Real estate lead generation is incredibly competitive and continuously evolving: the strategies you used a few months back are already saturated, and no matter how well you advertise in your local market, copycats will soon dilute the effectiveness of your marketing. Even worse; the Zillow iBuyer program, Facebook advertising, and search engine competition have turned real estate marketing into a “race to the bottom”.

It’s time to fight back! To win in modern real estate marketing, you need to keep several irons in the fire with diversified lead generation strategies, and always make sure to try a few unique strategies that none of your competitors are doing. Check out these 10 underrated strategies that may boost your current lead generation below, and keep your pipeline flowing constantly with a MyOutDesk Virtual Assistant. Book a Double My Business Strategy Session today to find out how!

Never Miss a Query Facebook Messenger Ads: Traditional forms of a lead generation tend to have too many steps and get tedious. With each step, you stand to lose your lead’s interest. Facebook messenger ads can be a quicker, easier way for your lead to get in touch. Because they have the option to start a live conversation when they click an ad as opposed to filling out a form, you eliminate several steps in the conversion process. You can also engage with your lead without pressuring them to divulge their personal information which may make them easier to convert.

Use Automated Text Marketing: Did you know that text messages have a whopping 97% open rate compared to 20% for emails? The only problem is that tapping out individual texts to your leads takes up way too much time you could be spending cold calling. Using automated text messaging platforms can give you a wider reach and open rate compared to say emails. Putting together an automated text messaging campaign is not complicated and can be a great way to get quality leads.

Buy Exclusive Seller Leads: While the age-old debate of buying leads vs. organic leads is an ongoing conversation with many for yay or nay, buying quality leads from a trusted source can bring you amazing results. Just make sure that you have a solid strategy to reaching out and follow up. And make sure that you are clear on your goals, budget, etc.

Create a Lead-optimized IDX Website: A well-optimized IDX (Internet Data Exchange) website is one of the easiest ways to bring in leads on an ongoing basis. IDX is an umbrella term used to cover policies, standards, and software pertaining to the display of real estate listing information on websites. Most importantly for agents and brokers, IDX is what enables members of multiple listing services (MLS) to integrate real estate listings from the MLS database into their own websites. Despite some stringent rules regarding IDX, it certainly offers many advantages for agents. It’s actually a win-win for everyone who uses it: real estate professionals and consumers. Today, consumers expect to see property listings on agents’ real estate websites. According to the National Association of Realtors, 44% of all buyers search online for property listings as the first stage of their journey. So, agents who don’t incorporate listings into their website via IDX end up at a disadvantage when compared to agents who do display listings.

Sign Up to Do BPOs, Then Market to the Owners of Distressed Homes: When a borrower starts to miss payments on a mortgage, a lender or loan servicer will often order a ‘broker price opinion’ (BPO) on a property in case they end up having to foreclose, do a loan modification, or short sale. They may do this before it is reported as a late payment to a credit agency, and well before they file a notice of default. This is an early indicator of a homeowner who may need to sell sooner rather than later.

Sponsor a Local Adoption Event: This is only one example of a niche idea that can give you an opportunity to network. You can approach your local animal shelter and sponsor the event and help with the marketing. Pets are an important part of many families. If you are a per-lover yourself, this is a great way to support a cause and get your name out there to fellow pet-lovers. You can be known as the go-to agent for fellow pet lovers!

Not a pet person? Think of other areas of interest that you can do something similar with.

Network at More Non-real Estate-related Events: If you are going to events where other agents will be going to network, then your odds of getting any leads are low at best. Instead of going to the same old real estate mixers or networking events, think outside the box and join some non-real estate-related local events. Your next client might be at a tai-chi class in the local park or even at a community theater production. Just be your wonderful self, mingle, tone down the sales talk, and make connections!

Become a Real Estate Expert in Facebook Groups: Whether you create the group or not, find different Facebook groups that are relevant to your areas and find a way to become the real estate expert in that group, create polls, ask questions and look out for any topics where you can jump in and give advice based on your experience or knowledge. You may not immediately see results but if you consistently interact with these groups, you may find more than a few leads.

Offer free consultations: Whether it is online or while you sit at a coffee shop, why not give some free time to giving out free Real estate advice? Advertise a free RE Advice hour at your favorite coffee shop or set up a direct line where people can reach you at specific times for any of their questions and concerns. Odds are that they will learn to trust you and because you aren’t pressuring them to sign with you, they will be more compelled to do so. Just make sure you are clear that you don’t expect anything in return but are available to help them on a more professional level if they so wish. 

Hire a Virtual Assistant: All these strategies are viable ideas to get more and better quality leads. However, they can take a lot of time that you simply may not have. A Virtual Assistant could help you to focus on the revenue-producing activities that you need to focus on while they take care of your daily and repetitive but necessary responsibilities within your business. If you have things on your plate whose outcome will not change whether you fo them or not, then those things can be delegated to a Virtual Assistant. You need to be sure that you are working ON your business and not IN it.

Make sure to schedule a Double My Business Strategy Session today so we can find you a rockstar Virtual Assistant who can do so much more than help you generate leads.