Almost every agency in Dhaka will tell you they have experience. Look closer and it often means they have posted designs for a restaurant, run boosts for a clothing brand and managed a few Facebook pages. That is social media management. It is useful work, but it is not the same as selling flats.
Real estate is a slow, expensive, trust-heavy decision. A buyer may watch your project for months, talk to family abroad, compare three developers and visit the site twice before booking. A marketer who does not understand that journey will optimise for the wrong thing, usually cheap leads and busy comment sections. Here is what real experience in this industry looks like.
1. They understand handover timelines
A project that hands over in six months is sold differently from one that hands over in three years. Ready and near-ready flats appeal to families who need to move soon and want to see the actual unit. Early-stage projects appeal to buyers who want a better price and flexible instalments, and they need more reassurance about the developer’s track record.
An experienced marketer asks about your handover date before writing a single ad. They change the message, the audience and even the lead form depending on the answer, for example by asking “when do you plan to move?” so your sales team can prioritise.
2. They know how to reach NRB buyers
Non-resident Bangladeshis in the Middle East, the UK, Europe and North America are a large share of buyers for many Dhaka projects. They are also often the decision makers for family members living here. Reaching them properly means:
- Running separate campaigns by country, timed for their evenings and weekends, not Dhaka’s.
- Talking about what worries someone buying from abroad: legal documents, payment transfers, construction updates and who will handle things locally.
- Offering video site tours, WhatsApp calls and a clear process for booking remotely.
- Planning campaigns around the times many expats visit home, such as Eid and winter holidays.
A general social media manager will usually run one campaign for “Bangladesh” and miss this audience completely.
3. They treat the site visit as the real goal
In real estate, a lead is not a sale, and in most cases it is not even a real prospect until they visit the site or the sales office. Someone with real industry experience builds the whole campaign around getting qualified people to that visit:
- Lead forms that ask budget, preferred area, flat size and timeline.
- A fast first call, ideally within the hour, and a clear script for booking the visit.
- Reminders before the visit and follow-up afterwards for people who did not book.
- Reporting on cost per site visit, not only cost per lead.
If an agency’s monthly report only shows reach, likes and number of leads, they are measuring what is easy to count, not what sells flats.
4. They work with your sales team, not around it
Marketing and sales in real estate are one process. An experienced marketer will ask to see how your team handles leads, which leads turned into bookings, and what buyers say on the phone. That feedback decides which ads to scale and which to switch off. An agency that never asks about your sales process cannot improve your results, however good the designs look.
5. They know the local details that change the numbers
Buyers in Bashundhara, Uttara, Dhanmondi and Purbachal do not behave the same way. Price per square foot, parking, proximity to schools and main roads, land-share and the developer’s past projects all affect how people decide. Experience means knowing which of these to put in the first three seconds of an ad, and which belong on the landing page.
Questions to ask before you hire
- Which real estate projects have you marketed, and what was the cost per qualified lead or per site visit?
- How would you change the campaign for a project handing over in six months versus three years?
- How do you reach and convince NRB buyers?
- What happens to a lead after the form is submitted?
- Will the ad account and data be in our name?
Good answers are specific. Vague answers about “engagement” and “brand awareness” usually mean the experience is in social media in general, not in selling property.
The short version
Social media management keeps your page active. Real estate marketing experience fills your site-visit calendar with people who can afford the flat and are ready to decide. When you hire, ask for proof of the second.
Want to see how your current campaigns measure up? Request a free ad audit, read our guide to getting serious flat buyers from Facebook ads, or see our real estate marketing service.