Real Estate Marketing Tools

Securing leads isn’t always easy, but as a real estate agent, it’s essential to get over the hurdles. As consumers evolve, their tastes also change, and 2019 is almost certain to bring new norms in outreach. Your old campaign strategies might not cut it. Confused about how your marketing plan fits into an uncertain future? Here are five simple pointers for better real estate branding in the coming year.

1. Coordinate Marketing Across Multiple Channels

Realtors who want to establish ties have a variety of touch points at their disposal. For instance, sales agents commonly send out calendar magnets at the beginning of the year to ensure people keep them in mind for months to come. House flippers, on the other hand, might focus on image-packed social media posts showing their latest before-and-after successes.

Start coordinating your efforts. For instance, your calendar magnets should definitely include social media links. When people subscribe to your email newsletters, your database software ought to place them in a different mailing list reserved for nurturing established leads. You’re fighting a war for attention on multiple fronts, so ensure that your attacks support each other.

2. Regularly Refine Your Marketing Metrics

Tired of feeling like you’re drowning in a sea of campaign stats? Effective marketers periodically reassess their data collection and analysis practices. This highlights trends and helps you make wise branding choices.

If you’re like most agents, then you’re probably tracking social media engagement on several platforms. For clarity’s sake, organize your dashboards to automatically show the few sites with the highest numbers and group the rest into a general low-performance category.

Sanitizing your data will make you less likely to mistake noise for noteworthy trends. The new year is also a logical time to conduct a strategy audit and identify the most important performance indicators.

3. Recognize the Power of Good Timing

People respond to the same messages differently depending on when they receive them. Although you can’t always anticipate when the mail carrier will deliver your latest greeting cards or door hangers, you can definitely set the pace for followup interactions.

Don’t think that timing is a big deal? Try cold calling someone late at night or early in the morning, and you’ll quickly realize how important it is. You might be making social media posts in the wake of a printed mailer blitz or sending emails, but it’s critical to accommodate your audience’s habits.

4. Organize Your Campaign Analyses to Complement Your Market Segments

Whether you’re farming different neighborhoods or sending out cards for different holidays, you need clarity. Why not make it easier to track leads on a per-campaign basis by including unique QR codes for each group of mailers? From there, you can use engagement software or normal spreadsheets to organize the response data to reveal which types of outreach correspond to the biggest successes.

Client personas are essential in an era where people expect highly personalized marketing. Facebook and other tools may give agents unprecedented access to fine-grained consumer information, but it’s vital to associate the feedback with the right audience pockets.

5. Create a Brand, Not Just a Campaign

Your marketing doesn’t have to be super sleek, but it must be polished and coordinated. It doesn’t matter if you’re targeting consumers who might favor the appeal of quaint aesthetics and plain language. Using consistent marketing elements reinforces your message and highlights your professionalism.

You’ve probably already got a few core brand assets, such as your logo, trademark or tagline. Start the year off right by finding a design team that can help you create universal marketing standards using these critical components.

Imagine that you mail out completely different postcard designs every few months. You might restrict your use of fonts to make your value proposition more noticeable or keep the contact information in the same position so that people know where to look. These advertising design fundamentals will become even more essential as 2019 forces you to compete with new marketing techniques and technological distractions for people’s attention.

How do you plan on making an outreach splash this year? Maintain an inspired marketing outlook by subscribing to the Reamark blog. Call us to request a catalog or free product samples! 800-932-2957

Postcards are among the real estate world’s best-beloved marketing tools, and it’s easy to see why. These high-impact visual attention-grabbers let agents strike up conversations that personalize advertising and make it less obtrusive. To keep your marketing dialogue heading in the right direction, however, you’ll need to plan an effective, goal-oriented postcard marketing campaign.

What makes an outreach push worthwhile? How should you pick your postcard advertising objectives? It all depends on the agent and market in question, but that doesn’t mean you have to gamble on random chance. Follow these goal-setting tips to empower your next campaign’s success.

Set Direct Mail Objectives That Hold You Accountable

While it’s fine to start by declaring that you want to increase your sales or contact more clients, you need to back those goals up with actual numbers. This is the only way to keep yourself honest and evaluate your campaign’s performance critically.

Helping Your Marketing Team Stay on Point

Defining your goals around objective standards is also essential if you work with others. If your marketing team members or partner agents have clear, numerical targets, such as increasing weekly callbacks by ten or sustaining a specific number of monthly website visitors, they’ll most likely demonstrate enhanced focus.

Being specific may prove critical to laying the groundwork for a successful campaign. Vague objectives only make life harder for everyone involved.

