Practical tips to generate real estate leads in Spain in 2024

Are you a real estate agent from Spain looking to generate more high quality leads for your properties and boost your sales? We’re here to help! 

While exciting, the real estate market of Spain is highly competitive. The challenge lies not only in generating leads but also in quickly identifying the qualified ones and acting fast before your competitors do. The market is fast-paced and you must rapidly engage with potential buyers and secure their interest. 

This article will explain how to generate leads for real estate in Spain, along with practical tips to quickly improve your chances of converting them. Whether you’re trying to build a strong online presence or improve your listing visibility, we’ll guide you through the process of generating high quality real estate leads and maximising your chances of converting leads.

Here’s a step-by-step process on how to generate real estate leads in Spain:

Step 1. Understand your potential clients

If you’re aiming for an effective real estate lead generation strategy, you need to establish a good foundation. Identifying the group with the highest potential to become your clients is the first and most important step. 

Understanding your core customer base goes beyond knowing their demographics and socio-economic status. It also depends on the types of properties you specialise in and the location you focus on. 

You may want to divide the Spanish real estate market into a few different categories of potential customers based on the opportunities they present and identify your focus areas accordingly.  

If your specialty is residential properties in urban areas (like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia)  and coastal regions (such as Costa de Sol, Alicante, San Sebastian), your potential leads are most likely Spanish families or individuals seeking primary residences. Other groups of people interested in such properties are foreign buyers, such as retirees and expatriates looking for a permanent or holiday home. Given that Spain is a popular tourist destination, many buyers also seek properties that they can rent out long term or use as vacation rentals, such as Airbnb.

If you deal with luxury real estate and high-end properties in prestigious areas like Marbella, Ibiza, or upscale parts of Madrid and Barcelona, you may want to consider targeting local high-net-worth individuals and wealthy foreign buyers from the UK, US, Germany, and the Middle East. You may also consider investors interested in high-end real estate as a long-term investment or for capital appreciation as your potential clients.

Ideal customers for commercial real estate are corporate investors looking to expand or establish a base in Spain’s major business centres. Other groups of potential customers are institutional investors seeking long-term rental income and portfolio diversification, and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or startups looking for commercial space.

For investment properties, you may want to target flippers looking to buy, renovate, and resell properties for profit, foreign investors seeking affordable properties to refurbish and rent or resell, and real estate developers aiming to capitalise on urban renewal projects. 

If you deal with tourism and vacation properties, your potential leads are foreign vacationers, especially people from Northern Europe looking for seasonal homes. Short-term rental investors and retirees looking for a part-time home with rental income during their absence can also fall under this category of potential customers.

Once you’ve figured out your core customers, create a buyer persona based on them. A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal client based on your research. The more detailed it is, the better. 

Step 2. Research your potential client’s activities and touchpoints 

Once you have a clear idea about who your potential client is, it’s time to research their behaviours, problems, and aspirations in regards to real estate. While doing so, you’ll also research their online and offline touchpoints. This will help you shape your lead generation strategy as you’ll be using this information to reach and connect with your leads through organic and paid methods.  

Some important research includes online and offline touchpoints, keywords, search intent, and queries.

Online and offline touchpoints show you where you can find your customer. This includes the websites they visit more frequently, the social media they are active on, and offline events they attend. For instance, corporate investors are more active on LinkedIn and may visit websites like Forbes, Bloomberg, The Entrepreneur, etc. By understanding the places they frequently check in, physically or digitally, you’ll build your lead generation strategy for commercial properties focusing on these platforms. 

Keyword research is crucial for building a connection with your ideal customers based on what they search online. Keywords are the search terms that your prospects type into search engines like Google to look for something. By identifying these search terms, you can create content around them and make your services and listings more visible to your customers. Regular keywords in real estate industry include property type and location (for example, 2 bedroom apartments for sale in Madrid). But these keywords are highly competitive, meaning everyone targets similar keywords to build their content around. High competition means lower chances of appearing high up on the search results page. Your objective should be building content around low competition or more detailed keywords. 

Be mindful of the target customers while researching keywords. If you’re targeting local clients, you’ll want to research Spanish keywords. On the other hand, you should research English keywords if your prospects are international. You’ll need tools like Google Keywords planner, SemRush, or Ahrefs for detailed keyword research. However, relying solely on tools is not advisable as you should always try to draw from your experience of dealing with clients to identify important terms.        

Search intent is the reason behind a query. It’s about understanding why someone searched for a specific topic on a search engine. Usually, there are three types of search intents: informational, transactional, and navigational. 

• Informational search intent refers to when people want to learn something. For example, queries like, “Property laws in Spain,” or “How much does an apartment cost in Madrid” can be considered informational search intent as the searchers clearly want some information.  
• Transactional search happens when people want to buy something, for instance, “Luxury real estate for sale in Sarria-Sant Gervasi,” or “Holiday homes for sale in Costa Brava,” or locally “Inversiones inmobiliarias en Barcelona” 
• Similarly, navigational search intent is mostly about finding a specific website. In real estate, people usually search for real estate portals under this search intent.

