How to Market to Real Estate Investors

I’ve raised over $250m in venture funding throughout my career. But building a business isn’t about raising money. It’s about finding people who value what you create. So this time, I decided to build Thesis Driven without any outside capital. Here's exactly how I grew: 1. Start with a core audience • Identified 700 key players in real estate (investors, developers, owners) • Gave them complimentary memberships to establish initial value • Used this high-value audience to attract quality contributors Narrowing our focus created more opportunities. 2. Focus on deep, valuable content • Started with analytical pieces about real estate development • Included actual financial metrics and real examples • Differentiated by sharing insider information others wouldn't • Our newsletters are 2,500 words long on average- way above the industry standard As founders focused on user experience, we wanted to provide value that isn’t easy to find elsewhere. 3. Master one distribution channel • Made LinkedIn our growth engine • Posted 150-250 word article summaries with photos • Engaged actively with every commenter • Leveraged mentioned companies to amplify reach Focusing all our efforts on one channel was key to our growth. You can always add another channel later. 4. Evolve with your audience • Started publishing every 2-3 weeks • Scaled to weekly, then twice-weekly posts • Broadened our focus to cover the future of real estate, covering topics like "new cities" Your audience provides signals for ideas and offers, so listen closely. 5. Price for value, not volume • Launched at $20/month with no free tier • Focused on corporate card users (now 40% of subscribers) • Added premium database product ($67/month) • Maintained strict quality standards Maximizing profit wasn’t the goal. Solving a problem with a niche audience is a better metric to focus on. After building multiple venture-backed companies, I finally learned this truth: The best businesses aren't built on pitch decks. They're built on relationships with people who value what you create. How are you serving your audience? P.S. Building in the real estate industry and looking to upskill your team? Check out our 2025 course line-up: https://lnkd.in/eW8yYMs4 

The headlines suggest recovery, but the data points to a slow reset. According to Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2025, inflation is expected to rise over the next five years. Over 70 percent of respondents believe commercial mortgage rates will stay flat or increase. Capital markets may have stabilized, but financing pressure remains high. Many owners face difficult refinancing decisions ahead. Cap rates are expected to climb further. Office values are already down over 35 percent. Multifamily and industrial are showing weakness as well. Return expectations are rising, not because of rent growth, but because pricing is falling. For Family Offices, this creates a clear opening. Forced sales, stalled refinancings, and repricing across sectors are producing actionable opportunities. These are not short-term flips. These are long-term positions built on strong basis and cash-flow resilience. This is when patient capital performs best. The Family Offices prepared to underwrite, move quickly, and structure for income will shape the next real estate cycle. We are not in a rebound. We are in a recalibration. And those who act now will control assets others are still waiting to price.

This method closed me million-dollar real estate deals — without working harder. And I didn’t figure it out on YouTube. I figured it out in the middle of a deal drought. Let me explain. years ago, I started testing a different approach. Instead of cold-calling every owner in sight or chasing brokers for scraps, I shifted my focus to marketing like an owner — not a salesperson. It started small: → Weekly emails that actually told real stories behind the deals → Direct texts — not spam blasts, but thought-provoking, investor-first messages → And more recently, consistent content on platforms like LinkedIn But here’s the catch: I never sold anything in those messages. I educated. I shared the deal math. I shared what I passed on — and why. I shared mistakes I made early on, and what I’d do differently now. I stopped pushing. And started pulling. And then it happened… 📞 A seller texted me back from an old email campaign: “I’ve been getting your stuff. Want to look at a center I’m thinking of selling?” That turned into a $2.7M off-market deal. No broker. No noise. Clean terms. 📩 An investor who’d never responded to me in 6 months replied to a simple insight I texted about cap rates and inflation: “I like how you think. Loop me in on the next one.” He wrote a $1M check 10 days later. 💬 Then LinkedIn started compounding. I’d get DMs from owners, brokers, equity — all saying the same thing: “I don’t see anyone else breaking it down like this.” — Here’s the real play: ➡️ The right kind of marketing is just education with a backbone. ➡️ And the right audience isn’t looking for perfection — they’re looking for clarity. ➡️ When people trust your lens, they trust your deals. I still do outreach. But now… Deals come to me. Equity comes to me. Partnerships come to me. That’s leverage. And it didn’t cost more hustle — just better communication. — Adam Shapiro #RealEstateInvesting #OffMarketDeals #CapitalRaising #EmailMarketing #TextCampaigns #SocialSelling #CommercialRealEstate #LinkedInStrategy

