Home Builder Lead Generation – The Complete Guide

 

The custom home building industry has traditionally been slow to adopt new technologies and practices. But, modern-day contractors are changing this tradition by employing strategic digital marketing lead generation strategies. Why? The unexpected increase in demand for real estate, partly caused by the COVID19 pandemic, is intensifying competition in the industry.

Realtors and homebuilders can benefit a lot from this increase in demand. However, home builders need to have a solid foundation for lead generation to make the most of increasing customer demands.

Lead generation is the process of fostering a target customer’s interest in your real estate services. Until the target audience member becomes a customer, the lead generation process is incomplete. That means you should have the most efficient marketing and sales strategies to nurture target customers inside your real estate company’s sales funnel.

Building successful lead generation strategies take time, planning, and resources. Thankfully, contractors can engage prospects, convert leads, and secure more clients relatively cost-effectively with the Internet. Here’s an in-depth guide on lead generation for home builders.

 

Why Do You Need Lead Generation?

 

 

Real estate agents that don’t realize lead generation importance are bound to fail in the modern market. Why? Because how property buyers discover, explore, and acquire real estate has all changed. That’s why home building companies must find more efficient ways to reach customers.

The era of mass advertising, email spamming, etc., is over in the real estate industry. Modern-day real estate lead generation needs to be focused on building healthy, long-term relationships with buyers. Here’s why the generation of new sales leads is so critical for real estate and home building companies.

 

 

Expand Your Market

A strong lead generation strategy will enable your company to target customers from the right demographic groups. Instead of mass advertising, you’ll be focused on advertising to the right audiences. Market expansion is meaningless if all the leads you generate don’t convert into actual customers.

You can engage in tighter, more efficient demographic targeting with a strategic lead generation strategy. Businesses with low marketing budgets can also effectively control the money they spend per lead every week/month. For a lead generation agency, it’s never about the number of leads – it’s about their quality.

Homebuilding companies can attract the right prospects and turn them into customers with strategic lead generation strategies.

Boost Your Sales

Gather More Customer Reviews

Lead generation strategies create win-win situations for both the sellers and the buyers. For example, a home building company with a strong lead generation strategy will always provide free information on its products/services. Hence, potential buyers benefit by receiving free information.

Then, the home building company can make its pitch to these target customers. If the deal goes through, both parties benefit. If not, the simple interaction between the company and the customer boosts the company’s goodwill. One key aspect of building a lead generation strategy for your company is prioritizing customer service over everything.

That’s why home building companies that use digital marketing for a lead generation always attract more customers. These companies create well-defined pathways for their customers to discover and interact with their businesses. As a result, their company websites receive more traffic, and their Google My Business pages collect more positive customer reviews.

Build Visibility and Awareness

If more people hear about your construction company, your
The company’s market reputation will grow stronger. Building brand visibility is
directly connected to letting more people know about your brand.

Without a lead generation strategy, your Company doesn’t
have constant incoming streams of leads. Without new potential customers, your brand value keeps shrinking.

 

Tactics for Lead Generation for Custom Home Builder

 

 

➼ There are many home-building companies in the industry.
➼ There are many home building companies operating in your company’s locations.
➼ Most people are looking for the best home building companies in the states you build via the Internet.

For these reasons, having a digital and customer-centric home builder lead generation strategy is critical. Competition is fierce. Simply hosting home tours or participating in industry events won’t get your Company large numbers of leads.

To lure more potential clients to your home building company, you need to use the latest lead generation tactics.

Local Listings

One of, if not the best, lead generation tactics for any business is being easily discoverable on the Internet. With business listings in local directories, companies can quickly achieve this goal and expand their reach on the web.

Online business directories allow home building companies to display their names, addresses, and phone numbers. Potential customers can access these listings to discover your Company.
By creating local listings for your Company, you can also attract more traffic to your company’s websites. Here, you can engage with your visitors more extensively and convert them into customers.

But, before that, you’ll have to list your website on various local business listing sites for your country.

 

 

Local SEO

 

 

SEO (Search-Engine-Optimization) is the process of making your website appear higher on Google for specific keywords. The most successful homebuilding companies in the world use SEO for lead generation. The higher their websites are on Google, the more clicks they receive. With more clicks, the chances of conversions are also higher.

How can real estate companies create efficient SEO strategies? Let’s say you conduct keyword research. You discover that the keyword “luxury home builders in Los Angeles” have high search volumes. You can optimize your website by including this keyword multiple times.

Over time, every time someone looks up that search term on Google, your site will appear at the top of the results pages. That’s SEO for real estate companies in a nutshell. Most modern-day real estate buyers start their property search online. Therefore, your company’s website must rank high on search engine results pages (SERPs).

