The key component to real estate success comes from creating leads. Finding effective real estate lead generation ideas is considered a splitting headache for numerous investors.
Regardless of their complex nature, they help establish your brand name and become a catalyst for upcoming successes.
Although other factors like marketing plans and investors’ business are also vital, these ideas play an important role in developing sales systems, creating close clients from potential leads.
And, of course, it is not easy to attract and capture customers. In many cases, investors have to apply different ideas to uncover which method works best.
This article is for you if you are tired of normal and conventional ideas and searching for other fresh inspiration.
We list some ideas with different features that may require the latest technologies, connections, etc. The remarkable thing is all of them are effective and bring lots of benefits.
So, why don’t we dive right in?
Table of ContentsToggle
A Checklist For Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas Without Upfront Cost
Before going to our main part, here is a checklist of must-have and great-to-have factors in real estate marketing.
Must-haves
SOI
Past clients
Reviews
Partner with a lender and attorney
Attractive landing pages
Open House
Drip email campaigns
Great-to-haves
Video content
Phone duty
Virtual tours
Free social events
Moving companies
Open a blog
Make use of social media
Door knocking
Housewarming party
Cold calling
Referral program
Unconventional And Effective Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas
1. Create A lead Magnet
Lead magnets might be unfamiliar to some people. They are priceless resources that you have to give away to get email addresses. To be more specific, they could be a financial navigation guide, a checklist, an ultimate guide for homebuyers in real estate marketing, etc.
Here is what you need to do: create a welcome page on the website. That page should include a sales copy of the importance of lead magnets and a registration form for site visitors to enter their name, location, email address, and potential selling/buying time frame.
After that, you can have an immediate PDF file to download or send as an email to a new lead.
We have to admit that it is an effective real estate lead generation idea, not only for local SEO. It is still possible to attract more visitors living outside your area as well.
But you do not have to worry. Thanks to many email marketing and sales platforms such as SendX, Really Simple Systems, or MooSend, you can segment out all non-local leads.
2. Make Use Of Free Advertisements
The biggest advice for any real estate agent or house flipper is to treat the property like a shopfront. Put banners and signs in the yard or any place with much traffic so that everyone passing by can easily recognize them.
This advertising method might be traditional yet still effective, and more importantly, it is free. Who knows, you might earn more commissions just because of a banner you hang up in the yard?
Real estate professionals might not start selling a house or any property without attempting to advertise it with a free sign. Remember to include your contacts, namely name, email address, and telephone numbers, for others to contact you conveniently.
3. Create Website Content
Content marketing on the website allows you to talk about your real estate business and promote in a long term
Online real estate marketing is one of the underrated ideas since many people think it only has long-term benefits. However, it sometimes offers short-term and immediate opportunities for investors.
Frequently providing people with amazing content in the local communities through how-to or tips-and-tricks articles would create a positive feeling for your agency.
They will be more likely to visit your website, actively engage in your content, gradually build trust with your brand, and eventually become your potential clients.
The better content marketing you create, the more traffic and more leads you can drive. And the best thing? It takes the minimum effort to create simple but amazing real estate content.
If you have trouble idealizing piles of different content, focus on your target audiences and try to solve their problems. Answering all the frequently asked questions on your website is a great alternative.
4. Post On Social Media
Do social media have any connection with real estate lead generation? Social media we mention here include all kinds of online interactive platforms that you can think of: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more.
However, we want to emphasize Instagram as a secret that most real estate professionals use. This platform is highly visual, which is perfect for promoting a visual industry like real estate.
No wonder lots of investors and agents have already invested efforts on Instagram with beautiful images and relevant hashtags.
Although you use Instagram as a way of marketing, it is still a social media platform. Don’t make it too complicated with marketing and real estate jargon – something bores the majority rather easily.
Consistently fill your feed with natural and simple yet one-of-a-kind details of the properties, which would probably impress others more.
5. Join Community
The industry sells a house to customers and also the neighborhood, the nearby facilities, and the whole city. Showing the love for the city to prospects is a great way to generate more leads.
There are no better ways to build relationships and express your love for the town by joining communal activities and supporting local programs. Even small efforts such as cleaning up the park counts.
Sometimes, the agency’s reputation outweighs its products. By supporting community service, you build up a positive reputation and image, contributing to your long-term growth and success.
6. Launch A Consistent Newsletter
Create an opt-in form, popup ads or landing page to collect email address
Email marketing is one of the must-have real estate lead generation ideas that everyone knows. It aims to reach your potential valuable connections so that you will come into their minds whenever they need your support.
Email marketing is effective in driving consumer retention and acquisition.
