ACCREDITED INVESTOR LEAD GENERATION CASE STUDY

How I Generated Qualified Accredited Investor Leads Through Google Ads for a 1031 Exchange & DST Platform

A case study showing how I built a Google Ads investor acquisition system from scratch for a U.S.-based 1031 Exchange & Delaware Statutory Trust platform targeting high-intent investors and optimizing campaigns for lead quality.

Google Ads · 1031 Exchange · DST · Accredited Investor Lead Generation

View Campaign Results >>

Get a Free Google Ads Audit >>

SERVICES PROVIDED

PPC Strategy

Google Ads Management

Bing Ads Management

HubSpot CMS

Conversion Tracking

Campaign Optimization

During my tenure at Orion Digital Marketing, I served as the Team Lead and PPC Expert for this project, managing Google Ads and Bing Ads campaigns for a confidential U.S.-based real estate investment platform specializing in 1031 Exchange and Delaware Statutory Trust (DST) opportunities.

My primary responsibility was to develop and manage the paid search strategy focused on reaching high-intent investors and generating qualified investor leads. I managed the complete PPC process, including keyword research, campaign structure, ad optimization, search-term analysis, negative keyword management, conversion tracking, and ongoing campaign optimization.

Industry

Real Estate Investment / Delaware Statutory Trust (DST)

My Role

Team Lead/ PPC Expert

Platforms

Google Ads
Bing (Microsoft Ads)

Project Overview

What Did the Client Need?

The client needed a predictable paid acquisition system that could connect their 1031 Exchange and DST investment opportunities with investors actively searching for real estate replacement properties. The objective wasn't simply to generate more form submissions. The campaign needed to attract the right investors. particularly accredited investors with a genuine 1031 Exchange requirement and interest in evaluating DST or other qualifying real estate investment opportunities.

Improve website and marketplace visibility through targeted digital campaigns.
Enhance user experience and content clarity to reduce visitor drop-offs.
Create 506(c) accredited-investor and 1031 Exchange deal funnels.
Generate qualified accredited-investor leads interested in 1031 Exchange replacement properties and DST investments.
Reach investors actively searching for real estate investment and 1031 Exchange opportunities.
Build landing-page experiences designed to capture and qualify investor enquiries.

THE EXECUTION PLAN

01. Competitor & Market Analysis

Analyzed the real estate investment, 1031 Exchange and DST market to understand competitor positioning, investor search behavior, offers and opportunities for differentiation.

The research focused on:

Competitor websites and landing pages
1031 Exchange positioning
DST investment offers
Accredited-investor messaging
Competitor PPC ads
Keyword opportunities
Landing-page CTAs
Investor conversion paths
Market gaps and messaging opportunities

02. Website & Landing Page Development

Building Landing Experiences Around Accredited Investor Intent

Once the market and competitor landscape were understood, I worked on the website and landing-page experience needed to convert paid traffic into relevant investor enquiries.

The key focus was message alignment.

A visitor searching for a 1031 Exchange replacement property should immediately understand:

What the opportunity is
How it relates to 1031 Exchange
What DST opportunities are available
Who the opportunity is intended for
What action the investor should take next

The landing experience was designed to reduce unnecessary friction and create a clear path from search → information → enquiry/registration.

03. GOOGLE ADS, ANALYTICS & TRACKING SETUP

Building the Measurement Foundation Before Launch

Before launching the campaigns, I built the tracking and measurement infrastructure required to accurately monitor the entire paid-search journey — from Google Ads clicks through website engagement and investor enquiries.

I configured the Google Ads account and conversion tracking alongside Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and Microsoft Clarity, creating a reliable foundation for campaign measurement and ongoing optimization.

Conversion actions
Conversion tracking
Landing-page tracking
Google Tag Manager implementation
Analytics integration
Primary and Seconadry Ads Conversion Setup

Why This Mattered

For an investor-focused campaign, measuring only clicks and conversions isn't enough. I needed visibility into what happened after the click. how visitors interacted with the landing pages, where they engaged, and where potential drop-offs occurred.

This tracking foundation allowed me to combine advertising performance + website behaviour + conversion data when making optimization decisions.

