Real Estate Marketing Blog

Looking for real estate postcards ideas? Think Daylight Saving Time.

Get ahead this spring with real estate postcards that serve a valuable reminder.

Prospecting with real estate postcards is a year-round marketing strategy, and the first big opportunity comes with the spring time change on Sunday, March 9, 2014.

Why Sending Realtor Postcards for DST is a Good Idea

Daylight Saving Time (DST) has been in practice in the United States for nearly a century, so you’d think that when it comes to changing our clocks we would be on autopilot to fall back and spring ahead.

But according to a national survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports, 27 percent of people have been an hour early or an hour late because they failed to change the clocks correctly.

This tells us that reminding clients of the spring time change with a real estate postcard mailing is a great idea for those who are prospecting.

Not only does a spring time change postcard provide a valuable reminder to clients; it also helps keep agents’ information in front of potential buyers and sellers.

Order Now for Timely Delivery

Realtors that want to take advantage of this mailing strategy should place real estate postcard orders now.

This will ensure enough time to print and ship your postcards (or send them through mailing services).

Looking for additional real estate postcards ideas for your mailings? Check out our 2014 prospecting guide for key dates to send your realtor post cards.

Custom postcards are effective postcards, and here is why one agent makes them a part of the overall realtor marketing strategy.

Effective real estate marketing strategies should include custom postcards. 

When Vince Grant, an agent from the Pacific Northwest region, contacted us about helping him with a real estate marketing plan, we were happy to apply what we knew from working with other realtors over the years.

Eventually, it developed into a conversation about how effective postcards are for business, not only for generating leads but also for staying in front of existing clients.

Now, several years later, Vince still turns to ReaMark for realtor marketing products because of the continued effectiveness of the postcards and the service.

Here is his take on the ReaMark experience:

“I have used ReaMark for several years. They have worked with me on several custom postcards and I have had tremendous results. I have appreciated their product quality and their thoroughness and smoothness in the process from creating to mailing. Their pricing has been competitive, the service and communication has been great. I would highly recommend looking into how ReaMark can help your business grow.”

Does your current real estate marketing partner evoke the same sentiment from you?

Custom Realtor Marketing Programs: (800) 932-2957

Read more realtor success stories

Remind real estate clients of spring time change with daylight savings postcards.

Do you know which day to set your clocks ahead this spring? Your clients probably don’t either, and that’s exactly why real estate agents should send daylight savings time postcards right now.

Why Real Estate Spring Time Change Postcards Work

The benefits of sending daylight savings time information via postcards are twofold:

• provide valuable information to your clients, and
• give them a reason to put your name up on their refrigerator.

After all, now that they have the date, they certainly don’t want to forget it! (It’s Sunday, March 9, for those who are wondering.)

As with any realtor prospecting strategy, the key is to send postcards on key dates.

Real estate spring time change postcards hit clients’ mailboxes at the very first important event: daylight savings time.

But in order to get daylight savings time postcards out in time, realtors need to place their orders soon.

You should plan on having the postcards in the homes of your clients no later than the week of February 24.

Timeliness is everything in real estate, and you can reflect the importance of it in your own business by alerting clients to the next time change.

Realtor Marketing Insights: Post Cards, Calendars and Newsletters

Real estate behaves differently around the country; we know that because we’ve seen how quickly homes move off the market in one area and how painfully stagnant the situation is in another.

This is what makes realtor marketing difficult for agents, especially those that are new to the profession. Do you send real estate marketing post cards or will newsletters be more effective?

What is working in your area?

Realtor marketing strategies: post cards could be your best bet.

ReaMark works with more than 30,000 agents across the U.S., so we know what works and what doesn’t in each region.

It makes sense. If you think about it, realtor marketing can be done with post cards, calendars, newsletters or other direct mail pieces.

But while the brevity of post card mailers may be appealing to one audience, the long format of newsletters may be better suited for a different set of customers.

At ReaMark, we have spent the past 13 years getting to know our customers (the realtors) and their customers (the home buyers and sellers), so that we can guide agents toward the best communication style for their area.

Whether that’s real estate marketing post cards or realtor calendars and newsletters, ReaMark is an advocate for realtors and effective marketing strategies.

Let us put our knowledge to work for your career…your success.

Key Mailing Dates, Surefire Contact Lists and Real Estate Thank You Notes

Strategies for Real Estate Postcard Prospecting

In the blink of an eye, we’ll be looking at another 365 days of possibilities. That’s why, before the clock begins, we want to talk about strategies for real estate postcards prospecting – from which contact lists to use to the reason why real estate thank you notes are a staple for new realtors.

It’s All About Who You Know

When you’re just starting out in real estate, you likely don’t have an abundance of contacts. But what you do have are friends and family.

These are contacts.

Send monthly real estate postcards to these individuals before prospecting for new business. This way, you can work on generating referrals, which typically convert to new business faster than farming.

(And, if you do get a referral, remember to send the referring party a thank you note.)

Acknowledge Referrals with Real Estate Thank You Cards

And Knowing When to Send

As a fledgling realtor, you want to be prepared at all times. A good way to do so is by sending postcards on these key dates:

• Spring Time Change (March)
• Independence Day (July)
• Calendar for Next Year (August/September)
• Fall Time Change (October)
• Thanksgiving (November)
• Holidays (December)

In addition, you should consider mailing a Just Listed or Just Sold (depending on circumstances at the time) postcard every month to the area and to your contact list.

