subject: Direct Marketing Elements That Deliver Results In Real Estate Investing [print this page] Your success as a real estate investor will largely depend on effective marketing of your business. Targeted direct mail delivers excellent results as long as two conditions are met:
1)That your leads are well targeted - for example if you are targeting motivated sellers, that you reach people who NEED to sell their houses
2)That your direct marketing piece - your letters or post cards must stick out from the pile and convince them to act NOW
This article focuses on how to guarantee success of your direct marketing campaigns.
Laser targeted leads
You are unlikely to get good response if your leads are not well targeted.
For example, when targeting motivated sellers, you must target
i)People who really NEED to sell their houses - such as people going through divorce, bankruptcy, probates, burned landlords, expired listings, etc. In other words, you must target people who find that they must get rid of their house to get back to normal life
ii)Specific neighborhoods and price ranges - your business model is the most likely determining factor for this
iii)Equity - the houses you buy probably need to have some equity You do not want someone who refinanced or buy their house last year
Unique marketing proposition
You are likely to get minimal response if your marketing piece looks just like the other "We Buy Houses" mail. Your marketing must stick out from the rest:
i)Noticeable mail piece - use post cards with screaming colors. I get excellent results with red, yellow, green and blue. Your mail must stick out from the pile they receive.
If you send letters, they must stick out from all the other bills, and junk mail they receive every day. For example, using a regular envelop hand-written in red and a big postal stamp gets excellent results.
You can also use odd-sized or colored envelops to increase noticeability.
ii)Powerful headline - it must compel the reader to continue reading
iii)Personalized - whenever possible, your letters should be fully personalized. They need to know that you are addressing their individual needs tailored for them
iv)Powerful content - you must agitate the reader to really NEED what you are offering by stating the problem and offering the solution
v)Benefits - The solution you offer must include benefits of taking up your offer. They need to see you as the only person capable of providing a solution to their problem. You must create an offer they cannot resist
vi)Deadline - you must have a deadline in all your marketing materials.Give a specific date. You can tell them you will buy only one more house. This gives them a reason to act NOW!
vii)Call to action - you must tell the reader what they need to do next. Go to this website and sign up. Pick up the phone and call this number now. It must be precise and direct
viii)P.S. - most people start with the P.S. before they look at anything else. It needs to re-state the benefits, deadline and call to action to be effective.
