Real Estate Marketing Blog

Seed packets are such a perfect promotional opportunity for springtime. Customize your message to reach out to new or prospective clients.

You can start with recent closings, and send former customers a “Thank you” seed packet. The seeds will grow into lovely flowers or fresh plants that spruce up your client’s landscaping and serve as a constant reminder of your commitment to customer service. Also, people love talking about their landscaping, and these conversations also promote your business.

Turning Leads Into Conversions

To maximize your budget, scale down your marketing campaign by answering the following questions:

• Do you have accurate contact information for the prospect?
• Did the prospect provide their housing needs?
• Has the lead reached out to you on social media or via other means?
• Is this a referral or a purchased lead?

You can add your own questions, based on how you generated the lead list. The more “yes” answers you have, the more likely the lead is to turn into a conversion.

Labeling the Leads

Your original list can now be separated into “Ready to Nurture” and “Not Ready” piles. Include the customers in the “Ready” pile in your seed packet campaign. Any leads generated via digital touchpoints are potentially hot leads. The “Put Down Roots with Us” seed packet generates a lot of excitement and reminds people who have put their home search on hold that it’s time to get out there and look again. It also positions you as the agent who can get the job done. 

If you have a list of leads for high-net-value home buyers and sellers, sending a seed packet with your photo and contact information gets your name in front of them. This in itself may generate enough interest to start new client relationships. However, just like the seeds themselves, you may have to feed and care for this budding relationship before it bears fruit. That’s where other promotional items, such as calendars and localized sports schedules come in really handy.

The more times a prospective client hears your name, the better your conversion rate becomes.

Prioritizing Prospects

Not all leads deserve equal attention. Some of the people who visit your website may really be looking to buy or sell property. Others have just started to think about the process and may need a little convincing. Whether you’re advertising online or in the real world, the goal is the same. You want to show customers that you are willing to take the time to get to know them and that you can do the job.

The Bee Feed Mix seed packets are great for clients who need a nudge. Imagining a lovely garden where bees bounce from flower to flower brings out the nesting instinct and gives a nod to sustainable landscaping. That’s something many modern home buyers care about. All and all, it’s a lovely sentiment that helps keep your name at the forefront of the prospective client’s mind.

If you need assistance with promotional marketing strategies, contact us today at 1-800-932-2957 for a free consultation. Let us help you nurture and grow your leads into lifelong clients.

Catch up with your buyers and sellers in time for spring and summer buying seasons. Creating and distributing newsletters builds a sense of community among former and prospective clients. It also builds name recognition and strengthens your brand by highlighting your success stories. 

Over 40 Styles to Choose From

Whether you choose to go old-style with black and white print or invest in color, there are two personalization areas where you can build your brand. The rest of the newsletter comes in full-color and offers tips and tricks for homeowners. We want you to be totally satisfied with your personalized text and graphics, so you get to approve proofs before we print your 8.5 x 11-inch newsletter. You can save time and hassle by having us mail your newsletters or mail them yourself at the 1-ounce or first-class rate.

Find out more about how to order newsletters from ReaMark here. The process moves along quickly — you receive proofs of the personalized sections in 1-2 days — but it’s a good idea to reach out as soon as you decide to send an updated newsletter. The newsletters come in bi-fold and tri-fold layouts.

What Type of Content Can You Expect?

When you purchase a newsletter, the content is provided as part of the cost. There are 20+ newsletter styles to choose from, and each contains three unique content layouts with one or more sections. Newsletters may include FAQs for home improvement or buying and selling a home, recipes, games, gardening advice, and other topics that might appeal to real estate clients.

The provided content is timeless. It doesn’t target geographical areas. So, you can send your newsletter anywhere and it will still be relevant. Each 4-page newsletter has stories that are 60% real estate focused and 40% other topics or interests.

Here are samples of the content that you can choose from:

• Avoid Costly Home-selling Mistakes
• Renovations and Upgrades on a Budget
• What is a Qualified Mortgage?
• Dessert recipes
• Curb Appeal Makeovers

Build Your Client Base

Use ReaMark 4-page newsletters to build rapport and grow your client base. By providing information your prospective clients can use immediately, you build your brand. Also, these newsletters are likely to get passed around to friends and family members, which generates potential new leads for future business. 