04. KEYWORD RESEARCH & AD COPY CREATION

Targeting Investors With High-Intent Search Terms

I conducted detailed keyword research to identify search terms used by investors actively looking for 1031 Exchange replacement properties, DST investments, and real estate investment opportunities. The focus was on finding commercially relevant searches that could connect the right investor intent with the client's available opportunities.

Ad Copy Creation

After identifying the keyword opportunities, I created Google Ads messaging aligned with the search intent.This alignment was important because the campaign was targeting a specialized audience. The goal was not simply to achieve a high CTR, but to attract accredited investors whose search behaviour indicated genuine 1031 Exchange or DST interest.

05. NEGATIVE KEYWORD & AUDIENCE STRATEGY

Filtering Out Irrelevant Real Estate Multafamily Traffic

Generating traffic wasn't enough.

A major part of the campaign was identifying searches that were not relevant to the client's investor acquisition objective.

I built and continuously refined a negative keyword list to reduce searches related to:

Jobs and careers
Free information
Courses and education
Residential real estate
Property management

The negative keyword strategy helped keep the campaign focused on users more closely aligned with the client's target investor profile.

Audience Strategy

The campaign was also built around the target investor demographic.

Primary Audience Focus: 45+ Age Groups

The targeting strategy prioritized users in the 45–54, 55–64 and 65+ age groups, reflecting the intended investor audience.

For remarketing, users who had previously interacted with the website could be re-engaged through the Performance Max campaign.

The combination of search-term control and audience targeting helped keep the acquisition strategy focused on the type of investor the client wanted to reach.

06. CAMPAIGN SETUP

Building a Multi-Channel Paid Search Campaign

I built a multi-channel paid acquisition strategy across Google Search, Google Performance Max and Microsoft/Bing Search. Each campaign had a specific role within the investor acquisition journey, while the overall strategy remained focused on reaching qualified investors interested in 1031 Exchange and DST opportunities.

Google Search Ads

I used Google Search Ads to capture investors actively searching for targeted keywords. Search campaigns provided greater control over keywords, search intent, ad messaging and search-term optimization, making them the core channel for capturing active investor demand.

Focus: Capture high-intent investor searches

Google Performance Max

Remarketing & Re-Engagement

I also implemented a Google Performance Max campaign as part of the remarketing/re-engagement strategy.

The objective was to reconnect with relevant users who had previously interacted with the website and bring them back into the conversion journey.

Focus: Re-engage previous website visitors

Microsoft/Bing Search Ads

Expanding Investor Search Reach

To extend the paid-search strategy beyond Google, I also managed a Microsoft/Bing Search campaign targeting relevant 1031 Exchange, DST and real estate investment searches.

This provided an additional source of search traffic and allowed the campaign to reach investors using Microsoft's search network.

Focus: Expand qualified search reach

07. DAILY OPTIMIZATION & CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT

Turning Campaign Data Into Better Accredited Investor Acquisition

After launching the campaigns, I managed the account continuously rather than relying on a set-and-forget approach. I monitored campaign performance daily, analyzed search behaviour and conversion data, and made ongoing adjustments to improve traffic quality, lead generation and campaign efficiency.

I regularly reviewed:

Search terms and keyword performance
Clicks, impressions and CTR
CPC and campaign spend
Conversions and conversion rate
Ad performance
Search-term relevance
Negative keyword opportunities
Audience and demographic performance
Landing-page engagement

The focus was to identify what was working, what was wasting budget, and where new optimization opportunities existed.

RESULTS & CAMPAIGN PERFORMANCE

Generating 200+ Accredited Investor Leads Through Paid Search in Single Month

Google Ads

1,450 Clicks | 59,148 Impressions | 2.45% CTR | $4.66 CPC | $6,752.96 Spend

124 Google Ads Conversions

Microsoft/Bing Ads

18,478 Clicks | 1,19,148 Impressions | 1.25% CTR | $4.66 CPC | $7,101 Spend

97 Microsoft (Bing) Ads Conversions

By combining Google Search, Microsoft/Bing Search and remarketing through Performance Max, I created a multi-channel paid acquisition system designed to capture active investor demand, re-engage website visitors and continuously optimize toward conversion performance.

