There are plenty of articles and videos about getting real estate leads online, but many realtors still use old-fashioned methods like door knocking. Since real estate often has ups and downs, it’s crucial to keep your pipeline full to be successful. This article will share some of the best ideas for generating real estate leads.
How to Generate Real Estate Leads
1. Use Facebook Lead Generation Ads with Captivating Content
Facebook lead generation ads are similar to regular ads in your target audience’s timeline. However, instead of directing people to a landing page, Facebook lead ads have a simple form that users can fill out without leaving Facebook. Research shows that the fewer steps people need to take, the more likely they are to respond.
How to Generate Real Estate Leads with Facebook Lead Ads:
- Use Captivating Content: Whether it’s a video or an image, make sure it grabs attention. For example, the Corcoran Group uses short, persuasive text and a direct call to action (CTA).
- Keep Forms Short: Use five form fields or fewer. A case study from Realestatebees showed they increased their form conversion rate from 3% to 11% by using a shorter form.
When someone clicks on a CTA in a lead ad, Facebook autofills the form with their information, making it easy to get new leads for your real estate business.
Did you know? GetResponse offers complete lead generation software to help you turn prospects into sales. Sign up for a free account to start growing your real estate business with paid ads, landing pages, marketing automation, live chats, and more!
2. Create Video Testimonials for Social Proof
Reviews significantly influence buying decisions, with 95% of people saying they affect their choices. Video testimonials boost your credibility and leverage social proof to win more business. When a customer talks about your business, it’s more persuasive than if you promote it yourself. Two out of three people are more likely to make a purchase after watching a testimonial video.
How to Use Video Testimonials to Get Leads:
- Gather Testimonials from Past Customers: Don’t wait too long to ask for testimonials. New clients who are excited about their new home are more likely to provide a testimonial than long-time clients.
- Offer Incentives: You could give a nice closing gift to clients who create a video testimonial, or have your team interview clients about their home-buying or selling experience.
Sharing these testimonials on social media enhances your brand’s image and helps convert potential clients into new leads. For example, Greg Guinto of Sotheby’s International Realty shares effective testimonials on YouTube.
By using these strategies, you can improve your lead generation and build a steady stream of potential clients for your real estate business.
3. Ask for Referrals from Past Clients
Some of your best clients will come from referrals. Referred customers are cheaper to get and more likely to stay with you. In fact, referred customers have a 16% higher lifetime value than non-referred ones. The problem is that your past clients usually won’t give you referrals unless you ask. Only 29% of satisfied customers refer others without being prompted.
One issue with asking for referrals is the fear of offending customers, especially high-end ones. But the truth is, most of your customers will be happy to give you a referral. About 83% of customers say they are willing to share a referral.
Referrals are a common way for real estate agents to get new business. According to Buffini & Company, 21% of realtors get over 50% of their business this way.
How to Get Referrals from Past Clients:
Just ask. Here’s a simple email script for getting referrals from past clients (by Revrealestate). Ideally, ask for referrals when your client is in a good mood, like when they just moved into their dream home or made a significant profit on their home sale. Here’s a script you can adjust to fit your situation:
Hi [Name],
Congrats again on the home sale! Between the packing and organizing, I hope you still get a chance to celebrate.
I really enjoyed working with you and would love to work with more people like you! If you know anyone looking for real estate advice, we are always on the hunt for more great clients like you. We work mostly by referral, so if anyone comes to mind, we are always happy to help. (If not, no worries, of course.)
Regardless, it has been such a pleasure working with you, and I’m looking forward to working closely with you as we approach possession.
Regards,
[Your Name]
4. Launch a Referral Campaign
Referral campaigns offer incentives to past clients for referring friends and colleagues to you. Big brands like Airbnb, PayPal, and Masterclass use referral marketing. You can take a page from their playbook.
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To Attract Leads Through Referral Marketing:
- Offer an Attractive Gift: Give former customers who provide referrals a gift, such as gift cards or a welcome home gift.
- Promote Your Referral Program: Use your email signature, email newsletter, social media posts, and word of mouth to let people know about your referral program.
- Remind Customers About Your Referral Program: Mention your referral program in your happy birthday emails, anniversary emails, and other communications to past clients.
- Use a Referral Marketing Solution: Consider using referral marketing software to organize your campaigns. Here is a list of referral marketing software to choose from.