A more efficient way of obtaining higher rankings on Google is with local search engine optimization (SEO).

According to Google, when users look up products/services, the search engine shows the local results first. If you look up “construction company near me,” Google will show you websites of construction companies closest to your location. That’s why your company website must also be optimized for these local searches.

To do so, your website must give specific signals to the search engines. These signals include –

Consistent NAP: As a local construction company, you need to be easy to contact. That’s why maintaining a consistent company Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) on all business listings is vital. Always update your company profiles and listings with the most up-to-date information.

Reviews: The more reviews your company has from local customers, your local SEO strategy is more effective. Search engines can instantly realize that your company caters to local audiences by reading the customer reviews on your website.

Local Links: Google pulls data from various sources to verify a site’s relevance to local searches. Your company website will appear higher in local searches if you acquire links/citations from other relevant company websites.

Mobile-Friendly Website: Google ranks mobile-friendly websites higher than websites that load properly on desktop computers.

Local Keywords: Lastly, and most importantly, you must know what your target customers are searching for when looking for construction-related services. That means conducting extensive keyword research and including all relevant local keywords in your website and other digital profiles.

 

 

Google My Business

 

 

Your company needs to be as accessible as possible as a local construction business. The best way of doing so is by setting up a stellar website and a Google My Business (GMB) Page. GMB is essentially a free listing service that displays your company’s NAP and hours of operation directly on Google’s SERPs.

Optimize your GMB page to ensure that every time someone looks up your target keywords on Google – your GMB listing shows up. GMB listings are also displayed on Google Maps so customers can visit your address more frequently. GMB listings will also lead to more web traffic, phone calls, and customer reviews for your business.

 

We do GMB Optimization at $100, Which Increase Your Direct Calls.

 

Build a Strong Website

SEO or social media are excellent ways to get potential customers to visit your website for lead generation. However, if your website lacks quality, the visitors will leave quickly. Having high-quality websites is as important as having high-quality homes for modern-day home building companies.

That means partnering with a company that is an expert in lead generation to create high-quality websites because they know what users will expect when they come to the website. Use high-quality web design to optimize your company website for conversions. Your website is where your target clients will decide whether your construction company is suited to their preferences.

Here are some qualities/features a top-quality custom home building company website should have –

➼ HD videos and photography displaying the properties
➼ Customer testimonials
➼ Prominent, easy-to-read calls-to-action
➼ Multiple contacts (e.g., emails of individual agents, live chat, social media, etc.)
➼ Interactive directions page

Relevant, informative resources for target clients (blogs, industry news, etc.)

 

 

Connect on Social Media – Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn

Using social media for lead generation is an excellent tactic for home builders.

Why? Because it’s essentially free.

While some platforms offer paid advertising opportunities, companies can create social media profile pages for free to attract customers.

➼ If you don’t have a substantial lead generation budget, use the free tools on social media websites like Facebook or LinkedIn.

➼ If you have a decent marketing budget, partner with social media lead generation companies to secure large numbers of leads.

Either way, social media platforms give construction companies a fantastic chance to connect with potential customers. What’s the best social media platform for lead generation for construction companies?

With 2+ billion monthly users, Facebook is ideally suited for construction companies. Real estate Facebook lead generation is successful because the platform is highly visual. Construction companies can share HD photos, videos, etc., of their properties on Facebook to attract potential customers.

Facebook and Instagram provide granular targeting options. Construction companies can ensure that their ads or posts reach their ideal audiences with these targeting tools. That’s why lead generation through Instagram and Facebook is so successful.

Companies can also use LinkedIn real estate lead generation and host targeted campaigns by creating laser-focused ads. The key is to make all company social media profiles visually stunning, highly informative, and SEO-optimized.

Content Marketing

Using content marketing for lead generation is vital for construction companies because property buyers are typically desperate for helpful information. Property buyers carry out extensive research about the localities they’re investing in. That’s where your company should serve as the ultimate source of information.

How? Create and publish high-quality content on your website. Become the go-to resource for anyone interested in buying custom homes in your locality.

Paid Search or Display Ads

Claiming the top spot in Google’s SERPs is extremely difficult. Using paid Google Ads is a good way of speeding up this process. Construction companies can use these ads to discover qualified real estate leads in their localities.

PPC for lead generation

PPC for lead generation is a scientific process. You’ll have to use relevant keywords in your paid ads to increase your chances of securing top rankings. You can also use these paid ads to re-target people who’ve already visited your GMB or company website.

 

 

Types of Lead Generation Costs

 

 

Employing all these lead generation tactics will obviously cost your company money. What types of costs will your custom home building company undertake to generate leads? First, let’s understand the concept of pay per lead in real estate.

In layman’s terms, paying per lead means the amount of money you spend to acquire info on each potential customer.

