People think that a real estate broker’s job is easy. Those who fail at everything else open up a small shop and become a real estate agent. No Sir! We don’t agree with it.
At ACL (AAJneeti Connect Ltd), we deal with thousands of real estate brokers, channel partners, and developers every month. And we have realised that setting up a real estate brokerage business and surviving its cut-throat competition is not easy.
A good broker has to build relationships with developers, property owners and managers, and channel partners. They need to develop an inventory to sell, get all the details of this inventory, and negotiate commissions and incentive slabs for them.
Simply knowing where one could buy a 2 BHK in a micromarket is not enough. They need to know the unit mix and configuration of a project, floor plans and layouts, apartment sizes, pricing logic (in comparison to other projects nearby), payment plans, possession timelines, builder reputation, risks associated with investing in a project, if the paperwork is legally clear, and if the property has all the required approvals. And this much is just one-third of the work a broker has to do.
Two-thirds of work involves finding buyers, which is often considered harder than sourcing inventory. This is where AAJneeti helps real estate professionals. We do real estate marketing for developers, channel partners, and brokers and generate leads for them online.
If you are a broker, understanding how marketing works is crucial to helping your business survive and thrive in the current scenario. In this article, we will talk about the five most crucial aspects of real estate marketing you should know as a broker.
1. Promote Projects with Strong Buyer Demand
As we discussed earlier in our previous article, working with 1100+ brokers and developers across multiple cities and multiple segments, we have realized that not all projects are saleable. Choosing the right project as a broker means that you have to spend less on the real estate market and see more conversions.
At ACL, we are in a good position to share insights about which projects have a strong buyer demand as we run parallel campaigns for multiple projects in the same micromarkets (for different clients). The projects for which we can generate leads easily, where leads are easier to engage, and site visits and bookings happen easily are the ones which will benefit you the most.
Our campaign managers know which real estate projects pull interest naturally and which ones need a little push. As a broker, if you insist on selling the inventory you have instead of what buyers are looking for, you will have to invest more time, money and effort to convert your leads.
You can consider location-driven demand too. Long-term master plans that focus on future infrastructure are for investors. End users look for projects in areas where people are already living, roads are functional, schools, hospitals and markets are operational, and commute times are less.
Location benefits play a big role in how ACL real estate campaign managers position a project. And we have noticed that projects in locations that are currently in demand are easier to push than those in locations with projected benefits.
Get a quick consultation from us to know which projects are best suited for marketing at the moment.
2. Reduce Lead Response Time, Improve Quality of Response
Over the past decade, we at ACL have noticed one thing. Most brokers focus on getting leads but our most successful clients trust on generating real estate leads for them and focus on how they nurture or process the leads. As we had mentioned earlier in another blog post: if the lead response time is less than 5 minutes, the chances of it qualifying is 21x!
If you respond to a lead fast and improve the quality of how you handle a lead’s queries and objections, your chances of lead conversions increase exponentially.
ACL real estate ads are always project-specific. CRM integration enables you to see where the lead is coming from. You already know:
- Which project and location the lead is interested in?
- Whether the messaging is investor-led or end-user led?
- What price or hook attracted the lead?
This knowledge can make your first conversation with your prospect easier and smoother. We have seen that maintaining the same narrative as the marketing copy usually works well in preserving the buyer’s intent. The seasoned brokers we work with prefer to keep first calls light, listen more and say less, and try to engage their prospective buyers instead of aggressively trying to push their projects straightaway.
Some brokers have been working with us for years. They have learned from us and we have learned from them. And together, we quickly realize that buyers are of different types and we need different marketing approaches to keep them engaged.
Explorers need reassurance and answers to their questions, investors speak the language of numbers and how your inventory offers them better benefits than other comparable projects, and end-users are looking for brand trust, lifestyle, and timelines (when the project will be delivered).
When our ad campaign messaging and real estate agents speak the same language, we see the best engagement happening. It’s a pleasure to work with clients who understand our marketing style and follow it up well because their lead qualification rate and conversion rate are usually the best.