5. Start a Blog and Attract SEO Traffic
One of the best ways to drive traffic to your site is by showing up in search engines (organic traffic). A well-written, optimized blog will rank high on Google and attract visitors to your website. Blogging can result in 434% more indexed pages and 97% more indexed links. Blogs on company sites lead to 55% more visitors.
While blogging can generate high-quality leads, it’s not straightforward. The first challenge is creating blogs that drive traffic. The second challenge is capturing leads through your blog posts.
A blog designed to bring traffic requires an understanding of SEO or someone knowledgeable about SEO.
According to Bill Gassett, ReMax Realtor:
“One of the staples of generating business has been my blog, and it continues to be. Providing consumer-friendly knowledge regularly has allowed me to be out in front. When you consistently provide useful information and market it, you become the local expert.”
To Generate Leads Through Blogging:
- Create Remarkable Content: Speak to your customers and tailor your content to their needs.
- Include CTAs in Your Best Posts: If people read your blog posts and then leave, you’ll likely lose them for good. Use lead magnets (gated, ultra-specific info) and pop-ups offering relevant value to generate real estate leads. Ensure your pop-ups don’t disrupt the user experience. Your offer should align with what users want, and your pop-up should be well-designed and easy to navigate away from. Here’s an example of well-done real estate pop-ups from Whiffin and Wilson Realtors.
6. Start a Real Estate Podcast
Podcasting is expected to keep growing beyond 2022. In 2021, a survey found that 57 percent of American consumers listened to audio podcasts, up from 55 percent the previous year. Podcasts are popular because they’re easy to consume. People can listen while relaxing, commuting, doing chores, or working out. For instance, 59 percent of podcast listeners tune in while doing housework, 52 percent while driving, and 50 percent while cooking or baking.
Podcasts are also easy to create. You can make them with your smartphone and upload them to free podcast hosting platforms like Soundcloud, Buzzsprout, or Podbean. Apps like Anchor let you create, host, and distribute your podcast for free. However, to ensure people find your podcasts, you’ll need a promotion strategy.
Here are a few steps to generate real estate leads through podcasts:
Choose Topics People Care About: Focus on trending real estate topics in your neighborhood or state. These topics are usually easy to find if you follow the news. Other good topics include real estate market trends and tips for buying and selling homes. Katie Lance, a real estate social media strategist and host of the Katie Lance Podcast, advises:
“When you are first starting, consider the name and theme of your podcast. The name can be as simple as your name, business, or community. Think about the type of content you want to share, which will help create your title. Choose topics you are passionate about, like community happenings, real estate tips, or local market updates. For inspiration, check out real estate topics on Stitcher or Soundcloud to see different formats available.”
Include a CTA: Add a call to action at the beginning, middle, and end of your episodes. This could be asking listeners to subscribe to your email list. Make sure your CTA shows the value for your listener.
Promote Your Podcast: Invite guests to speak on your podcast, and ask them to share the episode with their followers on social media. Promote your podcast by partnering with fellow podcasters, using podcast aggregators, and more.
7. Create Beautiful Contact Forms
If you have a real estate website (and you should, if you want to scale lead generation), you probably get some traffic. However, not all visitors may be qualified leads. Some may be qualified but not ready to work with you yet. That’s where contact forms come in.
They are often under-utilized by real estate marketers. (And while we’re talking tools, check out this list of the best real estate marketing tools.)
A good contact form helps you qualify visitors. You should have attractive and easy-to-fill contact forms on your property pages. Qualified visitors should easily enter their contact details if they’re interested in a property.
You should also have a contact form on your homepage or a real estate landing page where visitors can tell you what they’re looking for in a home. This way, when you get listings that match their criteria, you can follow up with these qualified leads.
Using the Contact Form 7 plugin, you can create beautiful forms on WordPress websites that integrate with GetResponse, making it easy to follow up with leads.
8. Invest in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Tool
Over time, most of your new business will probably come from referrals and past clients. How do you keep track of all these relationships? Definitely not just with your memory. You need a CRM to help you manage the process of winning new business and supporting your existing customers.
A CRM also helps you keep track of leads likely to buy from you. You can send these leads personalized follow-ups to make sure you don’t lose any deals. To find the best tools on the market, check out this list of top Real Estate CRMs.
9. Speak at Conferences, Meetups, and Events
As your real estate business grows, you might get invited to speak at events. Even though speaking at conferences and meetups is different in the post-pandemic period, it’s a great way to boost your personal brand and image.
