Selling high-ticket items is no joke & it certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted. You all might have come across the quote “Bigger the risk, bigger the reward”. Yes, it’s true. But on the flip side, more risk = more rewards = more competition! And as far as Real Estate is concerned, the competition is neck to neck & almost on a whole new level of stratosphere.
The truth is – Most Real Estate agents deploy boring & outdated strategies to generate leads but often end up generating an alarmingly low quantity of leads. Heck, they seem to almost carbon copy their competitors making it difficult for them to cut through all the noise & get noticed.
Lead Generation for Real Estate on the Internet is getting tougher day by day. User behavior is changing, ad costs are rising, the average joe has become averse to cliched ads, & the same old strategies simply just don’t work anymore.
You see, no one buys property like candy! It’s usually a one-time thing & an aspiration for many families. They do a hell of a lot of research before settling in for nothing but the absolute best. They invest in Real Estate keeping their future generation in mind. It is one of the biggest decisions they’re going to make.
But here’s the problem – the typical (& almost certainly outdated) Real Estate marketing strategy consists of 2 steps:
- Generate a certain amount of leads
- Keep quiet & pray, hoping for sales to somehow magically happen!
If the above strategy actually worked, all the agents would’ve sold properties like hotcakes. However, in reality, doing this only burns a big hole in your pocket. If your Ad campaign for generating leads is not LIVE 24*7*365, you are literally handing over prospects & sales to your competition! It also results in inconsistency in the quantity of leads & sales.
So is generating qualified leads for Real Estate a tedious task?
How did we achieve 10K+ piping hot leads for our Real Estate client?
What’s the overarching strategy & what did we do differently from others?
Read on to find out the definitive answer….
Solution:
Lead Generating for Real Estate is actually quite simple. (but not easy!)
After a couple of intense brainstorming sessions among our team members (& gulping down countless cups of coffee!), we formulated a solid strategy.
We deployed an omnichannel lead generation approach in order to maximize visibility & create a customer-centric experience. This included a combination of traditional media as well as digital advertising, with more focus on the latter.
We decided to go all-in & play the volume game i.e. Consistently generating a large quantity of leads on an everyday basis.
Also, we fully leveraged the power of both online as well as offline marketing.
Here’s what we did:
STEP 1: Defined the target audience & understood the client’s business
Selling everything to everyone is perhaps the worst thing you can do as a business. Knowing who exactly is your target audience is pivotal for you to help them serve better. With our unique audience research strategy & templates, we precisely identify & pinpoint who the target audience is.
In a nutshell, we deploy a 5 step battle-tested formula to help identity/create your ideal target audience. These are the people who are not only WILLING to spend money on your offering (i.e. product/service) but are also ABLE to comfortably spend money.
The 5 steps are as follows:
STEP 1: Identify your prospects
STEP 2: Create a rough persona
STEP 3: Understand the targeting options on social media platforms
STEP 4: Segment audience based on common aspirations
STEP 5: Define the target audience using customer avatar variables
Read more about this process in detail here
STEP 2: Selecting the right channels (platforms)
In step 1, we identified the WHO. Next, we found the right channels our target audience is spending time on. Among these channels, we narrowed down on the ones that would potentially give us the best bang for the buck. Keep in mind that picking the right platform(s) to put your message across is as important as having a great product/service. You don’t want to shell out ad dollars where your audience don’t hang out, do you?
STEP 3: Competitor Analysis
Once we identified the WHO (target audience), & the WHERE (right platforms), we did a thorough competitor analysis to spy on the client’s immediate & high-level competitors. We fully leveraged our checklists & custom-made competitor analysis template to spy on them like a boss. We tactfully dissected their ad strategies, offers, messaging, loopholes, etc. In an industry like Real Estate wherein there is cut-throat competition, it’s pivotal to know what your peers are doing.
Also, Read Competitor Analysis Secrets That No One Talks About
STEP 4: Created campaign assets & allocated budgets
At this point, we were finally inching closer & closer towards making the campaign LIVE. Our team of creative connoisseurs (designers) pumped out scroll-stopping ad creatives (Images), our Copywriter dished out piping-hot, persuasive ad copies, our campaign manager all the campaign assets (creatives, copy, etc) & allocated a test budget.
A few of the creatives we used for the campaign. Notice that we even ran ads in the local language (Kannada) as well
STEP 5: Testing & Optimization phase
The campaign was made live. In the initial phase, we did a LOT of testing & split testing. We left no stone unturned & tested everything.. Different copies, creatives, audiences, locations, interests, etc… We also tested ads in the local language & it performed really well. During this phase, the lead cost was fluctuating (which is totally normal) & after generating a certain number of leads, we studied the data to understand which ads (creatives/copy/audiences, etc) were giving the maximum output at a minimal ad spend. Equipped with this data in our Arsenal, we killed off the non-performing ads & put money on the performing ones.
Here’s a glimpse of the different audiences we tested
STEP 6: Strategic scaling
Once we had finally hit the sweet spot (i.e Generating quality leads at a nominal cost), we increased the budget in order to reach out to a wider audience & generate more leads (AKA scaling). This process was done strategically & systematically with pinpoint precision. And that’s the reason we were able to scale all the way up to 10k+ piping hot leads for our client.
As we mentioned earlier, the overall strategy combined the best bits of both the worlds – Online as well as Offline Marketing.
Also, Read Facebook Ads Strategies that drive 5X Percent Results
We crafted an offline (traditional) marketing game plan for our client. We told them what exactly they needed to do in order to generate leads via traditional media. They absorbed the strategy from us & started implementing it along with the tactics.
A glimpse of the ads manager of our client
Here’s What They Did:
- Attended Real Estate events (Trade shows, expos, exhibitions)
- They sponsored local events to increase their brand visibility
- Advertised on traditional platforms such as TV, Radio, & Newspaper
- Organized open house events
In addition to this, we also ASSISTED our client in doing the following Online Marketing activities
- Adding the property on Marketplaces
- Creating quality content (particularly blogs)
- Leveraging positive customer feedback (testimonials)
- Social Media activities to increase brand awareness
- Lead segmentation
Also, Read 11 Step Content Creation Strategy To Convert Your Contacts To Contracts
We could’ve relied just on Facebook & Instagram Ads to generate commendable results, but we went the extra mile by adding the element of traditional marketing.
WRAPPING UP:
You see, we practice what we preach.
Now you have two choices to succeed in the marketing part of the Real Estate business.
OPTION 1: The DO IT YOURSELF approach. Yes, you can sit & learn all the systems, tools, strategies, processes, & frameworks yourself. But this takes a lot of investment in time, money, resources. In addition to this, there’s a ton of trial & error involved.
OPTION 2: Hand it over to the experts (yours truly) while you focus on improving your plot/villa/apartment. Keep in mind that we’ve been doing this for years together & we’ve consistently generated tangible RESULTS.