There are f
ew businesses if any that aren’t competitive, and if you find one that it isn’t we’d be willing to bet it’s because there’s little money to be made in it. Working as a realtor doesn’t have the same 9-5 workday realities other people have. There’s travel involved and if you’re doing well as a realtor you’re happy to be hosting open houses while everyone else has a standardized weekend. The possibility of building a well-paying career that has them doing it, and there is money to be made working as a real estate agent in Canada. But what is the best way to generate leads for real estate agents here?
Operating revenue in the agents and brokers industry in Canada is always somewhere between 15 and 20 billion dollars per year in Canada, but as you’d guess that means so many new realtors being licensed at all times and it can definitely become slim pickings with regard to meeting a potential client who doesn’t already have an agreement in place to work with another realtors. Most realtors will need their new careers to become financially viable soon, and so real estate lead generations becomes very important if you’re not already well known as a realtor working in the region.
Our online real estate lead generation system here at Real Estate Leads can be one resource for that aim, but it is always best to take a multi-tiered approach when determining how to best drum up new real estate clientele for yourself. So let’s get right into that here.
What are Lead Magnets?
A recent survey indicated that 83% of realtors in Canada under the age of 55 have their own website as a real estate agent. Given the prominent role of Internet marketing in real estate these days it certainly makes sense to have one as a resource for clients to reference quickly and easily and look over properties that you have listed for real estate clients.
Lead magnets are ideal for giving more resourcefulness when it comes to your website and the role it plays in growing your real estate business, but here’s where you’re saying ‘okay, but I still don’t know that it is exactly that you’re talking about.’
The simplest definition for a lead magnet is that it is a free offer. That offer is usually presented as some digital download that your reader will be providing in exchange for their contact information. All of this because people don’t ‘subscribe’ as readily and enthusiastically as they used to. They aren’t going to as keen to give out their email addresses etc., and who can blame them really.
Skyrocketing your real estate business and growing your lead generation skills this year is going to require a new and maybe more novel approach if you’re truly you need to grow your email list.
Not all will convert as well as others, and a key strategy is to test several different versions and types to determine the ones that best resonate with your audience. The best ones will be very specific, solve a real problem, provide some sort of ‘quick win’ possibility, offer something of high value, and will be available for immediate download. The last part of that is super important, because prospective submitters are going to need to see a defined call to action option if they’re intrigued to know more about what they’re going to get here.
11 Potential Lead Magnet Ideas
- Neighborhood Homes Listed at Under $____
This lead magnet will often convert well for those who are actively looking for homes in specific neighborhoods but have specific budget constraints that limit what they can legitimately bid on. It is straight, forward and offers the exact information they’re looking for in a quick and easily digestible format.
This will be for neighborhoods you service, and you can add more value by doing some digging into what kind of home that same price point tends to be providing to buyers in nearby communities. If your region has more bang for the buck, make these potential clients very aware of that. This can be especially true for satellite regions outside of major metro cities in Canada where nearly all homebuyers are going to need to secure bank financing to be buying the home.
- 2023 Neighborhood Real Estate Market Analysis
This lead magnet is known to work equally well for drawing in buyers and sellers. Sellers will be curious about the comps in their area, while buyers will be looking for neighborhoods where they foresee property values going up in value over time. This is one lead magnet that realtors have been using for generations, but the difference now is you need to make an accurate and appealing one that can be shared digitally.
- Foreclosed Properties List
Assembling a list of local investors can be great for business as a realtor. It’s a magnet that will quickly get the full attention of a lot of investor buyers in your area and of course you’ll be keen to collect their contact information if they would like to bid on one of the properties and aren’t currently working with a realtor. You want to establish your authority and cement their trust in your ability to find the best deals. Email marketing is an excellent way to do this and ensure you many sales down the road.
- 2023 Guide to Selling a Home
By creating a guide like this, you’re working with the understanding that most homeowners won’t have the same level of insight into the best ways to market a home for sale that you do. Which of course is going to be true 99% of the time. An AREAA Asian Real Estate Association of America report from 2022 found that only in 3% of cases did a home sold as FSBO (for sale by owner) did the home fetch a sale price that was similar in size to what comparable properties nearby fetched when those owners had sold through an agent.
- Your Guide to Buying a Home / 2023
This lead magnet is fully focused on establishing trust with readers who are ready to buy. Agents can trust that anyone who downloads this free resource is very likely ready to make a move with purchasing a home in the region where you work as a realtor, and so if this magnet does its job you should never delay in making first contact with these folks. Provide immense value to consistently build an email list full of readers who will want to work with you when they’re ready to purchase.
- Quiz – Best Home for Your Family
You might be surprised to hear it, but quizzes are great lead magnets. Of course it has to be about selling or buying real estate, but try to make it as engaging as possible and geared so that the results participants get from the quiz are enough to be convincing to the point that they feel it’s time to talk to realtor about their plans.
- Online Contest
What can you think of that you could give to a ‘winner’ who participates in your lead magnet contest. You probably offer free market evaluations, so think of something that you can realistically pay for to provide to them in the interest of then securing them as your client. How about offering an enticing prize and then encourage everyone to share their entry with all their friends.
- Community / Neighborhood Guide
Prospective buyers in different neighborhoods will always be curious about what it’s like to live there. Detailed neighborhood guides can be very successful as lead magnets from the demographics to the walk score and from the crime statistics to the school ratings. You can also highlight upcoming events and attractions too, and then also be sure to have some reference to market trends for homes in there too.
- ‘How-to’ E-Books or Videos
This is a one good lead magnet idea that may require more than your capable of, but let’s keep in mind that these days almost all realtors have hired creative professional to create marketing collateral materials for them. You can look at this the same way. There are many different possible subject matters for your e-books or videos, but be sure to make the information genuine, thoughtfully presented, and of course designed to put you in the best light with these prospective future clients.
- Self-Deprecating Humor
Some people are most receptive to humor when it comes to being persuaded one way or the other, and there are actually many who prefer inappropriate humor if they’d get to choose. That’s not going to go over as well with the types of possible clients who might be looking to buy or sell a home. Still though, you could dress up in a giant hoofed demon costume and join other participants in recreating scenes from Pick of Destiny for people visiting the website. But the video only plays if they share their contact information first. All sorts of possibilities here.
- House Hunting Checklist
Two of the best real estate lead magnets will involves easily actionable choices and be especially easy to digest. Do some research into all of the prerogatives that home buyers usually have to meet before they proceed with submitting an offer. Or whatever it is similar that you can think of. The checklist will check the boxes for both of those features that increase conversion to your list. When it comes to lead generation, checklists have withstood the test of time and make a great freebie.
Make Lead Generation a Priority
These are all great suggestions, and signing up for Real Estate Leads is a good suggestion too if you’re a new real estate agent and you’re keen to begin listing homes for clients as soon as possible. Incorporate some of these lead magnets into your real estate website or other marketing collateral avenues and you’ll likely to start seeing results in the form on more new business for yourself as a realtor.
