by Vince Villegas
Beware . . . There is danger all over Craigslist. I swear. At least, that is what I should believe according to an email I received from one of my coaching students.
He sent me an email pleading with me to help him warn every real estate agent I can find to STOP using Craigslist and included a link to a blog he saw on the Internet titled, ‘Beware The Latest Craigslist Scam To Hit The Net…’
So guard your children, take all of your cash out of the bank and hide it under the mattress, and for the love of all that’s holy don’t go within a country mile of Craigslist (especially as part of your real estate lead generation marketing) – there is a SCAM on Craigslist, and it’s heading YOUR WAY.
Okay, I’m being a little silly here. I’m doing that, though, to make a point.
There is an epidemic of marketing strategy advice and decisions being fueled by misinformation and rumors. This email warning of Craigslist marketing gloom and doom from my student is a perfect example.
He is a smart and hard-working agent. He takes action and wants to build a successful system that generates consistent quality leads for him . . . but then he let’s a mere blog title intimidate him and scare him off from using one of the great lead generation sources for real estate agents.
Mind you, he never actually read the blog itself (and in fact that blog had nothing to do with people who post ads on Craigslist). It was not about marketing at all, or about real estate for that matter. It was about people who answer other people’s Craigslist ads and how to spot the ones who might be scammers.
Just the word “SCAM” being uttered, though, seems to infect people’s minds and spread a false sense of illegitimacy. It is a one word wrecking ball of destruction. Google the search term “Craigslist Scams,” and you will get a over 52 MILLION search results.
Am I saying that there are no scammers on Craigslist? Absolutely not.
What I am saying is that I don’t want you to be like my coaching student, and dismiss a GREAT (AND FREE) LEAD SOURCE like Craigslist based on rumors and misinformation.
I personally use Craigslist in my business every day, and it has consistently generated quality leads for me every week and brought me 3-6 sales every single month.
There does seem to be a perception that Craigslist advertising is neither effective or a legitimate way to generate quality leads. That perception doesn’t just come from some Internet blogs.
That perception also comes from some myths and some common mistakes that real estate agents make when attempting to advertise on Craigslist. If you have hesitated to use Craigslist as a way to generate quality leads for you, or if you have not had success using Craigslist in the past, here are Five Myths that will make Craigslist advertising unsuccessful for you.
- Craigslist Myth #1 – You Believe The Rumors: Just like my student I talked about at the beginning of this article, too many real estate agents hear “rumors” about something (whether it’s from other agents or from the Internet), and they believe the rumors without ever finding out for themselves whether those rumors are in fact true. This “Craigslist scam” rumor my student warned me about is the perfect example. Craigslist advertising is not a scam and it is a way for you to get consistent quality leads . . . IF you know how to do it properly. As a general rule, if you hear a rumor about something, check it out for yourself. Remember to consider the source. Is the person (or source) someone who is wildly successful? Remember it is usually those who do what others are not doing who are successful.
- Craigslist Myth #2 – The Purpose Of Craigslist Advertising Is To Get People To Check Out Your Listings: So you have somehow managed to get past the “Craigslist doesn’t work and is a scam” type of things you have heard from people in your office, and you have decided to give it a try. So what is your objective in placing the ads? What do you want people to do who click on your ads? Well if you’re like most, you probably think that your goal is to get people to go to your website and see your listings. This is another myth, and it will not bring you sales. Why? Because most agents’ websites are what I call “business card websites.” If you use a template website from your company that contains your name, your picture, your contact information and your listings, then that is the equivalent of going out on the street and just handing out your business cards. Your goal with your Craigslist ads is not to sell – Your goal in posting Craigslist ads is to generate high quality leads from them!So you want to do two things:
(1) you want to use what I call a “lead magnet” website that gives you the ability to capture leads, and
(2) you want be sure you have something of high value that you provide on your website that entices your prospects to opt-in. - Craigslist Myth #3 – You Want People To Buy From Your Craigslist Ads: I bet you are you thinking, “Wait! I thought the whole point of running ads was to generate sales!” It is . . . eventually. So to ultimately generate lots of sales consistently every month from Craigslist, you must not try and sell anything in your Craigslist ads. It’s true. This is a critical mindset shift you need to make if you want your Craigslist ads to lead to consistent high quality leads and sales. The objective of your Craigslist ads is not to sell anything, but instead to capture leads by PROVIDING VALUE, and to create a relationship with your leads (that you will cultivate over time). By doing this, you will create the opportunity to convert your leads to clients.
- Craigslist Myth #4 – Craigslist Success Is A Game Of Luck: A big myth about Craigslist advertising is that those who do generate leads (and sales) on it are simply lucky – that their ad happened to be seen by the right person at the right time. So many agents will treat Craigslist like lottery tickets, and approach posting ads like buying lottery tickets – The more tickets you buy, the better your odds to win. Will posting multiple ads increase your odds of generating more leads? Yes . . . but only if you post your ads in a strategic and deliberate way. Randomly posting a whole bunch of ads will not help you, and in fact might backfire on you. I am a big proponent of creating multiple ads (in fact, I would strongly encourage you to do so), BUT you do not want to post all of those ads all at once! You want to strategically break them up so that they are posted at different times throughout the day, when your prospects are actually searching Craigslist. This will be MUCH more effective.
- Craigslist Myth #5 – Free Can’t Be Lucrative: One very common myth I hear from agents is that Craigslist advertising isn’t as good as other types of advertising because it’s free. They just don’t believe that you can use it to build a very solid financial foundation in their business. While I of course don’t think that Craigslist is the only thing you will use to advertise, you can generate quite a decent income and generate a very good number of quality leads consistently month after month using Craigslist. In fact, I would encourage you to use Craigslist consistently, and to think of it as a very important component of your marketing plan (and potentially as the main component to your marketing plan if you’re just starting out or are on a very limited advertising budget). I still use Craigslist every day in my business, and it still yields me 3-6 sales virtually every month. Too many people don’t really believe that this is possible, and thus don’t give it the time or energy it deserves. The great thing is that once you DO this, it can become systematized and not take much time at all, but until you BELIEVE and act accordingly, you will not see the incredible results that are possible from using Craigslist ads.
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