LEAD QUALIFICATION & QUALITY CONTROL

From Form Submission to Qualified Investor Lead

For this project, a form submission was treated as the starting point, not the final definition of a qualified lead. I created a lead qualification process that connected the landing-page submission with a follow-up action and then evaluated each lead based on investor profile, 1031 Exchange intent, property situation, investment potential and engagement.

Landing Page Form Submission

The first qualification event occurred when a visitor completed the investor lead form on the landing page.

The form captured the information required to understand whether the enquiry was relevant to the client's target investor profile.

Lead information was evaluated around:

Investor / prospect type
1031 Exchange requirement
Current property situation
Investment/property value range
Accredited-investor status
Contact information
Source/campaign information

This allowed the paid-search conversion to become an identifiable lead that could be reviewed and followed up.

Thank You Page → Schedule a Call

After submitting the form, the prospect was directed to a Thank You page with a clear next step: schedule a call with a 1031 Exchange expert.

Lead-Level Qualification

I maintained a structured lead sheet to monitor individual enquiries beyond the advertising-platform conversion. Lead status, investor type, 1031 Exchange stage, property situation, investment range and follow-up outcomes were used to identify which conversions represented meaningful opportunities.

I didn't evaluate campaign performance only at the conversion level. I also reviewed the lead-level outcomes to understand which enquiries were progressing into meaningful investor conversations.

Overall Challenges & Results

The Challenge

The main challenge was not simply generating website traffic or increasing the number of Google Ads conversions. The objective was to reach relevant investors with genuine 1031 Exchange and DST intent and create a system that could distinguish meaningful investor enquiries from general real-estate traffic. The objective wasn't simply to generate more form submissions. The campaign needed to attract the right investors. particularly accredited investors with a genuine 1031 Exchange requirement and interest in evaluating DST or other qualifying real estate investment opportunities.

Reaching the Right Investor Audience – Identifying and reaching accredited investors, high-net-worth individuals, 1031 Exchange investors, and DST investors actively looking for real estate investment opportunities.
Capturing High-Intent Search Demand – Targeting relevant 1031 Exchange, 1031 replacement property, DST investment, Delaware Statutory Trust, and real estate investment opportunity searches rather than broad real-estate traffic.
Generating Qualified Investor Leads – Building a lead-generation strategy focused on qualified accredited investor leads, 1031 Exchange enquiries, DST investment enquiries, and investor opportunities rather than simply maximizing conversion volume.
Reducing Irrelevant Paid Traffic – Using keyword research, search-term analysis, negative keywords, Google Ads optimization, and Microsoft/Bing Ads to improve traffic relevance and control wasted spend.
Creating an Investor-Focused Conversion Journey – Aligning Google Search Ads, landing pages, 1031 Exchange messaging, DST investment content, lead forms, and investor follow-up to create a clear path from search to enquiry.
Tracking and Measuring Lead Quality – Connecting Google Ads, Microsoft/Bing Ads, GA4, Google Tag Manager, Microsoft Clarity, conversion tracking, and lead-level qualification to understand campaign performance beyond basic clicks and conversions.
Managing Financial-Marketing Complexity – Communicating 1031 Exchange, DST, accredited investor, 506(c), and real estate investment concepts clearly while keeping marketing messaging appropriate for a financial-services environment.

Results Achieved

The strategy generated measurable results across Google Ads and Microsoft/Bing Ads, combining high-intent search traffic, conversion tracking, and ongoing campaign optimization.

Google Ads Results
124
Tracked Conversions
59,148
Impressions
1,450
Clicks
2.45%
CTR
$4.66
Avg. CPC
$6,752.96
Ad Spend

Microsoft / Bing Ads Results
97
Tracked Conversions
18,478
Clicks
$7,101.77
Ad Spend
$72.34
CPA

Reach More Investors

This project was completed during my previous full-time role as a Team Lead & PPC Expert, where I managed Google Ads and Microsoft/Bing Ads for an agency client in the 1031 Exchange and DST investment space. The results and strategies presented in this case study reflect my individual contribution to the project. Today, I work directly with businesses as a freelance Google Ads PPC Expert, helping 1031 Exchange, DST, and real estate investment firms build focused paid-search strategies for qualified investor lead generation. Looking to reach more qualified investors? Let’s discuss your goals.