80%+ of cold calls get shut down in the first 30-60 seconds. If this is happening to you, try this 👇 Reframe your goal to: "How can I make the prospect feel it would be irresponsible NOT to give me the time of day?" Read that again, carefully. You need to come to the cold call with so much heat that it's hard to say no. This is accomplished in two parts: ✅ 1) Relevance Bring evidence of a problem you think they might be having. One that's so pervasive that every one of their peers is dealing with it. ✅ 2) Social Proof Name-drop two companies that are so similar (competitors even) that they just can't ignore you. They have to be similar in size, industry, etc. If you don't have these two things, don't even bother calling. ✅ Example of what this could sound like: Rep: "Hi Dave, it's Jason with _________. Was calling about the recent acquisition of Agropower and the consolidation of your Texas distribution plants. Mind if I take a minute to share more?" Prospect: "Uh...you're catching me right in the middle of something, but go ahead..." Rep: "Thanks. With the recent Agropower acquisition and the plant consolidation—I had a hunch you might be focused on something similar to two of our clients: Kroeger & Nabisco. Their CISOs wanted to get better insights into the devices inside of the plants they were acquiring to know the vulnerabilities they were inheriting. Their teams had more findings than resources so it was imperative to find a way to prioritize what really needed their attention and what they could ignore... How'd I do?" ~~~ This is what it sounds like to bring a laser-focused hypothesis on the buyer's situation. This weaves in killer relevance and social proof that's just too hard to ignore. If you're getting shut down in your cold calls, work on a better answer to this question: "How can I make the prospect feel it would be irresponsible NOT to give me the time of day?"

It’s pretty demoralizing to call 40 people and have 0 conversations. Leaving voicemails for an hour straight isn't effective or fun. Here's 4 ways to maximize your cold call connect rate:  𝟏. 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬: These numbers have a higher connect rate and allow you to skip gatekeepers and phone trees. For every one prospect who gets upset you called their cell, you’ll have twenty others that 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 answered because you called their cell. ___ 𝟐. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬: Your first set of dials through a new list of numbers should be the last time you sit through a long phone tree or call a screeching fax machine. As you dial, mark the quality of each number R/Y/G so you remember which ones are good or bad: 🟢 Rings multiple times and VM greeting confirms it’s them.  - 🟡 Smells fishy. Ex: Busy lines or one-ring-straight-to-voicemail. If it happens again on the next dial, move it to 🛑 - 🛑 Repeated busy lines, fax lines, wrong numbers. Once you’ve marked a number as red, never waste a dial on it again. From there, mark down "obstacles" you encounter when calling so you can more easily navigate them on the next dial blitz: Phone tree paths, gatekeepers (so you can be prepared for them), dead-end corporate lines, etc. ___ 𝟑. 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬: 5 dials in 4 weeks: When you’ve literally called someone every week for a month straight, give 'em a rest for a month and try other prospects for now. Stop after 2 voicemails: 2 VMs is enough to reap the benefits of increasing your email replies. Don’t waste time leaving a 3rd. Avoid impassable gatekeepers: If they keep shutting you down, avoid them by calling your prospect’s cell, contacting them on other channels, or dialing at off-hours. ___ 𝟒. 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐦-𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝: Rotate your phone numbers: Wireless carriers monitor unusual spikes in call volumes, so many SEPs and VOIP providers let you buy and rotate additional lines to call from so that you don’t tarnish your number. Test your number regularly: Many purchased numbers are recycled, so call your personal line from any new number first to confirm that it’s not already marked as spam. Call during business hours: FTC considers business hours between 8 AM - 9 PM. Don’t repeatedly call bad numbers: Carriers will flag you if you repeatedly call bad numbers (yet another reason to mark your tracks). ___ Contrary to popular belief, prospects DO still pick up the phone. In writing "Cold Calling Sucks (And That's Why It Works), we analyzed over 300M cold calls with Gong: Average rep's connect rate = 5.4% Top Quartile rep's connect rate = 13.3%

