Back to Email Marketing
Don't Dump That Mailing Budget Yet!
What does it mean when web savvy folks such as Brad Inman or Barry Diller decide traditional mailing is a good course of action for their web businesses? Maybe it's time to consider revisiting the good old reliable post office.
Don't get me wrong - I've been a long time advocate of web marketing and still believe this is the best marketing strategy for our business. Having your own web page, using pay-per-click services, and having a specific strategy for converting web leads is critical if you expect to be in business five years from now. Given the current state of affairs, however, it may be wise to divert more dollars to traditional marketing via the U.S. Mail.
Clearly, consumers are sick and tired of pop up ads, banners, and companies who attempt to plant cookies on their computers through unsolicited spam. In a recent survey by Business 2.0, spam email recorded a 3% trust level and nearly an 80% annoyance rate. Clearly, email marketing may not be the best way to identify potential customers. But what is?
12 months ago I would have argued for dumping your mailing budget and putting your money into web-based marketing systems. The web has become such a muddled mess, however, traditional print advertising is once again becoming an attractive, albeit, expensive option. The question is what makes sense in terms of traditional and web marketing today?
First, the purpose of any advertising is to get valid contact information. In previous editions of RealClues we have talked about how to generate leads from your website through on-line coupons, drawings, free reports, and a host of other web-based services. This generates email addresses and can be used to generate phone numbers as well. This is all well and good, but those addresses and phone numbers are useless unless you're prepared to follow up on the leads you generated.
Given the tremendous expense of mailing both in terms of money and time, the smart move is to carefully target who you send traditional mailing pieces. For example, rather than blindly mailing postcards to a farm of 500 people where you get one or two listings a year, that money would be better spent sending 100 people you know five mailing pieces giving them something they value and asking them for a referral. You could include coupons, school schedules, fire safety, or a host of other valuable pieces of information. You're much more likely to get results this way than by sending unsolicited mailings to people who don't know you.
Also, while email technology is a quick and easy way to follow up, there is still nothing like a handwritten note. When someone sends you a referral or when you just want to reconnect with a past client, taking a few minutes to write a quick note will have a much stronger impact than almost anything else you can do.
When you invest in marketing at the post office, invest wisely. Very few agents ever question why most full service real estate companies send just listed or just sold cards for them. The reason is these cards help promote the company brand, but do little to promote the agent's brand. Because people are lousy at remembering names, they're much more likely to remember the name of the brokerage because those are the signs they see all the time. The agent's name is secondary and is much less likely to be remembered. If you are going to mail just listed or just sold cards, give the people who receive the card a reason to contact you. Again, it can be to enter a drawing, to receive updated information for their property taxes, or money saving tips on refinancing. The point is your mailing must motivate the receiver to take some sort of action.
Here's the bottom line. Email where possible but always check to see if your email was received. Use your website to generate leads but rely less on email newsletters which may not make it past filtering software. Target your referral database with both email and traditional marketing pieces. Whether you're marketing on the web, in person, or with traditional mailing pieces, the most important thing to remember is to ASK FOR THE ORDER! If you don't ask for the order on every single item you send, you're throwing your money away no matter what you send.
To contact Bernice Ross please email her at bernice@realestatecoach.com.
