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Direct Mail Marketing Real Estate Agents use direct mail marketing as a staple for prospecting and following up with clients. How effective is your mailout campaign? Discuss direct mail strategy here .

View Poll Results: Effective Post Card Farming
Big postcards (8.5 x 5.5) more effective than small ones 1 25.00%
Small postcards (3x5) are equally effective to big post cards 0 0%
Big postcards are 2x more effective than small ones 0 0%
Big postcards are 3x more effective than small ones 0 0%
Homeowners are better to mail to than non-homeowners 1 25.00%
A frequency of once a month of 1,000 homes is adequate to get 3 listings a month 0 0%
A frequency of twice a month to 1,000 homes is adequate to get 3 listings a month 0 0%
A frequency of once a month of 2,000 homes is adequate to get 3 listings a month 2 50.00%
A detailed message with a lot of text is better than a bold simple message 0 0%
Voters: 4. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 03-10-2006, 11:20 AM
welist4less welist4less is offline
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Default Post Card Mailings

First off, I'd like to give a recommendation to Quantummail as a great mailing company. It's an all-in-one print and mail from online service.

Here's my question. Would anyone be willing to share farming postcard design or copy that works for them. Or the concept. Initially, we don't have any just listed or just sold homes, but are looking to gain clients. We're a small brokerage and specialize in listing homes. Our commissions rates are reduced.

If interested in just contacting me directly please write:

linking @ we-list-homes-for-less.com (please remove spaces around the '@' symbol)

Thanks - Jeff
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Old 03-15-2006, 10:34 PM
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Tim7332 Tim7332 is offline
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Default Re: Post Card Mailings

Hmm... I think it would be hard to track results based on postcard size. There's so many other factors it could be contributed to. Including luck of the draw and the type of market.

I would like to know however if people do have success with direct mailing, what they found works, and what type of clientelle is best for targeting?

Since I'm fairly new to the business I was always trained to focus on first time homebuyers.

Have any of you ever tried mailing to apartment complexes in high rent districts or pulled a farm package and filtered the results leaving only those addresses which list an alternate address for the seller?

Last edited by Tim7332 : 03-15-2006 at 10:37 PM.
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Old 03-16-2006, 08:01 AM
Irene M Ward Irene M Ward is offline
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Default Re: Post Card Mailings

I've had the best direct marketing results from mailing out a Market Analysis to an entire farm area quarterly. I've made them myself, although if it's a large farm, you may want to go with QuantumMail. The quarterly updates were a short descriptive text of the property that sold, list price, sold price, and date.

Be very careful to find out if your association has any rules or regs against this. My association allows it but you have to add two disclaimers - one that states if the recipient is working with another broker, that it is not intended as a solicitation. The other states that the list of homes sold does NOT solely reflect my personal listings but those of other agents/brokers. This needs to be clear because some associations make it unlawful to advertise a Just Sold property if you were not a cooperating broker.

This has been my most effective direct mail campaign because it gives them exactly the information they're looking for - how much did "what's his face" home sell for last month? This quarterly information along with a drip campaign on a monthly basis should give you decent returns on your investment. At least they did for me. I always kept on eye on what my farm was doing and what percentage of turn-around it saw. If it was under a certain percentage I just eliminated it from my farm.

Good luck!
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Old 03-16-2006, 11:14 AM
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Tim7332 Tim7332 is offline
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Default Re: Post Card Mailings

Quote:
Originally Posted by Irene M Ward
I've had the best direct marketing results from mailing out a Market Analysis to an entire farm area quarterly. I've made them myself, although if it's a large farm, you may want to go with QuantumMail. The quarterly updates were a short descriptive text of the property that sold, list price, sold price, and date.

Be very careful to find out if your association has any rules or regs against this. My association allows it but you have to add two disclaimers - one that states if the recipient is working with another broker, that it is not intended as a solicitation. The other states that the list of homes sold does NOT solely reflect my personal listings but those of other agents/brokers. This needs to be clear because some associations make it unlawful to advertise a Just Sold property if you were not a cooperating broker.

This has been my most effective direct mail campaign because it gives them exactly the information they're looking for - how much did "what's his face" home sell for last month? This quarterly information along with a drip campaign on a monthly basis should give you decent returns on your investment. At least they did for me. I always kept on eye on what my farm was doing and what percentage of turn-around it saw. If it was under a certain percentage I just eliminated it from my farm.

Good luck!
thats an excellent idea. Would I be best served by finding a neighborhood or two with high turnover that isnt dominated by agents? Then send the entire neighborhood recent comps to give people an idea of what their house is worth?
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Old 03-16-2006, 01:07 PM
Irene M Ward Irene M Ward is offline
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Default Re: Post Card Mailings

If you can find a neighborhood with high turnover that isn't dominated by at least a couple of agents then I'd say someone's not doing their job in that community and I'd recommend you JUMP on it! Plan for the long-haul and hang in there. Sponsoring community events, along with the direct mail campaigns is another great way to get your name out there (Easter Egg Hunt, 4th of July flags, Block Parties, Neighborhood website or newsletter through the HOA, etc). If they see you care about the community - not only want to make a buck there, they may be more inclined to call on you!

Happy Farming!
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