Offline marketing or online marketing -- What works the best? I say a well planned combination of both!
Let me tell you about a story that involved my "deadly duo" -- Newsletter and a notepad, farmed the first week of the month, each and every month.
My 16 year-old daughter and I were grocery shopping in our local market one afternoon. We passed a person and she said, "Hi Jeffery." We passed by and my daughter asked, "Do you know her?" I said, "Nope, never met her."
Well this happened twice more, with the last person looking up from her shopping list, "Hey, I've seen you before" she looked down at her notepad and said, "Hi Jeffery!"
My daughter asked, "Who was she?" I answered -- did you notice that she was using my notepads? All of these people live in my farm area and get my notepads. She turned and said, "Wow dad, you are like, the Rock Star of Real Estate here!" (the newsletters and notepads she was painfully aware of, as she helped me stuff for my 2,500 household farm)
And that's when it hit me - Farming works, rather, consistent farming yeilds consistent results!
Here's the plan I suggest to Real Estate Agents:
Week #1 - Newsletter and Notepad - The newsletter can be whatever you can afford, the notepad needs to have your photo and name at the top of the pad. you can change the theme of the notepad, just keep the top consistent.
Week #2 - Jumbo Post Card or Doorhanger - The post card is good for closed communities that you can't farm traditionally
Week #3 - Contest flyer or special event flyer - hold a drawing where you give away a $50 or $100 gift card to a store of the winners choice. You could engineer the contest around the holidays. In October give them $50 worth of trick or treat candy. In February give them a $50 gift certificate to the restaurant of their choice. All they have to do is fill out the form at the bottom, send or fax it in, or go to your site and register. Now, you might be saying, "Are you crazy! Giving away $50 or $100 each month!" Well, you can ethier share the cost by getting a few agents from your office to chip in $10 or $20 bucks and all do the same promotion. You can also ask yourself, how much do you pay for leads now?
Week #4 - Off - prepare your next months farm materials, follow up on leads!
I probably used notepads TOO much - twice a month! I would deliver one with my newsletter on week #1 and one with my contest flyer on week #3. Both were stuffed into the 9"x15" cheap poly-plastic door hanger bags. The reason I gave them out with both farm items was sheer laziness on my part! I found that if I had the notepad in the bag, I could save a few seconds at each door step and just place it on the doormat. This meant I didn't have to rattle the doorknob, and listen to the dog bark as I tried to fit the bag hole over the knob. And the weight of the notepad kept the whole package from blowing away if the wind kicked up. I also had the contest flyer printed on a thicker cardstock paper to make it eaiser to stuff and deliver - it just made for a more durable package. Nobody wants to get a crumpled, dog-eared flyer delivered on their doorsetp!
If you are farming consistently, my Hats Off To You! Keep on trucking!!
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