Can we kill some cold calling myths real quick? Because the amount of BS floating around about cold calling is wild “Cold calling is dead” “Nobody picks up” “Its just spam” “You have to open with ‘how are you today?’” Come on Lets break this down and I’ll tell you whats actually working for us right now 👇 👉 “Nobody answers the phone” Wrong We made over 7,000 dials for a client this month and got 650+ pickups. That’s a 9% connect rate when the industry average is 2-3% Why? • We’re calling mobile first. Not landlines • Using parallel dialers to maximize volume • Hitting buyers at the right hours (8:30–9:30am and 3:30–5:30pm crush) • And recycling our list after 6-7 attempts Dont blame the phone Blame the playbook 👉 “Start with a warm/friendly opener” Sure if you want to sound like a telemarketer What works better? Confident. Clear. Straight to the point Something like “Hey John its Tom with [company]. The reason for my call is…” No fluff. No fake rapport Just immediate relevance and respect for their time That opener earns more time than “Hey how’s your day going?” 👉 “Always ask how they’re doing first” Nah That just creates awkward energy Lead with intent Show them why you’re calling and why it’s relevant to them Relevance > rapport 👉 “The goal is to book a meeting” Nope The goal is to earn the right to explore Heres what I teach my reps • Ask a pointed, open ended question that surfaces pain or curiosity • Have a convo • If there’s no fit or timing’s off cool move on The best reps disqualify fast and dont force fake meetings 👉 “Cold calling is spam” You know whats actually spam? 10,000 emails with zero targeting and a Calendly link in line two Cold calling when done well is human A real voice, a real convo, a real shot to connect So whats working for us right now? ✅ Confidence, not scripts ✅ Curiosity led openers ✅ Mobile data + parallel dialers ✅ Keeping it under 45 seconds when there’s no traction ✅ Focused ICP + repeatable messaging ✅ Listening 2x more than we talk Cold calling isnt the problem Bad cold calling is Fix your list Fix your mindset Fix your call structure And lets stop spreading these lazy myths that hold reps back Want help tightening your team’s cold call game? Drop a 🔥 or DM me I got you 🤙

If I were building your B2B content marketing channel strategy today, I'd go this route: 🔹 Social - start here on LinkedIn. Write platform-native content. Figure out how to post relevant, useful content for your target audience and experiment with different formats like short videos, carousels, polls, text only, text + image. 🔹 Blog posts about customer problems. Go light on the awareness content, and heavier on consideration and conversion content. Optimize for SEO after you write the post. 🔹 Email - write helpful content specifically for this channel and in this way nurture the audience who raised their hands to hear from you. 🔹 Podcasts - Don't START one, please, unless your is different from the many and you can really commit and be consistent. Instead, be a guest. Get your thought leaders on industry podcasts and promote those. 🔹 Publications - get your content into industry and business publications. Promote and reuse that content wherever you can. This is a safe and sane mix of owned and rented channels, push and pull. Writing all that content is great but if you don't have your channels worked out then you have no distribution strategy and no one is seeing your great stuff. Content + distribution channels = content strategy.

