Have you recently started your real estate agency? Not sure which marketing techniques will generate leads? Starting a real estate business can be tricky as it requires you to have a thorough understanding of the industry and exceptional hard and soft skills. Moreover, knowing when and how to implement the right set of real estate digital marketing strategies to boost brand awareness and to capture quality leads is crucial. So in this guide, we will provide you with a few tips that will help in growing your real estate agency manifolds.
Key Statistics Before Starting your Real Estate Agency
Before delving into the techniques and tips of building a thriving real estate agency, let us take a quick look at some of the figures that will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the sector.
- The Indian real estate sector market value is poised to reach US$ 1 trillion by 2030.
- The Housing for All scheme is expected to garner US $1.3 trillion investments by 2025.
- By 2022, Grade-A Office absorption will increase to almost 700 MSF.
- As per Knight Frank’s Asia-Pacific Real Estate Outlook 2021 report, the warehousing sector will stay resilient as the e-commerce demand is expected to reach an estimated $160 billion by 2022.
How to Become a Successful Real Estate Agent?
Only when you take a few different steps from the traditional home sale and purchase process, will you see your real estate agency thrive. Yes, you can capture leads through online and offline methods. However, to become the go-to real estate agent, you need to lay emphasis on a few competencies that will make you stand out from the crowd.
1. Conduct SWOT Analysis
As a realtor, you need to identify and evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats from time to time. While the former two are the internal factors, the latter two are external elements that can affect your business. Once you are familiar with the areas you need to work upon and the opportunities which you haven’t explored, you can formulate a well-concocted strategy to kickstart your real estate agency. The image given below is an example of how you can implement SWOT technique as an agent.
2. Set SMART Goals
“One step a time, there’s no need to rush.” There will be many tasks that you have to perform to put your real estate agency in front of an audience. However, working on one goal at a time is what SMART [Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timed] planning entails. Not only short-term, but you need to plan for mid-and long-term goals well in advance. Look at the examples below to get a clear picture of what smart goals are:
- Increase Instagram followers to 300 in 60 days
- Hire 3 Business Development Executives in the next 2 weeks
- Formulate a complete email marketing campaign in one week
- Attain conversion rate of 2.5% by 3rd quarter
- Increase YouTube subscribers by 20% by February
3. Hone Your Skills
Apart from building strong connections and implementing well-concocted marketing strategies, your need to hone your soft- and hard-skills to establish your dominance in the industry.
Soft skills such as communication, time management, leadership qualities are not only beneficial for your career growth but also for your real estate company. Hard skills, on the contrary, are the ones which can be learned. Examples include, project management, digital marketing skills, excel competency, etc.
4. Formulate a Business Plan
Which area you want to focus on, which types of real estates you can sell, who is your target audience, how much budget can you spend on a monthly basis, whether or not you want to outsource some activities, which marketing techniques will you use are some of the questions that you must ask yourself in order to create a solid business plan. You need to understand the market thoroughly, upgrade your knowledge, and hone your skills before kickstarting your real estate company.
5. Persuade through Content
Sometimes, cold calling and making a hard sell may do more harm than good. Instead, focus on writing impeccable property descriptions. Highlight the features that make your listing unique and avoid using adjectives that sound negative. For example, incorporating terms like “nice” may not be as effective for low- or mid-priced homes as it is for luxurious properties. To back your claims, post high-quality images of both exteriors and interiors and offer a virtual tour to the clients.
10 Ways of Generating Quality Leads
You have now got an overview of the skills and competencies you need to have to establish a flourishing career as a real estate agent. But to take your real estate agency to soaring heights, you need to implement online and offline marketing and advertising strategies to connect with potential leads. We have compiled a list of 10 super effective ways of generating quality buyer leads through multiple ways.
1. Digital Presence
With close to 700 million active internet users in India, establishing an online presence has become important. The first step in putting your real estate agency in front of an audience is to develop a user-friendly website. This should be followed by creating social media accounts on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. You can share a multitude of real estate posts for social media in the form of property listings, infographics, videos, blog links, etc. Once the website is running, measure, and evaluate metrics like:
- Traffic
- Bounce rate (% of the audience who leave the website without taking any action)
- Search Engine Page Rankings
- Traffic sources
- Conversion rates
- Average time spent on site
- Applause rate
2. Run Facebook Ads
Facebook real estate ads are one of the most convenient and efficient ways of generating quality leads for your real estate agency. Apart from creating brand awareness, you can push your ads in front of a target audience and connect with potential clients. Do remember that the ad copy should be very specific and should highlight key features of the property. While images are important, emphasis should be laid on creating compelling call-to-actions. Keep a tab on metrics like Click-through-rates (CTR), Impressions, frequency, Cost-per-Click, etc to evaluate your campaign success.
Facebook lets you choose exactly who sees your ads. You can pick things like age, location, interests, and behaviors. This means your ads only go to people who might actually be interested. It increases the chances that people will want what you’re selling.
Facebook also lets you reconnect with people who have already checked out your website or property listings. These people have shown interest in the past. Showing them more ads keeps your business fresh in their minds. By continuing to market to these warm leads, you can guide them down the path to becoming customers and securing more sales for your real estate business.
