Real Estate Foreclosure Marketing Secrets

Archive for June, 2009

Real Estate Investor Insider Secret #2:

TurboCharge Your Postcard Campaign:

Tune Into WIIFM

 

Are you tuned into WIIFM?  No, it’s not the latest radio station in your area.  It’s shorthand for a fundamental direct-mail principle   – a principle every real estate investor should keep uppermost in his mind.

 

WIIFM.  An acronym for What’s In It For Me?  When your recipient receives your postcard in the mail, you have a scant 30 second or less to grab their attention.  That means you need to answer that question for them.

 

If you’re offering something to them, that “something” must be beneficial to them in some way.  You may have heard this phrase in another way.  Perhaps some staid, academic copywriter once told you to emphasize benefits, not features.

 

And you probably nodded and went on your way, only later wondering what the real difference was between a benefit and a feature.  That’s exactly where WIIFM comes in loud and clear.

 

A benefit answers the question:  What’s In It For Me?  When you tell the potential seller what he can gain from this arrangement, then you have him thinking about selling.  Far too many real estate investors spend far too much time telling the seller about his business.

Yes, it is reassuring to know if you’ve been in business for so many years . . . and that you’ve sold so many houses . . . and you’ve generated so much extra cash for your customers.  Those, however, are all features – very important features of course.

 

You need to turn these features around to make them attractive to your seller.  Then and only then you turn your feature into a benefit.

 

Remember, when push comes to shove, an individual potential customer sitting at his kitchen table reading your post card will eventually stand up and wonder:  What’s In It For Me?

 

Answer that question for him and you’re succeeding in your marketing campaign. It’s not a simple question to answer – not when it comes to real estate investing.  You must consider exactly what your customer wants.

 

If he’s facing foreclosure, he wants out of this nightmare.  But more than that he probably wants to keep his house.  You may be tempted to go with “I’ll give you fast cash for your house.”  And for some individuals this certainly may work.

 

But maybe – just maybe – in addition to wanting the money, he may want to be reassured that whoever buys the house will treat it well . . . will love it the way he and his family has.  After all, to him, the house is more than just a structure . . . it’s a home where his children played and slept, where family meals were eaten . . . where family stories were shared.

 

Keep these things in mind when you attempt to answer the question – from the seller’s perspective – What’s In It For Me?

 

Fast Cash?  Sure.  But perhaps just a little bit more as well. If you can deliver – through your postcard campaign — an angle that includes care for the home and even peace of mind for the homeowner, then you’ll well on your way to closing that sale. And you’re becoming the successful real estate investor you always knew you could be.

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Real Estate Investor Insider Secret #1:

One Simple Way to Make Your Postcard Campaign Come Alive

 

Okay.  So you know that the most effective direct mail campaign involves an address that at least appears to be handwritten and a live stamp – as opposed to preprinted labels.

But did you realize that the message on the back would be monumentally more effective if you could somewhere make it look more personal – with handwriting – as well?

In fact, direct-marketing experience tells us over and over again (yeah, it really does shout at us!) that the most effective campaigns are those that appear to come from the “Mom and Pop” enterprises.

While, as a business owner, you may want to have your firm look professional and polished.That very same look, though, can drive your customers away in a direct-mail campaign.  Don’t ask me why.   No “expert” has ever given a reason. 

Personally, I think it has to do with trust.  A “Mom and Pop” firm is more likely to keep its promise and give the average person a fair deal. Besides, slick professional brochures and polished postcards just feel impersonal, which is the direct antithesis of a direct-response mailing.

To highlight the personalization of postcards, many real estate marketers insist that they always hand address their postcards and place a live stamp on them.

But,now, thanks to this clever idea, you can go one step further.  What if your potential customers received what appeared to be a “handwritten” post card from you?  With a very personal message. 

Not only is this an original idea in the area of mailing postcards, it falls right in line with the cardinal suggestions.  Your face needn’t fall at the thought of writing each postcard by hand, because you won’t have to.

In fact, right here, right now, while you’re reading this article you can create a message that will totally knock the socks off your customers and have them ringing your phone faster than you can say “I want to buy your house!”

Start by taking a piece of what computer paper – 8 ½ inches by 11 inches.  Now fold it in half in one direction – either on the vertical axis or the horizontal.  Now fold it again in the opposite direction.  When you open it you should have creases that create four equal spaces. 

These “spaces” are just about the size of postcards.  And that’s exactly what you’re going to use them as – eventually.

Now, grab a black felt-tip pen.  Handwrite a quick message that conveys your intent in your mailing in each “postcard space.”  It could be as simple as “I want to buy your house.  Call me.  Ryan.” With your phone number.

Or you could make it look a little more personal and say, “Was passing by, loved your house.  Would love to buy it. Interested?  Call me.” Put the message on all four “postcard squares.”

Take this to an office supply or duplicating establishment.  Have them copy this page on card stock – yellow if you like.  Next, address and stamp them.

Send them off!  Yes, it’s that easy!

 I’m betting it’ll be one of the most effective postcard campaigns you’ve ever created for your real estate investing business!

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by M. B. Bradley Money-making real estate direct mails do not stray from the proven direct marketing formula. So although writing real estate postcard marketing content is challenging, investors need not feel lost because there are established marketing guides they can follow and perhaps innovate. As you progress in your direct-marketing career, you’ll instantly know it by its acronym alone: AIDS. It stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. It’s very self explanatory. You need to g

Every good sales pitch contains several vital ingredients. And your postcard mailing for your real investing venture is no different. Every successful marketer uses a very simple - but highly effective -- formula for keeping him headed in the proper direction in his copy.

by Mark Bradley Want to power up your next postcard mailing? Then go one step beyond merely telling your audience what your real investment business has done for others in the past - have your customers tell them. No you don’t have to secure your late customers to phone prospects. Instead use the right direct-marketing ride titled the testimonial. If you’ve been in commerce interminable enough, it’s unproblematic to ask a slaked consumer to create a twosome sentences (it rattling doesn’t nec