A type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of high-value online material (such as lead magnets, items of value, videos, blogs, and social media posts) to a specific audience that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to inspire interest in its products or services.

What is a Real Estate Lead Magnet?

A real estate lead magnet is a marketing tool that generates leads by offering a high-value resource in exchange for a prospect's contact information.

How Should You Select a Real Estate Lead Magnet?

1. What topics does your ideal client niche audience want to know about?
2. What are your ideal client niche audience’s pain points?
3. What problems can you easily provide solutions for?
4. What topics would be the easiest for you to create a lead magnet about?
5. How does your lead magnet help your ideal client niche audience get from Point A to Point B?
6. What content format would be the best way to deliver that information?

Consider the natural progression of the customer’s journey, as well.

After they get the information in your lead magnet, what is their next step? 

How can you help them with that next step?

Is it to book a call with you and your team? Schedule an in-person meeting? Or is it to purchase a low cost service?

We’ve seen a lot of success where the lead magnet contains many Do-It-Yourself solutions,then the next step is to offer Done-For-You services provided by you and your team.

To get the best results, make sure that your lead magnet is a good starting point for that natural customer progression.

Components of a Lead Magnet

Share Your Best Content That Adds Immediate Value

Your lead magnet must be compelling, unique, and laser-targeted to your niche audience.

Provide a lead magnet that solves problems and adds value quickly and completely, while also delivering exactly what you promise.

Drill Down–Specificity is Key

You aren’t trying to attract everyone…you’re trying to attract the RIGHT ones.

Your lead magnet isn’t meant for every person, and that’s the point!

Get ultra-specific: zero in on a problem that your target audience faces and show them how your lead magnet (and you!) solve that problem.

Ensure Relevancy to Your Brand

It’s important to tie in the relevance of your personal brand and how you help your target audience achieve their goals.

Further, your lead magnet is an integral part of your overall content marketing strategy for real estate.

Help your audience connect the dots as to how you can be their guide.

Name It Right–The Title of Your Lead Magnet Matters

Be sure to spend time naming your lead magnet–think of the title of your lead magnet as the “first impression.”

Using action verbs that help paint a clear picture of what your target audience’s life will look like once they download and digest the information you’re providing.

Craft an Irresistible Call-to-Action (CTA)

Whenever possible, make sure your call-to-action button is creative. Rather than “Learn More,” consider “Show Me How!” or “Nab This Report Today!”

Pro-Tip for a Content Marketing Strategy for Real Estate Your website (or landing page) must have form functionality.

In other words, you must be able to build a form that collects contact information and sends or downloads the lead magnet upon receipt of that information.

Most autoresponders can create a form that you can publish to your site or funnel. 

Having an autoresponder is important because that is where your list of email addresses will live.

Specific Real Estate Lead Magnets

Buyers

• Home Buyer Guide (partial or full)
• Credit Repair Checklist
• First-Time Home Buyer Map
• How to Qualify for a Mortgage
• 7 Questions to Ask on Your Home Inspection
• How to Prepare for Buying a Home (video)
• Home Buyer Budget Spreadsheet
• List of New Construction (New Build) Homes
• List of Homes in [Community] with X Feature
• Millennial’s Guide to Homeownership
• Loan Estimate Worksheet
• Mortgage Amortization Calculator (calculate your mortgage at different loan amounts and interest rates)
• House-Warming Checklist
• 5 Ways to Win in Multiple Offer Situations
• How to Buy a Home After Divorce
• How to Use a Gift to Buy a Home
• Things to Consider Before Buying a Vacation Home
• Things to Consider Before Buying a Home with a Septic System
• Things to Consider Before Buying a Home with a Private or
• Community Well
• Explore Your [Town] (amenities, things to do, etc.)
• List of Upcoming Events in [Town]
• Dog Lovers – pet-friendly restaurants, dog parks, and playdate locations
• Home Buyer Planner
• How Renting a Home Can Prepare You for Buying a Home in 6 Months
• Questions to Ask When Hiring a Moving Company
• Tips for Moving with Pets
• Tips for Moving with Children

Relocation Buyers

• Relocation Toolkit
• Explore Your [Town] (amenities, things to do, etc.)
• List of Upcoming Events in [Town]
• Dog Lovers – pet-friendly restaurants, dog parks, and playdate locations
• Questions to Ask When Hiring a Moving Company
• Tips for Moving with Pets
• Tips for Moving with Children
• Area Golf Courses

Renovations or Home Improvements

• Home Renovation Spreadsheet (to track improvements and ROI)
• Trusted Professionals / Vendors
• Cost vs. Value for Remodeling Projects

