Low-Cost Lead Generation Activities for Real Estate

Last week, we talked about the three different types of leads:

• Low Cost / Low Intent
• Medium Cost / Medium Intent
• High Cost / High Intent

And we also asked you to find out how much website traffic you're currently getting. Why? Because according to research done by Google, only 2-3% of people who visit your website will convert (take some sort of action and give you their contact information).

Which means, to capture a significant number of leads, we need a lot of monthly visitors to our website:

Most of us can't get the number of visitors we need from organic traffic alone (people who find your website through a search portal or other referral). We need other ways to drive people to our websites, get in front of people actively looking for a home, or generate leads from our networks.

So today, we're going to give you some campaigns you can use to find leads of each type. These are campaigns we use in our brokerage, GoodLife Realty, and the ad examples you see are from ads we've used and tested.

Low Intent / Low Cost: Home Search PPC Campaign on Facebook

When someone is looking for a home, what are they interested in seeing? Homes for sale! This campaign promotes the home search feature of our website to potential buyers.

Facebook Ads are one of the most effective ways to get in front of buyers. With Facebook Ads, you can target people likely to move in the zip codes or areas you focus on. Here's an example:

This ad then takes them to page on your website where visitors can search for properties:

These lead are generally going to fall into the "Low Cost, Low Intent" category. They're only giving you their contact information so they can get more information or browse homes on your website, so follow up accordingly.

Low Intent / Low Cost: Home Value PPC Campaign on Facebook

This campaign is similar to the Home Search campaign, but targets potential sellers. If someone is thinking of selling their home–even just toying with the idea–they are going to want to know how much their home is worth. With this campaign, we use Facebook Ads to find people who 1) Own a home and 2) Are likely to move, and then offers them a free estimate for their home.

The ad sends them to a landing page where people can enter their address and contact information in exchange for a free report that provides a brief home valuation.

We use a "What's My Home Worth?" tool to provide an automated report. If you're interested in that route, there are many services that offer this feature. However, you can also just produce a quick CMA yourself and send it to people who request a home value analysis!

Remember, with both the Home Search and Home Value campaigns, you want a system for following up with individuals who take action. You need to to establish a relationship and build trust over time so that when they become a high intent lead, you're the agent they work with.

Immediately after someone takes action, you should follow-up with an automated email that introduces yourself, lets them know you are available, and then provides value.

And then you need to stay in touch. After the initial email, shift to sending information that buyers or sellers would be interested in. We start with a 12 point email sequence for both buyers and sellers that delivers information about the buying or selling process.

Medium Intent / Medium Cost: Just Listed Campaign

One way to attract the Medium Intent / Medium type of website viewer is with a Just Listed campaign.

The basic principles of this campaign work just like the Just Listed campaigns we all know, just updated for the digital age. By using digital marketing, you can get your listings in front of the right people at the right time, making your Just Listed campaign more timely, targeted, and ultimately effective.

Here's how it works: You use Facebook Ads targeting features to find people who are likely to buy a home. The ad promotes the property:

The Facebook Ads drive people back to a property page on your website.

If possible, you should host the property page on your website. That way, you get the benefit of the traffic to your website, people seeing your brand, people browsing your website, and so on!

This campaign is incredibly cost effective, as well. We spend around $50 or $60 per listing (just a couple dollars a day).

High Cost, High Intent: Marketing to your Network on a Regular Basis

When you look at hard costs, marketing to your network isn't that expensive. However, when you consider how much your time is worth, and then you think about everything that goes into building your network and keeping in touch–meeting these individuals, building the relationship, calling, creating marketing materials to stay in touch–the cost adds up.

To simplify the process of marketing to your network, we use a digital monthly campaign that looks like this:

We begin by writing a blog post on a topic useful to homeowners, buyers, or sellers, such as amplifying the value of your home. The information should be highly relevant, and something your network would be interested in. We also promote the blog post across our various social media platforms to get more traction from it.

We then take the information from the blog post and have it designed in a PDF report. Studies show that people perceive designed PDFs to be of more value than a simple blog post.

After we have the PDF, we email it to our network. It's a relatively easy was to keep up with your network without bugging them.

Additionally, you'll be providing your network with an arsenal of tools they can use to promote you. When someone in your network comes across referral opportunity, they are going to have a lot of resources they can use to refer you. Sending information like this also gives you something to talk about when you pick up the phone to call your past clients.

Now that you have some campaigns to start generating traffic and leads, tomorrow we'll focus on how to follow-up, nurture, and convert the leads you generate!

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