12/11/2008: Case Study by PrivateCommunities.com - Show Me The Buyers: Fundamental building blocks of a cost-effective marketing plan

Clicks and impressions are perfectly useful top-line metrics, but it's conversions that pay the bills.

Georgetown, Texas - December 11th, 2008 -- Given the current real estate market, making the most of depleted marketing budgets is more important than ever. Many in our industry are seeking ways to maximize return on investment (ROI) by targeting the most cost-effective lead generation tools available. Yet according to marketing executive Robert Cowes of Texas-based IF marketing & advertising, not all sales leads are created equal.

As Senior Vice President of Real Estate and Interactive marketing for a respected full-service agency specializing in resort and second home real estate, Cowes has analyzed conversion data from a number of planned community clients, tracking the performance of various online and offline vehicles. His analysis shows that while minimizing the cost per lead (CPL) is desirable, evaluating the quality of sales leads generated is equally important. The following graph analyzes the velocity with which the sales leads are likely to close, based on the IF team's assessment.

The key to success, Cowes says, lies in the ability to reach that small pool of buyers who have already decided to purchase resort or second home real estate. Instead of mass-marketing to affluent traditional home buyers, Cowes advises his clients to identify and target qualified buyers who are already deep within the purchase funnel for properties incorporating particular lifestyle attributes and amenities. And because these elusive buyers are closer to making a purchase decision – not just kicking tires or vaguely contemplating a future real estate buy – sellers benefit from a much shorter timeline to conversion. The second IF marketing and advertising analysis reveals the relative cost of generating a sales lead (Cost Per Lead – CPL), which is defined as a written or Web-based submission of consumer contact info, phone calls, emails and tours generated by various media placements.

As you can see, PrivateCommunities.com is the best converting media buy in IF marketing's master planned community media plans in terms of time to expected purchase and lowest CPL generated and we asked Mr. Cowes why:

It is clear that reaching motivated consumers is more expensive than ever and a deeper understanding of how your lead generation campaigns contribute to your bottom line is critical to success in today's market. Targeting the overall wealth market and measuring performance with top line metrics like site visits, clicks and impressions is only a small part of the conversion equation.

To learn more about how PrivateCommunities.com delivers precisely targeted sales leads via a highly successful online marketplace, contact —