Homeownership

• Complete Guide to Protesting Your Property Tax Appraisal
• Back to College Checklist
• Checklist: Making Your Home More Energy Efficient
• Home Maintenance Schedule (or Calendar)
• Where Kids Eat Free in Your City
• Tips for a Healthy Lawn and Garden
• Summer Camps in Your Area
• Favorite Summer Cocktail Recipes
• How to Chop $24,000 and 4 Years Off Your Mortgage
• 12 Questions to Ask Before Hiring Your Real Estate Agent

Sellers

• Home Seller Guide (partial or full)
• Pre-Listing Cleaning Checklist
• For Sale By Owner Help Kit
• For Sale By Owner Budget Spreadsheet
• For Sale By Owner: Home Showing Checklist
• For Sale By Owner Open House Checklist
• For Sale By Owner Exterior Prep Checklist
• For Sale By Owner Interior Prep Checklist
• For Sale By Owner Pricing Strategy Checklist
• For Sale By Owner: Writing Effective Ads
• For Sale By Owner: Best Ways to Answer Property Inquiries
• For Sale By Owner: Under Contract Details Checklist
• Expired Listing Help Kit
• How to Stage Your Home on a Budget
• How to Sell Your Home in 21 Days
• Home Seller Planner
• Prep Your Home for Sale (video)
• Do-It-Yourself Deep Cleaning Checklist
• Printable Home Staging Checklist
• Questions to Ask When Hiring a Moving Company
• Printable Seller’s Net Sheet
• Seller’s Net Sheet (spreadsheet)
• 25 Ways to De-Clutter Your Home
• Tips for Moving with Pets
• Tips for Moving with Children
• How to Navigate a Probate Transaction
• How to Navigate a Home Sale Due to Divorce
• Tax Consequences of Selling a Home (co-branded with a CPA)
• The Dangers of Overpricing Your Home
• How to Be Sure That You Aren’t in Violation of Privacy Laws
• When Showing Your Home
• 6 Reasons Why Your Home May Not Sell

Investors

• 28-Day Flip (spreadsheet, video, or report)
• How to Flip a Home
• How to Buy Investment Property with Little or No Money Down
• How to Recognize a Good Property Investment
• Deal Calculator
• Millennial Investor Guide
• Signs That You Need to Pass on an Investment Property
• Rental Warning Signs
• 5 Ways to Buy Investment Property with Minimal Money
• How to Spot a Home with Investment Potential
• 5 Common Real Estate Investment Mistakes
• How to Buy Multi-Family Properties
• Rental Property Rules
• Airbnb Rules

Downsizers or Rightsizers

• Downsizing Checklist
• How to Select a Senior Living Option

Subscribe/Join

• Join My Email List for Weekly Home Tips

Examples of Lead Magnet Categories

• Checklist
• Cheatsheet
• Template
• Swipe File (copy/paste content)
• Examples
• Script
• Toolkit
• Resource List
• Calendar
• Plan/Planner
• Worksheet/Workbook
• Printable (recipe/grocery list)
• Inspiration File (makes it fun to get inspired)
• Prompts (ex: 60 Journal Prompts)
• Calculator
• Spreadsheet
• Recipes
• Gated Content (value-added content beyond a blog post; expansion of the content)
• Tutorial
• eBook
• Guide
• Report
• Infographic
• Educational Video
• Educational Audio
• Webinar
• Email Course
• Free Coaching Session
• Audio Version (example: audio version of a blog post)
• Summary/Cliff’s Notes Version
• State of the Industry/Market
• Mindmap
• Recording/Replay
• SlideShare
• Roundup (simply interview people and pull all of the quotes together into one blog post or content piece)
• Newsletter
• Quiz
• Giveaway
• Coupon

Okay, Great. What's Next?

Once you’ve created your lead magnet, added it to your website, promoted it through a comprehensive marketing strategy on all channels, and collected contact information, you’ll need to consider how to incubate these leads.

Typically, this comes in the form of a custom email nurture campaign sequence that drips out additional great content that continues to position you as your target audience’s guide.

Be sure to track and inventory your content in a spreadsheet–

you’ll find this extremely helpful in future years or if you stumble across “writer’s block.”

You’ll also want to consider how any existing content can be repurposed into another form.

For instance, can your lead magnet be repurposed into a YouTube video?

What about a blog post?

Or, as a highlight in your monthly email newsletter to your sphere of influence?

The possibilities are endless.

Be sure to stay tuned for more great information on how to repurpose your real estate lead magnet content, incubate your leads, and continue to build your subscriber database.