Using Case Studies in Your Real Estate Marketing to Generate More Leads

Generating seller leads in real estate is important. It's also expensive. You are spending your hard earned money on generating these leads. Because of these two factors, it is understandable that when a new lead comes in, you are going to be anxious to follow up with them immediately. This is a great thing. Sometimes, we see agents get a little too anxious, though, and jump right into trying to close the deal, rather than taking a methodical approach of building awareness, generating interest and then turning that lead into a client.

So if we can all agree that you don't want to jump right in and ask for the listing immediately, how do you build rapport and get homeowners to believe in you first? There are lots of ways successful Realtors do this. However, my favorite way is through the use of case studies. Simply put, a case study is:

A process or record of research in which detailed consideration is given to the development of a particular person, group, or situation over a period of time.

Case studies offer personal stories and detailed information that convince people your services will work for them. The best part of this is that the real estate industry lends itself perfectly to case studies. Think about it—every transaction you are involved in is different. Every transaction requires its own specific set of needs and has its own unique set of trip wires and "gotchas" that threaten to derail your deal. Using these transactions in your marketing pieces as proof of production and success is the perfect way to attract attention and build interest in you and your services.

So today, I'll share two steps that are critical to succeed in this type of marketing strategy, and some real world examples of how you can use your current real estate marketing vehicles to deliver this great content.

Step 1: Tell Your Story

As I've described above, in this case study marketing piece, you are going to tell the story of a challenging listing, how you addressed problems that arose, and how you successfully navigated these waters and successfully sold the listing, exceeding your client's expectations. How you prepare this story and present it really depends on the type of marketing vehicle you are using.

For instance, if you are mailing out farming postcards, my suggestion would be to send out a Just Sold card. In that postcard, you will feature your sale, and also give people a taste of the story of the sale. Then, use a capture code on the postcard and in your call-to-action. Homeowners can then go to your landing page, type in the capture code and their email address and instantly read the entire case study (or, even better, watch a video of you telling the story of the listing).

What if you are doing an ad campaign on Facebook? This is another great opportunity to be able to share your case study with interested homeowners in your marketplace. Set up your ad as a Just Sold with a great property photo. Use the ad copy section of the ad to tease homeowners into being interested in the story behind the sale of the home. Then, have a call-to-action to have them click the "Learn more" button to hear the whole story behind the sale of your home.

• PRO TIP: When they click on that button, take them directly to the content. DO NOT make them fill out a capture form or jump through any hoops at all. Instead, just make sure your Facebook Pixel is running, so you can do follow-up marketing to them later.

When the homeowner clicks on the "Learn more" button, the homeowner will be directed immediately to either a blog post that tells the story of the sale, or even better, a video where you tell the story of the sale.

Step 2: Follow Up with Client Testimonials

In both scenarios above, you will be able to pinpoint exactly which homeowners were engaging with your marketing piece and checked out the story of you selling that property. Now is the perfect time to tee up the next marketing piece, ensuring that they move from simply "knowing you" to "trusting you." How do you do this? It's simple. Offer client testimonials. Client testimonials are social proof. It's a third party saying great things about you. This will instantly give you credibility in the minds of homeowners.

Touching on the postcard mailing campaign again, the follow-up piece you are going to send will be a testimonial from the client you sold that home for that was featured in your first marketing piece. The important thing to point out here is that you are not going to send this follow up piece to your entire farm, but rather specifically the people that responded to the original marketing piece. Since you also have the homeowner's email address now, you might even consider also sending an email with the testimonial to them as well. The call-to-action on this piece will be giving them an easy way to book an appointment with you. We've discussed this type of feature before, but in case you didn't see that article, my favorite one is from a company called You Can Book Me.

Facebook will work much the same way as your postcard. You will utilize the data gathered from your Facebook Tracking Pixel to pinpoint the exact people that engaged with your first marketing piece. The content and the CTA on the Facebook ad will be pretty much exactly like the postcard example I just went over.

Again, there are lots of ways you can hone your lead nurturing skills. This low impact, highly effective way to build credibility with homeowners in your marketplace happens to be one of my favorites.

To view the original article, visit the Leading Agent blog.