Why Real Estate Agents Are Using Content to Create a Warm Lead Audience
Content creation is the creative process of creating content (blogs, YouTube videos, graphics, and more) that your prospects will use to interact with your brand.
An excellent content strategy warms up prospects so that when they call your office, they’re already sold on working with you.
If you’re tired of purchasing cold real estate leads and attending 5-7 networking events each month to grow your real estate business, take a look at these 11 reasons why real estate agents like you are creating blogs this year.
1. ON AVERAGE, 70% OF THE BUYING DECISION IS MADE ONLINE BEFORE SOMEONE CONTACTS A BUSINESS FOR THE FIRST TIME.
While you know that many sales can still come through good ol’ word-of-mouth marketing (one of my favorites, I might add), if you’re not leveraging your online audience fully, you are missing out on a HUGE piece of the pie.
Every day, in your region, people are looking to buy or sell their home, start up a business, or sell a business.
If they either (1) can’t find you, or (2) don’t like or engage with what they do find online, they will move on.
Think about your purchase process.
When you shop for something, you likely:
do a bit of online research
read a few reviews
maybe even check out the business facebook page
learn more about the product or service through blog articles and white papers
and even shop the competitor’s website
All before you make a decision to buy.
2. 60% OF PEOPLE SEEK OUT A PRODUCT OR SERVICE AFTER READING CONTENT ABOUT IT.
I love this stat from DemandMetric because it’s so true! I love a good Pay-Per-Click strategy, but in conjunction with an amazing content strategy. It’s a powerhouse combo!
People make decisions based on the content they read or view, not the ad that got them there.
3. YOUR SALES REPS SHOULD BE CLOSING LEADS THAT ARE MOST LIKELY TO PURCHASE—NOT PROSPECTING.
I think, for many real estate agencies, this is something you “know” but maybe you can’t figure out how to move your realtors “there”.
You know you need a full pipeline to keep sales going and your business growing, and the warmer the leads are – the better!
A great content strategy will warm up your leads for you before they call, taking time commitments and lead prospecting responsibilities off your agents.
This allows them to do what they do best – CLOSING! They’re happier and more profitable and so are you!
4. YOU OWN YOUR AUDIENCE – NO MORE PAYING TO RENT MEDIA.
Buying leads can be expensive.
Buying Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads can be profitable, and also pricey (depending on your strategy).
When you create content, however, you are building your own audience, not paying someone to “rent” their audience for the time duration of that campaign.
Example:
You spend $2000 a month on buying PPC clicks to your website. You have to spend that every month to keep that traffic coming in.
Once blog content begins to “rank” in Google Searches, however, you have *FREE* traffic. (See my Case Study here.)
You pay once for the the created content, purchasing a digital asset that will continue to produce results for years to come, as opposed to paying to rent an audience every month.
Content creation has a less-expense long-term ROI versus pay-for-leads and generalized pay-for-clicks strategies.
Here is a post from a 22-post series that I wrote for a pet food client back in 2015.
On average, this one post generates 29,493 unique page views (unique visitors, aka new traffic) in a single year.
This single post contributes to almost 47% of the website’s new visitor traffic. It generates results like this every year…for free.
5. B2C COMPANIES THAT BLOG GENERATE 88% MORE LEADS PER MONTH THAN THOSE WHO DO NOT.
Let’s just read that again. Slowly. One more time.
If you could use 88% more leads, blog writing is a service you need.
6. ONE-QUARTER OF THE U.S. POPULATION (24%) SAID THEY MAKE PURCHASES BASED ON BLOGS.
In a 2011 study by BlogHer,
“When asked about the impact blogs have on their online shopping, 53 percent of respondents (88 percent of active blog readers) indicated that they trust the information in blogs they visit regularly. Nearly one-quarter of the U.S. population (24 percent) said they make purchases based on blogs – that’s 53 percent of active blog readers.”
Obviously, BlogHer’s audience for this study was women. And we all know the sage advice of realtors everywhere, “If you want to sell the house, sell the woman.”