Marketing Tip: You can ask local doctors, dentists, and small businesses if it’s okay to leave a few newsletters in their lobbies. These businesses may be open to fresh reading material for clients waiting for their appointments. 

We have sold more than 10 million copies, so you can rest assured that newsletters are well-received and effective. Check out our newsletter page to find discounts of 25% to 40% off.

Turn your correspondence into a marketing tool by using custom mailing labels to gear up clients for a new listing or to remind them of your services after a successful close. Keep a roll of Just Listed or Just Sold labels around and ask for referrals as soon as the ink is dry on the Sales Contract. You can use the Just Sold labels to underscore your success when you send a closing gift or postcards to previous clients to generate referrals.

Brand Big on Direct Mail

Real Estate Photo Labels let you put your smiling face and contact information on postcards, letters and envelopes. Turn your direct mailing pieces into professional branding tools. 

Generating leads through direct mail can be a grueling but effective way to initiate contact. It also reminds past and present customers to spread the word about you in your farm area. To save money on mailing costs, concentrate on homes in the vicinity of recent sales. These homeowners may drive by your listing or recent sale every day. If they want to sell their own home, a direct mail piece reminds them of who to call. Adding a photo mailing label with a professional portrait leaves a positive impression.

What If You’re New to Real Estate?

If you are just starting your career in real estate, it’s difficult to get your name out there unless you take every opportunity to do so. Direct mailing by letter or postcard accompanied by a professional label paints an image of an organized, savvy professional. Customized messaging for patriotic holidays or special events links you to important life events and helps prospective buyers and sellers remember your name when they or a friend need your services.

If possible, conduct some research to help you narrow down your target audience by more than geography. These insights lead to long-term relationships that result in multiple sales.

Don’t Take Things Too Seriously

Although you want to be professional, there’s nothing wrong with adding an element of fun to the mix. For example, a Happy Face Sold label brings a smile to your prospective client’s face. If a grateful client is open to referring you to friends, seeing a label with a heart stating that I Love Referrals may be the boost they need to pass along your contact information. 

Whatever real estate label you use, it adds to your advertising arsenal and can put more leads in the pipeline.

Door hangers are a great way to advertise your accomplishments and generate interest in your real estate services. Additionally, you don’t have to pay postage since they are delivered to the target market directly.

The copy and design of your door hanger varies based on what you want to accomplish. Here are some common uses that encourage engagement and help you build your brand in a neighborhood. Mix and match these ideas with Reamark door hangers to get the word out about your services.

1. Open House Invitation

Bring door hangers along when you advertise an open house. Knock on the door to personally invite neighbors. If no one is home, leave a door hanger with the event time, date and your contact information. You can customize the details for each event.

2. Just Sold

When you hang a door hanger in your farm territory, word spreads quickly that you can successfully sell homes in the area. This is a terrific way to generate seller leads. Be sure to include the selling price and details about the sale that highlight your success. This could include multiple offers, whether it sold in just a few weeks and other pertinent details. Get these door hangers out as quickly as possible when you sell a home for top dollar.

3. Just Listed

Use just listed door hangers to spread the word about a new home for sale in the area. residents may have friends and family looking to move into the area or may wish to upgrade or downgrade their own living situation. Here are a few ideas for effective messaging:

• “Your neighbor recently listed their property. Curious what yours could sell for?”
• “A home was recently listed in your neighborhood. Do you want to know if that impacts your equity?”

4. Free Comparative Market Analysis Offer

When farming a new neighborhood, offer a complimentary CMA. If you don’t have any recent sales in the neighborhood, you can always try for seller leads using an offer for a free comparative market analysis (CMA). Put a QR code or a link to your landing page to make it easy for interested homeowners to contact you. Keep your message short, because they may not even look if they believe you’re just trying to reel them in.

5. General Advertisements

These are more open-ended door hangers. When designed properly, they can generate plenty of leads. Highlight your expertise in order to reach homeowners and buyers in genuine need of your expertise.

