When direct mail works, it can look almost effortless. A homeowner receives a postcard, recognizes the agent, and calls when it is time to sell.
But that response was rarely created by one postcard.
It was built through repetition, relevance, and recognition.
Repetition Gets You Seen
One mailing introduces you. Repeated mailings make you familiar.
Homeowners may not need an agent the first, third, or even tenth time they see your name. That does not mean your marketing is failing. Each mailing is helping establish your presence and reinforcing the message that you are active, available, and invested in their community.
The objective is not to make someone respond every time. It is to remain visible until their timing changes.
Relevance Gets You Noticed
Repetition alone is not enough. Your message must also give homeowners a reason to pay attention.
Market updates, recent sales, homeowner tips, seasonal information, and answers to common real estate questions all connect your name with something useful.
The strongest direct mail does more than say, “I’m a real estate agent.” It demonstrates, “I understand this market, and I can help when you need me.”
Recognition Gets You Chosen
Recognition is what happens when repetition and relevance work together.
Your name feels familiar. Your face is easy to place. Your message is consistent. When a homeowner begins thinking about selling—or a neighbor asks if they know an agent—you are no longer a stranger asking for their business.
You are the agent they already know.
Before sending your next mailing, ask three questions:
Have these homeowners seen me before?
Does this message matter to them?
Will they immediately recognize that it came from me?
Repetition without relevance becomes background noise. Relevance without repetition is easily forgotten. But when homeowners repeatedly receive useful marketing from an agent they recognize, direct mail becomes something much more valuable:
A place in their memory.
Direct mail is not magic. It is a deliberate process of becoming known before your services are needed.
Turn the same mailing list from your Just Sold postcard into an automated follow-up campaign that keeps building familiarity long after the listing has sold.
It takes more than a statement on your website or business card to truly be considered a neighborhood expert.
There are many agents using this title as a marketing tool, while not doing the necessary work to make the title a reality.
Let’s consider some ways to prove to potential clients that you are what you say you are.
1. Prove it in your marketing materials
True neighborhood experts, by and large, market to farm areas.
Whether that is a condo community, a specific zip code, or by subdivision, focusing on a smaller pool of homeowners is a brilliant way to become known as the expert in a community.
The best way to reach these homeowners or tenants or whomever you are targeting is via direct mail. It’s quick, it’s inexpensive and it works.
Shown above, FARM, Get More Listings postcard campaign. Learn more, HERE
Be sure to include on the back of the postcards an offer for a free “local market stats” report, that details home listings and sales in that area.
It shows them that you know your stuff and are on top of what’s happening in their area.
And, when homeowners reach out for this report, ensure that your explanation is in plain English. Unless you explain the meaning, avoid insider jargon, such as:
“absorption rate”
“months’ supply of real estate inventory” (what does months’ supply and “inventory” mean?),
“the median price range” (explain median vs. average)
“time on market” or “days on market” (why is this important to the average homeowner thinking of selling?)
We found lots of other examples online of what to AVOID in your Market Stats or CMA reports, such as:
“During this quarter, sales dollar volume increased year over year by 3% to $599,080,374. New listings rose 22% to 2,820, active listings increased 21% to 5,840 and pending sales increased 11% to 2,452. Monthly housing inventory increased by 0.4 months to 2.3 months.”
“Sales dollar volume” is meaningless to a homeowner. We would reword the paragraph to read more like a narrative than a dry list of statistics:
During this quarter, 22 percent more homeowners put their homes on the market here in Any town than in October. As quickly as they’re listed, however, buyers snap them up. One indication of that is the increase in pending sales, which were up 11 percent more than pending sales during the previous quarter of 2021.”
Since potential home sellers are your primary audience when farming, leave out the increase in inventory unless it’s significant (0.4 months isn’t). And, if you must express inventory in “months,” do the readers a solid and explain what that means.
Additional effective farming pieces include:
Just listed and just soldpostcards (even if you haven’t sold or listed the property, if the agent in question has chosen not to announce this news, use their loss as your gain and send these postcards out).
The Market Dominator, an automated mega-newsletter that’s sent to an exclusive carrier route monthly through the use of EDDM.
2. Prove your neighborhood expertise on your website
Your website provides the ideal platform to strut your neighborhood expertise. Start by ensuring it’s localized.
So many agents pay the big bucks for a professional website and fail to remove or change the template text that comes with it.
Add your market area everywhere possible, starting with the above-the-fold area on your home page. Don’t make visitors wonder where on earth you sell real estate.
Create a neighborhoods section on your site and fill it with valuable, hyper-local content. In-depth neighborhood descriptions, quotes from folks who live in the neighborhood about why they love it, links to listings, and lots of photos are the bare necessities for neighborhood pages.