Creating well-written content can help you attract that 24% purchase-decisive population.
7. BUILDING KNOW, LIKE, AND TRUST THROUGH ONLINE CONTENT – MEET THEM WHERE THEY ARE.
You already know the key to great networking – get to know people, get them to like you, build rapport with them as someone with knowledge in your industry.
Now you can have that same authority and start the conversation with thousands of people at once – instead of trying to hit that personal goal of talking to 5 people at every networking event.
Check out this stat from VerticalMeasures:
“86% of searchers conduct non-branded queries to begin their research. That means that your audience is looking for answers to the everyday questions they have or a problem they want to solve.”
8. WRITING RELEVANT CONTENT INCREASES AUDIENCE RETENTION.
Content should be created in a planned manner as part of your business processes.
It should be created to help move your customer from “thinking about buying a house” to “closed.”
If your current blog is a mix of personal daily inspirational quotes, lists of books you love, and town events, your content is not achieving that purpose.
A person ready to buy a house is not looking for inspirational quotes.
They want to know how they can position a house to sell in a neighborhood market dominated by 2 1/2 baths, when they only have one bath.
Content should be planned in a way that considers your audience and the questions they ask.
9. THE “HOLY GRAIL” OF SEO – INCREASE YOUR ORGANIC TRAFFIC.
I love this quote from Joe Bertino, TheAgencyGuyInc.
“Google and other search engines want nothing more than to serve up results that fully and completely answer user search queries. There is arguably no better way for marketers to achieve this than by being crystal clear about what our various audience personas are thinking about and asking about during each stage of the buyer’s journey. Effectively answering those queries by getting the right content in front of the right persona at the right time is essentially the holy grail of SEO.”
When you plan your content, the pieces you’ll create, who you’re speaking to, what questions they address, and the calendar schedule to release each piece, Google will thank you with wonderful free traffic.
After posting your content, it has to “bake” in the Google oven for awhile. Then comes your free website traffic!
10. MOVING PROSPECTS FROM “CONSIDERATION” TO “SOLD.”
What makes your real estate agency different from every, other realtor out there?
Adding content that addresses your customer’s purchase journey, along with showcasing the unique selling proposition for your agency, gives your prospects the information they need to make the decision and contact you.
11. WARM, SERIOUS LEADS OUT THE OVEN.
With a great content strategy, you get the direct benefit of warm lead inquiries through your website or by phone.
Nancy Tallman, Realtor, said this when discussing why she has a blog, in an article on Inman.com:
“The real estate inquiries that come through my website are almost always serious leads. This is in contrast to going through a haystack of 100 online leads to find the one real client.”
Fresh-outta-the-oven leads from people who want to work with you.
Mmmm…..smells delicious.
TAKEAWAYS
Executive summary time. If you missed it, here are the 11 reasons real estate agents and agency owners are investing in blog content in 2019.
1. 70% of the buying decision is made online before someone contacts a business for the first time.
2. 60% of people seek out a product after reading content about it.
3. Your sales reps should be closing leads that are most likely to purchase—not prospecting.
4. You own your audience – no more paying to rent media.
5. B2C companies that blog generate 88% more leads per month than those who do not.
6. One-quarter of the U.S. population (24 percent) said they make purchases based on blogs.
7. Building Know, Like, and Trust through online content – meet them where they are.
8. Writing Relevant Content Increases Audience Retention.
9. The “Holy Grail” of SEO – Increase Your Organic Traffic.
10. Moving Prospects from “Consideration” to “Sold.”
11. Warm, Serious Leads Out The Oven.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you want warm, ready-to-work-with-you leads, content creation is the long-play game that pays dividends for years to come.
Good content takes a little while to “bake” in the Google SEO oven, but when it’s complete – delivers FREE leads to your business while you sleep.
Can’t wait for the full bake? You can get faster results by combining amazing content with a well-designed, low-cost PPC campaign for only $1/day.
Ready to learn how this all works?
We’ll hop on a 30-minute free call and I’ll answer any questions you may have and explain (more in detail) how content can work for you.
Let’s grow your business!
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