Real Estate Marketing Blog

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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$20 off $125 or
$50 off $199

Call, mail or fax your order today!

If you’ve been involved in real estate for any length of time, you’ve experienced the rising impact digital marketing has had on the industry. Initially, some veteran agents and brokers may have been reluctant to embrace digital marketing and social media. Now, of course, many use social media and content marketing strategies like blogs and articles to help promote their business.

If you want to create a high powered real estate marketing strategy in the new year, you should consider creating a more balanced print and digital content marketing mix.

The Goal of Content Marketing

The goal of content marketing is two-fold. First, you want to funnel leads and prospects to you by providing valuable and useful content. This can be done through tips, tricks, the latest real estate news, and even updates on real estate that may be available in your target market or that which has just sold. Secondly, the information you provide can position you as an expert and trusted resource for real estate for your target market. The goal is that when they are in the market to buy or sell, they are more likely to reach out to you.

The challenge is to get the attention of potential leads in the first place. This can be accomplished to some degree by promoting your content on social media. It can also be done by using effective search engine optimization (SEO) strategies. As you know, however, real estate is an extremely competitive business and SEO takes specific skills and can be time-consuming.

The answer is pushing visitors to your content through print, including direct mail.

Postcards, newsletters, and promotional materials to promote your web presence can bring a whole new set of eyes to your digital marketing efforts. Tempt prospects to your website or blog with invitations to “Learn what your home is currently worth”, “Discover 10 ways to save on your next mortgage” or “See what homes are selling for in your neighborhood”. Of course, these direct mail pieces would include your web address or the address of a landing page designed specifically for that promotional piece.

At ReaMark, we can help you develop a more balanced digital/print marketing mix that can supercharge your digital marketing efforts. We can also help you better target your market with EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail) strategies that are proven effective.

Contact ReaMark today and learn about our buy five get one free and buy 10 get two free special offer postcard program. Inject new energy into your digital content marketing plan with print marketing materials from ReaMark!

Virtually every successful real estate professional has learned the value of goal setting. Much of this goal setting revolves around sales and income. It can be valuable, however, to set goals on other aspects of real estate like the number of leads or prospects generated in a month. It can also be important to set goals for and track real estate marketing efforts.

At ReaMark, we specialize specifically in real estate related marketing and promotional pieces. Through the years, one of our most popular programs has been our real estate postcards. Real estate marketing postcards reach consumers directly in their homes and can be targeted neighborhood by neighborhood. They have repeatedly been proven to be an effective real estate marketing tool. But having the proper goals and expectations is important for postcard mailing campaigns. Here are some tips for goal setting when developing your postcard mailing campaign.

Setting Proper Expectations

It is widely accepted in direct mail marketing that a 2% response rate is successful. While on the surface that may seem minimal, consider the impact. A 2% response rate could potentially translate into 20 solid leads and prospects. That can turn into a significant return on investment.

You should be aware, however, that response rate will be impacted by a variety of factors. If your postcard includes a free offer, it may get a better response than if it is more passive. If you are new to real estate, your response may not be as high as someone who already is known in a community or neighborhood.

Be Consistent

The best way to build your brand and increase lead generation is through consistency. ReaMark can help you accomplish that through a wide selection of timely real estate postcards and a program that gives you a free design for every 5 deigns purchased and two free postcards for every 10 purchased. Reaching consumers every month or every other month builds familiarity and name recognition.

Be Patient

Remember, you are building your business. Many of our postcard designs are designed to provide helpful information, tips, or timely reminders. While your potential prospects will appreciate the information and view you favorably, many will not immediately respond. After all, the percentage of people who are in the market to buy or sell real estate at any given moment is relatively small. Your campaign, however, can eventually bring leads into the marketplace and more importantly, keep your name front and center when they do.

Contact Our Professionals for Assistance

We invite you to contact our marketing professionals at ReaMark to assist you with your real estate postcard marketing campaign. We can even help with EDDM and custom graphic designs. Let us help you reach your real estate marketing goals at ReaMark.

There may be a variety of reasons you entered the real estate business. You may enjoy working with people, you may like the freedom and flexibility a career in real estate can offer, and you may even appreciate the financial rewards. It’s not likely, however, that you entered real estate because you love marketing and advertising. Nevertheless, marketing is a critical component of a successful real estate career.

At ReaMark, we specialize in real estate marketing products and in helping real estate professionals just like you put together marketing plans that work. Here are some tips to help you put together a yearly marketing plan.

1. Build your marketing program seasonally, around events and holidays. Consider Spring time change reminders for February, free home evaluations in March at the beginning of real estate season, and football season in August/September. Of course, the holidays at the end of the year are perfect for greeting cards and calendars.
2. Finance your plan sufficiently. Make sure you have enough “fuel” to build that fire you are trying to create.
3. Use a variety of tools. While you’ll want to invest in promotional and direct mail items, you’ll also want to include low to no cost strategies like social media, email, and getting involved in community and charitable events. Marketing is all about visibility and consistency.
4. Use your marketing plan to build your brand. Make sure your marketing efforts deliver your core message consistently using the same colors, logo, and font. Ask yourself how you want prospects and clients to perceive you and build upon that.
5. Know who your target market is. While many agents feel their market is “everybody”, that is simply not practical unless you have unlimited time and resources. Target a demographic and/or area and go after it. Of course, that doesn’t mean you’ll turn down business that comes to you but make sure your annual marketing plan is targeted to your audience.

At ReaMark, we can help you construct the foundation of an annual marketing plan with promotional items, newsletters, postcards, sports schedules, and more. These items can make sure you stay in front of your target market consistently. We make our graphics team available so you can build your brand in a visually appealing way. We can even help you farm specific neighborhoods through Every Door Direct Marketing (EDDM). Act now and take advantage of our buy five and get one or buy 10 and get two free postcard special.

Remember, people usually don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan. Create your annual real estate marketing plan today with the help of ReaMark!