The reality of online lead generation and why your housing stock is in decline.
The business of selling, letting and managing properties is a very competitive one. Working with Estate agents for about 12 months ago, there has been two main areas of complaints.
One is a decline in their housing stock and the other is finding new vendors and landlords using social media. Digital marketing is definitely a challenge for many agencies. More than 70% of those we surveyed last year said they were either not sold on Facebook ads or lack the technical skills. Though 90% have Facebook and Twitter accounts.
SEO and PPC have become too expensive as many bid for the same set of keywords meaning whoever is prepared to spend the most to acquire a new lead wins. A London based client recently built a shiny new website but failed to optimise for conversions. They wasted a fortune on clicks with hardly any quality leads in return. This is a common experience.
Reality
So what is the reality of online lead generation and how do you win new customers? Have you heard of the spiritual philosophy behind yin and yang? The one about flow and obstruction. Which to me means you are entitled to the work but not the fruits? Love what you do but be free of all outcomes?
In technical terms for me, the secret to effective online lead generation is
Data + Content Marketing +Re-targeted ads. The reality of online lead generation which is still being missed by many is you need attention before you can sell. Conventional ads like the ones pictured above do not generate as much attention as they once did.
The reality is that you now need to become a media company as a minimum to thrive online. Think like old media TV and Radio. Meaning consistently create high quality content to attract their attention so you can serve them with ads.
Increasing the quality, time and money you spend on creating valuable content could be the difference between continual decline in stock levels or a reversal. And as the Sun shines to give and give without asking for nothing in return so should you be prepared to create valuable content for home owners without asking for anything in return.
That is the essence of social media marketing. A channel for communication and building social value which if you stay focus and trust in the process would lead to more sales and instructions because you can always ask for the business in return.
The problem is most do not have the time and budget to become a media company or give up because they are dependent on the outcome and focused on short term ROI.
Conclusion
The reality is your content is your calling card and a basic necessity to survive and maybe thrive in the information age as a business. To focus resources to attract attention and build social equity as an end in itself is the shift in thinking necessary to sell more properties in the information age becomes it works.
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