Generating leads in a recession

Marketing overseas property used to be easy. With the internet in its infancy, a booming UK property market and cheap prices in Europe; you could book a stand at an exhibition or a page in an overseas magazine and sit back and watch the leads flood in.

The internet changed the game. By providing consumers with unprecedented access to information, power shifted away from estate agents and into the hands of consumers. Why sign a booking form at an exhibition when you can go home and check prices and alternative options on the internet? (You’ll still make sales from exhibitions but you’ll need to work harder and it may take longer to close leads)

Empowered by the internet, consumers are now more discerning than ever and the credit crunch has made them more so. Am I getting a good deal? Should I wait for prices to drop further? Could I get a better deal elsewhere? Tougher economic times make consumers ask more questions and the internet is where they look for answers. The big question is how do you generate leads in this environment?

Some things never change

Sales & Marketing has always been about reaching the right people at the right time, overcoming their objections and building a strong enough relationship to make a sale. The internet doesn’t change the principle, only the execution. To excel in this market, it’s always been necessary to do two things well

Build distribution (Networks, branches and now SEO, paid search and property portals)
Build trust (branding and copy on brochures, print adverts and exhibition stands, employing good sales people and now also your website copy/design and reputation on third party websites)

Building trust

Nobody cares about you. In fact their default is to distrust you. With so many horror stories in the media who can blame them? There are thousands of overseas property websites to choose from. Why should they choose you? Building trust is one of the highest value marketing activities there is. Here are a few ideas that could help:

Invest heavily in keeping current clients happy and getting them to refer business. People like buying where their friends are. It’s an unbeatable long term strategy.
Think hard before employing ultra aggressive sales tactics and manage client expectations. If you consistently over-promise and under-deliver, comments on blogs and internet forums will come back to haunt you. Reputations are hard won and easily lost.
Take action if you think your competitors are bad mouthing you but be careful you could make the problem worse and people often think there is no smoke without fire.
Think carefully about what makes you different and then communicate this loudly and consistently in all your marketing communications. Easier said than done admittedly. That’s why Marketing Directors get paid so much money.
On your website homepage, in two sentences or less, communicate what makes you different, what makes you an expert and why consumers should use you. We tried to do this with our client Abbey Financial here. (We didn't design the site but we wrote the copy).
On your website, link to your “about us” copy prominently on your property detail pages as this is where people are making decisions about whether to enquire or not. Why should they use you?
Write down a list of all the objections and questions you get asked by clients. Make sure you address these questions in your web copy.
Add customer testimonials with photos of your happy customers. If you can afford it make video testimonials. They are much more compelling.
Use a limited number of colours and use them consistently in all communications. Ever recognized an advert in a newspaper in the corner of your eye because of the colours? It’s hard to measure but frequency and consistency build familiarity and trust.
Leave plenty of room for pictures and images on your site. It’s arguable whether this builds trust but you’re selling a dream so it’s vital.
Always make your physical address easy to find on your website. People want to know you are a real business. Make it obvious you are.
Spend time on forums helping your customers. The web offers lots of opportunities to build relationships. This is a particularly effective strategy if you target investors. Totally Property has an interesting business model.

Pick your distribution battles carefully

The biggest difference between this recession and the last is the importance of natural search rankings. Agents that rank highly for phrases that have intent to purchase have a much better chance of survival than those that do not. Here are some tips:

Unless you have an old, established site that already ranks well, don’t try and compete with portals on 2 word phrases like “<Location Name> Property”. You’ll lose.
Use your database to create lots of pages that are very specific. For example we just created lots of pages like this for an IFA client selling developments in Cyprus. When this goes live they will soon rank for lots of very specific terms like “2 bed townhouse in Peyia Cyprus”. There won’t be many of these but on aggregate there will be enough relevant traffic to generate leads.

Go niche

The internet rewards niche players. If you can become an expert on a particular location and/or genre like investment property in Poland, you will generally get more links and be seen as more trustworthy than an agent selling in 10 countries. It must be balanced against the risks of over-specialisation but it’s worth remembering.

Cultivate editorial relationships

Google only wants to count genuine editorial citations in their rankings. The more you have, the better and the more dodgy stuff (link buying) you can get away with.

Invest in PR. Go with a few good ideas rather than lots of mediocre ones
Write articles for editorial sites in your niche
Start a blog and write helpful and informative posts about the areas you work in. For example, write updates on completion dates and progress on building work on the developments you sell.
Improve your quality score

Improve your quality score

When using paid search, work hard on improving your quality score of your best keywords. This is the single biggest thing you can do to improve lead generation on Google Adwords. Watch this video for a good introduction to best practice.

Choose the portals you use carefully

Use portals that your customers are likely to use. Test to see which ones rank well on Google for big two word phrases in the areas where you sell and the bigger terms above them (for example Marbella Property and Costa del Sol Property if you sell in Marbella).

Other factors are also important. See our portal marketing checklist. I’m speaking on this at OPP Live on Wednesday 26th November. On paper it looks a bit boring but I’ll make it broader and more strategic and try and add a little controversy to liven it up.

Build your referral networks

When times are hard, good referral partners are more valuable than ever. The internet hasn’t really changed the game in this regard. It’s currently hard to find new overseas business partners and deals on the web. I’m betting over #150 000 of my own money I can change this (well some of it is the banks money!). Globaledge will re-launch as a business networking platform on 25th November. Come and see us at OPP Live on stand 138 for a free trial or email us for more information.

User Comments

Nice Work! Allot is common sense but many of us overlook these things. In terms of generating leads we can help as we currently offer FREE standard listings as well as premium listings for just £49.99 for unlimited leads. www.EstateAgents123.com

Nicholas Alexandrou, Estate Agents 123

Thank you for this wonderful article. AR http://www.peninsulapm.com

AR, Peninsula

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