When I went into real estate business eight years ago, I was told by my broker to do farming and send postcards. I did them for two years and never got a lead. Then I changed office. I did it again on a new farm and three months later I got a good lead - $1,500,000 listing fell on my lap. The homeowner kept my postcard for three months. It was a unique postcard with roses on them because in my area I was called the Rose Lady for growing roses and giving advice on growing roses. I still send postcards on occasion for JUST LISTED/JUST SOLD and also to invite the neighbors to my open house. JUST LISTED/JUST SOLD postcards did not get any lead at all and Invitation to Open House resulted in only 2 visitors. I've been doing these postcard mailings for three years running.
I also have newsletters which go out to my farm and my sphere of influence. When I send my newsletter for the first time, I preceded them with a postcard so that at least my name is in front of the homeowner, hoping they will recognize my name when my newsletter arrives.
There are so many postcards in the market now. There are Season Change postcards which if you do not send them on time are of no use to anybody. Small size postcards do not make an impact. They look cheap. If I have to send postcards, I opt for the jumbo size. The small size usually gets lost in the pile of mails that everybody gets these days. At home, I also get postcards from other agents. This is an insane practice. It's a waste of money because obviously I am not going to use another agent if I have to sell my house. Agents should make an effort to check their database. I check my database for the name of agents and also for listed properties already. The postcards from other agents that I received end up in the round file. What are my chances that the homeowners who I send my postcards do the same thing? Maybe the recipe cards are the best way to go in term of postcard advertising. If the picture is beautiful and the recipe looks delicious, at least the homemaker might keep them for future reference.
How effective is the postcard in your area? Am I just wasting my time and money doing it?
I welcome your comments before I invest more money into it.
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