Remember, language is a crucial part of your strategy in Spain, and keywords are language-sensitive. While Spanish is the primary language, it’s important to keep in mind that potential clients in the Spanish real estate market come from various parts of the globe. If you’re targeting an international audience, be sure to focus on English keywords and content as well. Also, you may want to keep an eye on global real estate market trends.

After understanding your client’s behaviours, make a list of touchpoints, keywords, and search queries. You can create a solid lead generation strategy based on these findings.  

Step 3. Study your competitor’s strategy

Analysing your competitor’s lead generation strategy will add a layer of information to your customer research. It can provide valuable insights into what’s working for your competitors and help you improve your own approach. Here’s how to research your competitor’s lead generation strategy:  

1. Identify real estate agents or agencies operating in the same market, targeting the same audience as you. You may also include agencies offering similar services in other regions but appealing to similar audiences.
2. Examine their website, including landing pages, content strategy, and lead capture forms. Pay attention to how they design CTAs, what type of content they publish, and what type of lead magnets they offer, if any. 
3. Analyse their organic traffic. Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz to identify the keywords your competitors are ranking for. Focus on location-specific keywords, property types, and informational content like “how to buy property in Spain.” Check how often they update their website and which pieces of content are getting the most engagement. 
4. Identify which platforms they are active on. Different platforms appeal to different audience segments (e.g., LinkedIn for investors, Instagram for younger buyers). Review their engagement and observe the type of content they post. Also, check if they are running paid ads on social media platforms. This article explains how you can see the Facebook Ads of your competitors for free.
5. Monitor paid advertising campaigns by using tools like SpyFu or SEMrush to see which Google Ads your competitors are running. Check for the keywords they are bidding on and the ad copy they use to attract real estate leads. Additionally, analyse their display advertising strategy, including banner ads and retargeting including where they place these ads (for instance, on real estate portals or local websites).
6. Subscribe to their newsletters and monitor the frequency and type of emails they send. Also, pay attention to the CTAs in their emails. Are they offering virtual tours, requesting phone calls, or encouraging immediate property viewings?
7. Explore real estate portals like Idealista, Fotocasa, and Kyero to see how your competitors list their properties. Look for the number of listings they have, the types of properties, and how they rank in search results.

Step 4. Optimise your online presence

Building your business website and social media pages is one thing, but optimising them to reach your target audience is a separate challenge. Luckily, you’ve already done thorough research on your target customers and competitors. Now, you can use this information to enhance your online presence. Ideally, as a real estate agent in Spain, you’ll have a good business website, pages/profiles on all major social media channels, and a well-maintained profile / portfolio of listings on key property portals. 

Building your online presence organically requires a long-term plan and consistent effort. It’s crucial to have a focused plan and commit to it for at least a year (but not forgetting to review and optimise what’s not working throughout). While this approach takes time, it’s the most sustainable way to build your brand online. A strong online reputation will eventually reduce your reliance on paid campaigns, making your lead generation efforts efficient with time. 

Website 

If you don’t have a business website yet, you can build one. If you already have one, start by improving your website’s SEO to ensure it ranks well in search engine results. This includes optimising page speed, using relevant real estate industry-specific keywords such as, “upscale property for sale in Barcelona”, and creating informative content based on your customer research. Regularly update your website with market insights, buyer guides, and location-based articles. Also, ensure your website is mobile-friendly. Don’t forget to use forms on your landing page and articles to generate real estate leads. 

If you’re looking to add forms to your web pages, this article explains how to create an engaging form on your WordPress website. 

Social media

Social media marketing provides a huge opportunity for your real estate business to connect with many potential customers. Create social media pages for your business if you’re yet to do so. You’ll be focusing more on the platform where your potential clients are most active. Consistency is crucial for social media success. Therefore, regularly share engaging content, including property listings, market updates, virtual tours, and more with the right keywords. Use hashtags relevant to your target audience and location to boost local visibility. If possible, create engaging long-form and short videos and post them on YouTube and TikTok. The latter can be really useful to grow your brand if your customer base is younger. 

There are also many real estate and expat groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp. These real estate-focused groups can be great for generating real estate leads. Consider joining these groups to participate in discussions, offer expert advice, and share valuable content like property listings, market trends, or investment tips. 

Quora is another great platform to generate real estate leads in Spain. Create a profile on Quora and start answering questions people from different parts of the world ask about real estate in Spain. This helps you build your trust among people with informational search intent. They may be interested in making real estate transactions with you in the future.  

Property portals 

Property portals are a crucial platform for real estate lead generation in Spain. They help you connect with quality leads specifically looking for properties. Build a profile for yourself on all major local and international property portals. 

Target local clients on Idealista and Fotocasa, and build a profile on Kyero to target international buyers and investors. Optimise your listings with high-quality photos, detailed descriptions, and keyword-rich titles and descriptions. Also, regularly update your listings to keep them fresh and maintain their visibility in search results.

