Real Estate Marketing Tools

Real estate agents are constantly looking for new ways to farm for new leads. While word of mouth, signage and networking are effective ways to build a base of potential customers, nothing beats effective direct mail strategies as a way to keep the pipeline of buyers and sellers fresh.

Why Use Direct Mail to Farm for Leads?

Direct mail is a proven approach that has been used for decades. Even in the digital era, receiving valuable information in the mail, along with some advertising for those needing real estate services, creates an impression that can linger for those who receive the materials.

Consistent and persistent direct mail strategies also help to drive insights and information about where your best customers are, how they respond to different appeals or products, and how to better reach them. By fine-tuning your messages and products that are a part of your direct mail outreach, you can better use your marketing dollars to reach the best customers.

What’s more, direct mail helps build awareness about you, your agency and your services. Very few of us buy on first glance. Over time, as we begin to develop an understanding of a product, service or brand, we gain a deeper understanding of how a particular provider can best serve our needs. Direct mail is a great way to help create that long-term awareness.

How Does Direct Mail Help Get Your Message Out?

Direct mail is only as effective as the strategy behind it. You need to identify the direct mail pieces, add-ons, and frequency that work best for your region and client base. When creating your direct mail marketing campaign, here are some things to consider:

• Message – What are you trying to convey? Options can include your experience, your areas of expertise, knowledge of local markets, reputation. If you offer quick closings, serve a niche market or live in the community, you may want to focus your message on those particular attributes. Similarly, don’t try to cover too much at once. Instead, make sure people know what you’re offering, who you are and how to contact you.
• Length and Frequency – How long will your direct mail campaign run? You want to keep your message consistent and deliver it several times, but you also want to be sure you hit people enough times that the message sticks.
• Response Rates Understanding – Typical response rates for your real estate direct marketing campaign is important. The first direct mail piece may have a very low response rate but patience is a virtue. The more awareness you provide, the more likely you are to get calls or responses to your follow-up efforts.

What Are Good Real Estate Direct Marketing Ideas?

At Reamark, we offer a full range of products to make your direct marketing campaign more effective. Whether it’s full-color postcards, real estate newsletters or calendars, we offer prompt turnaround to get you products you need. We offer online and print catalogs with thousands of products and titles to keep your message fresh and eye-catching. To learn more about how Reamark can help with your marketing needs, contact us for a free catalog!

A real estate agent’s fate depends on their ability to make inroads with new audiences. While there are plenty of potentially viable avenues for establishing contact and forging relationships, direct mail continues to stand out. Thanks to its low-cost, straightforward nature, direct mail is one marketing strategy that isn’t going away anytime soon.

Want to achieve real estate lead success? Finding great properties isn’t only the challenge. In 2019, everything will revolve around finding buyer and sellers who need your expertise and getting them excited about working with you. Here’s what every agent needs to know about direct mail strategies.

What Is Direct Mail?

Direct mail is a low-cost mass advertising method that lets marketers target entire populations by region. These tools make it extremely affordable to connect with hundreds or thousands of individual consumers simultaneously. This makes them quite convenient for busy real estate professionals.

Mailers can take many forms, including recipes, useful wall calendars and holiday greeting cards. It’s up to the business to decide what kind of content it wants to feature, such as listing images, friendly headshots and contact details. In other words, it’s a low-risk, high-return way to work out the kinks while exploring campaign strategies.

Why Does Direct Mail Suit the Real Estate Industry So Well?

Mail is an attractive alternative to other advertising methods that have high barriers to entry. Realtors don’t need to pay for signage permits, mailing lists or other expenditures that aren’t always even worth the money they take to maintain.

Since each mailer campaign is customizable, it’s simple to achieve unique goals. Real estate professionals can easily publicize recent neighborhood listings, promote property acquisition services and raise brand awareness in close-knit communities without feeling like outsiders.

What Makes Direct Mail Low-Cost?

Cost-conscious realtors love the fact that direct mail campaigns grant them complete control over their advertising. Thanks to the widespread prevalence of bulk discounts and already-low rates, targeting a campaign to match a given outreach budget or reach a particular market segment is effortless.

While prices vary, the best direct mail providers typically offer per-mailer costs of less than a dollar for items like postcards. Although this is often more than what digital outreach impressions cost, it’s important to remember that the comparison isn’t strictly apples-to-apples.

Direct Mail Pricing in Context

Mail campaigns may have significantly more longevity than digital marketing can bring to bear. Their tangible presence, ability to target property owners exclusively and traditional feel all work together to grant marketing drives more trustworthiness.

