Celebrating Brandon’s new baby! 👶 Tune in as we revisit the classic PPL vs. PPC debate with expert insights from Noah Parks and Brandon Bateman.
"Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Collective Clicks podcast. This is your host, Brandon Bateman, and today I'm going to be talking with Noah Parks from our team all about the advantages of paper leads versus PPC."
"How are you doing today, Noah?"
"Good. How are you doing, Brandon?"
"Hey, good, can't complain. Excited to do another podcast with you. It has been six months, probably a little bit awhile, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. For anybody that wants some context, right now as we speak, I am looking out my window at Noah's house. Yet despite that, he has made one appearance in the office in the past six months. Is that it, just one, maybe two?"
"You come for our quarterly planning, for sure, leadership stuff."
"So anyways, great, great to talk with you. Um, you're the guy that every time you come into the office, people say, 'Whoa, does he still work here?' Which is kind of funny because to many of the people listening, they all probably know you fairly well, um, because you're such a big piece of our outward-facing presence."
"So anyways, I'm super grateful to be here with you and I'm excited for a cool topic today, which is paper leads versus PPC."
"Yeah, so this is an exciting topic for me because I feel like there's a lot of misinformation going around about this now. Obviously, before we get too far into this, right, we are a company that does PPC as a service for Real Estate Investors. Um, Noah works for that company as well, right? We're a little bit biased, so take it with a grain of salt. However, I think we're pretty level-headed, objective people, right? So, so I want to talk through like some of the different things we're saying and, spoiler alert, we're not going to say that one is better than the other. Um, it really comes down to what your goals are and uh, I had sales, so I may say it one's better than the other. All right, then I'll have to take the position of arguing for paper leads, you know?"
"I, I'll take a well-rounded approach. Okay, fair enough."
"So, so obviously, this has been a big topic of discussion. I think what prompted the creation of 'Advantages of PPL for New Investors' - Low Barrier to Entry, Can Buy Leads Without Full Marketing Budget - this podcast is that a mutual friend and client of ours named Victor posted on Facebook, 'Paper lead is a scam,' like prove me wrong or something like that. I can't remember exactly what the last few words were, and it started this conversation."
"Yes, a very lively conversation. Um, and I noticed that a lot of the strong opinions kind of against paper leads were in my opinion a little bit unfounded or maybe from a lack of understanding of those companies and how they uh, how they work. Um, but there's also a lot of truth to what was being said in that debate. Um, and I think it's worth kind of visiting all those things. So, so I think a good place to start would be in your opinion, based on what you're hearing because I know you're talking to probably like seven or eight investors every single day, which really adds up a lot over the course of a year and a half. A lot of a lot of uh context of what's going on. I feel like it gives me a pretty good pulse, uh, thumb on the pulse of the uh of the investor industry here."
"Yeah, I mean you hear the 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly' of all the marketing and you're also really good at digging into why people feel that way about their marketing and what could be causing the result to be what it is and things like that so you can better understand."
"Um, so I think I honestly think you're one of the most qualified people in the world to speak on this subject just based on your exposure. Um, in your opinion, what are some of the advantages and disadvantages of doing your own PPC as compared to buying leads from a pay-per-lead provider? Okay, um, yeah, I mean honestly, I see advantages to both of those approaches. One of the approaches that I pride myself on taking and having any kind of Discovery conversation or just understanding where an investor is at in their uh, marketing cycle, if you will, it tends to follow a pretty common thread. And that is new investors tend to take the route of marketing that provides the lowest barrier to entry, which is oftentimes outbound, right? But they hear all the all the upsides of PPC and they think, 'This sounds great, this is gonna be this magic bullet that's gonna solve all my problems.' And it can be a really powerful tool, but it also comes with a learning curve. There's a lot of moving parts, you gotta understand targeting, you gotta understand ad copy, you gotta understand landing pages, you gotta understand conversion rate optimization. It's a lot to take on, especially for a new investor who's just getting started."
"Absolutely, and on the flip side, with paper leads, they seem very straightforward. You pay for a lead, you get a lead. Here it is. And that can be very appealing, especially to those new investors."
"Right, and there are some reputable paper lead companies out there that are generating leads ethically and compliantly. But there's also a dark side to this industry, and that's where a lot of the skepticism comes in. There are some companies out there that are selling leads that are complete junk, that are just not qualified."
"Yeah, and that's a good point to differentiate. So with PPC, you control everything, right? You control the targeting, you control the ad copy, you control the landing page. So you can, in theory, generate very high-quality leads if you know what you're doing. But with paper leads, you're relying on that company to deliver and you don't always have a lot of control over the quality of those leads."
"Exactly. And some of the red flags to watch out for with paper leads would be, like, if the leads are super cheap, that's a red flag. Because a good, qualified lead costs money to generate. Also, if they're guaranteeing a certain number of conversions or a certain number of closes, that's a red flag. Because you can't guarantee those things in real estate."
"Absolutely, and it's an important point. PPC is not a silver bullet either. You can spend a lot of money on PPC if you don't know what you're doing and not get very good results. So there's a risk there as well."
"Right, so there's risk and reward with both options. And like you said earlier, it really depends on the goals of the investor and what stage they're at in their business."
"Absolutely. So for a new investor who's just getting started, paper leads can be a good option to get their feet wet, to start generating some leads and kind of see what works and what doesn't. But as they scale their business and they want more control over their lead quality and their lead generation process, then PPC might be a better option."
"There's also the time factor to consider. PPC can take some time to set up and optimize properly, whereas with paper leads, you can start getting leads right away. But like you said, the quality might be lower. So it's a trade-off between speed and quality."
"Exactly. And another thing to consider is your budget. PPC can be a very cost-effective way to generate leads, but it does require an ongoing investment. With paper leads, you can pay for a specific number of leads and that's it. So there's a bit more upfront cost certainty with paper leads."
"Absolutely. So really, there's no one-size-fits-all answer here. The best approach for you will depend on your individual circumstances. But hopefully, this conversation has given you a better understanding of the pros and cons of both paper leads and PPC."
"Yeah, I think this has been a really valuable conversation. And for the new investors out there who are listening, the biggest takeaway I would say is to do your research, understand the pros and cons of both options, and don't be afraid to experiment a little bit to see what works best for you."
"Absolutely. And if you're interested in learning more about PPC, we actually have a free course that you can take on our website. And if you're interested in learning more about paper leads, there are a number of reputable companies out there. Just do your research and make sure you're working with a reputable company."
"Great advice. And hey, thanks for joining me on the podcast today, Noah. This has been a lot of fun."
"Yeah, thanks for having me, Brandon. It's always a pleasure chatting with you."
"Alright, folks, that's all the time we have for today. Thanks for listening to the Collective Clicks podcast. We'll catch you on the next episode."
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