However, creating a consistent email newsletter is never an easy job. Similar to creating website content, the ideation phase is the most important.
And whenever you get stuck at that stage, consider answering these 2 questions: To whom you send the email? and How do you wish the recipients to respond?
If you are running out of ideas, send them something fun and different yet informative. Creativity might sometimes impress them more than traditional emails.
7. Ask For Referrals
This tactic is so simple that most real estate agents usually ignore it. If you have successfully cared for customers and they are satisfied with your service, gently ask them for referrals.
Sounds simple, right? But unfortunately, for some reason, most agents rarely ask. And they are ignoring the massive benefits that their previous customers bring.
You can ask them in many ways, in person, over emails, by phone, or on social media platforms. Your customers could become a potential goldmine for the business only when you ask for it.
8. Livestream House Tours
Technology has developed and changed the way real estate agents work. So, why don’t you do open house walkthroughs on the Internet?
In addition to the social media tip we mentioned above, you can take advantage and live stream on your Instagram or Facebook account. Don’t be surprised; your audience might double, even quadruple to hundreds and thousands with this trick.
As a real estate professional, show them your properties, which is the most effective and easiest strategy. By watching your live stream, there is a high chance that someone might be interested in it and take action.
9. Wear Your Agency T-shirt In Public
Another undervalued but effective tip is wearing the branded clothing from your agency. Show to people you are working in the real estate industry. Who knows, someone might run into you and ask: “How is the market?” At least you know it means the real estate market.
If you are in this situation, give them a short and concise answer about the trends and the prices. Also, ask their contacts and send them a report on your properties if needed.
It is also a chance for you to tell them about your company. Marketing is a game of impressing others. And if you can create a great impression on them, they might want to work with you one day.
10. Visit Expired Listings
Not many people can deal with expired listings, but taking a brave step might give you unexpected results. These homeowners might have tried multiple times with countless agents without success.
That results in a fragile situation where they lose faith in real estate agencies in general. But with a flexible approach, you may gain more leads than expected.
The most important step is to find out the cause of their expiration? Is there any problem with the price or any neglect? It is essential to help the homeowner get rid of that emotional side and move forward to the business one.
Only give them a realistic solution. An over-expected one can worsen the case and cause them to lose faith in you. Dealing with expired listings is not easy, but you will gain a loyal client and more potential numbers through referrals in the best-case scenario.
11. Show Up At Real Estate Events
Building a network and connection at real estate events is a must to generate more leads. Fortunately, there are numerous tradeshows and expos held every month throughout the country. Those are quality places to win quality leads.
If you are experienced enough and have many potential properties in hand, try to attract more buyers by exhibiting them at the events. Many homebuyers love visiting those local expos to explore available options.
Organizing your real estate seminars is great for showing them your experience while getting more in-person contacts. It is a big advance if you can take them out of their pain points before your cooperation.
Do not hesitate to approach and give them a small pitch about your properties. Your business cards or your company flyers will come in handy in these situations.
12. Participate In Non-real Estate Events
We have talked about the real estate events, but should you participate in non-real estate ones? The answer is yes. If all real estate agents only show up at real estate expos, switching to an outside world could be beneficial.
How about sponsoring a local fair, charity, festival, or concert? Those are great events to boost your exposure to potential local clients, build your local networks, and level up the lead generation.
13. Be On The Headlines
Do you realize that real estate and the press have a strong connection? Your frequent appearance in the local newspapers takes effect in boosting your brand reputation and real estate lead generation. If you are on the headlines more regularly, clients are more likely to notice you.
Nonetheless, creating an inspiring and newsworthy story to attract journalists and reporters is never simple. A great example you can take references is the partnership with a store in town for some client discounts or a local event your business is sponsoring.
Those compelling stories could show your communal responsibilities and encourage the audience to discover your business. That could lead to an unexpected lead generation boost.
14. Attend Housewarming Parties
We know that this tip may sound awkward to some people, but believe us, it works. Your client-broker relationship does not end once both sides successfully buy or sell a new house. You can take it to a new level by showing up at their housewarming party.
Suggest them to hold a housewarming party. If they are also interested in that, you could make a plan, invite their neighbors, and sponsor the celebration. The celebration is a good start to build a long-term relationship and get exposed to new clients.
You can also consider giving them a housewarming gift, which could leave them exceptionally happy. With all those attempts, you deserve a long list of mouth referrals and lead generation, right?
15. Mobile App
Create a brand mobile app can take your real estate lead generation efforts to the next level
Investing in a mobile app brings various advantages to your business. Always keep in mind that all top real estate companies have an app for potential leads.
