The Marketing Message
Once you have identified your targeted leads, you can build your marketing campaign and create messages to capture their attention. If you have a phone number, you may call them and find out if they are interested in selling/buying. You can use a script to guide you in a live conversation, or you could leave a ringless voicemail message designed to sound like it is custom but could be used for multiple calls to the same kind of lead. (Ringless means the software used to call leaves a message without triggering the phone to ring.) The message might ask them to call you, email you or send them to your website – or any combination of these. Then you will only hear from the ones who you inspired to take action. If the phone number is a mobile line, you might want to text them with a short, custom message. Again, there are software systems that can send a multitude of messages at one time. You might use this as your first message or in a contact campaign as one of the multiple ways of reaching out to your lead.
In some cases, you may only have a mailing address to work with. If so, you will want to have a message that works well in postcard formats and letters for direct mail. It is essential to send the message to a mailing address rather than the property address if you are trying to reach a property owner that does not live there. If it is a rental property, the owner may never receive your message. Since sending a postcard cost less in postage than a letter, you may want to design a ‘multi-touch’ campaign with a postcard before the letter if the address provided to you is not good. You would then make corrections on your database before sending out the next batch of postcards or letters. Remember, statistics show you will need a minimum of five to eight touches before getting a reasonable rate of responses. Your results will be better with a targeted group to send messages and effective messages (known as copy) in your campaign. You can outsource copywriting if you do not feel you can write compelling copy.
There are many forms of media used in advertising. These include bandit signs, posters, billboards, flyers, brochures, direct mail, social media, videos, voicemail, texts, email, websites, networking, referrals, car magnets/lettering, newsletters, and even leaving notes on doors. The options are seemingly endless. You will need to consider the specifics of who you want to reach for, the type of investing you are doing, and the best resources for obtaining leads and delivering a customized message to your target market. Be sure to track how the people responding to you heard of you to do more of what works and substitute something that is not working as you would like.
Real estate markets are different in each area. You will need to test what works in your market, track the responses, and adjust your efforts according to the results of your tests. (I.e., colors used, headlines, keywords in your copy, filters used to target your leads, etc.)
You will need to be consistent and persistent with your marketing efforts. It is unrealistic to reach out one time and say it does not work because you did not receive a double-digit response rate. Multiple ‘touches’ (at least 5 to 8 times) in a campaign should be planned for, both in time and expense.
If you need more leads to do more deals, you need to do more marketing! If your phone is not ringing, then you need to reach out and make some calls. Once you get your marketing machine up and running, do not let it stop. You will have to spend more time getting it going again, so do what you need to be sure you always have multiple leads to work on in your pipeline so you can make offers and close deals. You cannot make deals if you are not making offers.