Unlike online ads, which get supplanted the instant Google or Facebook finds a new campaign to promote, mailers stick around in offices and homes. Someone who receives these promotional materials in the mail might not reach out until months or years after the fact, but when it comes to lead-building, late is better than never.

Getting Started With High-impact Direct Mail

Direct mailing strategies are just one way to make a mark on the world. For real estate agents, however, they’re essential tools with unmatched cost-saving potential. To learn more about the options, check out the selection at Reamark.com.

Everyone enjoys getting mail, but during the holiday season, every letter gets a bit more attention. From a real estate agent’s point of view, then, this is the key time to begin networking and building your reach. We will show you how easy it is to perform real estate farming using direct mail; specifically with holiday themed materials.

How to Use Holiday Greeting Cards to Reach Your Farm

Holiday greeting cards are by far one of the most effective brand-building tools real estate agents have during the season. This is the ideal goodwill gesture your firm can make. And, it is a proven marketing tool. From the end of November through the first week of January, you have a prime opportunity to distribute holiday cards to your community.

Why Does This Direct Mail Opportunity Matter?

During the holidays, people are more respectful to interacting with those they know. They are also more likely to open the mail they get each day, wondering who is sending them something and thinking of them during the holidays. Real estate agents will find this is a simple way to communicate several messages:

Season’s Greetings
For many agents, sending a holiday card is just good form. Business etiquette would encourage you to send a card during this time of the year to show respect to your previous clients. A simple, formal greeting card can communicate that you are thinking of them.

Saying Thanks
Holiday cards are also the ideal way to say thank you to your clients. This is especially important for those who closed a deal with you this year. Sending a special message of gratitude at Thanksgiving shows your client you appreciate them.

A Friendly, Family-like Charm
Depending on the specific card selected, you may be able to use this direct mailing campaign to show your previous and prospective clients that you see them as part of the family. You, and your organization, is there for them. A helpful Time Change reminder card says,”we’re looking out for you.”

Personally Connect with the Community
Through the use of holiday greeting cards, it is possible for real estate agents to connect within the community. Create a personalized message to those in a prime neighborhood. Connect with old clients who may be back in the market. Show existing clients how much you value them, so they can help encourage others to work with you.

While holiday greeting cards are a straightforward direct mail campaign, you may wish to send specific clients a new calendar for the upcoming year or a special magnet with your contact information on it. These types of gifts can help to solidify your organization’s name and branding message for years to come. More so, it helps you to build a community-first image your would-be home buyers and sellers can appreciate and remember when they need your services.

Reamark offers several options including pre-printed and personalized greeting cards. Be sure to check our special savings area. We have many holiday themed materials in our clearance section.

It’s that time of year again. Yes, it’s time to start handing out your 2019 real estate marketing calendars. As you already know, handing out free calendars with your agency’s branding prominently displayed is one of the most effective, and budget-friendly, tactics in your overall marketing strategy.

A Proven Solution

In an age when so much emphasis is put on digital marketing, which is of course vital to your overall marketing approach, it’s easy to neglect the classic, time-proven marketing tools. Although it might seem counterintuitive in this digital age, paper calendars are still extremely popular with consumers, and the industry has seen impressive growth over the last decade. Surveys have shown that the average household has at least three calendars in use, of different types, including wall calendars, magnetic calendars, most often attached to the refrigerator, and desk calendars.

Further, consumer research has shown that 82% of people love receiving a free calendar, and that 70% of those consumers will consider doing business with the companies they get them from.

Reasons Paper Calendars Are Effective

Part of the reason that paper calendars are still so popular is simply because they are low tech. People often feel overwhelmed by the amount of digital information they’re surrounded by each day, so its something of an escape to use a simple, familiar calendar. Plus they add an aesthetic appeal that can’t be achieved with digital calendars, one that everyone who enters a room can enjoy, and they can be personalized in an observable way.

Bottom line, the customer appreciates a free gift, and it’s a practical one they can use every day in the home, the workplace, or even their car. Real estate marketing calendars work, and they should have a place in every agency’s marketing strategy.