A great feature of a mobile app is automatic notifications of new listings, open houses, promotions, and price reductions. That is not to mention potential clients with limited spare time are more likely to open an app notification than an email.
Plus, you can also add some visible features to improve user experience, make analytics data, and report to make it stand out among various real estate applications.
Understanding your concern of limited coding experience, we recommend using free and easy-to-use app builders such as Buildfire or AppInstitute to customize your brand.
Feel free to contact them since a good mobile app poses a great impact on your sustainable growth.
16. Post Social Proof On Your Channels
Hardly anyone purchases without reading a product review. Many sellers have made use of this psychological trick to boost their product revenue periodically. Luckily, this tactic can be applied in your industry, too.
Show them why your service is valuable from the perspective of a client or colleague. You can ask your clients to do a quick survey after their successful purchase or sale and see how satisfied they are with your services.
Higher scores mean they are super satisfied and willing to recommend you to others. If someone scores you with 4 or 5 out of 5 stars, they are your enthusiastic and loyal clients with whom you could build a long-lasting relationship for continued cooperation.
Ask them to send you an endorsement. You can share these little social proof and success stories on your social media channels and your email campaigns to drive more traffic to your business. Don’t forget to attach your real images for a visual boom!
17. Search Engines Optimization (SEO)
Real estate blog content search results
What to do next if you already have a good website layout and amazing content? It’s time to optimize them in Google search engines.
Before publishing your articles on either your company website or your blog, pay attention to the content’s title and meta. Both of them must be relevant to your topics and include keywords to attract more relevant audiences.
But do not make it wordy. The best title stays below 60 characters, not words. The minimal character count guarantees your title to appear on Google search engines.
Though Google claims that meta does not affect their algorithms, it is still important. It aims to describe your content’s core values even before the readers click on your page and, more importantly, draw more leads.
Therefore, it is better to use your creativity and write a captivating description, resulting in a positive ranking from Google.
18. Create High-value Resources For Plentiful Clients
What should you do after having an amazing website or engaging social media? You can make a difference for yourself by offering helpful online resources to clients.
There are various fantastic resources that you can publish on the websites, such as printout checklists or eBooks. We believe it will be a great idea when it comes to potential real estate.
Organizing real estate educational seminars or events on these themes is an interesting method to get more face-to-face time when generating leads. If you can do potential clients a favor when they are in difficulty, you will create a better identity for other brokers.
19. Write All “Thank you” Notes By Hand
Another amazing idea to create leads in the real estate industry is to make your own handwritten “Thank you” notes.
It would help if you practiced the habit of sending “Thank you” notes immediately as soon as you receive referrals or feedback from somebody, whether a fellow agent or a client.
We understand that you might have called or sent them an email to acknowledge their efforts, but nothing is better than “Thank you” notes at making others feel appreciated.
So, it is important to let your stakeholders know that their favor is acknowledged, respected, and valued.
20. Get Local Press
Engaging in at least one local press will be, without doubt, a fantastic way to attract real estate investors and build brand awareness.
The more attraction you gain, the stronger your brand’s reputation is. In that case, more and more potential customers will pay attention.
Nevertheless, pitching a captivating story is not as simple as you might imagine. The truth is that you have to think carefully to make your story credible and get journalists or reporters’ notice.
For those who are still in two minds about newsworthy stories, you can refer to an example about the latest partnership with any local store. Therefore, your customers can get a discount if they come to the event your brokers are sponsoring.
These kinds of stories are intriguing and inspiring for readers so that they are curious and find more information about your company, driving lead generations more than ever before.
21. Send Seasonal Gifts And Greetings To Your Influence
Getting access to your sphere of influence, also known as SOI (Sphere of Influence), regularly is good in real estate lead generation ideas. Even though it is vital to use your present network, you should extend the social circle.
There are a great number of people who have already known you and had faith in you. So, always staying new in their minds will increase your chance of doing business with them more.
But how can you always be fresh in their minds? By regularly sending seasonal gifts and greetings, you will gradually be into your consistent SOI outreach.
Let’s imagine how appreciated your SOI is when they receive your warm holiday greeting cards. It shows that you have not forgotten them, and your relationships are still valued.
Compared to other ways to create real estate leads, this path is effective and especially inexpensive.
22. Become A Sensitive Thought Leader
You might have a whole world of knowledge as you are a seasoned ace in your field. So, why don’t you share with others by contributing that knowledge to writing real estate blogs?
Not only is it an amazing real estate lead generation idea, but it also plays an important role in building social proof.
If you can get published, nothing is more wonderful since your private social media platform and blog can share the post for dual exposure.
