Yes, real estate in Singapore is lucrative. Selling a resale condo can earn over $30,000 in commission before splitting with a buyer’s agent. The Singaporean real estate market is highly saturated, with numerous agents competing for the same pool of potential real estate transactors.
One of the biggest challenges agents face is generating high qualified leads that trust them: standing out in a crowded market. You can’t be selling just properties anymore, you got to develop a strong personal brand and unique selling propositions (USP) about YOU!
Here are Broad Strategies to Differentiate Yourself
- Niche Down and Specialise
Specialise in a particular type of property or market segment, such as luxury condos, first time upgraders or first-time homebuyers. This focus allows you become an authority in that area. Heart doctors get paid more than general practitioners. Specialists get paid more than general practitioners.
You can’t sell everything to everyone.
- Build a Personal Brand
It is no longer enough to showcase properties. You got to sell YOU! Your personal brand that reflects your values, expertise, and personality.
- Case Studies Testimonials
Use client testimonials and case studies to build trust. Use case studies to demonstrate your successes and how you’ve helped clients reach their real estate goals. Include these case studies, testimonials and stories in online presentations to show how you helped clients succeed in real estate.
They can be helping a married couple to upgrade from HDB to a condominium. Or helping a high net worth client optimize their real estate portfolio, helping them plan for their children… etc.
Pros and Cons of Traditional and Outbound Marketing
I receive flyers every other day at my HDB estate for real estate. There is also the occasional agent going about door knocking. Flyers and door knocking are under the category of traditional marketing.
Flyers and Physical Mail
Pros:
- Tangible Impact: Flyers and physical mail may create a lasting impression and is more likely to be remembered than digital ads.
- Targeted Reach: Focusing on specific neighbourhoods or demographics, you can ensure that your message reaches the right audience. For example, HDB estates that have recently hit their minimum occupancy period.
Cons:
- Costly: High quality flyers and postage can be expensive.
- Lower Engagement Rates: Many recipients may ignore or discard physical mail without reading it.
Door Knocking
Pros:
- Direct Contact: Provides an opportunity to speak directly with potential clients and address their questions or concerns.
- Immediate Feedback: This allows agents to gauge interest and adjust their pitch in real-time.
Cons:
- Time-Consuming: These methods require a significant time investment and may not always show immediate results
- Intrusive: Some prospects may view cold calling and door knocking as invasive, which can lead to negative interactions.
- Not Scalable: Let’s be serious, how many HDB neighbourhoods can you knock at one go?
How Much Can You Stand Out as a Thought Leader, Expert and Authority through These Methods?
However, the problem with door knocking and flyers is that they are both un-persuasive. They don’t position you as an authority or a brand.
The majority of flyers I receive are bland and are ignored. Yes, they may be nicely designed. However, they mostly aren’t written in a manner that gets me to know, like and trust the agent on the flyers. Secondly, if everyone in the real estate industry is doing the same thing, sending the same type of flyers… are you really that different?
Since we’re a digital marketing agency and of course we are biased. I highly recommend building an online marketing system for real estate lead generation for agents.
Three Biggest Benefits of Online Marketing Systems
- Systems are Scalable: Inputs and Outputs, easily scalable to a seven figure million dollar system
- Pre qualify leads -> people who don’t attend your online webinars or book a call with you aren’t really qualified
- The data captured is re-marketable through SMS and email marketing
- By posting and distributing high quality content posted online, you can differentiate yourself as an authority in the industry
- The ability to easily differentiate, stand out through visuals -> images, videography
How to Build an Online Marketing Clients Getting System for Real Estate
Yes, online webinars are inherently difficult to execute and perform. There is a lot of setup and technical expertise required that goes into online webinars.
Yet, it can be a major differentiator in the market. That is because it is inherently difficult to do.
- Highly Relevant Topics
Live webinars and online presentations allows you to focus on topics that address common questions or challenges faced by buyers and sellers in your market.
- Efficiency
One stone to kill multiple birds? Yes, online marketing, preparing and conducting a webinar can reach hundreds of potential clients at once, making it a more time-effective method than door-to-door visits.
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Position Yourself as an Expert
Invite industry experts or guest speakers to join your webinars. This not only enhances the quality of your presentations but also associates your brand with recognized figures in the industry, boosting your authority.
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Engage and Educate
Use webinars as a tool to educate your audience about the real estate process, from buying and selling to investing. Educated clients are going to trust your advice and perceive you a go-to expert in the field.
- Targeted Marketing
Only interested participants are going to sign up to attend. This is a pre-qualifier. Online webinars also allow for more accurate audience targeting through registration forms that collect data on attendees’ preferences and problems faced.
This enables real estate agents to customize their webinars to the audience’s specific needs.
- Highlight Success Stories
Through webinars, you can showcase your testimonials and success stories from satisfied clients to build trust and credibility.
The system is not complicated:
Ad -> Landing Page -> Live webinar -> Book a Call -> Use email or sms to follow up.
Then simply repeat and optimise this through feedback.
Re Marketing Through Email Marketing and SMS Follow Ups
Email marketing and SMS follow ups through data capture on landing pages can help you nurture leads effectively over time:
- Promote Your High Quality Content: You can create automated emails or broadcast valuable information that adds value to your audience.
- Track Engagement: Use analytics to monitor open rates, click-through rates, and conversions to refine your campaigns.
If you are not comfortable with webinars, then you can consider lead magnets. Lead magnets are valuable resources offered in exchange for contact information, helping you grow your email or sms database.
You can develop guides, checklists, or e-books that provide value to potential clients, such as a homebuyer’s guide or selling tips. Then promote them in opt in pages on your online platforms and drive paid traffic to it.
Best Traffic Channels for Lead Generation for Real Estate
Our digital marketing team has generated millions of revenue for clients from both Youtube and Meta platforms. Let’s not complicate traffic channels and focus on these two for real estate lead generation.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram) Advertising
- Behavioural and Demographic Targeting
Meta’s targeting based on behaviours like recent website visits, interaction with related real estate content is unbeatable. Their targeting includes life events such as engagements or moving, which are powerful indicators of a need to buy or sell property.
Needless to say, Meta’s accuracy in advertising is uncannily scary.
- Re-Marketing Tools
Meta’s ability to retarget users enables you to re-engage with users who have shown interest but have not yet taken action, keeping your real estate brand top-of-mind and increasing the likelihood of a high qualified lead.
YouTube Advertising
Youtube platforms is a great competitor to Meta’s, in terms of high engagement for video like content and here’s why:
- Virtual Tours and Listings
Video content such as virtual tours and detailed listings can capture the beauty and value of properties much better than photos alone, providing a ‘real-life’ experience.
- Educational Content
You can create high quality video content that educates potential buyers on investment opportunities, market trends, establishing your authority in the real estate field.
- Cost Efficiency
YouTube offers a cost-per-view pricing model, where you only pay when viewers watch the ad for at least 30 seconds, ensuring budget spend on interested users. Youtube ads are still much cheaper than Meta advertising today.
Conclusion
In Singapore’s competitive real estate market, standing out as an agent is essential. Traditional methods like flyers and door knocking are no longer enough. Online marketing systems is a game-changer for agents looking to differentiate themselves. They allow for agents to engage directly with potential clients, showcasing expertise and building trust.
Moreover, online marketing offer scalability and efficiency, reaching a wider audience in less time and with fewer resources than traditional methods.
Combined with powerful paid advertising platforms like Meta and YouTube, you can use targeted advertising to fill up an entire room of qualified leads awaiting you to present your real estate story today.