I would do this if I wanted to build my social media presence as a CRE broker If you’re in commercial real estate and want to stay top of mind, generate inbound interest, and build trust — here’s the playbook I’d follow: Foundation First • Optimize your LinkedIn profile (photo, banner, headline, about section) • Make your value proposition crystal clear (who you help, what you do, where) • Block 30–60 mins per week to create content • Follow + connect with top investors, developers, brokers, and lenders in your market Post With Purpose (3–4x per week) • Market trends and data points (rent growth, cap rates, development pipeline) • Behind-the-scenes brokerage life (site visits, tour recaps, pitch prep) • Deal breakdowns (yours or market comps) • Investor FAQs and short “how I think about this” insights • Lessons from recent client conversations or real-time feedback from the market Stay Engaged and Visible • Comment on 5–10 posts per day from relevant connections • Tag clients/colleagues when sharing insights • Share photos/videos from the field to add authenticity • Turn a good post into 2–3 quick variants (image, text, stat, short video) • Answer every comment on your posts to build trust Stay Consistent • Pick 1–2 recurring post themes (e.g., “Market Monday” or “Site Tour Friday”) • Don’t overthink it — value and consistency build credibility over time • Use LinkedIn as a daily CRM — your presence = your pipeline Your next client is already watching 👀 Stay top of mind by showing up consistently and adding real value. #cre #capitalmarkets

How I raised $3+ Million for real estate without leaving my home (Most of it happened while getting coffee runs with my wife.) When I first started raising capital… I had no clue where to begin. No network, no strategy, no process. Fast-forward to today: → I’ve raised millions in funding → Built a portfolio of properties generating consistent cash flow → Helped others invest passively while they work their 9-5 And I did it all while balancing family time and running a law firm. Here’s my 3-step framework for building trust and raising capital effectively: 1) Start with Genuine Connections I reach out to 10 potential investors every day. My focus? Building relationships, not transactions. → People I meet at events → Past clients and colleagues → Friends-of-friends I don’t send “hard pitches.” Instead, I focus on understanding their goals. Why this works: People invest in people they trust, not just numbers. 2) Leverage Storytelling Every property I raise capital for has a story. One of my favorites? A short-term rental in Tennessee that wasn’t just a cabin - it became a vacation destination for dozens of families. People connect with stories, not spreadsheets. So, I paint a picture: → The property’s charm → Its potential as a family-friendly retreat → The long-term value it brings Investors are drawn to vision, not just ROI projections. 3) Simplify the Process I respect people’s time. Here’s what I do: → A short intro call to discuss their goals → Provide clear, concise details about the opportunity → Answer questions, no pressure When someone’s ready to invest, I guide them through the process step-by-step, making it as smooth and efficient as possible. Raising capital isn’t about persuasion. It’s about alignment. When your goals and values match those of potential investors, the rest falls into place. If you’ve been thinking about investing in real estate but feel stuck, here’s my advice: Start building connections now Share your story authentically Make it easy for others to say “yes” Want to explore passive real estate investing? Send me a message—let’s see if we’re a fit. ♻️ Know someone looking to invest? Tag them. ➕ Follow me for more insights on real estate investing and wealth-building.

Capital raising isn’t about copying templates or pasting formulas handed down by the latest real estate guru. Yet, too often, I see capital raisers and capital allocators falling into the same trap: • Copy-paste templates. • Overstated (or flat-out fabricated) track records. • Generic, pitches and LinkedIn posts that all sound exactly the same. The result? * Investors see through it. * Trust erodes before it’s even built. * If your deal fails, your fake numbers will become evidence. * You sit there wondering why everyone else is raising money and you’re not. (Fact is: 95% of them aren’t either). Here’s the reality: mass-produced scripts don’t build relationships. Real estate investors, especially seasoned ones, can sniff out inauthenticity a mile away. And if your pitch sounds like everyone else’s, why would they choose you? Here's how to do it properly; • Be transparent: If you’ve only raised $2MM so far, own it. Investors care more about your real track record and integrity than inflated numbers. • Personalize your pitch: Tell your unique story. Why this deal? Why now? Why you? • Build trust through authenticity: Instead of templated emails and websites, create tailored, value-driven content that reflects your expertise, individuality, and unique value proposition. Mass-market approaches dilute credibility. Real success comes from cutting through the noise with authenticity, clarity, and professionalism. If you’ve been through one of those mass-produced guru programs and feel stuck using cookie-cutter systems, subscribe to my newsletter and learn how to do it properly. Link to subscribe in my profile here Adam Gower Ph.D.