There are thousands of amazing blogs for agents and brokers for you to find inspiration. With this idea, you can simultaneously raise the lead generation and build a professional portfolio.
23. Make Some Interactive Quizzes
Another interesting idea that almost all people often ignore is creating quizzes and posting them in a blog or a page on your website. This tactic can bring in qualified, new leads and provide high value to your sellers and buyers.
Now, let’s share interactive quizzes to help some home buyers find out what they are longing for and which one is their ideal option. Then, you can request their email address to send them the final results.
Learn more: How to Rock Real Estate Lead Generation with Quizzes – Leadquizzes
24. Efficiently Make Use Of Text Marketing
Direct communication to leads’ phones, known as text marketing, is a common trend in real estate marketing recently.
In some cases, getting the leads’ phone number is much more valuable than an email address. Reality shows that text marketing campaigns are 7 times more efficient compared to email marking ones.
It is understandable when the targets here are Millennials, who are considered to detest phone calls. So, you might want to reach them in their most comfortable format.
It is easy to get their phone numbers by adding another field to your forms and take advantage of modern tools like SimpleTexting or Textedly. These tools can help you build text marketing and begin to nurture your leads.
25. Provide Free Advice On Real Estate
If you are working in public areas such as a park or a coffee bar with your laptop, we want to recommend a wonderful idea to draw home sellers or buyers’ attention. It is to put up a compact “Free Real Estate Advice” sign.
Some potential buyers and sellers who are curious about any problem can ask for your help. You will never know whether they will become your customers in the future or not.
Don’t forget to bring along your business card. It is important when someone wants to get in touch with you. Keep a clipboard or a notepad by your side if interested home buyers or sellers also want to exchange their contact information.
Besides face-to-face advice, you can promote your messenger function as a useful way to submit questions and receive basic and free advice.
Utilize the mess bot to ask for their cell phone number or email address so that you can communicate with them through Facebook messenger while adding them to the CRM.
These tasks will help you identify qualified leads who are ready to sell or buy via a form of free consultation.
26. Participate In Social Media Groups
We believe that posting on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn is not enough. You may also want to join and be an active voice in social media groups of a certain city, neighborhood, or industry.
In that case, your brand name can become more popular and familiar with the locals. And anytime they want to sell their old home or buy a new one, they might think of your company.
27. Host Workshops For Homebuyers
Another way to share your knowledge, tips, advice, and experiences is by hosting real estate workshops, especially for beginner homebuyers.
You can decide to host either with webinar software such as Livestorm and Demio or in-person events. If you choose the latter option, renting a small but cozy venue in your hometown is sufficient.
Leave your business cards containing your personal information on all seats and request their contact information to sign up successfully.
28. Check-in With The Owner Of Sale
Owners may decide to sell houses without brokers’ help since they have suffered from bad experiences in the past. But that also means you can change their minds with your great services.
Ask the house owners the reasons for their selling and help them deal with all lingering wonders. If they do not intend to work with you in the present, ask if you can contact them after a few weeks or not. You might also want to know how the sale is going, right?
They might be successful on their own without your help. But we believe that if you make a sincere enough connection and regularly care for their selling progress, they can become a good sales lead and rely on you to sell their houses.
29. Open A Course Online
Gathering an email or online course for prospective buyers or sellers can be a wonderful idea to promote your reputation. If you are a knowledgeable real estate agent, why don’t you use it to your advantage?
Operating online courses will show your experience and knowledge in this field and offer many nervous buyers and sellers valuable help.
Anyone registering for your courses must be pleased to have an expert like you be their broker. They will then probably share their happy experience through word of mouth with family and friends who want to buy or sell a home.
30. Take Advantage Of Real Estate Lead Generation Resources
This method seems to be old but extremely effective. You can refer to some feasible sites such as Realtor.com, Zillow, etc. Make maximum use of these services to attract as many leads as you can.
Create your profile and complete all necessary information about your business on these websites. Ask for some positive reviews, become more active, and finally, reap the benefit.
31. Focus On Videos In Your Marketing
Have you ever heard the advice of emphasizing video for advertisement? Your answer maybe yes, maybe no. But in this article, we will demonstrate how to make use of it.
Your marketing videos cover all these contents: detailed introduction about you as an agent, show your lists, and your happy clients in the past.
The statistics show that using marketing videos outperforms other advertisements using only texts or images. However, very few agents use it frequently.
One easy and free way to share videos is via Homesnap Story, which works the same way as Instagram stories. Clients can easily look through your stories and photos on your home page. Of course, you can also share it on your Instagram and Facebook with several simple taps.
learn real estate lead generation ideas from expert
Every single field, including the real estate industry, has some hardpoints. So, if you are struggling to generate real estate leads, don’t worry, as these pieces of advice from great real estate investors might come in handy.
