The Ultimate Guide to Outbound Marketing for Real Estate Investors

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or compliance advice. Outbound marketing methods such as cold calling, text messaging, direct mail, or email campaigns are subject to federal, state, and local regulations. For guidance specific to your market, consult a qualified legal or compliance professional.

In real estate, every deal counts. Whether you’re a home flipper, wholesaler, or buy-and-hold investor, each new acquisition or sale can help grow your portfolio and maximize your returns. 

But how do you find great deals? Especially in a slow housing market?

The key is to invest in outbound marketing to uncover off-market deals you wouldn’t find elsewhere. This can keep your real estate inventory moving and your portfolio growing.

What Is Outbound Marketing in Real Estate?

In real estate, outbound marketing is proactively reaching out to potential sellers or buyers to see if they’re interested in doing business with you. It’s the opposite of inbound marketing, which involves building a strong enough brand where leads come to you.

For investors, outbound marketing can be an effective way to uncover motivated sellers early, before they list their properties on the multiple listing service (MLS). It can also be a great way to get the attention of investors and other buyers to whom you could sell properties. 

Why Outbound Marketing Is Crucial for Investors

Here’s what makes outbound marketing a critical tool for investors:

• Speed and control: Instead of waiting for leads to come to you, you can pursue leads at your own pace and timing. 
• Less competition: By contacting owners of off-market properties, you’ll face less competition from other investors and buyers.

• Scalability: Outbound marketing methods such as calling, emailing, and sending direct mail can be scaled with software like PropStream and BatchDialer. 

• Consistency: With more control over your marketing efforts, you can keep your sales pipeline full, even when the market slows or listings tighten.

Outbound Marketing Channels That Drive Results

The most popular outbound marketing channels include:

Cold Calling and Texting

Cold calling is when you call prospective home sellers or buyers you’ve not met yet. Texting is similar but involves sending SMS messages. Both require having accurate contact information. 

Email Campaigns

Running an email campaign involves sending personalized emails to leads to win their trust. It requires having an email marketing platform to segment leads and send emails at scale. 

Direct Mail & Postcards

Direct mail refers to physical mail you send to leads, such as letters or postcards. It can be a great way to reach homeowners for whom you only have a mailing address. 

Networking & Referrals

Outbound doesn’t just mean long-distance outreach. It can also mean building professional relationships to pitch your services and ask for referrals in person.  

How to Build an Outbound Strategy That Drives Results

Now that you understand what outbound marketing is, here’s how to do it successfully:

1. Identify Your Ideal Lead Profile

Every strong outbound campaign starts with clarity. Before you call, mail, text, or email anyone, get clear about whom you’re trying to reach.

You’re not just identifying a “type” of lead, you’re identifying motivation. When you understand why someone might be open to selling, you can refine your message around that motivation and start much warmer conversations.

2. Build Segmented Lead Lists

Next, segment your lead list with filters so you’re reaching the right sellers with the right message. Suppose you’re using a platform like PropStream. In that case, you can instantly create segmented lists by sorting leads based on factors like equity percentage, ownership length, property type, number of properties owned, and other motivation indicators.

The more targeted your list is, the easier it becomes to personalize your communication and start conversations that actually resonate. 

Here’s a quick video showing how to build and segment lead lists in PropStream.

3. Craft Compelling Messaging

At this point, it’s time to craft compelling marketing messages. 

Try to address your leads’ pain points with empathy and then offer your services as a solution. For example, you might acknowledge the struggle of being at risk of foreclosure before educating a prospect on the benefits of selling off-market, such as speed, convenience, and privacy. 

This builds trust in you as an expert who can help your clients escape challenging situations. If you’d like help shaping your outreach, here’s a simple guide on effective cold calling scripts you can reference.

4. Test Different Outreach Channels

Some outbound channels can work better than others for different markets and lead types.

For example, cold calling might work best for reaching distressed homeowners, while emailing may work better for tired or absentee landlords. 

Test which outbound channel delivers the best results for you by experimenting with multiple and tracking response and conversion rates. 

5. Follow Up Consistently 

Most leads don’t agree to a deal after the first contact. You must maintain an ongoing conversation with them before they warm up to a sale. 

What separates successful investors from novices is knowing how to regularly follow up with leads and knowing when it’s time to move on. To improve the quality of your interactions, here’s a helpful breakdown on how to build rapport with potential clients.

PropStream Tools That Power Outbound Success

Fortunately, you don’t have to build your outbound marketing strategy from scratch. PropStream has all the tools you need to run a robust outbound campaign from one platform:

Lead Generation 

With over 160 million property records on PropStream, you can filter with 165+ search criteria. In addition to custom filtering, PropStream also offers 20 pre-built Lead Lists, including pre-foreclosures, divorce, high-equity properties, vacant homes, and more, so you can quickly identify motivated sellers and create highly targeted lists in minutes.

Also Read:  5 PropStream Quick Lists to Elevate Your Lead Generation Game.

Skip Tracing 

PropStream’s skip tracing is backed by over 15 years of data expertise and nationwide coverage on roughly 98% of the U.S. adult population. Each search can return up to four phone numbers and emails per contact, sourced from multiple top providers and ordered by relevance so you know whom to call first.

You also get automatic DNC flagging and litigator scrubbing, with results delivered in minutes on both the web and PropStream’s mobile app. In other words, your outbound campaigns start with accurate, multi-sourced contact data you can trust.

Marketing Tools

Launch email or postcard marketing campaigns directly within PropStream. All you have to do is assign your saved lead lists to a campaign, design customizable postcard or email templates, and start the campaign. 

Here’s a quick overview showing how to send a postcard on the go using PropStream.

You can also export and upload lead lists to your existing customer relationship management (CRM) platform or a predictive dialer, such as BatchDialer. 

Lead Automator

In PropStream, lead lists are never static. Lead Automator automatically updates by including new properties that meet the list’s search criteria or excluding old properties that no longer do. 

Property Reports

Build instant credibility by sharing PropStream property reports with your leads. This simple gesture demonstrates your expertise, making leads more likely to work with you. 

5 Tips for Maximizing ROI from Outbound Campaigns

To get the most out of your outbound marketing campaigns, follow these best practices: 

• Track which channels deliver the highest conversion rates and adapt accordingly.
• Refresh lead lists regularly to avoid stale data (with PropStream, this happens automatically).
• Personalize outreach by referencing details about the prospect’s property or local housing market trends.
• Stay compliant with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and Do-Not-Call regulations.
• Balance volume with quality by focusing on meaningful connections, not just call counts.

Pro Tip: Dialers like BatchDialer automatically filter out DNC numbers and known litigators to minimize legal risks and wasted calls. Want to see how it fits your outbound strategy?
Try it with the 7-day free trial. No commitments.

Launch Your First Outbound Campaign with PropStream

Ultimately, you won’t find success with outbound marketing until you try it. 

With PropStream, getting started is easier than ever. You can use it to find off-market properties, skip trace sellers, and launch direct mail or email campaigns, all from one platform.