Be a Pacesetter in Real Estate Postcard Marketing
In commercial real estate brokerage, the postcard marketing approach does have a place in a personal marketing program. Every agent or broker should be using the strategy.
So to be clear on this, the ‘postcard process’ is all about sending ‘DL’ size marketing cards that have been specially printed for your area and speciality. They should be sent at a frequency of monthly or bimonthly.
Over a period of 12 months you can send 6 or 12 distinctive cards that are focused on your area and the types of property activity currently. Here are some good topics to consider for those cards:
- Looking for tenants
- Looking for buyers
- Property management services
- Tenant advocacy
- Moving premises
- Sale and lease back
- Relocation services
- Looking for landlords
- Property investment opportunities
- Retail leasing opportunities
- Office leasing opportunities
- Industrial leasing opportunities
So you can take each of these topics and open them up into a marketing statement and service offering. When you design the card itself merge some of these ideas into the layout and format:
- Always include a photograph of yourself (professionally taken) so people get to relate to you and your profile. A picture says a thousand things about you, so get a good picture taken as part of this marketing initiative.
- Get professional artwork done for the cards that includes images of local landmarks and major projects. The important thing here is to focus on your area. If you have had some involvement with some major buildings, get permission to use some images from the properties.
- Keep the card design relatively simple so that the message can be interpreted in 10 seconds or less. Most adults won’t read the material unless it is of interest to them.
- Use the ‘white space’ principle to keep the card uncluttered. This simply means plenty of white space to be visible in the finished product.
- On the front of your card, choose dot points that are matched to the theme of your card target market. Be as specific as possible so you are perceived as an expert.
- Contact details should be incorporated into your card reverse side layout and they should be your website, email, blog address, and Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn profiles. Make it easy for people to connect with you.
- Put a message on the card that is ‘theme specific’ such as ‘Save on occupancy costs with a fixed term gross lease’. You could use that message if you are sending the card to local businesses to attract a tenant advocacy perspective.
If this process appeals to you as an agent, then construct a ‘6 pack’ of card messages to be sent into your area over the coming months. Regularity is the key to making the whole thing work. The cycle of sending is once every month or two months. Beyond that time frame the effectiveness of the campaign falls away. It is very important to look at your results after sending the ‘6 pack’; most of your conversions will come from the repeat contact approach.