Again, real estate thank you notes are a kind gesture for those that list their property with you or when you sell the property down the line.

That Make the Difference

Once you grow your personal contact list to 400 people and you mail them monthly, you could easily be enjoying a six-figure income.

We’ve seen it happen, and we want to encourage you to be successful in 2014 with strategies that are realistic and attainable.

Consumer data aggregate programs are some of the most powerful online marketing tools for realtors. However, the true results are shown when you can use that data to connect offline with potential clients.

The Power of Custom Postcards

Imagine that you log in to your realtor data software and see that the same person has been on your website at 3:30 p.m. every day for the last month. Finally, they log in using your Facebook application and provide you with their name and address.

This is a prime opportunity to reach out to that consumer, and an ideal way to do so is with custom postcards designed specifically for real estate agents.

Whether you want to announce an upcoming open house or a listing that you just sold, custom realtor postcards are an excellent means of communicating your relevancy as a real estate agent.

It shows that you invest the time and money to market your clients’ listings, and it gives the potential client the confidence they need to move forward with selecting you as their agent.

Best of all, by utilizing offline marketing tools like postcards you create more ways capitalize on your online real estate data. You take advantage of leads and you start realizing greater opportunities for success.

Did you know that an estimated 41% of home purchases in 2008 were made my first time homeowners? Renters are an excellent target market and if you are looking for buyers, you need to be mailing apartment buildings and non-owner occupied residences on a regular basis. ReaMark makes it easy with our Real Estate Renter Postcards.

ReaMark’s Real Estate Renter Postcards are written to target renters and open their eyes to the financing options that may be available to them. Renters are a great demographic to zero in on because most realtors don’t market to apartments, most renters have to renew their lease or move every 6 to 12 months, and with renters you don’t have to worry about selling their current home. And with home affordability as its highest and interest rates near historic lows, now is a great time to buy. Get the word out with ReaMark’s Renter Postcards!

To request samples or to place an order, call us at 800-932-2957 and visit our website to see all of our Renter Postcards at http://www.reamark.com/catalog/renters.htm today!

A recent trend that doesn’t seem to be ebbing is that of younger buyers buying high-priced real estate. Where has this come from and how long has it been happening? More importantly, how long is this expected to last?

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, this is a trend that’s only become more and more a reality of the real estate market over the last several years. It’s also been increasingly commonplace.

Often scared by the stock market and its fluctuation, younger buyers put more stock in property and its sustainable worth. This is a definite plus for us real estate agents if only we know how to capitalize on it properly. How do we deal with non-traditional buyers who are purchasing real estate they don’t traditionally buy?

We believe that it’s quite simple really. Using such tactics as real estate newsletters, real estate postcards, realtor calendars: this is what we’ve found to work. What’s more, when drafting your real estate news letters, why not include news references such as the above to pique the interest of potential buyers and also show that you’re aware of their interests.

Make sure to also be consistent. Continually letting your potential buyers know that you are particularly well-suited to be of service to them means that they will think of you first. What ideas do you have for reaching them or perhaps targeting them with custom real estate postcards?

2013 is well on its way and is shaping up to be much different than recent years in many ways, one of which is the real estate market. We at ReaMark wouldn’t be successful with real estate marketing tools were we not on top of the changes in the market from month to month and year to year. So what are the trends for the upcoming year and how can our products like real estate postcards help you in your goal of increased success?

One trend that’s been confirmed again and again is the lack of properties on the market. With fewer properties, realtors have less to work with making real estate even more competitive than it already is. Factoring into that shortage is the rush of potential buyers seeking out non-traditional approaches to buying a home such as going door-to-door to properties they are interested in buying, impatient to look through the lessened number of listings in real estate newsletters or through other publications.

Why do we mention the above changes in the market? One reason is that we feel it’s important to work together with realtors in ways to improve their success in a market like this with a buyer that has adapted to the changes. We need to adapt too. It’s of the utmost importance to continue sending out real estate door hangers and the like so that, should one of these enterprising buyers come knocking on the door of a home they like, the homeowner won’t need to think twice about who will help broker the deal or list their house to see if there might be better offers.

Being a household name in the real estate market these days is more important than ever to achieve success in listing and selling homes. Look through some of the products we have and see what would work for you. We wish you the best in the real estate market of 2013.

–The Team at ReaMark

As you can see, this idea as applied to real estate is worth repeating again. As was mentioned in the last post of just about the same name, homeowners often wait until the last minute to look for an agent with whom they can list. We’ve found that by sending repeat mailings there’s a greater likelihood of getting more business. Be a household name. If the homeowner sees your name whenever reaching for a pen or pad of paper, there’s a greater chance that they will think of you or when regularly seeing your newsletters for real estate listings.

Being trusted with handling something big like the listing of a family’s home is important. With mailings (real estate postcards perhaps), you are establishing yourself as someone worth trusting who is always ready to be helpful and friendly with the sale of a home.

The important thing to remember too is that sometimes it’s a slow process but having that extra patience when dealing with homeowners can really take you the extra mile. Best of luck out there!