With remarkable success, astute agents, investors, and marketers are using automated real estate direct mail marketing programs to increase their prospecting for listings, buyers, and prospects.
As a real estate marketer, whether you’re an agent, an investor, or an in-house marketer at a brokerage, having solid marketing channels that can be converted into lead generation systems is priceless.
Why Do Real Estate Agents Use Direct Mail Marketing?
Direct mail has long been employed by top real estate marketers to obtain new leads and expand their company. Automated real estate direct mail campaigns provide marketers with the following benefits:
- A direct link to opportunities in local geographies (new tools make it simple to buy or rent lists of any size and area)
- A real estate postcard is a tangible resource that potential buyers keep for days or weeks to look at the property photographs.
- Drip campaigns that nurture prospects over long periods of time are simple to implement using automated direct mail systems.
Interested in learning more about direct mail and why it’s on the rise again? Here’s a quick rundown of what you’ll need to know.
For The Massive Real Estate Market, A Scalable Prospecting System
The modern economy is heavily reliant on real estate. In 2019, the value of residential real estate alone is anticipated to be over $27 trillion USD (yes, trillion).
In the next five years, 36% of Americans intend to purchase a home. Within the following 12 months, 24% of them believe they will make a buy. That’s a lot of potential, as long as you can get your offer in front of the right people.
Direct mail marketing is very scalable, particularly when employing modern automated direct mail systems, which makes it ideal for real estate marketing efforts.
It’s a perfect platform because of the local nature of the customer and the built-in social proof that comes with being a real estate agent and focused on a local area. Simultaneously, automated software tools enable buyers, sellers, and financiers to launch highly targeted campaigns in seconds.
Let’s look at some more reasons why direct mail is extremely effective for real estate marketers:
5 Reasons Why Real Estate Marketers Should Use Direct Mail Marketing
Direct mail is effective in real estate.
It’s likely that you’ve seen it in action. A real estate agent may send you a postcard, magnet, or other promotional materials. A letter explaining a specific offer could be sent by a mortgage broker or a real estate investor.
Consumers trust direct mail significantly more than digital media, according to research, especially when making purchasing decisions.
There are a number of reasons why direct mail is ideal for the real estate industry, including:
1. Establishing a local relationship with potential clients
When it comes to real estate, one of the most important factors to consider is location.
Buyers and sellers prefer to deal with local market specialists because they recognize that zip codes, towns, and even specific streets can have a significant impact on a property’s worth.
Whether you’re a marketer, investor, or agency, you may demonstrate that you really know what’s going on in a geography by employing hyper-targeted direct mail.
Buyers prefer to engage with a knowledgeable real estate agent or agency. Knowing the market might assist them in identifying the proper neighborhood and obtaining better deals. Familiarity with a given market is frequently at the top of the list.
Similarly, homeowners intending to sell are looking for a real estate agent who is familiar with the neighborhood. They want someone who knows how much houses sell for and can extract as much value as possible from the transaction. Others may want to work with someone who can meet a strict deadline.
In the eyes of a client, locality and market expertise are typically the most significant qualities a realtor may have. Direct mail allows you to contact with potential customers in the market you serve.
2. Direct Mail Automation Capability
Modern direct mail marketing efforts can often be automated, which is one of their benefits. This means you’ll be able to connect with more potential customers in less time.
Modern technologies, such as Postalytics, allow you to automate direct mail sequences and schedule campaigns weeks ahead of time. Postalytics may also connect directly to popular customer relationship management (CRM) systems, allowing you to track the success of your campaigns and keep track of how frequently you engage with prospects.
Automation means you’ll spend less time building, printing, and mailing your own campaigns. It allows you to focus on growing your business and cultivating better personal ties with prospects and clients by freeing up your time.
3. Social Proof in Your Neighborhood
As a marketer, you’re well aware that in any business, social proof is a powerful motivation for customers and clients. The ability to demonstrate that a company or agent has assisted others in comparable situations to reach a favorable end is possibly the most powerful motivator you can provide to potential clients.
Using direct mail campaigns to demonstrate potential clients that you have been able to achieve above-market value sales for previous customers in the region is one way to attract the attention of someone looking to sell their house.
On the other hand, being able to demonstrate to someone looking to buy a property that you have assisted others in finding the appropriate home for them at a lower price might be persuasive.
All of these characteristics may be easily (and frequently aesthetically) communicated through direct mail marketing.
4. Prompt Offerings
There are particular periods of the year when real estate marketers are busier than others. Summer is a significant season. If at all possible, families prefer not to move their children to a new school in the midst of the year.
As you can see, home purchase activity picks up in March and peaks in June. Then, in August, the industry sees a tiny uptick as families look to settle in before the start of the new school year.
A huge surge in November — right before the new year — can also be seen on the graph. This is another good time for families to relocate so that their children can adjust to a new school following the winter break. At the end of the year, buyers are also more likely to take a week or two off. There could also be financial or tax reasons for making a change at the end of the year.
This means that certain seasons of the year bring significant potential for real estate marketers. It’s not simply about when the moves happen. In the months preceding up to the transfer, you must establish relationships with potential customers. A person moving in June might begin looking for a real estate agent or a home in January or February.
Finding a strategy to consistently send collateral and message to stay top-of-mind with potential clients is crucial for capitalizing on the seasonal boost in moves we see around the holidays and during the summer months.
5. Establishing Long-Term Relationships
The long-term relationships you develop with clients are the most beneficial in real estate marketing. In their lifetime, the average American moves 11 times. A long-term relationship allows real estate marketers to be the go-to source for their clientele when they are looking to relocate.
Direct mail is an excellent tool for establishing these connections. It’s a private matter. It’s palpable. It’s just a matter of staying in their minds till the next time they move after they’ve used your services once and been satisfied.
