Whatever type of real estate investing you're into, you need to learn how to market in order to find leads and close deals. Using the best marketing strategy is the key to scaling your business and making a name in this industry.
Some of the best real estate investor marketing strategies when getting started include posting bandit signs, giving out business cards, finding off-market properties, direct mailing, leveraging public records, email marketing, video marketing, SEO, using owned, earned, and paid media, cold calling, networking, and skip tracing.
In this blog, we'll look into 15 of the most effective real estate marketing strategies. Hopefully, this can help you land more real estate deals and be one of the best in the industry!
Placing bandit signs on strategic locations is the OG of marketing strategies for real estate investors. Essentially, this strategy means posting signs on the community that detail who you are, your intent in purchasing homes, and your contact details.
Most real estate investors post bandit signs on street corners and other high pedestrian and vehicular areas. Just make sure that your sign does not obstruct anything as this may get the attention of local authorities. Also, always check local regulations as to where it is prohibited to post bandit signs so you don't get fined.
Compared to all the other real estate marketing strategies listed here, bandit signs are one of the least expensive. You just have to wait for leads to contact you. Even if they don't immediately call you because they aren't selling a home, they'll recall who you are when someone they know is ready to sell.
Giving out real estate business cards is also considered a primitive real estate investor marketing strategy, but it can still get you leads especially if you're starting out. Create a professional and attractive real estate investing business card that explains who you are, what you do, and your contact details.
The card should make it clear that you are a real estate investor buying investment properties and not an agent. Also, use a typeface that isn't too informal. Although this may seem a minute detail, this affects the receiver's perspective on your legitimacy.
You may give out these business cards during networking events or you can go door-knocking. But you may also leave it in strategic places where people can easily find them. For instance, coffee shops, groceries, etc.
If you don't have a team to make a business card for you, there are many templates you can download online. You can also use Canva.
Off-market property or pocket listings refer to a real estate deal or investment properties not found on the MLS. These properties are perfect for real estate investors since they are often below market value. In other words, you'll get a higher ROI especially if you land a fixer-upper.
Note, however, that in order to find off-market properties you can buy for your real estate investing business, you have to do intensive research (not only on search engines). You also need to network with the right people. Establish a good relationship with wholesalers, builders, and estate attorneys so they can tip you if a property is about to go for sale.
You may also want to attend auctions both online and traditionally. This will help you procure many properties in a short sale, foreclosure, and bank owned. Just be sure to research the property on sale beforehand so you can make the right bid. Auctions always get everyone excited and you might not notice that you're bidding too much.
Motivated sellers are every investor's dream for their business. These sellers are super eager to sell their property for whatever reason so they are willing to accept a below-market offer.
To find motivated sellers, you need to get ahold of a county's delinquent tax list. This is an updated catalog of all the individuals who are behind on their property tax payments from weeks to years. You get to contact them for your business before they lose their house in foreclosure.
A delinquent's tax list is usually public information. But some counties sell them for $100 to over a thousand dollars knowing that you can potentially earn a large s of money from the list.
Homeowners who are behind on their property tax payments are willing to sell their property rather than lose it to the county authorities and get nothing. You can offer them 10% to 30% of the home's market value so they get something out of the sale.
If you cannot get access to your county's delinquent tax list, you may want to work with a data provider who can locate motivated sellers for you.
Believe it or not, more people find print marketing more trustworthy than other real estate investor marketing types. It also affects their buying or selling decisions.
Thus, if you want to stay away from analytics of digital marketing and establish a more tangible bond with potential clients, send them a direct mail.
To launch a direct mail campaign for your business, you need to identify your target audience and be specific as possible.
After you have determined the right audience, make a creative mailing piece that not only informs but also encourages the receiver to take an action. Don't forget the call to action component of your direct mail.
If this is your first time writing a direct mail, make it modest. You don't want to pepper your potential clients with big words only to disappoint them. Remember that this will directly impact your credibility.
Public property records or title records are documents that contain information about a piece of land. One of the most important info it contains is the deed which mentions the name of the current property owner.
Looking into these public property records is an integral part of any beginning real estate investor because it is the central repository of government documents.
Depending on the type of state (disclosure or non-disclosure), you can easily access these legal documents. In some counties, you can access the records online, while in others, you need to personally visit the office in person.
Public records can help you find new real estate investment properties including pre-foreclosure homes, unwanted probate assets, and tax-delinquent assets for your business.
Aside from potential sellers, you may also use these documents to find buyers. For instance, if you see a grantor listed in various real estate transactions, he is a good prospect when you sell a house next time.
It's one thing to develop a real estate investor website that potential sellers or buyers can visit when they're on their laptops. But optimizing your website for mobile use is another story.
The majority of home sellers and buyers right now use their mobile phones to make real estate transactions. Even if you are running well-written Google or social media ads, if the landing page on your website is not optimized for mobile, chances are, the potential client won't take any action.
There may be some buttons that aren't as easily accessible on mobile compared to on a computer. Hence, hiring a professional may e necessary.
Make your website as mobile-friendly as possible so no matter what phone the potential lead is using, they'll be able to access every form or every button on your website. Think of it this way, if you don't have the time to make a mobile-friendly website, how guaranteed are the potential clients that you would have time for them?
According to recent data from Hubspot, 64% of marketers claim that email marketing gives them the highest ROI. It is also one of the cheapest real estate investor marketing strategies.
