Dubai real estate agency marketing: 9,125 leads and a team grown from 5 to 50
Real estate · Dubai · 18 months · Author: Septminor
Property listings: Open website ↗ · Rentals: Open website ↗
Summary
- Client: a real estate agency in Dubai selling projects from every developer in the city, later also short-term rentals.
- Task: run the agency’s entire marketing: leads, websites, CRM. Buyers from Israel, Dubai, the US and Europe.
- What we did: Meta and Google ads, two own websites (a property listings portal and a direct booking site for rentals), Airbnb, Booking and VRBO in one place, a move from HubSpot to Zoho CRM with automations, social media, blog, webinars.
- Result: 9,125 leads at $4.6 on a $42,000 budget over 18 months, average deal $395,000, the client’s team grew from 5 to 50 people.
Where we started
At the start the agency had 5 people and one licence: property sales. It worked with every developer in Dubai: off-plan, under construction and ready homes.
Buyers came mostly from Israel and Dubai itself, plus the US and Europe. There was no marketing department. For 18 months, we were it.
Why foreign buyers purchase property in Dubai
This explains the numbers. Property prices in Dubai are lower than in many countries, taxes are low, and an investment of a certain size can qualify the buyer for a visa. So the ads sold a clear benefit for the investor, not just an apartment.
That is why leads turned into deals well: better than the real-world examples we compared against.
Leads from day one, while the websites were still being built
A large website takes more than a week, and the sales team needs leads right away. So we launched Meta lead forms: people leave their contact details right inside Facebook or Instagram without going to a website.
Meanwhile Google ran on a minimal budget to the client’s old website until the new ones went live.
Our own property portal, like Bayut
An investor buying a home for hundreds of thousands of dollars wants to see everything: projects, developers, areas, prices, handover dates. So instead of a landing page we built the agency’s own listings portal modelled on Bayut, the largest property portal in the UAE.
- projects filtered by stage: off-plan, under construction, ready;
- developer pages and a projects map;
- a calculator, area guides and investor guides;
- an enquiry form on every project and WhatsApp contact.
Rentals: Airbnb, Booking and VRBO in one place, plus a direct booking site
While we worked together, the agency also got a rental licence. We connected Airbnb, Booking and VRBO and brought them into one place, so the team managed all bookings together instead of in three separate accounts.
We also built the agency’s own booking site, like Airbnb: search by dates and guests, filters, and direct booking with no platform fee.
Sales team: from HubSpot to Zoho CRM
When a team grows from 5 to 50 people, manual lead tracking stops working: contacts get lost and the owner can’t see what happens to them. We moved the sales team from HubSpot to Zoho CRM and built many automations, so leads don’t slip through and managers don’t do by hand what the system can do.
More than ads: social media, blog, webinars, training
Over time the project grew into an info product. We ran social media and a blog, held webinars, corporate training and other formats. People think for a long time before spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, and this kept the agency close until they decided.
Results over 18 months
- the client’s team grew from 5 to 50 people;
- rentals were added as a new line of business;
- two own websites: a listings portal and a booking site;
- the sales team works in Zoho CRM with automations.
The ad accounts were billed in Israeli shekels; amounts here are converted to US dollars and rounded.
Is this relevant to your business?
This case is about you if you sell or rent out property and recognise at least one of these:
- you sell high-value property to foreign buyers and don’t know where to find them;
- a new website is taking months, but you need leads now;
- you manage rentals in separate Airbnb and Booking accounts;
- the team is growing and leads get lost between managers;
- ads, website and CRM are handled by different people, and you are the go-between.
More on our services: Meta ads, Google Ads, web development and CRM and automation. More results on the cases page.
FAQ
Can we get leads before the new website is ready?
Yes. In this project, while the new websites were being built, leads came through Meta lead forms: people left their contact details right inside Instagram or Facebook without visiting a site. Google ran on a minimal budget to the old website in the meantime.
Why does an agency need its own website if Bayut, Airbnb and Booking exist?
Portals bring buyers and guests, and we used them. But there you sit next to competitors and pay commission. Your own listings site shows investors every project under your name, and your own rental site takes bookings directly, with no platform fee.
Will we get the same cost per lead?
We will not promise that. Cost per lead depends on the countries you target, the type of property and how fast your sales team responds. We review your ads and market first, then tell you what is realistic.
Selling property and need buyers?
We’ll review your ads, website and CRM for free: where leads get lost and what to fix first.