How To Use BiggerPockets As A TREMENDOUS Lead Generator

[Chris Clothier]

I recently wrote an article on 3 Web Sites that really transformed our real estate investing business from 2010 to now. At a time when we were working hard to improve every facet of our company, we also began to use technology and web based companies or sites to enhance our mission. BiggerPockets was one of those 3 sites and this is exactly how we/I have used Bigger Pockets to make it our BIGGEST online lead source and at a fraction of the cost for other traditional lead sources.

First - Understand that BiggerPockets is really not that powerful by itself. If it were nothing more than a web address with one guy posting or writing or selling ads, it would not be all that powerful. But that is what makes Bigger Pockets different and when I realized this I began implementing a plan to use it for all its power. There are nearly 100,000 UNIQUE users who have registered accounts on Bigger Pockets and many of those users are active investors. Those investors, like myself, spend some time on the site everyday and that is why it is so powerful. A site full of your target audience that log on every day and interact.

Second - I used what comes naturally to me and that is an open and willing to share form of marketing. I like to share and educate and so I set out to to perform "edu-marketing". Educate first, show you may actually know something and even more important are willing to admit what you don't know and many will come to respect you. For months, I did nothing but respond on forums, write an occasional blog on the site, link articles I thought were interesting and leave comments on articles or blog posts that fit my core knowledge. I gave a lot of advice. I was also polite.

It may sound stupid, but that was my personality. I treated people the way i wanted to be treated and when someone was rude to me, I tried to kill em with kindness. I believe that I earned a reputation that I truly felt I deserved and that was of someone who would freely help others and was willing to engage in good conversation and debate. I never let it bother me if someone disagreed with me, I simply wanted others to know that I believed in my opinion and could back it up.

Third - I realized that BiggerPockets was a great linking site. So even though I wasn't trying to sell houses on the site, I still listed my properties on there and used each listing for backlinks. The same thing with my blog on the site, I made sure that i linked each blog back to my site or a particular page on my site to take advantage of the great back links.

Fourth - Once I had spent time on the site, I decided to test the marketing waters and run ads on the site. I made a conscious decision to run two types of ads. I ran ads that linked to landing pages for educational videos. These were videos that we had recorded in our offices and were detailed. Many still run today on BiggerPockets. We identified our brand and company on the videos and had a registration from for viewers prior to watching the video.

The second ad we ran was strictly a branding ad. It identified a need for investors and invite them to learn about our company. There was no registration form and no data collection. Just a simple redirect back to our website. These types of ads are used by us to build our brand recognition and to show, again, that education is first.

These ads, placed as banners on the site and within the newsletters, have generated several thousand hits and several hundred leads. We use a very laid-back approach when reaching out to these leads, but every one hears from us directly to see if there is any way we can be of service. When potential leads click on our branding ads and go directly to the website, many end up registering to receive more information on our company. When these leads identify where they learned about our company, BiggerPockets has become the #1 answer today.

Admittedly, we are doing a lot more on BiggerPockets today than on other sites, but that is simply because the users on bigger pockets are active investors and many are interested in learning ways to earn invest passively. I hate the cliches, but this is the exact target audience we want to reach and taking extra time to build an online presence before marketing has really paid off.

If you are going to use BiggerPockets to develop an online presence, then I believe this is the blueprint for finding success. It is not as simple as place ads on the site. Many of the users are very savvy real estate investors and whether they ever purchase from you is not the primary reason for engaging. As an investor and as a business person, I have learned a ton from other BP users and in turn have honed and improved the outreach we do on the site. Today, nearly 30% of our monthly leads can come from Bigger Pockets and that is a tremendous improvement over other online ads such as PPC ads and Facebook.

I wanted to share our story and generate some discussion from other real estate companies or entrepreneurs who are wanting figure out how to use BiggerPockets to develop brand awareness and stimulate business.