Tips For Designing A Real Estate Marketing Calendar

As with any marketing tactic there are ways to ensure you’re getting the maximum out of your calendars. Here are a few things to remember:

• Get them out sooner rather than later. Although it might seem like if you start handing out 2019 calendars months before the New Year that people will misplace them and not use them, it’s just not true. The majority of people will keep their free calendars until they need them, and they tend to keep the first ones they receive, so it’s important to start handing them out early.
• Make sure your agency’s info is noticeable. It’s tempting to keep your business’s banner small and at the bottom of the calendar page so as not to interfere with the function and aesthetics, but the whole point is to make people notice you. Make sure your message stands out.
• Make sure your contact information is correct. A real estate marketing calendar is no place to let typos slip through. People will be using them for a year, and giving referrals from them, so make sure your displayed info is accurate before ordering.

Order your calendars and start giving them away now, and you’ll enjoy the benefits till the end of 2019, and beyond!

Marketing activities during the weeks leading up to the back to school rush offer real estate professionals excellent content ideas for connecting with your farm. Real estate agents who publish monthly or quarterly newsletters will want to use some of the same strategies online retailers use to attract attention to their products and services.

Attract Kids to Influence Adults

One thing marketing gurus recommend is getting the kids involved. Since school is all about the kids, focus some content on their needs during this time. For example, if you are using a newsletter template, consider adding campus diagrams (or photos) that show the layout of the school grounds in the customization sections.

Suggest parents and their children take the diagram with them when they visit the school as a way to familiarize themselves with key areas – the nurses station, administration office, lockers, cafeteria, water fountains and vending areas. This is especially important for children attending a new school this fall.

Partner With Bloggers and Social Influencers

Another successful tactic marketing agencies use is to get some help from well-established bloggers who understand the excitement and stress that surround the back to school period. Agents who have an online presence – and, who doesn’t these days, right? – know the value of combining different media channels to promote local properties.

This time of year, along with highlighting homes on the market near neighborhood schools, invite a guest blogger to write a piece about transitioning from summertime schedules to school day routines for your online blog. Then, promote the piece across your other social sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Remember to check with your local paper to see if they might be willing to post the blog – with the author’s approval, of course – and include your blog address in your print media, such as newsletters, postcards, flyers, and direct mail pieces.

Highlight Local Mark-Downs

Everyone loves a bargain. Double the pleasure by marketing recently reduced, deeply discounted property information and back to school free tax day notices at the same time. At last count, 18 states offer a tax break on school-related purchases. This is a great way to show prospects you want to help them get the most value out of every hard earned penny.

We hope these three marketing tips inspire you to create award winning back to school campaigns. ReaMark offers hundreds of beautiful, customizable marketing solutions to help you build relationships. We also offer a wide area of soft-sell promotional items to keep your brand in front of neighborhood residents all year-round including magnetic school memo boards and refrigerator magnets.

Most people love sports. Those who play the game and those who watch from the sidelines want to be connected with one another. If you want to make an impression with the ultimate sports fan, promote the home team! Let fan loyalty work to your advantage and give you a way to stay top-of-mind.

Be a Reliable Source of Information

If you’re looking to attract fans who want to be close to their favorite teams, offer them the information they need in terms of game schedules, practice times, and local meet and greets where they can interact with their favorite players. Providing potential buyers with the right information is essential if you want to close the sale. Sports fans want to support their team in any way they can. If they live close by, many will want to attend games as often as possible. Use your newsletter to cross-promote with other local businesses who may be offering incentives, such as season tickets, or admission to an event that is sponsored by the team.

Help Make Tailgating Easier

Provide your sports fans with recipes or ideas for throwing a great tailgate party. Tailgate parties are always fun and it gives fans a chance to gather together to show the team they are there to cheer them on. As a realtor, you can sponsor a tailgate party. Hand out recipe cards for the best in tailgating foods. Give participants game schedules and encourage them to set up future tailgate parties well in advance. Sports teams get excited when they see this type of support and, in some areas, may even stop by.

When you want to attract the sports fans, you do so by giving them the things they need to make supporting their team easier. The key is to show potential buyers that you are just as big a fan as they are! Show your team spirit! Keep a few extra team schedules in your car and hand them out whenever you notice a tried and true fan. Odds are they already know the schedule, but with one of yours, they will get to know you too!

2018 season schedules are now available for Football, Hockey, Baseball and NASCAR. We offer a variety of sizes including business cards and full magnets. Order now before the season begins!

While email remains one of the most cost-effective ways to communicate with your clients, there’s danger in solely relying on it to get your marketing messages across. Most industries send emails, and the frequency is giving consumers a severe case of email fatigue. Consider the following four reasons why it’s better to create a postcard or a newsletter to help your potential buyers avoid email overload.