Finally, if you don’t have a blog, start one. It’s the ideal place to post local content and, if promoted across your social media platforms, it will help drive traffic back to your site.
Because You Want The Following Things to Happen in 2022?
Strategic focus – Centralized sales in one area. No more driving across town for a listing. To become a neighborhood expert – You’re committed to a specific neighborhood where you will become known as the expert.
Increased growth – You’re building toward the future instead of “just getting by” working on whatever comes your way.
A branded business – You’re branding yourself and your business within a community and building relationships over time with the people who live there.
Increased demand for your service – Sellers and buyers want to work with real estate agents who are experts in the community where they are buying and selling, and that’s YOU.
Build a geographic farm list (from a desktop or laptop computer) using the MapMyMail tool.
Hit the “CLICK HERE” link, below (from a desktop or laptop computer) and choose the MapMyMail listing building tool.
USE PROMO CODE: FARM15 to get 15% off of your geographic farm list.
For Help Creating Your Geographic Farm List, Watch This Video Below.
This sale expires on 12/25/21. 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 Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – 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
While you’re online scheduling your Holiday postcards to go out, consider launching an annual Holiday scheduled campaign.
Known as “The Great Reshuffling,” 11% of Americans moved last year. More than 7 million moved to a different county, many to another state.
Employers made it easy to do, offering remote working alternatives which, for many, appear to be the new normal.
The states with the highest cost of living, such as California, New York, and Minnesota were among the losers while Nevada, Idaho, and Arizona ranked among the most popular destinations. In fact, California has lost more than 182,000 residents since the start of the pandemic.
“It’s the first time in California’s recorded history, that the state’s year-over-year population dropped,” Kate Larsen reported at abc7news.com.
The states with the highest number of inbound moves, according to magazine.realtor, include:
Idaho
North Carolina
Maine
New Hampshire
Alabama
District of Columbia
New Mexico
Nevada
Alaska
Kentucky
If you sell real estate in any of these states and don’t offer a free relocation guide as an opt-in, what are you waiting for?
How to create a relocation guide
The first decision you’ll need to make is whether you’ll DIY the project or outsource it. Doing it yourself will take time away from your business. How much time will depend on how in-depth your guide will be (number of pages, photos, etc.)
Check out what other agents are offering to figure out what you like and which fit your needs. Here are a few examples to start with:
live-in-las-vegas.com: Although we love the layout of this one, the information is terribly outdated.
TIP: Concentrate on using evergreen content. That is content that remains relevant over time. For instance, How to Lose Weight is far better than How to Lose Weight in 2021.
If, however, you want a magazine-style layout, a guide in E-book form or another medium, you’ll be better served hiring a professional writer.
oliverrealty.net: Very simple guide with an “insider” vibe to it. The only thing we would’ve changed is to add more photos.
Long, full of yummy photos and valuable information, Team Aguiler in San Diego’s relocation guide is amazing. Yet, there are three glaring omissions: the lack of branding and contact information, a table of contents at the end rather than the beginning of the guide and it’s not being used for lead capture.
Don’t just give your guide away with an instant download. Ask for name and contact information in exchange.
What not to do
Avoid the urge to load up the guide with overt marketing. This document is meant to be of value to potential clients, not to your business.
Take care in the photos you use. Naturally, you’ll not want to use another’s photos without written permission. If you take them yourself, ensure that they look professional.
Even if you fancy yourself a writer, hire a proofreader before publishing. You’ll find some with reasonable rates online at fiverr.com and upwork.com. Otherwise, you may be embarrassed by something like this (and, yes, this photo is live on the agent’s site).
It’s an easy mistake to make and you may not even catch errors such as this (the URL at the top of the photo is misspelled). Get a proofreader.
Again, don’t give the guide away without capturing information. Set up a landing page to drive prospects to and keep it simple. Name and email or phone usually suffice.
According to a study by hitwise.com, relocators are more than 20 percent likely to visit real estate sites than the average consumer. Get that relocation published and grab your share!
Turn Your Just Sold Listing into MORE LISTINGS with a One-Year Just Sold Campaign!
ust Sold Follow-Up Campaign is shown above. Learn more, HERE
TO LAUNCH A JUST SOLD FOLLOW-UP CAMPAIGN:
Hit “CLICK HERE”, below, to get started on your Just Sold Campaign (from a desktop or laptop computer).
And, remember, YOU DON’T PAY for each mailing until it actually goes out (cancel or change each mailing up until the night before it goes out. The price shown at check out is per mailing, not campaign total).
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…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available 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. 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. 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
