Direct Mail Marketing on a Budget: How to Get the Best Bang for Your Buck
Why direct mail?
According to a CMO survey (a company that collects the opinions of top marketers), only 16.3 percent of marketers “are confident about recommending investing in social media marketing.”
If professional marketers aren’t able to justify spending their clients’ money on social media marketing, then you may want to pass for now, specifically if you’re working with a tight budget.
So where do you spend your marketing dollars when you’re funds are limited?
The proof is in the numbers
Direct mail marketings response rate, according to the DMA Response Rate Report, stands at nine percent to warm leads and five percent to cold.
In addition, the DMA states 56% of consumers believe print marketing is the most trustworthy of all marketing channels.
The email marketing response rate is one percent. Online display ads are even worse, at 0.30 percent.
Clearly, if you are looking for the best place to spend your limited marketing dollars, the answer is direct mail marketing.
How much should you allocate
Before getting clear on your budget you must understand your revenue goals and objectives.
As a guide, businesses spend, on average, 9.8 percent of revenue on marketing, according to the aforementioned CMO survey.
We see you wincing. But consider this: according to NAR, the overall budget item that agents spend the most money on every year is on their automobiles.
Cars aren’t exactly lead-generating machines, yet there you have it.
So, determine a percentage that you can feel comfortable with, based on your goals, and commit to spending that budget during the remainder of the year.
The following are three tips to get the most bang for your direct mail marketing budget
1. The List
For any marketing campaign to be successful you must know your audience. This is even more critical when you’re on a tight budget. Now is not the time to attempt to be all things to all people.
Call to Action Postcard Campaign is shown above
The easiest way to whittle down the audience is by first figuring out if you’re going after buyers or sellers. Make a choice.
This not only ensures that what you mail is relevant to the recipient, but helps you choose a farming area (subdivision vs apartment building, for instance).
Be very picky who you mail to. Throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks is a sure way to burn through your budget with nothing to show for the time and money spent.
Once you have defined your target markets, use our mailing list tools to create your prospect list.
2. The marketing pieces
After taking into account how many mailed pieces your budget will allow you to send, it’s time to determine an economic format. Postcards are most likely your best bet. They’re inexpensive to print and mail.
If your budget is super tight, consider foregoing postage costs and delivering door hangers. The advantages to using door hangers include that they stand out more and because you’ll save on postage your list can be larger.
Disadvantages include the labor intensiveness of having to visit each home on your list. Also, door hangers aren’t quite as effective when used in neighborhoods where people routinely enter their homes through the garage.
3. Offer something
Come up with a compelling offer and feature that on your direct mail postcards. A free home price analysis, buy first vs sell first evaluation or a free home equity analysis are all effective options.
The idea is to move recipients to act or, at the very least, hang on to your postcard until they’re ready to act.
Bottom line
Now, when your budget is tight, isn’t the time to take chances with marketing your real estate business.
Jumping on time-consuming and costly social media bandwagons that don’t deliver your target audience or wasting time and resources on an email that may not be opened, let alone read, can wait.
Use your budget on marketing that has the highest response rate – direct mail marketing.
The Move-Up Market is a great market to target right now. Especially since, with our current sale, you can get the first 100 prospects on a Move-Up Market list for FREE!
HOW TO FIND MOVE-UP MARKET PROSPECTS IN YOUR AREA.
Hit “CLICK HERE”, below (from a desktop or laptop computer) and choose the Demographic Search Tool.
USE PROMO CODE: MOVE100 to get the first 100 prospects free.
Discover Move-UP Market Prospects in your area, now, CLICK HERE!
This sale expires on 10/23/21. Please reach out to our support team at 866.405.3638 with questions or if there is anything we can do to help you with your success.
PLUS: When you have time…below are some helpful tools to support your success.
1. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Get More Listings, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence. –Click Here
2. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan
The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here
3. The Automated Way to Become a Neighborhood Brand
Become branded in a specific neighborhood with a 12X15 marketing piece sent automatically each month to an exclusive carrier route. Watch this video to learn more or Click Here.
4. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide
The Real Estate Mailing List Guide outlines the top tools for generating targeted prospecting lists including Baby Boomers, Empty Nesters, Investors, Lifestyle Interests, High-Income Renters, Move-Up Markets, and more. The Guide also defines done-for-you marketing campaigns to match these markets. –Click Here
5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook
Ready to take a vertical leap in your real estate career? If you’re looking for inspiration…and the tools and methods to dominate a market and go to the top in real estate…you’ll find them in this free book. – Click Here
6. The Free Online ROI Calculator
Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! –Click Here
7. The Free Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”
The “Crush It” Guide includes easy steps to launching an effective direct mail marketing campaign, how to create a targeted prospect list, the perfect way to layout marketing materials for success, seven opportunities available to target in your area right now. –Click Here
