This is the third blog post of the five-posts-serial on commercial real estate lead generation.
If you want to read the previous part here’s the link – Commercial Real Estate Lead Generation: Skip Cold Calling & Focus On Hot Leads
Let’s face it: cold calling is history. With it, one of the hardest ways to create a commercial real estate lead generation will no longer scare real estate agents.
The new sheriff in town is called online marketing, and it has waited long enough to make its grand appearance.
But, online marketing for commercial real estate lead generation is not at all easy as one might think. It requires a lot of resources, time, and effort to do it successfully.
And it’s not just that – there are a lot of different ways to achieve this.
Do you do it by yourself?
Do you create an in-house team?
Or do you outsource it?
Before making a final decision, take a few minutes to read what I have to say about each of these ways to create commercial real estate lead generation.
Let’s dive in.
In-House Online Marketing For CRE Lead Generation: Too Expensive, Too Hard And Too Time-Consuming
One size doesn’t fit all.
If in-house marketing has worked for some companies, it might not work for others.
And in a complex industry like CRE, it’s even more of a challenge to find professionals and to hire them as part of your in-house marketing.
What are the other challenges when it comes to hiring an in-house marketing team for your commercial real estate lead generation?
In-house team costs time and money
Sure, you as a CEO would like your employees to be available to you during their working hours. And this all sounds really great on paper, but in reality, it could be a real pain in the neck.
An in-house team costs A LOT of money and time.
You, as a CEO will need to decide:
- Will this investment in having your own marketing team pay off, if yes;
- What skills would you require from your employees;
- What knowledge would they need to possess;
- Are they team players or solo players;
- What to look for in terms of personality.
And the list goes on and on.
To achieve all this, you need a well-prepared team of HR employees around you who will deal with the entire process of selection of the candidates, going through CVs and arranging interviews.
But in the end, the CEO has the last call; you will need to devote some of your highly valuable time to choose the right people for the job.
It sounds exhausting, isn’t it?
That’s because it really is a time-consuming process with a low cost-effective ROI.
And the challenges don’t end here.
Keeping up with the trends in the industry is more difficult than ever
Check this example:
Google has made a new announcement: the ads will have priority over organic search.
If you don’t have a team of marketers who constantly update their knowledge on the topic, keeping up in any industry will be equal to zero profit.
But when it’s in-house marketing, things will always get in the way.
There are deadlines and meetings and brainstorming sessions and constant creation of new strategies. Bear in mind that these things take time and energy, and your in-house team will very likely, miss on important industry updates or make some other mistake that will be costly.
There’s one more challenge…
Being part of an in-house online marketing team can become monotonous
Fact time: 35% of the labor force nowadays are Millenials.
This makes them the largest workforce in the USA. And Millenials are generally known to change their jobs quite often.
Who can blame them, though?
We live in a world full of possibilities, and it’s easier than ever to create a better chance for yourself. Nonetheless, being part of an in-house team may lower the ambitions of any young person.
Another thing is that the process of learning stops after a certain point, and Millenials are a group of people that likes to learn new stuff constantly.
For you as a CEO, this will mean a high rate of employee fluctuation. You will face the dreaded process of interviews and selecting candidates once again. And that will cost you time and money over and over again as the employees change.
With your goal in mind to raise your commercial real estate lead generation, plus knowing this information, you as a CEO might turn towards listing sites.
Most of them are free; you get to have your own place on the Internet – there’s nothing to lose, right?
Not really.
Here’s why:
Listing Sites For Your Lead Generation Marketing Strategy – Are You Sure You Want To Go Down That Road?
You are thinking about listing sites as your second best choice for getting commercial real estate lead generation.
Why wouldn’t you?
There are many sites which allow you to post your commercial property for free and wait for your commercial real estate lead generation to grow repeatedly.
Plus, you get to have your own place on the Internet without spending a buck.
However, things are not always as bright as they may seem.
There are few cracks in this so-called perfect system of creating commercial real estate lead generation for free:
Listing sites have too much market noise
Remember that street seller I’ve mentioned in the previous blog post? The one who was selling home cleaning products.
Only this time he’s extensively loud about commercial real estate properties. And he does that while being accompanied by thousands of other CRE sellers.
Those same sellers are trying to increase the number of leads in their commercial real estate lead generation.
What are the chances that your agency, in particular, will overcome the market noise that exists on any listing sites and reach its goal?
Close to 0.
Picture this: on a listing site, prospects saw you, and in the next second, they scrolled away.
You are in the same ring with thousands upon thousands of competitors, and you can’t reach your desired audience. Which, by the way, may not even be on any of those listing sites.
Your agency can’t stand out from the crowd
If you are doing what everyone else is doing, you are never going to stand out from the crowd.
Being part of the crowd makes your CRE agency a follower, not a leader. And in the CRE industry, the followers are not the ones making the big bucks at the end of the year.
The leaders are the ones who are brave enough to do something different. And they are the ones that end up with pockets filled with dollar bills.
Listing sites are a typical example of a place where no one can stand out because you are just one of the many on the list with nothing to set you apart.
What are the chances that it will be your commercial real estate property that will gain user’s attention precisely?
Close to 0.
Your CRE agency needs a unique approach than the one everyone else is using.
But this unique approach is not easily achievable and that’s why relying on professionals may be the smartest thing to do.
Commoditized work vs. expert work
The best way to explain a commoditized work is:
If the products are becoming all the same in the eyes of potential customers, the customers will always choose the one that is the cheapest
For example, when it comes to listing sites, every listed property may look the same or similar compared with others. That’s why a lot of potential customers may focus solely on choosing the one that costs the least.
On the other hand, if you as CEO choose an expert to do this job, the outcome could be quite different and positive for your agency ROI.
This is the reason I’m offering a solution to each of the mentioned problems.
Let’s see the solution:
Make A Breakthrough In Your Commercial Real Estate Lead Generation Strategy – Find A Marketing Agency
An outsourcing agency offers a qualified team to do all the hard work needed for commercial real estate lead generation for you.
It’s better to work with an agency of this kind because:
- The team has experience working with different industries, including the CRE industry
- The team of an outsourcing agency will be familiar with your biggest challenges
- They can understand the difficulty of online marketing for the CRE industry
All in all, the team of an outsourcing agency knows the recipe for successful commercial real estate lead generation online marketing strategy.
That recipe involves:
- How to use email marketing for nurturing your commercial real estate lead generation
- How to use PPC marketing for improving audience targeting
- Raising your brand presence on social media
- Creating unique and valuable content
As you can see, this will require a lot of work if you decide to do it yourself.
I’ll briefly explain it in the next blog post.
For now, let’s remind ourselves of the most important points from this blog post:
Conclusion
The sooner you accept the fact that cold calling is dead, the sooner your CRE agency will experience the benefits of online marketing.
There are three different ways to create a commercial real estate lead generation using online marketing:
- In-house Team
- Listing Sites
- Outsourcing Agency
Having an in-house team to do the job can be too expensive, too much time consuming and with a very low ROI.
On the other hand, listing sites seem like a good idea until you witness the fact that you are sharing the same space with numerous competitors.
That’s why turning to experts outside of your agency can turn out to be the best decision you’ll ever make for the financial health of your brand.
But first, you need to know what’s included in every strategy for building a commercial real estate lead generation. This way you can recognize an excellent agency when you see one.
For now, let’s agree that you’ll wait for my next blog post before making a final decision.
But, if you are already determined that you want successful results right away, feel free to give us a call.
