Most cost effective marketing techniques?

[ISellRiverview]

In thinking about the many, MANY ways Realtors can do marketing, I thought I would post some of my own ideas and survey other realtors to see which advertising methods you've used and which ones you felt were effective and which weren't. Which brought in the best results for the amount of money you spent and which methods were worthless. I thought this topic might be especially useful for newer agents (myself included) with limited marketing budgets. Of course the most obvious answer is going to be a great website, and that is something I continually work on. But what else?

Some methods I've used or want to try:

1. MySpace - YES, its free and it works. Here's my page: www.myspace.com/lianesells
2. Google keywords. What kind of return have you gotten on leads to your website using Google keywords and how much did you spend each month on keywords?
3. Just Listed Postcards - limited results thus far. I am curious to hear if other Realtor use this method and what your rate of return is.
4. Advertising in local home magazines. Do you do this? Color or black & white? Do you get more seller or buyer calls when you use this method? Rate of return? This method can be expensive at $300+ for a full page color ad. And on a related note - do you offer your clients any incentive for calling you? I've seen in a few Realtor's ads things like "Use me to buy your next home and get a $500 gift card at closing". Does this type of method work?
5. Infoboxes. I've had mixed results. On the few listings I tried this on, I got very few sign calls. On the ones I don't have infoboxes on, I've had more showings and a few sign calls. I am out on this still, but it is a cheaper method.
6. Direct mailings via postcards or letters to a neighborhood. On a 300 postcard campaign I did, I got one call. It did not result in getting the listing, unfortunately. But I may try it again, but postcard mailings CAN be very expensive @ appx. $.50-$.75 a card. I am thinking about on my next mailing putting recent sales in the neighborhood or a local football schedule so the card is not (hopefully) immediately thrown in the trash! What has your rate of return been on these types of mailings?
7. Vehicle signs or custom lettering. Just got mine - no results on that yet. How about you?
8. Bench advertising or billboards. I see Realtor's names and faces on benches and billboards in town - does it work? That seems like a very expensive investment to me, and I'd be curious to see how many calls result from this method.

Feel free to post other methods you use as well.

[Sam Chapman]

9. Shopping cart ads in the grocery store. I haven't done it, but two attractive ladies in my office have used tham and it has paid off. Funny thing, but if you are an attractive female agent, showing your pretty smile can pay off nicely.

[ISellRiverview]

That is a good one too. Wonder how much those are!

[gregharaksin]

i saw this on your myspace in the first ten seconds

*profanity removed*

May 12 2007 5:37A

[Dan Connolly]

And you re-posted that here for what reason?

[gregharaksin]

um sorry Dan. I was interested in her marketing tips and i looked on her Myspace page. i thought she should be aware. no harm meant. sorry if i posted something i shouldn't have.

[gregharaksin]

sorry for the profanity webmaster. I re-read the rules. didn't do anything maliciously.

[ISellRiverview]

What are you talking about? I don't see any profanity on my MySpace page. Where are you looking? I have it set up to approve all comments before they post.

[SEO Nick]

It's one of your commenter's names.

[gregharaksin]

Someone posted on may 12. All I said was that it quickly got my attention.