You don’t need to accept every speaking opportunity. Focus on events and conferences where your ideal audience will be. This way, you can deliver value to the audience and win new leads at the same time.
In the “new normal,” most events happen online. This gives you a chance to organize an online event or webinar. You can collect leads through the registration process. Partner with an expert in your market or the real estate industry and create some buzz around your event by having people, including your guest, share it. This way, you’ll expand your reach.
10. Send Out Personalized ‘Thank You’ Postcards
With automation being so popular these days, sending a handwritten thank you card can really make an impression. Send these cards to new clients or clients who just closed a deal. You can even send cards to warm leads.
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Services like thanks.io let you send thank you postcards starting at just $0.49 per card.
11. Do Circle Prospecting Plus Automated Follow-Ups
Traditionally, cold calling means calling everyone in your neighborhood, whether they’re interested in real estate or not. This often leads to many rejections. Circle prospecting is different. Instead of calling random people, you reach out to people who live near your listing. You’re breaking news to someone who might not know about a new sale listing in their area. You can also use circle prospecting for open houses, new home sales, or even rental listings.
Saying “Did you know that your neighbors at 110 Smith Road just listed their home for sale?” is much more personal than “We have clients looking for homes in your area” or “This is John from ABC Real Estate.”
Circle prospecting is a smart way to get both buyer and seller leads. Here’s how to do it:
Automate with Tools: Use tools like RedX Geo Leads and Power Dialer or Slydial Broadcast for voicemail. Run Facebook or Google ads to capture emails in a specific zip code, then run a drip email sequence with GetResponse.
Have a Follow-Up Strategy: Typically, you’ll need to follow up more than three times to make an impression with prospects. In your follow-ups, offer value by sending a newsletter on how to pay less in closing costs, for example.
Use a Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy: If you have the budget, use direct mail, email, and cold calls for a successful circle prospecting strategy. You can also use retargeted ads on Facebook to increase your touch points and convert more leads.
Editor’s Note: See how simple it is to create an autoresponder if you’re using GetResponse.
Related Reads:
12. Guest Blog on Authoritative Websites
Guest blogging helps you get backlinks to your website and improves your online presence. It’s a smart way to generate real estate leads, especially for new agents. The idea is simple: find a well-known website, offer them an article or news piece for free, and in return, you get an author bio that shares a bit about you. The author bio is a powerful tool for getting new leads.
Local publications are often looking for expert contributors. You can write for them or answer questions from journalists. In return, you get a link back to your website, which boosts your site’s ranking and brings more exposure to your brand.
However, make sure the blog you are guest blogging on reaches your target market and is authoritative. Your guest post should offer enough value to attract high-quality traffic to your website. For instance, if you can provide a current assessment of your local real estate market, offer that as a guest post on a well-established local news website.
13. Work Expired Listings
Old, expired listings are essential for real estate prospecting. Almost every agent cold calls owners of expired listings. So how do you stand out?
Focus on Value: A listing expired for a reason. Find out what went wrong and show how you can do better if hired.
Sound Natural: Learn and practice scripts that work. Understand the common objections and how to handle them. Role-play until your pitch sounds natural. Check out resources for lead generation scripts.
Use Multi-Channel Marketing: Create follow-up campaigns across multiple platforms where your potential customers are.
14. Become a Source of Local Real Estate Investing Advice
Real estate investors often look for agents to partner with or get advice from. You can position yourself as a go-to source of helpful advice both online and offline. Interact with local investors on websites like Reddit, BiggerPockets, and Quora. Offline, attend local real estate investing events and seminars to meet investors in your area. You can also advertise deals to past clients interested in real estate investing.
A good way to attract professionals like investors, builders, mortgage professionals, and seller leads is by being a reliable source of factual local market information.
For example, Joe Manausa, owner of Manausa Real Estate, has created a strong market presence by being an authoritative source of information about the local Tallahassee market.
Best Way to Generate Real Estate Leads – No Upfront Cost
While these lead generation ideas will help you build brand awareness and attract new leads, the best leads come from creating a great experience for your clients. It usually costs nothing. A real estate agent who is responsive, has high integrity, and connects clients with the right assistance will likely not need to spend much on lead generation.
Disclosure: This content may contain affiliate links. If you click on these links and make a purchase, we may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Our recommendations are based on thorough research and experience. We only endorse products and services that we believe will add value to our readers.
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