman and find potential clients ready to sell or buy a home. A great thing about building your own lead generation is that you earn exclusive real estate leads. No one else gets them.
Lead generation in particular can pose a challenge in the competitive real estate environment. For this reason, it’s important to take a step back from time to time to remember the bigger picture—the core tactics which hold your game plan together.
Here are some best lead gen strategies for a rapidly evolving real estate industry to give you the tools to keep the buyers coming in:
#1 : Using Real Estate Social Media To Increase Traffic And Awareness
As modern marketing has increasingly gone digital, social media image is now an indispensable component of any marketer’s strategy.
LinkedIn is the obvious choice because it’s geared more towards professional networking but you can attract a lot of traffic and awareness with instagram and twitter.
Facebook Ads are another cost effective lead generation method, allowing you to target existing leads in your database with the Custom Audiences feature.
#2 : Segmenting Your Leads To Gain Insight Into Your Database
While most of the people who receive your newsletters and other promotional emails are already existing leads in your system, organizing them by various criteria will provide insight into your database as well as help with lead generation. This is where lead segmentation comes in.
#3 : Community Service To Establish Local Presence
Try maximizing the ROI of these events by implementing a lead nurturing strategy!
- Sponsoring local events such as park fairs or school concerts
- Volunteering or helping organize charity events
- Giving presentations on topics of expertise at a community college
- Hosting a podcast
#4 : Making Your Website Visually Stunning
For realtors, there’s no better way to show off listings from the MLS than with an IDX (Internet Data Exchange) enabled website. IDX technology syndicates fresh MLS listings directly to the site, allowing leads to see all of the available property listings in your area from it.
As we discussed, other features including a blog page, client testimonials, social media links, content upgrade offers, and even community news can all contribute to bringing your site together as the cornerstone of your online lead generation strategy.
#5 : Continue Printing On Paper!
It can seem like marketing is moving entirely into the digital realm—and indeed, the majority of an in-touch lead generation strategy should focus on the technological and the inbound. However, there is some value in maintaining an old-fashioned touch to your high-tech approach!
Consider putting print to paper1—“just listed” and “just sold” postcards, business cards, even the occasional flyer can serve as attention-grabbers, particularly for older homeowners.
Leads can get pricey and real estate is a high pressure business, but the moral of this story is to ALWAYS check the situation and environment before attempting to grab leads.
Leads might not cost money, but you’d better be giving something meaningful and valuable in return– and prospecting ethically!
Be open, but stay consistent.
At the end of the day, if you try to cold call every lead and attend every local bake sale, you’ll only end up spreading yourself thin.
No matter how crazy or uncommon, focus on the free lead gen activities that can be easily integrated into your current lead management system.