6. Specialty Door Hangers

For a softer sell or to follow up with warm leads, you don’t have to promote your services directly. Try a simple message to wish good luck to new graduates or happy holidays to potential clients in the neighborhood.

Help parents get organized for the first year of the decade by giving them a complimentary calendar. List your services and contact information while providing color-coded reminders of the first and last day of school, in-service days, holidays and early release days. When parents want to plan vacations or days off for R and R, they can glance at the condensed calendar posted on their refrigerator, bulletin board or desk. Every time they do, they see your smiling face to remind them who to call for real estate services.

Cross-Branding with School Names Is a Winning Strategy

The school name displays across the top, which makes our real estate calendars the perfect promotional item to give to teachers, school secretaries and parents who want to show school pride. One option leaves space for frequently used numbers to the right of the calendar. Customize this section with the number for local pizza shops, nearby schools, emergency numbers, and other must-have numbers that parents can use for quick references. The more useful the calendar, the more often parents and visitors will use it, increasing your exposure many times over.

School Calendars Make Great Direct Mail Stuffers

Mail out these calendars with brochures or letters of welcome to new families in the area. They mail at the 2 oz. rate, which keeps your marketing budget down. Be sure to check out our customized envelopes, which you can order with your calendars for a sharp, professional delivery.

School Dates Calendars

At 4 x 7 inches, school calendars are small enough for students to place in their lockers and for parents to carry in purse, totes, and briefcases. The School Date Calendars provide a cheat sheet of important dates, as well as prominent display areas for your contact information and graphics, as well as the months of the year. The months contain color-coded dates for holidays, in-service days and other milestones. Further, this is another marketing tool that will generate leads and help your previous clients remember to refer you to friends and family members who are ready to buy or sell a home.

Available graphics for the school name and address include a collage of children and various chalkboard themes. There are many designs and options to help you customize your orders, such as black and white or color printing, landscape or portrait orientation and a selection of information options that let you choose the best way to service your clients and potential clients.

ReaMark calendars, postcards, pens and other products are made of quality materials for long-lasting use to your clients for longer exposure time and greater return on investment. Call us today at 1-800-932-2957 to discuss any products you feel can help you market your real estate services. We are happy to strategize with customers looking for great ideas.

It’s time to put the winter blues behind you. After all, your prospects are thinking about a change of pace — and how to invest their tax returns. Could rethinking your outreach tactics help you get into the springtime fervor?

Seasonal real estate agent marketing depends on timely nuance to keep people engaged. Although promo cards, calendars, and mailers are tried-and-true outreach assets, you’re not the only one using them. Here are some tips on ensuring you stand out with a utility-first approach.

Easy Tips for Making Your Spring Marketing Assets More Useful

Effective advertising offers value that goes beyond the obvious. For instance, even though your customers might find it useful to learn that you offer local services, they could obtain that same information by Googling “real estate agents” or looking at your yard signs. Going the extra distance with more creative marketing increases the chances that people might pay attention.

Good agents differentiate their marketing by imbuing it with added value. Fortunately, spring offers numerous opportunities to make a lasting mark in the margins, headers, and footers of your promotional assets:

• Include timely property maintenance tips and information resource links on your promo cards, like reminders that this is the best time to get AC units cleaned out. You’ll earn bonus points if you stick to tidbits that are particularly relevant to your area and its yearly weather trends.
• Help families prep for spring and summer events, such as by including magnetic baseball schedules with your promotional mailings. It’s always wise to customize your calendars to include noteworthy local happenings, such as fairs, cultural festivals, and similar gatherings. This kind of community-aware marketing encourages people to associate your brand with good times instead of merely ignoring your calendars because they lack relevant content.
• Provide would-be sellers and buyers with choice strategy tips for transacting during spring and summer. While you don’t have to give away your secret recipes, sharing some unique insights can help you establish brand authority and build trust. This is also an excellent opportunity to insert shortened URL links to helpful third-party articles or QR codes to your agency blogs and social posts.
• Swap your conventional marketing materials for something a bit more original. For instance, spring is the ideal time to send out branded seed packets. If you’re lucky, your future clients will take the hint by beautifying their landscaping before they ask you to help them with tough sells.

