This January marks Inman’s fifth annual Agent Appreciation Month, which culminates at Inman Connect New York in a celebration of agents at the end of January. Plus, we’re rolling out the coveted Inman Power Player Awards, as well as the New York Power Brokers and MLS Innovators awards.
Raise your hand if you are tired of paying thousands of dollars every month for low-quality leads from third-party websites.
You’ve probably thought about generating leads on your own, but it can be hard to know where to focus your efforts and how to get those leads rolling in. In this slower market, generating leads on your own can be a huge money saver and business generator.
Seven years ago, our company, Bozeman Real Estate Group, was spending more than $10,000 a month buying leads from third-party websites. Now, thanks to a solid SEO strategy and a little creativity, our company generates well over 100 organic leads per month, which account for over 20 percent of our total volume, proving that it is possible to break free of the pay-for-leads trap.
This is a great time of year to be thinking about the tools you can use and strategies you can implement to generate leads all year long.
Create downloadable content
Chances are you already have the information you need to create downloadable content that is valuable to your audience. Take blog posts, sales aids or other resources that you already have, and use Canva to turn them into a visually appealing PDF.
A few ideas would be:
- a guide to moving to your city
- a guide to selling a home in your area
- a guide to your local neighborhoods.
Create a landing page on your website with a form that requires an email address and phone number. When people fill out the form, send them to a page with your PDF guide.
Our office is based in Bozeman, Montana, which you may be familiar with if you are a fan of the show Yellowstone. Since our tourism industry has been booming over the last several years, we created a guide to Moving to Bozeman that lives on our website.
This guide is downloaded thousands of times every year and our agents have closed a number of deals with the contacts they got through this guide.
Use Manychat on social media
We love using Manychat on our social media for two reasons. First, it increases engagement on our posts. Second, it’s an easy way to get social media users to visit our website. Third, it starts conversations with potential buyers. Here’s how it works.
When you create an Instagram post or story, you set up a Manychat automation that sends an automated message to your followers when they engage with your post in a certain way. For example, we will say, “For more information on this listing on the Gallatin River, drop the word Gallatin in the comments, and we will send you a link.” Just like that, you have a conversation started with a potential lead.
Pro tip: This would be a great way to promote your downloadable content.
Sign up for Google Local Services
While you are probably familiar with Google Ads and PPC, Google Local Services Ads are a relatively new feature that allows your photo and contact information to appear at the top of search results for your industry with a “Google Screened” badge. If you aren’t ranking high on Google organically, this is the least expensive way to get your phone ringing fast.
You will need to set up a Google Local Service Ad account, and you need to pass a background check to become “Google Screened,” but it is well worth it.
What’s really great about Google Local Services is that you only pay for qualified results. If you get a call that is not related to a service you offer, i.e., someone is looking for an appraisal or looking to rent and not purchase, you can easily flag that lead so that you don’t get charged.
Check out this article for more information on how to get started.
Use QR codes in creative ways
QR codes are having a moment right now, and there are so many creative ways to use them in 2024. You may already be using QR codes on your listing flyers, postcards or business cards. However, if you really want to generate leads, it’s time to think outside of the box.
Try partnering with Airbnbs or hotels in your area to offer a small gift to guests (support local and use baked goods from a local bakery, or offer a map of the area with your top picks of things to do) and stamp that with a QR code.
The key to using QR codes is to make sure the user is landing on a page that is relevant to them, so perhaps a great blog post you wrote about why living in your city is so amazing or a downloadable guide to moving to your area would be the right choice.
Consider using a chatbot
If the messages in your social media inboxes always seem to fall through the cracks, consider using a chatbot to help nurture your contacts and funnel your leads. A chatbot can help you qualify buyers and sellers, schedule property showings, send listing images and videos and so much more.
There are a number of different chatbots you can use, whether on your website or social media. I’ll give a second shout-out to Manychat here because I love the different types of automation they have available. Check out this article for a step-by-step guide on how to set up your Chatbot in 10 minutes.
Whether you decide to implement all of the ideas on this list or just one, this is a great time of year to lay the groundwork for a strategy that will continue to generate leads for you long after the work has been done.
Kate Hulbert is the marketing director at Bozeman Real Estate Group in Bozeman, Montana. Follow her on Instagram or Facebook.
