Direct Mail

The first hurdle to jump for many getting into direct mail farming is deciding what to place on real estate post cards. This can pose a challenge for real estate agents that have not utilized direct mail before; it can be overwhelming trying to choose from so many design styles and content options. One common idea for graphics and text on the front of a card that we at Farming Cards like are all your sales in a particular sub division. For example, if you are already dominating a farm in your community, an effective, attractive graphic might be a map of the community and small pins representing each property you’ve listed and sold there. A visual indicator of your success and the success you have brought others.  But what if you’re a newer agent? Even if you’ve already started to find success, you might not have the track record needed to create a compelling image in this way. If this is the case, one idea might be to have a map of the area and pins for...

A common question that we get at Farming Cards is: “How many postcards or mail pieces should I be sending?” It’s an important question to ask if you are trying to break into a new farm and we have some answers.  For new farms, we recommend sending 3 pieces of mail per month for the first 4 months to get your foot in the door and generate name recognition. This could be a combination of Just Listed cards, Just Sold cards, or cards with any market updates. If there are holidays around the times you are sending these cards, you may want to send timely holiday material to your farm area. You can create a quarterly newsletter with market facts and relevant details about your business that you have not included on other cards. There are many creative ways for you to get your foot in the door in this opening marketing period.  At this point, you will have sent 12 pieces of mail demonstrating your strengths and the activity in your market. You want to e...

If you were to ask people what they valued more, either consistency or creativity, you might find that people would answer creativity. In geographic farming, however, consistency matters much more than creativity. Creativity is a bit overrated. It is not necessarily the most elaborate marketing piece that will ultimately grab the eye of the customer; it’s the same message, delivered consistently, over an extended period that will help in your marketing. For example, many agents that we work with spend hours and hours, or maybe even days, trying to design the “perfect marketing piece” only to find that no such thing exists. The real “perfect” marketing piece is the comprehensive strategy and series of materials that are sent consistently over time to the same group of people.   We are not suggesting that efficient, good-looking marketing materials are not important - They are. No one wants to receive an ugly mess of a postcard. We just know that it doe...