3. Optimize Content
As the name suggests, Search Engine Optimization is a technique of optimizing your content for search engines so that your page can rank at the top of result pages. For this, you need to experiment with on- and off-page SEO activities. This includes creating Google my business page, choosing the right set of long-tail or short-tail keywords, maintaining keyword density, optimizing headings and alt text, creating backlinks or guest posts, and much more.
Moreover, if you make it to the featured snippet, not only will your brand get recognition, but you will attract more organic traffic and your website’s domain authority will improve.
4. Attract Leads through Google Ads
Whether it is for purchasing a home or for finding a set of property documents, the first stop for all of us is Google. Hence, placing your ads on Google or other search engines is an excellent way of attracting leads. Pay special attention to the keywords you chose as you will bid on these words for ranking your ad. Additionally, lay emphasis on negative keywords as through these terms you will be able to target only that audience that is actually interested in the property or the area you are selling property in. However, do remember that these keywords work differently for search campaigns and video/display ads.
It is quite well known that Google Ads is a great way to reach people who are actively looking for real estate services right now. By bidding on the right keywords related to the locations and property types you sell, your ads will show up at the top of search results. This gets your listings in front of more qualified buyers and sellers.
Google also lets you target ads very precisely by geographic area, demographics like age or income, and even online behavior. So your message goes only to the audience you want at the right time. Constantly checking your campaign performance data allows you to spend your ad budget wisely on strategies that work.
Another big plus is that Google Ads provides very detailed tracking and measurement. You can see click-through rates, cost per lead, lead quality, and more. Using this data, you can continuously improve your advertising strategies to get better results. The insights also teach you about what your target customers want and how they behave online. This helps guide your entire marketing approach for long-term success.
5. Outsource Marketing
Running a real estate agency requires a lot of dedication, exhaustive market knowledge, excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills, and most importantly, a good marketing plan. While paid campaigns on Facebook, Instagram or Google can generate excellent leads, it can also burn a hole in your pocket if you don;’t target the right audience.
Plus, with so many mediums and tools available, becoming adept at everything is exhausting. Hence, the best way to generate leads and at lower customer acquisition costs is to pursue outsource marketing. From SEO and lead nurturing to website development and social media management, agencies have professionals who bring years of experience on the table.
6. Incorporate Videos
Let’s agree, the attention span of an individual has reduced. We often look for videos that can disseminate a lot of information in a few minutes. Hence, the best way to keep leads engaged is to create short videos that explain your services or property listings well. You can then share these videos on Instagram or Facebook and it sure is going to generate some leads.
Engaging video content does more than just grab attention; it lets you showcase properties in a vibrant, lifelike manner that static images simply can’t match. Think about creating immersive virtual tours that allow prospects to explore listings from the comfort of their homes. Or spotlight videos highlighting the amenities and charms of the different neighborhoods you serve. You could even produce educational videos walking buyers through the home purchasing process step-by-step.
Furthermore, creating content through videos is one of the best ways to establish personal connections with the audience, allowing you to share your experience, insights, and personality in a way that resonates with potential clients.
7. Use Innovative Tools
The above-mentioned lead generating activities are critical for the success of your real estate agency. But you can expand your horizon and experiment with innovative tools like short-form video content or informative webinars to attract quality leads.
- IGTV Videos
- Instagram Reels
- LinkedIn Surveys or Polls
- Question and Answer Sessions
- Facebook Live Sessions
- Webinars
- How-to-guides
8. Harness the Potential of LinkedIn
Although LinkedIn is used for building professional networks, you will be surprised to know that in comparison to Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn is 277% more effective in generating leads. This doesn’t mean you’ll minimize the use of other platforms. But you need to create a strong presence on the networking platform to attract potential clients. Enlisted are some ways through which you can engage your LinkedIn audience and generate quality leads:
- Create showcase pages as it helps in highlighting all the details of your brand.
- Conduct polls or surveys to understand an audience’s perspective.
- Post different types of content regularly.
- Share infographics or snippets of research reports.
- Use pages to create an informative series.
9. Develop a Lead Nurturing Plan
Now that you have got leads, you need to follow up with them to convert your leads into clients. This process is known as lead nurturing. Segment your leads into cold (contact established but the leads have not shown much interest), warm (they do visit your website or have inquired about a listing), and hot (strong interest) leads. Once you have segmented your target list, strategize a lead nurturing strategy like drip email marketing campaigns or newsletters.
10. Prioritize Customer Service
Whether it’s on-call, through chatbots, or through a free consultation, offering personalized customer service plays a pivotal role in generating interest in a homebuyer’s mind. Make sure to mention contact details on your real estate agency’s website and on all the platforms where you have built a presence. If users post queries, don’t forget to address those doubts and provide suitable answers for the same.
There is no instant solution for capturing valuable leads. Whether it is paid campaigns or organic marketing, you need to invest a lot of energy and resources in formulating a strategy that suits you the best. However, by creating and implementing a healthy mix of the aforementioned tips and your own tried and tested methods, you will be able to convert prospects to clients.