Although email marketing campaigns in the real estate investment business need a lot of effort from you, especially if you are not using a CRM, it may be well worth your time and money.
Remember that not all the prospects you'll come across are ready to do business with you. Using email marketing to nurture your target market until they turn into prospects is one great way to get a steady flow of leads for your real estate investing business in the long run.
When making email marketing content, ensure that you provide value to the prospects in every mail you send.
No matter how many emails you send as part of your marketing efforts, if your prospects don't learn anything from them, you won't get any calls. Worse, they may unsubscribe from your advertising or mailing list because of providing them with a poor customer journey.
Short-form videos on TikTok and vlogs on YouTube are all the hype these days for new investors. If you want to find more leads and close great deals as a novice real estate investor, you may want to jump on the bandwagon of these digital marketing platforms.
Set up a TikTok account and upload videos answering real estate FAQs or share short clips of the properties you are selling from your target market as an advertising strategy.
If you're not into short-form content, make a vlog on YouTube. A lot of real estate investors make house tours in order to show every part of the property they're selling.
Even if they don't find a buyer this way, they are recognized as one of the real estate investors who make an effort to showcase the property. In the long run, home sellers would contact them so they can showcase their property the same way.
Networking is another marketing strategy that a real estate investor should have in their arsenal. As mentioned a while back, some of the best people to network with for a real estate investor are estate attorneys, local builders and wholesalers.
Estate attorneys are ideal to contact because they have knowledge of properties with tax liens, title issues, distressed properties, etc. These properties have higher chances of being for sale in the future.
Local builders, on the other hand, are always in the know of properties that need major repairs, unfinished properties, or those that are being renovated because their owners want to put them for sale.
Meanwhile, wholesalers are known to sell contracts for the properties they find. They may have a hold in a real estate investment property that suits your portfolio well.
Aside from these three, you may also want to connect with real estate agents or other investors in your areas. They may refer clients who don't match their selling goals or principles but match yours perfectly.
Leveraging different types of media in digital marketing is also a great real estate investor marketing plan. There are three types of media you can utilize:
Owned media is a form of free media exposure. Some of the most common types of owned media are blogs, Facebook pages, and real estate websites. Basically, these cover everything you can manage and control.
One great example of earned media in digital marketing is SEO or search engine optimization to gain website visitors. This marketing strategy doesn't instantly give you an ROI, but it establishes your business by giving you more exposure. It works by putting your ad on the top of search results.
Guest posting, reviews, content shares, and mentions are some other forms of earned media.
Paid media advertising AKA Pay-per-Click advertising means running paid ads on various social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram or search engines like Google and Bing.
Although you need to invest quite a lot of your marketing budget in social media advertising before you see returns, this puts your business on the radar of home sellers and buyers. Seeing your name on the search results every time they have a real estate marketing query means they'll recall who you are when they are ready to sell.
There are many social media influencers that can exponentially ramp up your social media presence. Similar to how some celebrities promote food or services, being promoted by influencers through social media marketing can get you more high-quality leads.
When identifying influencers to promote your real estate investing business, focus more on financial YouTubers, TikTokers, and other influencers that teach financial literacy to grown-ups and young adults. These people tend to have a more targeted audience and they have greater public relations.
Note, however, that financial influencers (and any type of influencer) commonly charge for their social media marketing posts. In most cases, too, their rates are expensive. So if you decide to take this route, identifying the influencer with the most engagement is crucial to get the equivalent of your marketing dollars.
Skip tracing is the process of researching critical information (name, current address, phone number, etc.) of someone with very little info on record. For instance, if a real estate investor found a distressed property in the neighborhood but its owners are unknown, skip tracing will gather the info he needs to start a real estate deal.
Most real estate investors use this strategy to generate leads, clean their list of old leads, clean bad data, and follow up on leads.
It's time-saving as well because you no longer have to skip trace manually these days. There are companies that can already do this for you for a fee.
Many investors avoid cold calling for their marketing efforts because it is uncomfortable. And since fewer and fewer investors are using this great strategy, you can leverage it to stand out!
But who are you going to cold call if you're a new real estate investor? You can start by utilizing the public property data you've gathered from your county. You may also cold call those on the delinquent tax list.
But before you start contacting these potential clients, make sure you prepare a winning script so you don't waste their time and they don't waste yours.
Also, if you are cold calling from an old list of leads, do skip tracing first so those with bad data are already removed. You don't want to call duplicate contacts and risk annoying potential customers.
A bird dog in real estate is someone who does research on motivated sellers or properties that are below market value and sell it for a certain fee to a real estate investor.
They serve as an intelligence network for real estate investors because they have a good understanding of the neighborhood. They also have different strategies up their sleeves so they can really find motivated sellers.
You can work with a lot of bird dogs in a neighborhood as a strategy to become known as a reputable real estate investor.
There are many real estate investor marketing strategies you can use if you are a beginner in the industry. You can combine both digital and traditional marketing campaigns in order to find more leads and close more deals.
However, if you're overwhelmed with all the marketing options we shared or the ones you've been using aren't giving you any ROI, a better alternative would be to buy leads!
Here at Property Leads, we offer highly motivated leads generated from SEO. We're a pay-per-lead platform so we won't lock you in with a contract! We also have a high conversion rate so you get your money's worth.
If you're interested in achieving your real estate investing business goals, fill out our form below to get your first motivated leads from us.
30 N Gould St Ste N
Sheridan, WY 82801
(207) 309-3949
sales@propertyleads.com