3. Create Campaign Messaging that Filters Leads Automatically
As we mentioned above, our campaign messaging is not only project-specific but caters to the kinds of buyer segments we are attracting. However, across thousands of real estate marketing campaigns we handle every month, one thing is common:
We always mention:
- The project name and the location where it is located,
- Location benefits,
- Types of configurations or offerings,
- Unit sizes and starting prices,
- Possession status (what stage of construction it is in, such as Pre-Launch, New Launch, Under Construction, or Ready to Move)
- USPs of the project, and
- RERA No. (or other approvals if applicable).
Many brokers think that mentioning the price will scare away leads – and that’s exactly what we want. We want only those to approach you whose budget matches with your project – saving the time and effort you would unnecessarily waste in negotiations otherwise.
A starting price or price band is one of the strongest lead filters that ensure our clients get qualified leads.
Location is also a good filter of property leads. A person looking for an apartment in Sector 34, Noida will hardly ever consider an apartment in Greater Noida. We purposefully narrow down the scope of our ad campaigns by sectors, roads, junctions or closest landmarks – so that you can get higher conversions for real estate leads we deliver to you.
Construction status or possession timelines help us filter leads by when a buyer wants the keys. If someone wants a home in 5-10 years, they may consider a pre-launch or new launch project but if they want to shift there soon, they will prefer ready-to-move projects or nearing-completion projects – even if they have to pay a premium for them.
We purposefully keep our ads clear, factual, and transparent. We do not lie or overpromise things. We distinguish projects using the USPs that exist on ground, such as ‘low-density development’, ‘300+ families are already living in the township’, or ‘Ongoing rent for a 2 BHK unit in the area is around INR 20-25,000 per month’. The idea is to inform prospective buyers of what they will see on the ground.
The real estate marketing experts that work for us and the brokers that trust us agree that this type of messaging gives best outcomes for them in the long term.
4. Build a Digital Footprint and Work on Personal Brand Building
At AAJneeti Connect Ltd, we have realized one thing. Alok’s videos generate the best real estate leads for us – and at a much lower CPL. It is because most real estate stakeholders (including serious investors, casual browsers, and prospective buyers) know him by face and voice. The logical arguments he uses sound convincing to them. And we suggest the same to the brokers who want to hit big in the industry.
Now, when people like to research everything before they talk to you (including the project, the developer, the location, and the broker), working on your personal branding is crucial. Having a consistent digital presence across your website, YouTube channel, and social media platforms can help you see much better lead conversions.
As a complete 360-degree digital marketing company, we can help you:
- Build a website that works best for your micromarket,
- Help you with shooting, editing, and uploading podcasts with Alok that can help you showcase your expertise and boost your credibility in the market,
- Build a content strategy project the same brand image across different online platforms, and
- Build a Wikipedia page eventually once you have enough independent media coverage to pass the platform’s notability test.
Call us at +91-7827575143 to know how we can help you establish and maintain a personal brand online.
5. Know When to Push and When to Exit a Project
One of the most expensive mistakes our broker clients make is sticking with a project after it is already saturated. Even for good projects, we see leads streaming in eagerly until they start trickling and then dry up. Too many people start competing for the same leads, same project inventor, and the same micromarket. Creative and ad fatigue happens – but since our clients have made some bookings in the project earlier on, they don’t want to give up.
We see this pay out across many campaigns every month. Brokers with marketing intelligence move on with the market and reallocate their ad budgets and efforts in newer projects. The rest of them want us to keep pushing on the projects that were once profitable for them – and then grow frustrated later when the leads don’t convert.
At ACL, we track lead velocity, qualification rates, and conversion rates over time for each project we work on. When the demand curve of a project flattens, we notify our clients. Keep pushing the inventory in that project usually sees diminishing returns.
We, at AAJneeti, offer complete real estate marketing intelligence to our clients. If you are interested in knowing more, contact our experts today!
Read Also: The “Fake Lead” Excuse Is Killing Indian Real Estate Growth