It’s one of the crucial metrics in creating lead generation strategies. It gives you an approximation of how much budget you’ll have to allocate for each lead generation tactic. To calculate real estate cost per lead, take the following steps –

➼ Determine the total amount you’ll spend on a lead generation campaign
➼ Assess how many customer inquiries you receive after launching that campaign
➼ Your cost per lead real estate = total money spent divided by the number of inquiries you receive

Let’s say you spend $2000 on a Google Ads campaign. You receive 40 inquiries directly from that campaign. Then, your cost-per-lead would be –

$2000/40 = $50.

This means, on average, you’re spending $50 on each customer inquiry. A real estate lead generation agency will use this metric to offer you appropriate services. Here are the different types of costs your construction company will incur after signing up with such an agency –

Cost of Hiring the Real Estate Marketing Agency: These agencies typically charge flat-rate fees for monthly services. You’ll be paying for their time, knowledge work, and dedication to ensuring your company regularly receives high-quality leads. Bear in mind – these professionals are specialists at generating leads for custom home building companies. Their services guarantee results, but they don’t come cheap.

Paid Ads on Different Media Channels: These are the costs of buying/renting ad spaces that your company will have to incur regularly. They include – paid PPC campaigns on Google, paid ads on Facebook, buying ad space on online publications, etc.

Content Creation Costs: These costs depend entirely on the type of content you want your construction company website to feature. Creating high-quality graphics, high-definition videos, blogs, etc., requires a lot of effort. Plus, these pieces of content need to be relevant to your target users’ needs and requirements and SEO-optimized. Hence, a lot of strategizing goes into the content creation process. Construction companies typically hire agencies or freelancers to create quality content that reels potential customers.

 

Average Cost Per Lead

 

 

Now we know the types of costs real estate companies can expect to face when building lead generation strategies. So, how much should your home building company spend per lead? The average cost per lead in real estate depends on many unique factors.

Cost Per Lead (CPL) = (Total Expenditure on Lead Generation)/Total Leads Generated.
Here’s the CPL statistics in different industries, companies, and sectors –

Average Cost per Lead by Industry

• Custom Home Builder – approx. $70 per lead
• Buy/Sell Home – approx. $30 per lead
• Sell New Built Home – approx. $50 per lead
• Renovations/Improvement – approx. $40 per lead
• Land Development & Subdivision – approx. $150 per lead
• Fire Rebuild – approx. $50 per lead

The CPL in the real estate industry can range anywhere between $30-$150.

Average CPL by Lead Generation Channel

• Public Relation Campaigns – approx. $294
• Video Marketing – approx. $174
• LinkedIn Advertising – approx. $75
• Webinars – approx. $72
• Display Advertising (digital ads) – approx. $63
• Content Marketing – approx. $92
• TV, Radio, Print – approx. $620
• Search Engine Advertising – approx. $110
• Social Media Advertising – approx. $58
• Search Engine Optimization – approx. $31
• Email Marketing – approx. $53

Sources: Integrated Marketing Association, Survey Anyplace, Marketing Charts, and Hubspot.

It’s clear that Social Media Advertising, Display Advertising, and Content Marketing are three of the most cost-effective lead generation channels.

 

 

All top lead generation companies for real estate use these metrics to price their services. CPL in the Indian real estate industry also depends on the category of leads you’re hoping to attract. These categories include –

➼ Uber Luxury Property Buyers
➼ Luxury Property Buyers
➼ Budget Home Shoppers
➼ Affordable Home Shoppers

The cost of acquiring leads in each of these categories varies drastically. Other factors that will impact your construction company’s CPL include –

➼ Location of your construction projects
➼ Your existing brand awareness
➼ The company’s offline promotional efforts

Use these metrics to optimize your lead generation campaign budgets effectively.

 

Budget Allocation for Lead Generation

 

 

From the list above, it’s clear that the most cost-effective lead generation channels for construction companies are –

➼ SEO
➼ Social Media
➼ PPC Campaigns
➼ Content Marketing

Hence, your budget allocation strategy should revolve around these four specific channels.

SEO

Purpose

SEO is a great lead generation channel for construction companies. A strong SEO strategy will help your website attract valuable traffic, i.e., customers that are interested in buying homes.

Tactics

The best way to employ an SEO strategy is by teaming up with the best SEO company for real estate. A top SEO agency will take the following steps to boost your construction company website’s search engine presence –

• Conduct keyword research
• Analyze Google’s First Page when your business service is searched
• Add target keywords to the title tags of your webpages
• Produce SEO-optimized content for your website
• Develop high-quality backlinks to your construction company website
• Optimize image file sizes on your website
• Use responsive web design to make sure your site is supported on all devices
• Improve your site’s page-loading speed
• Create a better SEO strategy than your competitors
• Optimize the site for “Search Intent.”

