As a new real estate agent, it’s an opportune time to explore several marketing strategies. Digital marketing is a go-to strategy for most real estate agents, but it’s not the only route to growth. Email marketing is another tried-and-true marketing strategy that yields healthy conversions.
With modern marketing techniques like paid ads on social media, it may come as a surprise that direct mail marketing continues to work for the real estate industry.
Forty-one percent of Americans check their mail daily, and sixty-five percent of millennials pay attention to direct mail advertising. That’s a lot of potential clients.
This article covers top direct mail marketing tips and strategies for new real estate agents.
Choose Target Audience
Determine your target audience before you implement your direct mail campaign. Spend some time researching and understanding your ideal clientele. In real estate, you can have several different clusters that make up your target audience.
For example, you may want to target first-time home buyers as well as empty-nesters looking to downsize. At the same time, you may want to work with move-up sellers. Maybe your passion is helping real estate investors build their portfolios. Your target audience is up to you and can evolve to suit your business needs. Your direct mail marketing campaign, however, should be tailored to your target audience.
Create Mailing Lists
After solidifying your target audience for your direct mail campaign, you need to create your mailing list. You may need to separate your mailing list into subcategories if you have multiple target audiences. For example, your direct mail campaign for first-time homebuyers will look different than your campaign for move-up sellers.
Spend some time drafting a spreadsheet for each target audience. A spreadsheet allows you to upload names and addresses of prospective clients to one-stop shops like Vistaprint.
You can quickly compile a direct mail list by searching public records. Public records provide details like owner age, equity, home type, and more. If the person is younger and renting, they are a great candidate for your first-time home buyer mailing list. If the person is older and owns the home free and clear, they may be an empty-nester looking to downsize. Younger parents in a family-owned home may have some equity and want a home with more square footage. These are great clients as either potential sellers or prospective buyers to include on your list of people.
Direct Mail Campaigns
There are endless possibilities when it comes to direct mail campaigns. Your campaign can focus on buyer and seller resources, seasonality, community events, market forecasts, and more. It’s most important to offer something eye-catching and also beneficial to the recipient.
A motivated seller may need that last push to convince them to list their home. Consider creating a campaign sharing how hot the local real estate market is for sellers. A long-time renter may be sick of paying for a place they don’t own. Create a campaign that details the benefits of owning a home versus renting an apartment.
Another campaign strategy is to target a neighborhood and keep in touch. You can send a monthly postcard with cleaning tips, recipes, and local event details. Often, when one house sells in an area, other homeowners are eager to follow. You want to be the real estate agent they reach out to when the time comes. Stay top of mind with an aggressive but welcoming, direct mail campaign.
Real Estate Postcards
Once you build your mailing lists and create your direct mail campaigns, it’s time to design your direct mail postcards. There are plenty of sites with real estate postcard templates to get you started.
Here are some of our favorite design platforms:
- Canva is a graphic design platform with accessible drag-and-drop features. Canva offers hundreds of free elements, graphics, and fonts. They also have a pro version available.
- Vistaprint is a design and mailing platform. Search their template database to find your perfect postcard and mail it directly from the website.
- Moo is a design and mailing platform. They offer free full-color printing and have a robust template database.
Direct mail is an effective marketing strategy for new real estate agents. Your real estate marketing strategy may require you to combine marketing efforts, such as a digital campaign combined with a direct mail campaign. Real estate professionals can design a direct mail campaign as fast as a day, making it one of the most straightforward techniques to grow a real estate business.