Reconsider Your Visuals

Many consumers expect to encounter a particular flavor of marketing materials during spring. While you should always capitalize on vibrant imagery, rich colors, and balanced layouts, avoid the cookie-cutter approach.

Aesthetic appeal is also a form of utility. Don’t be afraid to compose materials that stray from the standard with local sights instead of stock images and attractive artistic illustrations. As long as you have a good designer to keep you on track, you’ll find it easy to appeal to homeowner values while fulfilling people’s craving for novelty.

Now that the New Year is approaching, it’s time to think about marketing to new and existing clients. Calendars provide utility, promote your business, and act as an ongoing advertisement every time someone passes by one. That’s why it’s important to establish relationships with businesses that can post complimentary wall calendars featuring your picture and information. Some businesses hand out their own calendars, but plenty of others would be willing to hand out yours to their customers.

Business Calendar Campaigns

If you have associates that you cross-brand with, such as cleaning services, lawn services and other home maintenance companies, consider asking them to hand out your calendars to their clients. This can work well with businesses you trust to do a good job and recommend to clients. If the business has a physical location, you can leave a wall calendar to hang in the lobby or reception area.

Magnetic School Year Calendars

Magnetic school calendars with your image and contact information give busy parents a quick reference for teacher service days, holidays and the first and last days of the school year. Hand out a few of these to clients, so they can share the information — and promote your services — to friends and family. Since they weigh just 2 oz., magnetic school calendars make great promotions for direct mail campaigns. 

Wall Calendars with Geographic and Patriotic Themes

Oversized wall calendars with scenes from your state or patriotic pictures connect your name with nostalgic feelings of home and patriotism. These attractive calendars are likely to end up on many walls, garnering interest and prospective clients.  The large boxes give recipients plenty of room to write down appointments and other reminders. Every time someone jots down details in a date, they are reminded who to call for their real estate needs.

UV Card Calendars

These colorful calendars are an affordable way to highlight peel and stick business cards. Choose the design that best matches your branding or one you believe prospective clients will like. This is a great filler for mail campaigns since they mail at the 1 oz. rate.  UV card calendars are just 9 inches long, increasing the likelihood that your target demographic will display them on desks and counter tops, where they are plainly visible. Whichever calendar you choose to fulfill your resolution to market or re-market your real estate services, calendars are a great way to let clients know who to call when it’s time to buy or sell a property.

Do you have 2020 vision? In this case we’re referring to the vision for your 2020 marketing plan. Sometimes it seems like the seasons slip right by, but it’s time to put a plan in place for the year ahead.

In the first quarter, your focus may be on new year-related materials such as calendars or perhaps quarterly newsletters. Plus, even when the weather is still cold out it is time to think about spring. Will you be in touch with your customers about “springing forward?” 

In spring, real estate season is in full swing. You will want to be at the forefront of your customer’s minds. This is when you want to offer home evaluations or connect with potential buyers. 

As summer arrives, many people travel and have family commitments. However, home buyers are still out there searching for the perfect place to call home. It can be a great time to find new homes for the market. Homes may sell at a good price during this season so it makes sense to focus additional marketing effort during this time. Don’t forget to think about back to school calendars or football schedules as a possible marketing tool too.

When fall comes, there are more reasons to connect with the surrounding community. You may be able to hand out cards at a local fall festival or send your current customers a reminder to “fall back” when the time changes. Plus, Thanksgiving gives you a good chance to remind your clients that you are thankful for their business.

Finally, the holiday season will be back again before you can blink. If you want next year’s holidays to be even merrier, consider customized greeting cards to reconnect with all of your customers from throughout the year. You never know when a former client may wind up needing your services once again. The reality is that the marketing season never stops. You must have 2020 vision throughout the year–and keep that vision in years ahead if you want to connect with your customers and grow your real estate business. We would love to help you find the perfect postcard, calendar or other products that will help you keep your name and face in the minds and hearts of your customers. Reach out to us at Reamark today and let us help you with that 2020 vision!

