When I first got into real estate I really struggled with an advertising campaign that would focus on my strengths but also address perceived weaknesses. As an attorney I assumed most people would assume my strengths in negotiation, legal knowledge, ability to handle complex closings, and the like.
I really wanted to accentuate these perceived strengths while countering the negative assumptions of an attorney and real estate agent: namely that I might not be creative, am also male and thus not knowledge of interior design, might not be able to be trusted (though I was surprised that many actually trust me more when they learn I am an attorney), etc. For these reasons I would to highlight my softer side, and I found that exposing my heart and making my marketing materials very personal had great effect.
The best way I found to show my strengths and also my creativity and guy-next-door appeal was to use my three daughters in funny advertisements about my business, with short statements of strengths and weaknesses included. Below is the first jumbo postcard that I sent out to my sphere of influence, and it was received with rave reviews. So much so that my mother (aka Nana) added a similar picture and balloon script on the back of her business card, and we even use her image like a logo for our business.
Because it was received so well, I took additional photos and created humorous messages for each with a more serious statement about a real estate related topic and our expertise. I then set it up so that it can be sent out with a new post card every 3 weeks, month or whenever desired. Thus whenever farming a new area we just start with the first in the series.
The most important thing I learned was that these images stuck with people and allowed them a topic to talk to me, even if it was not about real estate. Every time I go to church, several people will even ask when the next post card will be, even if they don't need an agent. Thus I was able to brand myself and hopefully create the image of both a real estate expert and also a person that people could trust and enjoy looking at homes with. Below are several other postcards. My hope is that others may be able to take this idea and improve on it in their own personalized ad campaign, it seemed to really work well for us. If you do please let me know as I would love to see what others come up with.
We used this one in the late spring
This one was perfect for Easter
This works well in the fall
We used this in the summer
Comments(2)