Our data shows agents should increase marketing over the Christmas week

You might think that the property market slows to a standstill over the Christmas holidays…but actually that isn’t the case.

According to our own data, lead levels double from normal levels from Boxing Day before steadily increasing as we head towards New Year’s Eve. After this, they then hit a peak during the first week of January when physical house-moving activity starts up again. For example, more than 3,500 ValPal leads – vendor or landlord leads secured from the instant valuation tool placed on agent websites - were generated on Boxing Day alone in the last three years.

Based on present trends, we predict that more than 82,000 ValPal leads will be generated this December. Of these, 22,000 are set to be generated between December 22-December 31 – a time when agents might traditionally decide to turn off the marketing tap or close up for a few weeks.

Rather than cutting your marketing budget at this time, we recommend that you should be doing the opposite – increasing it or at least keeping it at the same level.

While it might be tempting to switch off your marketing over Christmas, as many agents tend to do as physical activity falls away, our data shows why you should still be focused on generating leads over the festive period.

With people having little to do in this period, and too full of turkey and mince pies to move, the desire to browse for a home or find out what your home could potentially be worth – if you’re looking to sell – soars.

With these types of numbers, agents should be putting their new year marketing plans in place right now to increase the number of opportunities that come their way in January 2023. By getting your plans in order now, you won’t be playing catch-up in the early months of next year or looking jealously at your competitors as they pounce on business that could have been yours.

You might think spending more on marketing is counter-productive at a time when the pennies need to be counted more carefully, but history has proven that cutting the money you spend on marketing in tougher times is the wrong thing to do. Your prospecting pipelines will run dry within months.

What happens then? Well, you have to start scrambling around for new leads and business. By contrast, agents who do push forward and remain brave with their marketing will win greater market share.

As we all know, people still need to move home – they’ll always need to do that – so there are always opportunities out there for agents. An Englishman’s home is his castle might sound a bit trite and outdated, but it does still hold up. That desire to move home is inherent and remains even through the trickier times.

So, what can you do?

With the expected rise in demand and activity over the Christmas period, now is the chance to start building that trust and that relationship with these prospective home-movers, so that when they are ready to move, it is your agency that they use.

There are two main ways you can achieve this:

1. Marketing to generate new leads.

2. By keeping your brand in front of your database to ensure it is you they think of when they are ready to act.

There is an opportunity to be proactive and pursue those leads and new business over the Christmas period, rather than perhaps waiting until January for demand to spike up again and the business to come to you.

Our data clearly shows many people want to know how much their home is worth over the Christmas period – so, with this in mind, it’s a must for agents to include a lead generation tool in their marketing during this period. This lead generation tool will give consumers an instant online valuation, which in turn allows you to secure vendor and landlord information that can then be followed up on.

This is a better strategy than pumping out a load of marketing on why they are the best agent and asking people to fill in this form to find out more, which is all well and good for brand awareness and exposure but doesn’t generate the same leads that a call-to-action lead generation tool does.

You can also you your instant valuation tool to re-engage with your existing database. For example, you could send a message urging existing contacts to get an up-to-date instant valuation of their property, while also trying to reach new prospects by using social channels and actions like leaflet drops and paid ads.

By re-engaging with your existing database, you might find leads that weren’t hot six months or a year ago but are ready now. That’s where effective lead nurture becomes worth its weight in gold.

If you are looking to push forward with your marketing in the final weeks of 2022 and into 2023, we are here to help. Please get in touch with us on team@valpal.co.uk or give us a call on 020 8663 4930.