USING POSTCARDS

As stated with sending letters in the prior module, I am more adamant about investing my money into social media, but if you are farming a neighborhood or doing circle prospecting, postcards can still go a long way. Just keep in mind that they don't (usually) have an immediate return, so money will need to be set aside to send out a different variety each month, for a few months. This can get a little costly, but can pay off with even one listing. I'll go over the most effective ways to ensure you get a faster response rate for each card.

1. DON'T USE A GENERIC IMAGE AND TITLE

Avoid having just another generic postcard image and headline. You want to get creative with your marketing and have something that stands out and captures their attention. You can have something that is humorous or educational. When I do postcards, my goal is to give them something to want to hang up on their refrigerators. I want it to be something they can come back to to look at. So your postcard on one side could have a call to action and bold image, and the other side could have recipes, or sports game dates, or event dates for events coming up locally. You want something they will want to keep instead of toss.

2. HAVE A REALLY STRONG CALL TO ACTION

On the side of your postcard with the image, you want a call to action. And that's going to be about calling you about selling their home, coming to visit an open house, or visiting your website to get a home valuation. Or if you are doing it for renters, you can have them visit your site to view a list of homes for sale. 

3. MEASURE YOUR CONVERSION

Use a short code link on all of your postcards so that you can track who is visiting your website from your postcards. That way you will have a better understanding of how effective it is, and what neighborhoods to farm the most to get the best conversion.

4. THE RESULTS ARE IN CONSISTENCY

You're more than likely not going to get an instant listing or client off of your first postcard set. Most farming techniques take a couple of months and you end up seeing a stream of business come in steadily, long term. So you'll want to make sure you are mailing out postcards to the same neighborhood at least once a month.

5. GIVE THE CONSUMERS VALUE

You don't want the postcard to be about you. You want it to give value to the consumer. If there is too much call ME, visit MY website, etc. your postcard will be in the trash. But as stated above, you want to give them something they will want to hold on to. And this is where the opposite side could hold a really yummy recipe for the season, or the schedule for the sports games, or the schedule for local events. Anything that you think would be valuable to you as someone living in your own area, do the research and share the same content with them. Then they will put that on their fridge with a magnet, and get to see your face.