40% of every successful direct mail campaign relies on a solid mailing list.  Your list should:

• Be clean – eliminate duplicates, ensure complete addresses, double check for correct names and/or titles to individuals
• Be targeted – blindly mailing to anyone and everyone is risky; you need to know who in your list is most likely to be in the real estate market to buy or sell a home
• Be timely – examine when your mailing will drop in the mail and on what dates it’s expected to be delivered; be aware of holidays, traditions, school events, etc. that can change people’s schedules and have your mail piece get lost in the shuffle

40% of every successful direct mail campaign relies on the correct message of the mailing piece.  Your message should:

• Be short and sweet – don’t beat around the bush, what is your point of sending this mail piece?
• Have a call to action – what do you want recipients to do when they receive your mail?
• Encourage immediate action – what is the timeline of your offer?

Finally, 20% of every successful direct mail campaign relies on the actual mail pieces format and design.  Your mailing piece design should:

• Grab the recipient’s attention – when sifting through the stack of mail, your mail piece should entice them to open up/read your piece immediately
• Complement your message – the style of your mailing should match your message; consider if your vehicle and message clash
• Stand out – consider if you mail something in an envelope to have the envelope have an visible outside tag line, be a different color or an odd size to stand out.

Meeting all these different criteria is a tall order.  But, it’s good to review each direct mail piece (and electronic marketing pieces too) to see if they measure up to the 40/40/20 rule.

Do you examine your marketing to see if it measures up to the 40/40/20 rule?

Now think about the postal mail you receive.  It can also be date-specific:  events or sales valid for a limited time, greeting cards for a momentous occasion, bills due on a specific date, catalogs for a specific season, etc.

When you review your email, you likely take action on it quickly and rarely, if ever, refer back to old emails, especially if they are a commercial marketing piece.

However, postal mail holds a different place in our psyches.  Many consumers hang onto catalogs long after they arrive as they “liked the look of something.”  A flyer is held on to because the event is long-passed, but maybe they’ll attend it next time.  Brochures and postcards are often filed away for reference.  Even if something appears “interesting” it may make it to a place of honor on a bulletin board or fridge because of its looks.

What does this mean for you?  If you are focusing solely on email marketing, you may be losing a piece of the business pie available to you.  With the current fluctuating market, many home buyers or sellers may be on the fence about making a move in the real estate realm.  However, if you mail them something in the postal mail, they are likely to tuck it away and reference it when they are ready to make a move.

The length of time invested in making a decision to buy a home or sell a home is often a long one.  The shelf life of your mailing piece can be quite lengthy in this real estate market.  Make an investment in your marketing and add more postal mail to your marketing mix, especially for those you know may be on the fence about buying or selling a home.

What postal mail mix has benefitted your business the most?

Due to the higher costs of postage and printing, there is definitely less postal mail going out. With that lowered volume of mail we receive each day, it turns out we take a lot longer look at each piece than we ever used to.

Think about the leads you have postal mailing addresses for. If you were to mail them something — a relevant-to-their-real-estate-interests postcard, newsletter, flyer, etc. — wouldn’t they take notice?

Compare the time you spend on each postal mail piece you receive with how much time you spend on each email that comes in your inbox. Chances are you may not even read the entire subject line on an email before you gloss over it or even delete it!

Print marketing is effective. Give it a test and see if you’re marketing efforts are rewarded!

Let us know how you balance digital and print marketing in today’s market.

Of the surveyed adults who were employed:

• 68% feel more comfortable when they have something on paper than on screen.
• 64% say reading print on paper is easier than reading on a computer screen.

Digital media is no substitute for the ease of use, comfort and familiarity of print media.  And you probably know this clearly if you ever want to take a paperback book to the pool or beach or read in the bathtub; a Kindle or iPad just isn’t the same!

When you have a piece of paper with you, it’s more “real” than a digital copy read online.   Keep this in mind when you create your marketing.  A mix of printed and digital media will help you find more business no matter what the media preference of your home buying and selling consumers.

What is your print and digital marketing mix looking like these days?

A late 2008 DM News/Pitney Bowes survey showed:

• Of consumers surveyed, almost 40% tried a new business for the first time because of information received via direct mail.
• Nearly 70% report renewing a relationship with a business after a period of time because they received a direct mailing or promotional item.

When you eliminate direct mail from your marketing mix, you might be losing out on additional business you never knew you could have.  As you review your marketing plan, take the time to truly analyze your return on investment on your direct mail efforts.  Consider re-introducing direct mail where you’ve previously eliminated it and you might be surprised at the results!

