In the real estate business, generating leads is of prime importance. As the world comes out of the shadow of the global pandemic, many changes have affected our professional spheres. The real estate industry also has faced and adapted to the changing landscape of the business.
However, real estate lead generation will always be the cornerstone of this industry. An aspect that has changed is the method to generate leads. There has been a significant shift towards online lead generation strategies observed in the past many months.
We asked our real estate experts for the reasons behind this shift in strategies and advice for a new agent to find real estate leads. This advice is of help to any real estate professional who may be struggling to work successfully in the new normal scenario.
Why Real Estate Professionals Prefer Online Lead Generation Methods
So, why exactly did lead generation real estate methods change drastically? The answer to this lies in the following reasons:
The Pandemic
The global scourge did definitely impact the real estate market in two ways. On the one hand, the restrictions prevented realtors from carrying out their business. On the other hand, the demand for real estate fueled by the massive shift of work from home employees meant that the realtors had to find a way to carry on the business.
Time Factor
The lead generation opportunities afforded in the online mode made realtors realize that they could have a better lead to time ratio in this mode. Consider the hours spent on cold calling and leads gained to any virtual method and the number of prospects obtained. The latter clearly wins.
Strategies To Boost Lead Generation For Real Estate Agents Through Online Methods
1. Opt For Online Lead Generation Portals
The first thing real estate agents need to do is opt to work with an online real estate lead generation platform. A virtual platform such as Dorrmat can help realtors gain quality leads with minimal effort. It allows them to focus more on converting the new leads than searching for them.
Dorrmat, an Arizona-based seller leads generating platform, makes it highly convenient to find potential clients in all the key cities in the state. The platform also provides additional integral features such as lead capture links, customer relationship management tools, landing pages, and more. All of these make Dorrmat a popular choice for agents.
2. Have Search Engine Optimization For Your Website
Most realtors have a website, but many still do not opt for local SEO services to improve their real estate marketing efforts. In order to find more leads, it is necessary to rank high on the search engines. This will provide you with a higher volume of traffic to your site.
People searching for real estate assistance will be guided towards your site through a combination of keywords and content. It would make your site’s visitors qualified traffic. Working according to the search engines is a necessity when looking for seller leads in the virtual space.
3. Invest In Social Media Marketing And Ads
An effective way to attract potential buyers and sellers is through paid advertising methods. However, the number of leads you gain can be significantly multiplied by opting for social media advertising along with other paid ads.
The two effective alternatives are as follows:
A. Facebook Marketing
Social media pages can be more than a marketing tool. They can also help find online leads. With the highly customizable ad creation options offered by Facebook and other social media channels, you can create highly specialized ads to find home sellers and buyers with ease.
B. Google Ads
Another effective way to generate leads is by running Google Ads. Among all search engines, Google is the most popular one. Adverts on Google will enable you to find potential leads with ads shown only to your target customer base. This tool relies on keywords and geographical location markers in your ads to give results.
4. Work On Content Marketing
A core component of digital marketing is value addition. You can enhance your inbound marketing by offering useful resources in the form of an e-book or a checklist that prospective buyers and sellers will find useful.
All a realtor has to do is include lead capture forms on the website. With these forms, prospects will have to provide their e-mail addresses in exchange for the resource that you provide. These prospects are technically categorized as cold leads, who then need to be put through your lead funnel and taken to the end stage of actual clients.
5. Have An Email Marketing System
In our list of lead generation ideas, the last one is to create a system of sending emails to past clients and prospects. Lead management and lead nurturing are crucial for getting buyers and sellers to work with you.
With this form of direct mail, all you need to do is create a regular set of messages about new property listings, announcements about open house events, or even a date for a virtual tour. Once the message is ready, you can schedule it to be sent even months in advance.
On the scheduled date, all of the recipients will automatically get the mail. This strategy enables you to build your personal brand and secure leads through long-term engagement with past and future clients.
Advice For A Real Estate Agent
The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) has stated that in the coming year also, there would be a significant expansion in the real estate market. Therefore, in order to benefit from the growth of your local market, it is necessary to incorporate online strategies to find leads.
Try to include a good mix of inbound marketing and outbound marketing tactics in your real estate lead generation strategies. The valuable insights covered in this article should help many agents who intend to achieve their sales goals in the coming year.
Summary
Real estate lead generation ideas will always keep undergoing changes. And as other business owners adapt to these changes, so do agents. There will always be a constant need to revise their strategies. With the methods discussed above, it would be possible for realtors to find prospective clients to boost their success.