Define Your Direct Mail Audience Before Reaching Out

Always know who you’re targeting with postcards. For instance, if you’re trying to open up a new farm area by making inroads into a competitor’s territory, you should do demographic research first. If you’re selling homes in a luxury development, then you might not want to reach out to quite as many first-time buyers.

Be Considerate of Your Potential Conversation Partners
Real estate postcards are great because they let you initiate contact, but don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s a one-way discussion. The most rewarding interactions occur when agents take the time to understand the people they’re speaking with beforehand. Whether this means using census data or chatting with neighborhood locals and recent buyers to get a feel for their concerns, increasing your knowledge does wonders.

Experiment With Contrasting Approaches
Not every campaign succeeds with every potential client, but that shouldn’t surprise you. Everyone is different, so their responses to the same marketing materials will be accordingly diverse.

It’s your responsibility to adjust the way you address people. Once you’ve completed your demographic research, experiment with reframing your message in various ways to accommodate distinct audiences. For example, a well-to-do couple might appreciate a postcard with a funny image or popular meme more than a nervous first-time homebuyer would.

Choose a Tone That Strengthens Your Message

Even though postcard marketing often serves as an introduction, focusing on who you are shouldn’t be the primary goal. Your personality will come through in your choice of language, so concentrate on selling the dreams that you know you can help clients attain.

Consumers lead busy, hectic lives, so do them a favor by making it easier to evaluate your work. For instance, instead of writing a generic blurb that reveals how many homes you’ve sold, differentiate your services: Mention that you’ve made moving fun for dozens of families or share how you’ve already connected with potential buyers who might be interested in a given area. Including a subtle value proposition is far more convincing than merely boasting about your stats.

Work Incrementally for Sustainable Returns

Since postcards are easy to customize, take this opportunity to break your audience into subgroups and segments. Target each with different variations to hone your outreach practices. Only once you’ve played the field for a while should you finalize your tactics and start marketing en masse.

In some cases, maintaining separate campaigns for different areas and populations is the best strategy for minimizing outreach expenditures. For instance, bilingual agents might promote themselves in varied ways to accommodate unique cultural nuances.

Make Your Direct Mail Visually Distinctive

Finally, remember that people have plenty of other things to look at besides your marketing materials. No matter what your personal tastes are, your postcard’s general aesthetic must appeal to a broad audience and look good in a variety of settings. Do some opposition research, and then partner with a design team that can help you create something fresh enough to land crucial first impressions.

Real estate postcard campaigns enjoy enhanced success when agents take advantage of well-oiled marketing machines. Plant the seeds that help you farm more effectively by discussing your campaign goals with a Reamark specialist.

Photo by Chris Kristiansen on Unsplash

Name recognition is important for real estate professionals. Your name is part of your brand. Building a recognizable brand creates trust within your community. How can agents build name recognition that eventually generates sales and commissions?

First, realize that networking, marketing and name recognition all work together. Done properly, using this triad ensures people know who they can trust when it is time to buy or sell real estate.

Here are eight ways real estate agents can establish name recognition in their communities.

1. Become the go-to person for your chartered local association of REALTORS®. If you don’t have a local chapter, take the lead toward forming one.

2. Stock up on pocket-sized business cards, refrigerator magnets or pens. Never miss an opportunity to introduce yourself, and hand out your contact information.

3. Get caught volunteering. Images in the local paper of you ladling soup at the local shelter, or handing out water during the charity 5K, go a long way toward building your brand – without investing marketing dollars. Since the giving season is just around the corner, this might be a good time to designate your office as a drop-off point for  a Toys-for-Tots drive, or host a giving tree in your lobby.

4. Offer to write a guest blog for local builders, lenders and other industry connections.

5. Give something away. Marketing expert Jay Baer explains in his book, Youtility: Why Smart Marketing Is about Help Not Hype,

“if you sell something, you make a customer today, but if you genuinely help someone, you create a customer for life.”

This concept is why items like customized memo boards and recipe calendars are so popular. Update your print and online content that adds value with no strings attached. Think real-time weather and traffic updates added to your website or social media channels. Print media updates might include names and contact numbers for city officials.

6. Speaking of providing value, make sure your social media posts aren’t all about the priced-right-two-story-home in the perfect neighborhood. Share content that teaches people ways to make their life happier, easier or more convenient.

7. On social media, share-worthy contests and quizzes are a great way to expand your brand. Host a photo contest where viewers vote, or maybe create a quiz that tests followers’ home buying knowledge.

8. Build relationships with local and regional influencers. You know who these people are. When they talk, everyone listens. Look for online and on-the-ground community members. Remember, you want to form long-term relationships that complement each other, no one wants to always be on the giving end.

Building name recognition is all about making an emotional connection with your community. ReaMark customer service agents can help you explore customized promotional material that seamlessly complements your marketing and networking strategies.

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