The Client
Midpoint Real Estate Services is a property management company in Metro Detroit, Michigan, managing rental homes for owners and investors. We built their Google Ads, which grew calls from the ads from about 1 a month to 25 between March 2021 and March 2022.
Property management is sold to a small, valuable audience: people who own rental property and want someone else to handle tenants, rent and repairs. In Detroit, many of those owners are investors who bought from out of state or overseas and never see the house. Each one who calls can become years of management fees.
"1 call from the ads in May 2021. 25 in January 2022."
The Challenge
Google Ads for a property management company has a few traps:
- The wrong side of the market. "Property management Detroit" also brings tenants looking for a rental and people looking for a job. Only owners are customers.
- Owners who live far away. A large share of Detroit rental owners are investors in other states and countries, so targeting only the local area misses them.
- Expensive, competitive searches. National property management franchises and local firms bid on the same few phrases.
- A slow start. In its first six months, the account produced only about 2 calls a month at about $165 each.
What We Built
1. A Main Search Campaign for Property Owners
Launched in March 2021 on the searches owners use: "Detroit property management", "Metro Detroit property management", "Michigan property management" and "Detroit rental property management". It produced 40+ calls over the year.
2. Targeting Owners Wherever They Live
Instead of a radius around Detroit, the campaigns targeted the people searching for Detroit property management from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Belgium, Brazil, Argentina and Amsterdam, the places Detroit's rental investors actually live.
3. A Supplemental Campaign for the Company Name
In October 2021 we added a Supplemental Search Campaign on the company's own name and related searches ("midpoint real estate services", "midpoint real estate", "midpoint realty"), so owners who had heard of Midpoint found it first. It brought nearly 50 calls at about $14 each, and it is the reason the account's call volume jumped that fall.
4. A/B Tests on Both Campaigns
We ran Google campaign experiments against both the Main and the Supplemental campaign, testing bidding head to head.
5. Calls as the Only Lead
Calls from the ads are the counted conversion. Map clicks, clicks to call and directions are not counted as leads in this study. The ads carried 16 sitelinks, 8 callouts and call assets.
6. Daily Optimization via Ad Campaign Concierge™
The campaigns were reviewed daily through our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ system: search terms, negatives, bids and budget pacing.
The Results
The numbers below cover our campaigns only, March 2021 to March 2022.
- 90+ phone calls from the ads over twelve months.
- From about 1 call a month to 25: 1 in May, June and July 2021, then 20 in December 2021 and 25 in January 2022.
- Cost per call down nearly 80%: from about $165 in the first six months to about $33 from October 2021 to March 2022.
- 29K+ impressions and 4,200+ clicks.
Calls Every Month
Calls Since the First Campaign
Key Takeaways
- Find the owner, not the tenant. Owner-focused keywords and copy keep a property manager's budget away from people looking for a place to rent.
- Target where owners live. Detroit rentals are often owned from far away, so the campaigns reached investors across the US and abroad.
- Own your name. The company-name campaign produced the cheapest calls in the account, about $14 each.
- Give it time to compound. The first six months were slow. Adding the second campaign and refining the first cut the cost per call by nearly 80%.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a property management lead cost on Google Ads?
In Midpoint's first six months, April to September 2021, a call from the ads cost about $165. From October 2021 to March 2022, after we added the second campaign, calls averaged about $33 each. Across the whole year it was about $53 a call.
How many calls can a property management company get from Google Ads?
Midpoint went from about 1 call a month in mid-2021 to 20 in December 2021 and 25 in January 2022. The campaigns produced 90+ calls from the ads over twelve months.
Should a property manager advertise to out-of-state and overseas owners?
Midpoint did. Many Detroit rentals are owned by investors who live elsewhere, so the campaigns targeted the United States along with Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Belgium, Brazil, Argentina and Amsterdam, on searches for Detroit and Michigan property management.
Should a property manager bid on its own name?
Yes. Owners who had heard of Midpoint searched for it by name. A campaign on the company name and related searches brought nearly 50 calls at about $14 each, the cheapest calls in the account.
About This Campaign
Property management lead generation on Google Ads, built with our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ optimization system.
Industry: Real Estate (Property Management) Platforms: Google Ads (Search) Location: Metro Detroit, Michigan, advertising to rental owners in the US and abroad Account Duration: March 2021 to March 2022. The engagement has ended.
Calls are calls from the ads recorded in Google Ads for the campaigns we built, March 2021 to March 2022. Map clicks, clicks to call and directions are excluded, as are the account's earlier Smart campaign and any activity after March 2022. Cost per call is computed from the same campaigns. All figures are rounded down and in US dollars.