Director Of Marketing Of Game Plan – Nathan Dadosky
Compared to other traditional ads, he thinks advertising on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger works better. That is because it gets rid of all troublesome, long-lasting, and unnecessary steps.
Customers will gradually lose interest if they have to spend so much time in the conversion process.
What’s more? Social media advertisements allow you to begin a conversation without losing your previous contacts. That means despite the low costs, it brings greater response rates.
Agent At Houlihan Lawrence – Susan Issac
According to Susan, it is a good idea to buy leads from exclusive sellers – Market Leader. It is the owner of housevalues.com – one of the best home pricing websites.
Landlords use it to check the properties’ value before selling them. Then, it will send exclusive leads to agents who request these ZIP codes.
CEO & Co-founder of Divorcethishouse.com – Kelly Mise Murray
Sometimes, it is better to think differently. Unlike most real estate agents, she invests in divorced couples who have a strong desire to sell houses or move out and find a new residence.
Working with divorce leads might sound strange to some people, but it works. She even gets a special designation – Collaboration Specialist on Divorce who shows potential divorced clients your business.
Real Estate Coach – Sean Moudry
Technology was born to assist agents in getting more leads. He found his biggest problem a decade ago – he could not be available 24/7 for clients.
Fortunately, 2021 comes with a better solution – Zurple. It is an application that utilizes a patent-pending algorithm to analyze leads’ behavior. It can even generate more leads when you are sleeping.
Real Estate Coach – Chris Linsell
Another technological piece of advice from a real estate coach is to use predictive analytics. It has appeared in marketing for a few years, but it was SmartZip that made it boom.
SmartZip collects hundreds of data sources from the Internet and your local addresses to provide you with detailed analysis. It can predict which properties in specific areas and locations have the highest chance to sell.
Based on that prediction, you can narrow down your options and concentrate on more potential leads who tend to sell their houses this year. Grab that chance and make sure that you are the first real estate agent they work with.
Realtor, Coach, CEO, and Speaker – Leigh Brown
This amazing realtor suggests you make outbound calls every day. About ⅓ of people have connections to real estate in many different sectors, including repairs, buying, selling, renovations, or refinancing. And all those steps need a realtor to get things done.
Let’s start with the contacts that you already have or the clients you already know. You can set an easy and achievable goal of a call a day. After getting it done, increase to a higher goal of 2 or more.
Vice President of Marketing and Business Development of iSella.com – Christian Petterson
From his experience, pitching the listings to trusted outlets is one of the most effective strategies for lead generation. He pitched his listing in New York Times and received a boom of calls after the publication.
The response was so positive that he could sell an existing listing quickly. That is not to mention other listings he received from new clients. You would regret not knowing about the benefits of media coverage sooner.
Even when you do not have journal-worthy listings, Christ advises you to pitch on other sites such as HARO or follow the Twitter hashtag #journorequest.
Owner and Broker at Nelene Gibbs Real Estate – Nelene Gibbs
Nelene has an amazing and funny approach to lead generation. She advises her new agents to go to the shopping malls during holiday seasons and hand out a seasonal treat attached to business cards.
No one rejects a free candy cane that spreads the Christmas cheer in the air. Meanwhile, you can get a few potential clients for the next year.
Another suggestion to build her brand image is to pass out bottles with brand labels or business cards to the waiting queues in shopping areas.
They could be either a long line of people waiting for Black Friday events or the crowd lining up for a store grand opening. It does not matter.
Conclusion
It is never easy to grow a real estate business. Only 20% of the professionals can create 80% of the total income. However, hopefully, with all the real estate lead generation ideas we mentioned above, you can realize that dream sooner than expected.
Some of those tactics are simple to do, while some might require a little work and effort from you. Although those tips cannot solve all your issues regarding real estate and lead generation, they are great to start with. Only a little participation from you would make your business management run smoothly and automatically.
Always remember that rewards are only for those who deserve to have them. So, be patient and keep doing those small ideas. Who knows what is going to give you a big bonus in revenue this year, right?
Nonetheless, not all of them are applicable in all situations and agencies. You need to figure out which ideas suit your situation the most or have the most positive effects on your business.
If you have better lead generation ideas or any questions, please share them with us in the section below. We welcome all positive feedback from you to make lead generation easier for everyone. Let’s build a greater real estate community together!
Related Post:
Estate Lead Generation Companies: Top 6 Companies you should know
What Is Lead Generation: Understand the basic concept of lead and how to get more leads online?
Comments