How to generate more leads for shared ownership housing

We have a proven track record of generating quality leads and increasing sales in the shared-ownership property sector, and we wanted to share some of our tips on how you can improve your lead volume and, more importantly, quality.

Knowing your audience

The people who consider a shared ownership housing option do so for all kinds of different reasons. For many, it presents an affordable route into a home of their own. 

For others, it can be a way to downsize from a larger property that is no longer financially practical and, in doing so, can release equity.

It may be a convenient option for a first-time buyer, perhaps with a young family, who is unable to buy a suitable property outright in their local area.

Each of these demographic variations and the individual circumstances that apply to them needs to be addressed in their own specific way.

Targeting your audience  

When hoping to attract retired over 55s for shared ownership properties, points that this audience will look for could include the opportunity to release equity, a warm and welcoming environment, like-minded friends and attractive social amenities.

However, in conveying information about shared ownership housing, it’s often necessary to provide a substantial amount of detail that covers costs, lease agreements, eligibility criteria and a wide range of other relevant topics.

At the same time, it’s also important to avoid jargon and ensure that you provide not only clear, practical and accurate information, but that you are transparent and honest.

The aim is to give potential residents a straightforward understanding of how shared ownership works, together with the various benefits and mutual responsibilities involved in shared ownership schemes.  

Effective ways to generate new leads for shared ownership housing

Once you’ve got your audience pinned down and segmented correctly, it’s time to work on the strategy and campaign plan for your activity. Most of the time, this step is skipped over and paid advertising goes live with massive budgets without a clear direction or purpose.

Buying a house, even a shared ownership property, isn’t like buying a new pair of trainers; it takes time and multiple contact points to generate an enquiry. You need to develop a campaign concept and roll it out consistently across key channels.

Your campaign needs to address the concerns your target audience might have, like the common misconceptions around shared ownership schemes. The goal is to trigger a positive emotional response to your campaign. This could use humour, excitement, nostalgia, or intrigue, for example, to create a mental touchpoint for your brand in your audience’s mind.

How to maximise your channels for lead generation

Optimise your website for the task

Give shared ownership properties their own dedicated pages covering comprehensive details of what you are offering. Follow these up with clear calls to action such a ‘Download our guide,’ ‘Book a viewing,’ and ‘Check your eligibility’.

Direct Mail

It’s important not to solely focus on digital. It’s expensive, noisy and often less credible. So when it comes to buying a property, it’s important to provide something tangible that prospects can get their hands on. It’s easy to forget about an email, but a physical copy might be kept around the house for weeks.

Using your campaign concept, you can unleash a direct mail campaign that complements your other marketing channels and adds authenticity to your organisation.

Email

Chances are, you have more email addresses in your data than postal addresses. Email allows you to reach more potential customers more often and control when emails are delivered. This powerful channel needs to be used with care and will see the best results if the data you’re sending to is accurate and valid.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

This is an essential way to target relevant keywords that potential buyers are searching for, such as ‘shared ownership’ (with your location), ‘affordable home ownership,’ or ‘part buy part rent’.

Create a series of blog posts and articles that explain what shared ownership housing is, how it works, answer FAQs and showcase success stories.

Paid Advertising (PPC)

Pay-per-click (PPC), is a highly effective form of digital advertising designed to drive traffic to your website that uses Google Ads and other social media platforms.

Make sure you create different campaigns for each segment of your audience in order to optimise ads and keywords for each audience type.

Your search ads should use your campaign messaging and goals to align with other activity in order to build trust. 

You could set up retargeting campaigns to display ads to customers who have visited your website in an attempt to engage them again.

Virtual Tours and Online Viewings

These are relatively easy to organise through a marketing agency and offer both you and your potential customers an immersive, time-saving online experience.

Targeted Social Media Campaigns

Use a good marketing agency to create engaging content on relevant platforms that addresses common questions and highlights the benefits of shared ownership. Your strategy may vary from channel to channel because the audience on each platform is very different.

Webinars and Online Q&A Sessions

These can be highly effective in engaging and educating potential buyers and answering their questions directly.

Testimonials

Personal testimonials and case studies featuring satisfied customers are one of the most effective ways to build trust and credibility for your message.

At Harrison Carloss, we have a great amount of experience in generating leads for shared ownership schemes and helping deliver property marketing campaigns in general. So, if you’d welcome our expert advice, do please get in touch.