The best lead generation strategy for real estate businesses
There are plenty of strategies you can try to generate new leads to your real estate business. But what’s the most effective? We reveal the full details below.
In short, it’s PPC – pay per click advertising. Here’s what it has achieved.
Alesco Investment Property: 1,400% increase in lead volume, generating £2.5m revenue (and counting) from paid media leads.
GetGround: 467% increase in sales without any increase to ad spend.
Gwadar Click: Doubled conversion rates while reducing cost per lead by 59%.
One Investments: Reduced cost per lead by 25% and generated five-figure lead volumes.
Real brands, real results. All through a lead generation strategy that – done well – is capable of generating truly transformative revenue for your business.
PPC advertising. It’s cost effective (you can easily manage your budget). It’s accountable (you only pay when someone clicks your ad). And it’s easy to get started (all you need is a laptop and an internet connection).
In this short article, we will run through why PPC offers more compelling value in terms of lead generation for real estate businesses in comparison to other, more traditional lead generation strategies. But if you want to skip straight to the bit where you money, read our short guide on display ads for real estate.
1. Referrals
It’s the holy grail of new business: referrals from previous clients. And you can encourage them by incentivising your past clients to recommend your services to their networks. The specific mechanism is for you to decide, but giving both your prior customer and your new customer cash or a gift card after a successful referral keeps things nice and simple.
The downside is that it’s a massively unpredictable form of lead generation. You can’t rely on it. Whereas with PPC you can generate steady, predictable flow of leads.
2. Host an event
What do your potential clients like? An easy way to access new investment opportunities. One way to give that to them is to host an event where you gather experts to speak on their area of investment expertise – with one of the speaker slots going to someone from your team to promote your portfolio of opportunities.
Unfortunately events are a massive headache to organise. They’re also costly and take time to promote. And there’s a very real chance that, while you might win business, you lose business to alternative investment opportunities being presented on the night.
3. Site visits and property tours
Taking people to visit their potential investment – whether it’s a brownfield site, a plot earmarked for development or a brand new commercial property – is a great way to whip up excitement about your portfolio of investment opportunities.
However, of all the things to organise, people are among the hardest. Allocating timeslots, arranging transport, fielding queries about location and so on can quickly become resource intensive.
4. Ads in local publications and trade media
The wonders of the world wide web are such that business is no longer limited by geography. But if your property portfolio is located in a certain area – or you have a key development you want to promote – then local media can be a great option for lead generation.
Financial publications are another place to seek exposure for your real estate business. Readerships are likely to be wealthy and keen to engage with opportunities that meet their investment criteria. What’s to say you can’t tick their boxes?
The downside is that conversion tends to be low with print advertising. And you pay for the placement regardless, whereas with PPC you only pay when someone actually clicks your ad. And why would they click unless they had at least half an interest in becoming your next client?
5. Content marketing
Blog posts, email newsletters, podcasts, penning an article for a trade publication. All opportunities to demonstrate your knowledge with insightful commentary on relevant issues affecting your industry and your target audience. Content marketing is a great way to establish your credibility and build a community around your business. Genuine expertise is always compelling.
The problem is that content marketing takes time. Lots of it. To provide genuine value to an audience and build that community around your business, you need to be willing to spend some long hours on content strategy and execution.
6. Search engine optimisation (SEO)
Search engine optimisation goes hand in hand with content marketing. That means abiding the latest SEO best practice – such as indexing your webpages correctly, including the right keywords in your copy and creating original, helpful content for your visitors.
The downside is that it can take weeks, sometimes months to reap the benefits. With Google ads, you can climb straight to the top of the search results – the moment your ad is published.
7. Portfolios door to door
Work up a nice glossy brochure of your investment opportunities, and send them door to door to the affluent locations in your region. You may get one or two fresh leads out of it.
The problem with this hit-and-hope style of marketing is that it’s so unpredictable. With PPC you can use sophisticated audience targeting tools to hit people who are highly likely to be interested in your investment opportunities. And instead of paying the print and delivery costs of a brochure, you only pay when someone clicks your ad.
8. Live chat on your website
Some people love it, others hate it. But there’s no doubt that this somewhat marmite marketing mechanism is capable of generating easy wins in terms of lead generation.
Unfortunately you need the means to staff it. Keeping potential clients waiting is not a good look. So there’s a human resource cost there. Unless you use AI, which can reduce audience perception of your brand if it’s executed poorly.
Convinced about PPC yet? Try this.
Pay per click advertising can be genuinely transformative for real estate businesses. Want more evidence? Ask for a free proposal and we will outline what you can expect within three months of working with us. No strings. No obligation work with us. No dodgy hard sells. Just intel. Let’s get started.
“Finding an agency who will work hand in hand with you to achieve revenue goals was important to us – and in Adbetter we found that. Their practical, dependable approach coupled with their ability to build full lead journeys (from ad design and copy to lead capture and reporting) has made them a seamless addition to my team and one I’d recommend in a heartbeat.”
– Alexandra Lamport, Marketing Director, GetGround
You may also be interested in:
We write a lot about this lead generation. Here’s what else you can explore:
Win with PPC:
- Display ads for real estate: a short guide to success
- 8 tips to nail real estate lead generation
- Luxury ads for real estate: 4 big learnings
- How to get more real estate leads – for new agents
Zero in on Google ads:
- A complete guide to Google ads for real estate leads
- Best practices for Google pay per click real estate campaigns
- YouTube ads for real estate: a guide to getting results
Focus on social:
- Why you should use Facebook ads for commercial real estate
- Facebook ads for real estate: tips to grow revenue
- How to boost revenue with Instagram ads for real estate
- Facebook dynamic ads for real estate
- TikTok ads for real estate: should you bother?
You’ve got your lead, now what?