1. Consumers Are Savvy

Few of your buyers are rushing to check their email because they know that most of the information they’ll find in their Inbox simply isn’t relevant to them. There’s a good chance a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ sale is likely to be repeated again next week, so where’s the urgency? When you want to send out information that is actually important (e.g., a change in your phone number or your office has moved to a new address), you should use at multiple different avenues to really catch people’s attention. We have several neighborhood marketing postcard designs you can use to communicate important details to your farm.

2. It’s Too Easy to Hit Delete

Holding a physical item in your hands is more difficult to discard than an email. With emails, it’s as easy as clicking on all unread messages and then moving them to the trash folder. But, sending out a postcard or a newsletter encourages buyers to scan information. Touch creates a tactile memory. Delivering your real estate marketing messages via something physical means they’re experiencing a different medium, which can cause them to be more open to what’s inside.

3. You Want to Make an Impression

Real estate newsletters and postcards allow a little more creativity than email does when it comes to making an impression on your clients. So, when you have a new agent join the team, you now have a chance to introduce them to your farm with a little bit of gusto. From fancy calligraphy to heavy stock paper; there are plenty of ways we can help you go the extra mile. Plus, people are much more willing to open a piece of mail that’s been hand-addressed to them than they are another impersonal email.

4. You Want to Establish an Emotional Connection

Postcards and newsletters are a good way to establish a rapport with clients. You can make them themed or tell a (somewhat) serialized story about how the market is doing. You can make them funny, brief, or picturesque. It’s these little extras that you do that can help you distinguish yourself from your competition so you can tempt more people to your side.

ReaMark can help you find the postcard and newsletter templates you need to ensure that buyers will remember you. Our postcards and newsletters can be seamlessly worked into your marketing campaign, so you can give yourself the best chance of sales success!

Mailbox photo by Xavier Massa on Unsplash

An effective newsletter provides enhanced communication and connection with your clients. It bridges the gap between marketing and establishing lasting relationships with customers. As the warmer months of the year roll around, real estate agents will want to send out newsletters that touch on various summer marketing topics to ensure they stay connected with their targeted farms. Let’s explore five of these topics.

Family Fun

There’s nothing better than cooling off in the pool after a long day at work. Real estate agents can highlight specific properties and neighborhoods with pools when communicating with clients who live in their targeted farms. From pool maintenance tips to the importance of pool safety; there are many ways to touch on family activities and water fun.

Backyard Entertaining

Who doesn’t love roasting marshmallows by an open fire pit on a cool summer night? Or throwing a BBQ potluck party? With this in mind, real estate agents will want to include a bulleted list of ways to enjoy fun with friends and family in their summer newsletters. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• S’Mores Hacks
• DIY Backyard Movie Night
• Easy Recipes for Entertaining
• DIY Backyard Games

Self-Improvement

Summertime is the perfect opportunity to get out and about and get in shape. Real estate agents can use this time of the year to highlight certain walking paths and parks in and near the farms they are targeting. They can also provide a section of tips outlining the reasons to stay hydrated during the summertime when exercising in the heat.

Local Discounts

Consumers love catching a good deal, and they love people who share deals with them even more. Establishing long-term relationships with clients becomes much easier when real estate agents include a section in their newsletters that showcase the best summer deals and discounts from local businesses. This an effective way to cross-promote your services with other local businesses!

Vacation

Whether it be a two-week vacation or a two-day short getaway, summer is a time of the year when many families choose to leave their homes and get away from the hustle and bustle of their everyday lives. While away on vacation, though, these families want to rest assured their homes are going to be safe and secure. With this in mind, real estate agents will want to include a section in their newsletters that identify local resources that can be used to keep the home safe and secure while away having fun. From neighborhood watch programs that correlate with the farms they are targeting to local stores that sell video camera systems, there are plenty of security tips to detail in a newsletter.

ReaMark has a great selection of newsletter templates. With more than 60 options to choose from, we can help you build your client base and increase sales. We also have seasonal promotional items like hand fans, grilling and entertaining recipe postcards and seed packets for summer planting.

Take advantage of our anniversary sale to maximize your summer savings. Use code WEB50 to receive:
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$50 off $199

Call, mail or fax your order today!

Many underestimate the positive impact a direct mail campaign can have on their business. With the increased popularity of paperless marketing methods and social media marketing, this is understandable. However, direct mail is still a powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal if you approach it correctly. Read the following Do’s and Don’ts of direct mailing to use this old-school marketing method effectively.

