One of the more old-school ways to get leads and a good return on your investment is with direct mail marketing.
When done right, direct mail can get you and your business in front of a ton of your target market while also generating an ROI that beats many other forms of marketing.
Despite being one of the most traditional ways to reach clients, direct mail is a proven success for real estate agents looking to expand their reach and grow their lead pipeline.
What Is Direct Mail Marketing?
Direct mail is a way to reach customers through any physical correspondence you send in the mail. It is a form of marketing that is sent directly to a home or business with the intent of creating exposure and leads.
Examples are postcards, catalogs, coupons, solicitation letters, or free samples (in the retail space).
The objective is to get those on the receiving end to reach out and use your services. Therefore, all direct mail needs to have something identifying your brand, a way for the receivers to reach you, and a call-to-action (CTA) that makes them want to get in touch with you.
The key to getting great returns on your direct mail marketing is the type of content you produce and include in the mailer.
Doing a basic “just sold” mailer doesn’t do much for your target other than see what just sold. So instead, your content should be more helpful and informative than just brand advertising.
Your direct mail campaign should be highly informative and have a list of benefits that choosing your services provides over your competitors. In addition, you should target your direct mail to be aimed at customers and provide constant information to learn more.
Often, you’d want to include a website address, though some agents have seen a good uptick in leads by including a QR code on the mailer.
Benefits Of Using Direct Mail
By using direct mail for your lead generation strategy, you can easily expose your brand to people in the geographic region you are targeting.
Direct mail is delivered to every address you assign to the route and, depending on your messaging, can have as high as a 10% response rate for postcards or other types of mailers.
Be creative with your messaging. There are plenty of options with direct mail. Most people think of direct mail as a postcard, but plenty of other options are available depending on your budget.
Instead, consider an alternative to your direct mail strategy.
For example, you can put out the types of marketing you use for your clients to find sellers and buyers. Show something that is unique to what you would do if you got a client from your direct mailer, don’t just list your services and essential information on the mailer.
How To Use Direct Mail As A Real Estate Agent
The key to using direct mail as a real estate agent is to provide helpful content, be consistent, and provide your expertise in each mailer.
The power of direct mail is the ability to reach a targeted area of potential clients, but the key is to showcase your expertise in your content.
Content Is King
Sending out “just sold” mailers don't do much to enhance your brand reputation. On the contrary, they may actually hurt it by being seen as “spammy.”
Instead, focus your content on being informative, helpful, and engaging. For example, make your mailer relevant to your target and specific to their neighborhoods. Consider sending newsletters, magazines, and publications of at least 4 pages. These mailers are better received, aren’t junk, and help establish your reputation as a local market expert.
Sending out dry statistics about the local market is boring and is poorly received.
Instead, try to use your direct mailer as a way to make connections with people, and create a narrative around the local market, like showcasing how three homes (and three families) sold their homes above market prices, easy escrows, or whatever that does three things:
- Showcase local market trends in ways that are more than stats–personalize them by telling a story
- Showcase your expertise and knowledge of the local market
- Get the reader excited about their possibilities in the market.
Consistency Leads To Success
Delivering quality content once in a while won’t yield the results you are looking for. To do that, you need to have consistency. Inconsistency doesn’t create the type of following your direct mailer is attempting to accomplish.
Consistently sending out a newsletter or catalog monthly or quarterly, followed up with monthly postcards or flyers, is an excellent strategy to keep your brand front of mind.
Whatever your direct mail strategy, you need to be consistent without being annoying.
It’s the same as being strategic with your content. You want to have a strategy in place and be intentional about what you send and the date you mail it.
A little hack on consistency is blocking time in your schedule to dedicate to your direct mail efforts.
Create time blocks as a portion of your schedule once a week to create and publish your connection for your direct mailer. Of course, part of being consistent is showing up regularly, so you need to devote specific time to your week.
Another little hack that improves productivity is to use a time management strategy known as the Pomodoro Technique. The Pomodoro Technique is a strategy of doing highly focused bursts of work followed by a short break.
Here’s how it works. Set a timer for 20 minutes and work exclusively on a task for that time. When the timer goes off, take a 5-minute break and do anything unrelated to those tasks.
These batches of work and breaks increase your productivity and help maintain your energy by intermixing focused work with relaxing breaks to replenish your mental energy before you become fatigued.
Showcase Your Expertise
Having helpful content and being consistent are only two pillars of your direct mail strategy. You also need to showcase your expertise.
If you’re sending out a newsletter highlighting local market trends and how they have impacted families in the area, it is an excellent idea for your content. Including your role in helping them is crucial to building your perception as the local expert.
Remember, you want your mailers to highlight families and the local market. Be helpful and informative, or you risk appearing spammy and your direct mailer appears as junk mail. It will take effort to do this correctly, but it’s worth it in the long run.
Being consistent in your branding on newsletters, pamphlets, and postcards will make your brand recognizable and memorable.
Think about Disney. Their branding centers around their characters; none are more recognizable than Mickey Mouse.
Therefore, everything that Disney does naturally implies the friendly and trustworthy perception that, over the years, Mickey has come to represent.
Creating an identifiable brand that is consistently used will enhance your brand’s reputation with every mailer.
The Bottom Line
When done right, direct mailers can increase your brand’s exposure and enhance your reputation as a local market expert.
In addition, direct mailers have a broader reach to potential buyers and homeowners than other “permission” marketing efforts that require permission from the receiver for your message to appear in their inboxes and phones.
Also, a higher percentage of people perceive mailers as more professional and personal than other forms of marketing.
Adding direct mailers to your marketing efforts doesn’t have to become a significant hassle.
You can batch your content, schedule your work day to include content creation, and set a calendar to remind you to create, publish, and mail your content. As a result, you’ll be able to consistently generate an outreach with much better ROI than social media and digital marketing.
As a real estate agent, you have a ton on your plate. Using time management systems like time blocking and the Pomodoro Technique will help you manage all that you have to do and be more efficient and productive as well.
If you’re struggling with consistency or finding strategies to help your direct marketing campaign, you may consider finding a mentor or coach to help you.
Mentors are people that have been in the business for some time, have systems in place that they’ve refined over the years, and have a wealth of knowledge to assist you.
Coaches will help you strategize and implement your systems, as well as help keep you accountable for your marketing and real estate goals.
You need to include direct mailers in your marketing plans to see your brand grow and thrive.