Google Business Profile

Ensure your real estate business is listed on Google Business Profile and other local directories. Complete your profile with accurate contact information, high-quality photos, and a description of your services. Try to be active on your Business Profile on Google by posting updates and responding to reviews. This can help increase your visibility in local search results and attract organic traffic to your website.

Step 5. Utilise paid advertising

Paid advertising helps you generate real estate leads fast. It’s especially effective for promoting your listings to potential clients when you need to sell or rent out your listings quickly. Here’s how to utilise paid advertising on key channels:

• Google Ads: Google Ads Lead Form Assets are targeted search ads provided by Google for lead generation. You can use location-specific and real estate-related keywords (for instance, “buy apartments in Madrid” or “Comprar piso en Madrid”) with these ads to target your potential clients. You can also use Google’s display network to run visually appealing ads on different websites. Your previous research about your prospect’s online touchpoints can help you identify the right channel to show your ad. Additionally, Google also allows you to implement retargeting ads to engage users who previously visited your website but didn’t convert. If you want to know more about how to generate real estate leads from Google Ads, here’s an article on everything you need to know about Google Ads Lead Form Assets.
• Social Media Lead Ads: Almost all social media platforms allow you ro run lead generation ads. You can set up targeted campaigns on social media by focusing on location, interests, and behaviours. If you’re targeting corporate real estate investors, LinkedIn can be a valuable platform. Similarly, if your target customer is the younger generation, TikTok can help you reach them via its lead generation ads. However, Facebook still remains the top social media platform for generating real estate leads in Spain because of its huge user base. You can run Facebook Lead Ads to target different demographics. Read this article to get started with Facebook Lead Ads.   
• Property Portal Advertising: Real estate portals like Idealista and Fotocasa offer premium options for featured listings or boosted visibility. You can invest in these promotions to ensure your properties appear at the top of internal search results. Sponsored placements can keep your properties more visible, attracting more clicks from potential buyers and leading to faster lead generation compared to free listings.

Step 6. Partnerships and networking

Sometimes, offline touchpoints can provide you with more qualified real estate leads. It’s because certain investors prefer investing through their networks. Therefore, consider leveraging partnerships, attending offline events, and networking, in addition to running your online campaigns. 

Major real estate events, expos, and conferences such as SIMA (Salón Inmobiliario Internacional de Madrid) or Barcelona Meeting Point can help you network with real estate professionals, investors, and developers. Through these events, you can also showcase your properties to a large audience of potential buyers and investors. Also attend technological conferences like PropTech Expo. These events can help you to get you updated with real estate software and technology to future proof your business in the changing environment.

Consider partnering with local businesses such as interior designers, real estate lawyers, mortgage brokers, and relocation services. These partners can refer clients to you and vice versa, creating a mutually beneficial referral network. 

You may also want to collaborate with real estate influencers that appeal to your target market. Influencers are great real estate marketers that can help showcase your properties through social media posts, blogs, or YouTube videos, helping boost your reach. Many influencers constantly seek new content and collaborations to stay engaged with their audience. You can arrange free collaborations with them. You provide them with content, such as property tours and DIY techniques, and in return, they offer visibility for your listings.  

How to maximise real estate conversion with Privyr

Generating quality real estate leads takes a lot of time, effort, and some financial investment. You wouldn’t want to waste any lead you’ve successfully captured by failing to follow up quickly or not providing the right information at the right time. Timing and personalisation are crucial to turning leads into clients in a competitive real estate market. 

As you’ll be generating leads from many different sources, trying to manage your sales and follow-up process manually can be challenging. You should have a system in place to engage with leads promptly and execute your sales process efficiently to improve your chances of converting them. This is where Privyr comes in.

Privyr is a mobile-first CRM that streamlines your sales process, so you can quickly access and nurture leads, manage them effectively, and close more deals. To start managing your sales process with Privyr, you first need to install it and then connect it to your lead source.

Here’s how to connect Privyr with your lead sources: 

Step 1. Create your Privyr account and download the app

Go to www.privyr.com and create an account. Next, install Privyr app on your mobile phone. Privyr is available on both the App Store and Google Play Store. 

Step 2. Connect your lead sources  

In your Privyr app, tap on Account and then Integrations. 

Under the Lead Sources tab, select your lead source and tap on Configure/connect. This will redirect you to the lead source’s app or website.    

Click Continue. This will integrate Privyr with your selected lead source. Repeat the same process for other lead sources. The process of integrating with lead sources may be different based on the platform. Just select the source you want to connect with and follow the instructions.

With Privyr, you’ll have: 

• A central location to access, manage, and contact all your real estate leads. 
• Real-time mobile alerts for new leads you generate from any of your lead sources.
• Instant access to your leads details in one tap. No need to export or save to your phonebook yourself.
• Auto-personalised messages to connect with your leads without needing to type or copy-and-paste.
• One-tap outreach or follow up via WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS, and iMessage. 
• Automatic follow-up reminders for each lead.
• An easy way to set up automatic lead distribution for your team members based on different criteria, and much more. 

Ready to up your sales game in the Spanish real estate market? Try Privyr for free. Click here to try it now.