Allocation:

On a global scale, 53.3% of companies that spend at least $500/month on SEO receive “extremely satisfactory” results. Plus, SEO is the most cost-effective lead generation tactic for construction companies. So, allocating at least 30% of your overall marketing budget to SEO campaigns will deliver incredible results.

SOCIAL MEDIA

 

 

Using social media channels for lead generation is even cheaper than SEO because many platforms are free-to-use. Paying a small monthly fee to a social media marketing agency for real estate for lead generation services makes sense. That’s because these platforms have incredible reach.

Purpose:

1. Boost your home building company’s brand value.
2. Reach out to as many target customers as possible.
3. Use high-quality media to lure more eyes to your existing properties.

Tactics:

Here are some basic lead generation tactics that work effectively on social media channels –

• Have a clear and consistent social media marketing plan
• Use targeted ads to only reach out to target customers.
• Post relevant content, news sources, media content, etc., at times when your target demographic is most active on social media.
• Share graphics, blog posts, and other web pages from your website.

Allocation:

By using the free features on these platforms, construction companies can save a lot of money. However, companies shouldn’t refrain from trying out the paid ad features on Instagram, Facebook, etc. Launch paid ad campaigns on social media platforms and then tracked their performances.

Increase your budget allocation in accordance. Start off by allocating a small share of your marketing budget to social media (let’s say 10%). Increase or decrease the allocation based on the number of leads your investments yield.

PPC

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is ideal for home building companies that want to reach out to more qualified leads. These ads will appear at the top of Google’s SERPs whenever potential customers search-relevant keywords.

Purpose:

Earn valuable leads that are genuinely interested in buying new homes.

Tactics:

A real estate PPC agency will employ various tactics to launch strategic PPC campaigns. They include –

• Conducting keyword research.
• Constantly optimize the company’s keyword strategy based on new customer trends.
• Setting up PPC ad campaigns on Amazon, Facebook, and other relevant platforms (not just Google).
• Launching retargeting campaigns

Allocation:

PPC ad campaigns can be expensive. Allocating 20-30% of your entire lead generation budget at first makes sense. Increase the budget if leads keep pouring in from your PPC ads.

CONTENT MARKETING

 

 

Content marketing is another highly cost-effective lead generation tactic for real estate or home building companies.

Purpose:

1. Inform target customers about your company’s excellence in the field.
2. Come off as industry thought leaders via informative articles blogs on industry-relevant topics.
3. Make sure your company’s website becomes the go-to source of info for all property buyers in your target sector.

Tactics:

Partnering with a real estate content marketing agency is the best way to create a strong content strategy for your company. Here are some content marketing tactics these specialized experts employ –

• Conduct research to understand what type of information homebuyers are looking for on the Internet.
• Create relevant content based on regular customer research.
• Respond to customer queries via detailed blog posts, articles, etc.
• Write promotional content on new properties, listings, etc.
• Post regular industry-related news.
• SEO optimizes all old and new content on the real estate company’s website.

Allocation:

Content creation isn’t cheap, especially if you’re planning to add premium-quality content to your website. Creating high-quality infographics, videos, and even articles requires a lot of research. However, high-quality content on your real estate website won’t just help you attract leads – it will also boost brand value. Hence, your content marketing budget should account for 20-30% of your overall lead generation budget.

 

How Does SpreadMe Find You Quality Home Building Leads?

 

 

As you can see, securing leads takes a lot of effort, strategizing, and resources for home building companies. Unfortunately, many home building companies fail to dedicate enough time or resources to lead generation efforts because of business responsibilities.

Should a custom home building company’s manager oversee construction duties or work on securing leads through digital channels? In an ideal world, professionals at home building companies would be able to do both.

But, these companies have limited resources and insufficient knowledge about the best lead generation tactics. Setting up an in-house lead generation team is also out of the question as it involves a myriad of costs.

That’s why teaming up with a third-party real estate lead generation agency is the best option for these companies. At SpreadMe, we’ve helped hundreds of real estate companies launch highly effective lead generation strategies.

SpreadMe has tremendous experience in real estate digital marketing and many projects under our belt. We’re the most cost-effective lead generation digital marketing agency. Our clients experience at least 150% increases in leads after teaming up with us.

We provide comprehensive lead generation services, which include a variety of strategic services such as –

➼ Creating consistent digital advertising strategies
➼ Launching PPC campaigns
➼ Creating and sustaining solid SEO strategies
➼ Complete social media management
➼ Web Development
➼ Search Engine Marketing
➼ Social Media Marketing

We’re the best real estate lead generation company because our clients in the home-building industry receive guaranteed results. If your real estate company needs more leads on a consistent basis, team up with SpreadMe.