The real estate market is one that keeps going from year to year, and agents are always looking for new ways to market the homes on their books. Direct mail is an ideal and extremely effective way for real estate agents to spread the word to customers about new properties they have available, build their brand, or find new contacts—and agents have reached a fresh realization of this! Put simply, direct marketing is a way for marketers to reach their target audience by using postal communication in the form of sales letters, post cards, brochures, newsletters, and so forth.
People Still Prefer Post
In spite of Internet marketing causing a downtrend in direct marketing, studies show that there are still many potential clients who prefer the old-fashioned postal campaigns. In fact, surveys conducted indicate that three out of four people look through their mail on a daily basis, so any marketing material that is well designed can result in a favorable response from consumers.
Here are 3 reasons why direct mail is currently on the increase in real estate:
a) The target audience is concentrated in a certain geographical area, and since they basically know the needs of those clients, a focused campaign would more than likely be very successful.
b) Direct mail is a lot less expensive than conventional marketing, especially when considering the high response it delivers.
c) The results of direct mail can be measured effectively, and the response can be used to adjust future campaigns accordingly.
What It Takes To Ensure An Effective Direct Mail Campaign
In order for a direct mail campaign to produce successful results, there are certain aspects that agents must consider. These include:
- To start with, a good mailing list – a list of potential customers to send material to, is the first thing an estate agent needs before starting a campaign. There are several ways to build a mailing list, such as through personal contacts, businesses, as well as list providers. Non-responsive people can be removed from this initial list for future campaigns.
- Material that is well designed – the key aspect to well designed material, is that it grabs the readers attention immediately, and encourages her to read it. This would include a good quality paper, colors that make the text stand out, and if possible, personalization as well. Text should also be easy to read, and written in a way that is simple to understand. To keep within a budget, the agent can try out different types of direct mail, like sales letters, newsletters, and postcards.
- Include an attractive offer that prompts a call to action – direct mail material should include an offer so appealing to the reader, that he or she is prompted into making contact with the agent. The offer could be something as simple as a free consultation to talk about the sale or purchase of a property. Including such an offer in direct mail makes the consumer feel that she is getting something good by just looking through the material, and will also make her think about the agent in a positive light. To make the call to action encourage the consumer even more, limits could be placed on it, by adding in the text, that the first 50 people to call the agent will be rewarded with a free property consultation.
- Display your logo, name, and contact details – although it shouldn’t need repeating, it is essential that a real estate agent ensure to always include his name, company logo, and contact details where they can be clearly seen on the direct mail material. Ideally, they should be placed right next to the call for action, which will prompt the client even further, to contact the agent.
Contact details worth mentioning in the material are email, telephone number, social media pages, and web site, so as to give the client a wider range of contact options to choose from.