Real estate professionals have faced career change at a faster pace than many of those who work in other industries. An excellent example of this is the lightning speed at which digital marketing has succeeded in overshadowing more traditional options for reaching potential buyer and seller clients, such as farming by neighborhood or by specific demographics. 

However, brokers and agents who no longer farm or those who are guilty of second-guessing its value may want to take a second look. Now, with 2020 fast approaching, is the perfect time to learn more about the potential a good farming campaign can have as a complement to a modern digital marketing strategy.  

The Physical VS Digital Introduction

One of the reasons that farming has worked so well in the real estate industry in years past is its ability to provide an introduction that prospective clients can see and touch. When someone receives an attractive calendar or a well-designed postcard that can be held in their hand, there is an instant perception of value that helps the sender become more memorable. 

The average person today likely finds themselves targeted by hundreds of digital marketing ads each week. Because of this, many have become somewhat immune to digital messaging, especially when there is no prior introduction or existing connection.  

Agents who opt to use high-quality memorable materials as proactive farming tools are helping to provide a warm, non-threatening introduction to their company, brand, and services. Prospective clients on the receiving end of this type of marketing will have been effectively pre-introduced to the agent, a process that can foster and promote mutually beneficial ongoing relationships.

Building Long-Term Relationships VS Getting Digital Impressions

Online marketing success is often measured in digital impressions, but this type of interaction may not be enough in an industry such as real estate, where trust and familiarity are required for a successful, long-term relationship.  Agents and brokers who want 2020 to be their most successful year yet can use a timely gift of a tasteful wall or desk calendar to introduce themselves and their services. This initial introduction can then be followed with periodic, affordable postcard mailings, all of which serve to familiarize prospective clients with your photo, brand, logo, and website. 

Prospective clients who receive tangible farming messages from an agent or broker over several months will also be more receptive of their digital marketing efforts because they are able to easily recognize them from their farming efforts. 

Agents who would like to learn more about the benefits of using high-quality calendars and postcards as farming aids to enjoy greater success in 2020 can depend on Reamark for the answers and marketing advice they need. Calls and inquiries are answered by specially trained order consultants who work with each agent or broker to develop a marketing strategy that is simple, effective, and budget friendly in any market. 

Thanksgiving is often thought of as the traditional starting point of the long holiday season. It is a time when both private citizens and businesses tend to feel thankful for their health, happiness, and success. 

For the real estate agent or broker, the Thanksgiving holiday can offer even more. Instead of being just a time of passive reflection, agents and brokers can also use the season to actively give thanks and appreciation for both past and current clients. Agents who would like to make the most of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday season can benefit from these gifting tips. 

Offer a Tasty Treat for Long-Time or Repeat Clients

Most successful real estate agents have more than a few special long-time or repeat clients. These clients are the ones that may have only purchased or sold one or two properties, yet formed a bond with their agent that has fostered many more transactions over the years through referrals of friends, relatives, and coworkers. 

These are the past clients that you know well enough to send a basket of tasty treats with a favorite bottle of locally produced wine or cider.

In addition to food and beverages which will likely be savored soon after receipt, agents and brokers can also enclose a timely, but more lasting gift, such as a beautiful wall calendar or a tasteful magnet for their refrigerator. This type of gift, specially chosen based on the agent’s knowledge of their client’s preferences, offers both immediate appeal and a tangible reminder of your services and appreciation that will continue to generate referrals. 

Give Something That Gives Back 

When food is not an appropriate gift for past clients due to dietary restrictions or health concerns, real estate agents may want to consider gifting them with something that gives back. In keeping with the Thanksgiving theme, agents may want to make a donation in their client’s name to a favorite local cause or charity or volunteer in their client’s name. 

Notice of even a small donation or service, accompanied by tasteful Thanksgiving card and a 2020 wall calendar will help to ensure that past clients continue to feel a warm bond with the real estate agent that they quickly began to regard as a treasured friend. 

In addition to gifts inspired by the Thanksgiving season, real estate agents and brokers should consider making proactive changes to their ongoing marketing strategies that will continue to grow their business in the future. ReaMark, along with their specially trained consultants, can provide the products and marketing advice real estate agents and brokers need to grow their business throughout 2020 and the years to come.