What has been your plan with direct mail?

When appropriate, point out the green practices that you do to make clients and would-be clients aware of your concern for our limited resources.

• For any email you send, consider adding phrasing in your signature that reads “please consider the environment before printing this email.”
• For all printed mail you send, investigate if you’re using recycled papers and soy inks and indicate that on the mail piece somewhere.
• Try to convert suitable paper documents to electronic — scan in items to save and send via email.
• Give the option to buyers and sellers when they request a copy of something — do they want it paper or electronic?
• Seek out and use recycled paper for your printer.

These are just some quick and easy tips you can implement easily and inexpensively.

Let us know what green tips you use in your day-to-day operations and marketing.

First, use postal mail to send this select crowd something in the mail. It might be your printed newsletter or a list of available homes or a flyer for an upcoming seminar or open house.

Secondly, regardless of what you send in the regular mail, create a tandem email marketing message that matches it in style and tone, but doesn’t give away the content of your mail piece. Right before sending these email contacts the postal mailing, send them an email to remind the recipients be on the look out for this important piece of mail from you. (You might include a small digital photo of the front of the mailing or include a graphic that is on the mail piece that will stick in the recipient’s mind.)

After the postal mail goes out, track the responses you get to articles in your newsletters (or the call to action or number of referrals), how much more interest in your listings occurs and what the attendance at your seminars or open houses is as a result of sending a reminder emailing before the postal mailing.

You might be surprised at the results and try incorporating this type of double communication with select contacts on your hot prospects list.

Trying this with select contacts will allow you to discover exactly what type of contacts (buyers or sellers; first-timers or repeat buyers/sellers; investors or primary home purchasers; etc.) respond more when both emailed and mailed a postal piece. With that kind of info in hand, you can target your marketing efforts directly where they give you the best return.

Let us know if you put in double the effort with some mailings you do and what you’ve discovered.

However, postal mail is still a viable way to reach hot prospects, valued current and past clients and anyone you really want to make an impact on. And, the important thing when using postal mail while still controlling costs and waste is to make sure your mailing list is clean and filled with only these VIP contacts.

When you take the time to comb through your postal mailing list, you’ll not only save money by not mailing to contacts who may not be receptive to your marketing effort or have invalid or incomplete addresses, but you’ll target those most likely to buy or sell a home — or know someone who does. Reviewing your mailing list allows you to pin point the hottest prospects who are most receptive to the positive, but disruptive experience of receiving a piece of postal mail.

In this day and age of electronic everything, a simple envelope, postcard or flyer in the mail can make the difference in getting someone’s attention that results in new (or repeat) business.

What is your new methodology in using postal mail to reach contacts?

If you are working to engage consumers in a conversation, inform and educate them, and establish a relationship, you may want to supplement any email marketing you do with good old fashioned postal mail too. You might be surprised at the response you get!

Share your direct mail response rates. We’d love to see if direct mail is working for you!

1. Referrals. Direct mail is a great relationship-building tool, and referral s come from real-world relationships (not from virtual prospects and online lead generation).

2. Local. Direct mail allows targeting of a specific property or local household for listings…especially when no phone or non-business email is known.

3. Delivery. Direct mail enjoys guaranteed delivery, and never gets blocked like e-mail or routed to the oblivion of spam folders.

4. Legal. Direct mail doesn’t carry the liability risk of Do Not Call and Can Spam laws.
5. Tangible. Direct mail has the look and feel of quality that sets you apart and makes you look professional.

6. Less Competition. Direct mail grabs attention, especially when so many of your competition has stopped sending direct mail.

7. Orphans. Direct mail works because many agents have dropped out of the business or dropped out of marketing leaving their orphaned clients as low-hanging fruit to be plucked.

8. Budgetable. With direct mail you get what you pay for and the ability to adjust quantities to fit any budget.

9. Shelf Life. Direct mail delivers a longer response window because some prospects and clients save direct mail (especially newsletters) until they are ready to list or buy, unlike e-mail.

10. Passalong. Direct mail delivers more passalong readership because it is easily handed to a neighbor or friend.

11. Preferred. Direct mail is a preferred communication format by homeowners over age 40…the ideal demographic of home sellers (listings) with equity.

12. Economical. Direct mail delivers the best return on investment because it works (reasons 1-11).

Tell us why you are going back or continue to use direct mail marketing to grow your business.