Are you stuck trying to figure out whether you want to increase your real estate lead generation and get more leads…
OR focus on building brand awareness for the long term?
As a real estate agent, it’s hard to know where to put all of your energy and resources when it comes to marketing.
But you know what?
You don’t have to choose between lead generation and brand awareness.
For some reason, a ton of agents I talk to tend to think of lead generation and brand awareness as two distinctly separate entities.
But in reality, you need to learn how to weave both of these objectives together into a well-thought-out marketing strategy.
In this post, you’ll learn about which one is most important and how they work together (hint: they do!). Read on to get tips and insights into each one and understand why having both is ideal!
What is real estate lead generation?
When we talk about real estate lead generation, it’s essentially thinking about how many people are coming into your world.
How well are you able to take someone from not having any idea who you are up until becoming a contact?
Becoming a contact usually means they exchange some sort of information with you. Maybe they give you an email address or phone number. They might reach out and ask for information about your services, or maybe they opt-in for a lead magnet and give you their email.
Obviously, everyone wants leads for their real estate business. Lead generation is the sexier objective.
But the reality is, you can’t have lead generation without brand awareness…
What is brand awareness?
Brand awareness, on the other hand, is simple.
It’s essentially just making people aware of you within your ideal target market.
How visible are you and how much are you consistently getting in front of those people?
The goal of brand awareness is to take up market space in their brain.
At the end of the day, it’s noisy in the minds of our ideal clients.
It all goes back to basic psychology.
Did you know that your brain is only hardwired to easily remember only two brands in any industry?
Try it – close your eyes and think of two shoe brands.
Chances are you’ll say “Nike” or “Adidas.”
Through brand awareness, you can occupy this top spot in your ideal client’s mind.
That way, you’ll be top of mind when they ARE ready to hire.
Brand Awareness Methods
Traditionally, agents have used billboards for brand awareness.
If I go to a specific geographic area, I’m going to think of the guy who has a million billboards there.
But that same kind of brand awareness can be created online.
Social media offers a cost-effective way to be more visible to your ideal clients without investing thousands of dollars in billboards or physical advertising.
Another plus?
Developing an online presence allows you to create deeper connections and longer relationships with your ideal clients.
The human brain is incredibly talented at filtering out anything that’s not relevant to them.
So unless your ideal client is specifically wanting to buy a house or list their home at the exact time they see your billboard…they’ll most likely filter it out as noise.
Social media, on the other hand, allows us to build a true relationship with people that goes beyond just closing deals.
The key to brand awareness is connection.
Are you giving that person a reason to follow you between your transactions? Do you give value, tell stories and showcase the human side of your brand?
Because if you’re *only* throwing real estate content at them 24/7, you’re not going to be relevant to them for the long term.
People move every three to seven years. You have to give them a reason to follow you for the rest of that time. If not, you’ll have a high audience churn.
This is probably the hardest part of creating content as a real estate agent.
You have to learn the strategy to keep people engaged…even when they’re not buying or selling a home.
To keep people engaged for life, read this post about mastering real estate content for social media with three core post types.
So, what’s more important – real estate lead generation or brand awareness?
I actually don’t think that brand awareness and lead generation should be separated.
It’s not a question of one or the other.
There’s a certain amount of brand awareness that has to happen in order for that lead to become a client.
Here’s why I think agents get confused.
They might get a lead and then they focus exclusively on manually converting that lead into a client.
They email them.
They try to go back and forth in the DMs.
They try to get on the phone with them or set up a consult.
When in reality, they should be increasing their brand awareness with this person as well.
They should be presenting content to this person on social media, over email sequences, and through retargeting ads that showcase their authority and social proof.
This way, there’s no need to manually chase your lead.
They essentially convert themselves.
Real estate branding is so much more than just your colors and logo.
Your brand should be the answer to the question:
“What does your ideal client think about when they think about you?”
What do they associate with you? Are you top of mind at all? When they think real estate, does your name pop into their heads?
Brand awareness encompasses all of that, and cannot be taken out of the equation when we’re talking about lead generation.
Brand awareness and the customer journey
Some people might need more exposure to your brand depending on their buyer persona.
Everyone has a slightly different customer journey.
Certain clients might find you and be ready to book with you within a week or two.
Others might follow you for months or even years before finally feeling like they trust you enough to reach out about listing their home.
Everyone is different, but as long as you’re putting out relevant, engaging content and getting in front of the right people at the right time…your leads will become clients in due time.
Want to learn more about creating relevance, omnipresence, and intimacy with your ideal clients?
Download The Listings Lab Guide to master both brand awareness and lead generation and create a marketing machine that helps you scale to seven figures.
