- Top agents don't send huge, one-off mail campaigns -- they set a monthly budget and stick to it no matter what.
- Look at every step, including open houses, direct mailers and listing as part of the marketing process rather than individual events.
- You start to see brand recognition in your farm at around five postcards, but you must send a compelling message that makes homeowners respond.
How do some top agents generate hundreds of leads through postcards and mailers?
Marketing consistency is the key, and in our latest live episode, special guest Chris Burnley, licensed broker and CEO of Corefact, shared some of the subtle ways top-producing agents use detailed, personalized direct mail and systematic follow-up to dominate their target neighborhoods.
We started by sharing how top agents approach their direct mail campaigns, beginning with their monthly budget, target market, message and call to action of their online components and finally their follow-up systems.
Greg McDaniel then shared what’s working for his team in the Bay Area, showing examples of their current postcards, including the messaging and personalized map that makes them so compelling to homeowners.
In the following short clip, Burnley shared how to use signs and direct mail to maximize the marketing potential of your open house.
Real Estate Uncensored: Episode 26
Hosts: Greg McDaniel and Matt Johnson
Then Burnley shared some of the common misconceptions and mistakes agents make with direct mail, including the cutesy marketing and large, one-off campaigns, as well as weak calls-to-action.
Over years of testing, home value estimate calls-to-action have proven most effective in generating real, trackable responses. Agents often fail at direct mail because they make the marketing about them, when it should be about the homeowner.
We finished by talking about mailers in the context of dominating your farm over the long run and how to domino the success of one listing or one sale into many more.
In this clip, Burnley shared what the top-producing agents do differently with their direct mail campaigns that get better results, such as “Sold for X percent over asking price” or “Sold in X days.”
Brand recognition comes with the distribution of about five postcards in your farm, but it starts with a compelling message that makes homeowners respond to your card.
“It starts with your feet, the phone and direct mail. I know everybody wants to jump on what’s new and sparkly, but the old stuff has worked for 100 years and still works.” -Chris Burnley
Done well, direct mail can be the foundation of your lead generation efforts. The key is to look at every open house, direct mail piece, listing or sale as the part of the marketing process — not an event.
Click here to watch the full episode and download examples of the postcards that are working for McDaniel’s team in the Bay Area.
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Matt Johnson is a marketing consultant and co-host of real estate podcasts and live video series such as Real Estate Uncensored and Lead Gen TV.
