After over 20 years in Cape Town real estate I am often asked by new abd not so new agents for some promotional ideas thgat are cheap easy and above all cost effective! These are my Top 5 favourites that any agent can easily manage and have fun with;
1) My New Address - Business Cards for the Buyer
Make a small pack of 100 business cards and print them on your printer on light card. Each card will feature a picture of the house the buyer bought with their names and Our new address and contact info. At the bottom of the card discreetly put the words; "We bought our house through Andre de Villiers of Chas Everitt False Bay - 0832300549" Don't take over the business card with your own info as you will decrease the chances of the card being used. If you like the idea make a pack for every member of the family - people love to use these! What also works quite well is to use "The Smith Family are Moving" as a heading, then the card can be used by all - the kids go crazy for these! You will find that it will be worth your while having these made properly at a local printers - you will never get your name out there cheaper and there are so many special business card printing offers - it's really cheap!!
2) A 2008 Calendar with a pic of the Owners home!
With Publisher (part of the Office suite) and numerous other DTP sofgtware packages you can easily create a wide variety of calendars and again use a pic of the clients house. Again put your details in with company logo a little more discreetly then people value it more. You could do this as a very effective canvassing tool. Get an assistant if you need and do one street at a time - take all the photographs noting the addresses and hand deliver a laminated version of their own calendar with some magnets on. They are guaranteed to make the fridge! Some ideas: Why wait till the end of the year? Start a mid year calendar July2008 to June 2009 - Great idea is to include an inset of the family pet?
3) Register a local domain while you can; ie; www.constantia.co.za
and if that's taken try www.PropertyConstantia.co.za or something else that makes sense! like www.ConstantiaInvestments.co.za or www.ConstantiaHomes.co.za or www.ConstantiaHouses.co.za etc
If you don't know how to run a website just get the company you register your domain with to point it to your office website. Maintaining a website is a fun hobby and it can pay for itself. You can sell some ad space or offer some free ads to clients? Take a look on Google and search "Constantia Property" and see how well I come up - wonder why?
4) Write a press release!
It is so easy to create a press release on what is going on in your area. Local papers are hungry for free editorial and you have easy access to what's happening in your area. Are prices up - why? Are rentals strong - why? Golden rule - never write like an add but quote yourself as an area specialist! Never make comments on behalf of your company without permission though! Your broker may have to take responsibility for your press releases so best to get these approved before sending them to the media!
5) Do a Survey!
Want to make a big quick impact and avoid any 'cold' calls - well then call with a reason! If there is a local 'issue' that's what I call 'safely controversial' set yourself up at the phone with six good questions to which you can get a "Yes", "No" or "Undecided" answer to, and start calling. Remember it's about getting your name out there so your introduction and your research / survey tells people you are professional - after all surveys are what professional people do! People love to give their opinions don't they? Here's the real killer; you get to ask "Do you want a copy of the results? BINGO you get permission to email them and get their email address and once again have your smiling chops in their face! Killer 2: Send your survey results to the newspaper.
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