Do Follow the 40/40/20 Rule

The 40/40/20 rule of marketing is still applicable even when it comes to direct mail. Your rate of return is dependent on three main factors. Some 40% is based on the effectiveness of your mailing list, 40% is based on the quality of your offer and 20% is based on the design, text and the overall look of your mailing.

Do Make Your Message And Imaging Clear

Make your message clear within your direct mail piece. Those in your farm who receive your direct mailer should instantly know what action you want them to take next. Also, use pictures or graphics that tie into real estate as this is your market. In other words, though the photo of a man fishing or a field with flowers might be pretty, it could also confuse your audience. Caveat being if your mailing is tied to a theme like Spring Top Local Places to Enjoy the Outdoors. For the most part, it’s wise to keep your message and your imagining clear and concise. Visit ReaMark for an example of some postcards that fit the bill. Speaking of design…

Do Spend Time on The Design of Your Mailers

In order to get a good rate of return from your direct mailing campaign, you have to create a well-designed mailer. Otherwise, your recipients will likely skim over your ad, not giving it more than a cursory glance. To prevent this, ensure you give plenty of attention to the design of your mailer. Create an eye-catching headline and bold colors to make your mailer stand out.

Don’t Underestimate The Power of a Proper Audience

Don’t blanket an area aimlessly as this is a great waste of money. Instead, use your resources to discover the most effective areas to target in your direct mail campaign. Many businesses make the mistake of focusing only on the material they send, which is important, but in so doing they neglect to properly identify their ideal audience. The end result is a wonderful piece of marketing material being put into the hands of people who won’t take action on it. If you don’t already have your ideal farm chosen, you can discover them through testing. Send out a small number of mailers and keep a close eye on the rate of returns from them. This allows you to tweak your intended audience until you have the ideal farm to target.

Don’t Exaggerate or Over Promise

Be sure you can back up anything promised in your mailer. If you say, “we will sell your home in three months,” make sure that’s a reality. Otherwise, tone down your promises. Your readers will see through overblown fluff and exaggerations, so make sure you can back up what you say.

Follow the above Do’s and Don’ts in order to construct an effective direct mail campaign. Visit ReaMark today for a full range of products to consider for your next direct mailers.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with real estate professionals taking advantage of digital marketing and social media opportunities. Many have found success in their online efforts and should continue to do so. Real estate agents and brokers shouldn’t, however, ignore proven real estate marketing strategies have consistently produced results across the country. Here is why and how you can grab the attention of real estate prospects using direct mail pieces.

WHY Use Direct Mail in this Digital Era?

The answer is pretty simple: Because it works. You should also understand, however, why it works.

• You can target your market. Direct mail allows you to target specific neighborhoods or zip codes to “farm”. There is less waste than “broadcasting” your message.
• It reaches prospects at home. This lets the person receiving your piece know you are interested in them and their real estate goals.
• You can “own” this vehicle in reaching prospects. Some agents never use direct mail marketing. This provides a marketing opportunity you can drive a truck through. You may be able to own direct mail marketing for real estate in your community.
• They are tangible. Direct marketing pieces are perceived to have more value and their messages carry more weight. This can help position you as a stable, trusted source.
• Pieces can have a long shelf life. Direct mail pieces like calendars, sports schedules, recipes, and motivational or scenic cards can stay in a home for an extended period of time, often on display where they may be seen by others.

HOW to Use Direct Mail in Real Estate

Direct mail is a versatile way to reach real estate prospects, giving you plenty of options on how to use it.

• Use EDDM to reach prospects. Every Door Direct Marketing is the perfect way to reach every home is your specific target area. It is a great way to introduce yourself and your services.
• Create an annual direct mail marketing plan. When your prospect gets a new recipe, decorating or home improvement tip every other month, it builds your brand and name recognition. You are providing prospects with something of value.
• Send out Just Sold or Just Listed postcards. Who isn’t interested in what a neighbor’s house is listed or sold for? When combined with a free home valuation offer, these informative cards often turn up multiple leads.
• Use to promote your digital marketing efforts. Use direct mail pieces to reinforce your online media by promoting your website and social media. Include your email address for prospects to sign up for a newsletter or enter a contest.

Get Professional Assistance

For 18 years, ReaMark has been creating effective direct mail, marketing, and promotional pieces specifically to help real estate professionals grow their businesses. Our marketing professionals can help you choose items to help you reach your goals. Our design department will help you build your brand and help you turn prospects into leads and leads into sales. Contact ReaMark today and put the power of direct mail marketing to work for you!