7 Tips To Improve Your Direct Mail Campaign
By Paul Esajian on July 8, 2016
There is nothing that can give your real estate business is bigger jumpstart than a direct mail campaign. A well put together campaign can reach thousands of people and produce dozens of new leads in your pipeline. Like any other type of marketing you need to be committed financially and even emotionally before you get started. If you do not have the experience in talking to homeowners or the capital to see your campaign through you should consider waiting until you do. Sending out mailers and hoping for a response is not enough. Here are seven tips to improve your next direct mail campaign.
- Make Money On Every Lead. Every lead you get should be treated with an open mind. You truly never know what can happen when you talk to a new lead. In a perfect world they will be looking to sell and close as quickly as possible. This is typically the exception rather than the norm. Even if you don’t think can do anything with the lead you can’t discard it. You should take the few extra minutes to find out exactly what they are looking to do. There may be a chance you can pass this lead off to a mortgage broker, real estate agent or accountant in your network. Even though you didn’t directly earn on it the odds are that the lead will be reciprocated to you at some point down the road.
- Review Campaign After First Mailing. You should have a pretty good idea of where you stand after sending your first mailing. As important as it is to stay consistent you also need to know where your letter or postcard may need tweaking. If you are sending to a targeted market you should receive a good amount of phone calls from the first batch. If the response rate is poor you should examine the wording, layout and content of your mailer. Don’t be afraid to make the necessary changes as you see fit.
- Focus On Zip Codes. Who you are sending your mailer to is critical. You can have the best letter and know how to speak to anyone but if your phone doesn’t ring it won’t make a difference. While you can never be certain that you can generate call volume one of the ways to improve your chances is by looking at zip codes. Start by researching the demographics of certain areas you are interested in buying in. You want to find zip codes that are in the middle of the high and low end of the property value spectrum. Once you are comfortable put a blanket over the area and make it your focus. This will greatly improve your response rates which will impact the number of deals you close.
- Mailer Presentation. One of the areas where many direct mail campaigns struggle is with their presentation. Regardless of their motivation no seller wants to feel that they are being taken advantage of. By presenting yourself or your business as a large powerful company it will have a negative impact. Sellers would rather work with the little guy from the community who is trying to help them out. Keep your envelope or postcard as generic as possible. A shiny, bright postcard with explosive colors all over it will not improve the response rate. In fact, it will turn plenty of buyers off and they will quickly toss it in the trash.
- Make It Easy For Recipient. Before you send you mailer you need to consider who you are sending it to. Put yourself in their shoes just for a minute. If they are facing foreclosure it is a difficult time for them. They are looking for answers and probably getting nowhere. Many of them are intimidated by process and need help. Instead of fielding every call that comes in you should start with a prerecorded message. This message should briefly explain what your company does and how you do it. Provide as much information as you can fit in a 60 second message. Prompt them to leave their name and number if they would like a call back or if they have any further questions. This little buffer puts them at ease and weeks out anyone who wasn’t really interested.
- Numbers. Direct mail is a sizable financial commitment. You can’t simply mail a few dozen letters and expect your phone to ring. You need to be willing to start with a commitment of at least a few hundred to a thousand pieces every week or two. From there you should prepare to send your mailer anywhere from three to seven times. It only takes a conversion rate of under 3% to make your campaign a success but getting to that point requires capital.
- Consistency. There is typically a drop off after the first set of mailers is sent. Regardless of the response you need to stay committed to following your mailing schedule. If you put the time into researching the area and producing the postcard you owe it to yourself to see the campaign through. Like anything else there will be bumps in the road and ups and downs but you can’t let this get to you. The more consistent you are the more direct mailing success you will have.
Direct mail success is available for anyone to achieve if you are willing to work at it. Most of this work should be done before your first letter is sent.