how many different postcards do you use to prospect?

[webmaster]

When prospecting with postcards there are many target audiences. First time buyers, FSBO's, existing customers, sellers etc etc

How many different postcards do you release in a year, what produce the best results?

[Sarah22]

Mailing to past clients

[RESteve]

Are we speaking about general farming here? Or those we've met that we know are looking to buy/sell real estate in the future?

[coastal]

My postcards are all sent out to potential future listings.

As for how often I try to hit my target communities, once every two months.

I pick the communities I want to go after, collect the names and addresses and then mail them out. 1000 postcards is usually good for 5 - 10 listings. I do the artwork myself with Adobe Photoshop and have them printed by a very cool company in california that does great work, quickly, low cost and adds some unique features. My postcards blow away the company produced Remax/Prudential/Century 21 genaric "just listed" cards.

Postcard cost $200 Stamps $390, My wife and I usually sit down for about three hours to apply all of the addresses. (time to hire an assistant)

$600 for $10,000 - $15,000 in commissions = not a bad investment

My buyers are all from out of state and collecting good data on where exactly to send the post cards is currently beyond my scope of expertise.

[Sarah22]

You would cut down on your time considerably if you sent them to be printed at a place that also handles the mailing services. All you would have to do is send them your database of mailing labels. Usually in excel format. Then you don't spend 3 hours. Instead it's just about 10 minutes placing the order and uploading the design and database. They print, mail, stamp, etc. Plus, with high quantities like yours you get to take advantage of their bulk mail discount. So a jumbo postcard no longer is .39 cents each to you. Now you and your wife can go golfing for those three hours and spend less on your project especially when you factor in the value of 6 total man hours. 3 for you and 3 for her.

[Ryan Ward]

I have a target communities database of 800 homes that get a $.39 postcard that I send out monthly and a past client $.24 card that is sent at the middle of every month. All of the cards (some are 8.5 X 11 folded in half) use the same format with a different topic every month except for past clients who get the same card. I just started three months ago and I know this will take time to pay off. I use Publisher and merge the addresses to print on the postcard with a good laser printer and a Pitney Bowes Mailstation to print my stamp. All told it takes about 4 hours a month start to finish. Kinkos usually cuts the postcards for free, instead of the $2 it they charge so they look clean. If I can figure out how, I will post a sample of what one looks like to get some feedback. Any thoughts on the time frame for some preliminary results?

[kcope]

I would focus on mailing to specific target groups (ie. price, time of ownership, income, etc.) and do a mail campaign that way. We do this rather than the general neighborhood farming and it works much better...the more focused you are the better and quicker the responses come. As for the mail handling, I agree with Sarah22...we just switched doing a 5000 piece mailout to a complete printing mailing service and have saved over $1200/ mailout. Not to mention the time saved!!! We do all of our own design and graphics ourselves, so that was a wash!

[Ryan Ward]

How are you to determine time of ownership and income? I agree that a target list is best, but how do you get some of this info on a large enough scale efficiently. I have targeted my neighborhoods based on age of neighborhood (at least 5 years old), homes sold/year (10% or more), varying price points (entry level - $600,00) and whether or not other agents dominate listings and sales. I am currently looking into bulk mail rates which I will setup tomorrow.

[kcope]

Alpharettaagent

We also do the same type of targeting you're doing, but we were looking for ways to really pinpoint the type of consumer that would respond quicker to our mailing campaigns. Look into list companies for more detailed data...there are tons out there that offer different ways to target mailing campaigns. I think this works better if you're targeting areas that you don't actually have a large presence in yet, so you can focus on a message that really fits the consumer vs. a blanket marketing message. Others may have different opinions, but this is just what we try and do.

[Ryan Ward]

I looked something up this mornig in the tax database from the fmls where I get my maillists for free. and I can go through each address individually and check the ones you want. I am in the process of remaking my lists with only homeowners who have lived there at least five years. This will allow me to cast my net to more subdivs. and to a more likely to sell group for the same $! Thanks for the idea.