Postcard campaigns can be very quick to run, particularly if you’re using a postcard mailing service that lets you outsource the work of getting the cards addressed and into the mail. But before you’re ready to run your campaign, you need to think through your overall strategy and decide on a message.
If you want to rely on Coldwell Banker farming postcards for part of your 2017 marketing, now is a great time to do the initial planning. Here are a couple tips to get your campaign off the ground:
Think long term. The key to a successful postcard campaign is consistency. People need to see your message multiple times in order for it to sink in and motivate them to action. Research has shown over and over that the odds of a sale go up significantly with each successive interaction, with the average sale taking six to eight “points of contact” before it goes through.
Vary your approach. You should be sending out your farming postcards several times a year, but if you just send the same postcard over and over, people will quickly start to tune out your messages. Switch up your approach by sending out general Coldwell Banker prospecting postcards one month, first-time buyer postcards a couple of months later, and then a market trends postcard for your next message.
Build on branding. If you need to be consistent for your message to work, but have to vary your approach to keep people from tuning you out, how do you bridge the gap? Keep your branding uniform across all of your farming postcards. Choose an easy-to-recognize photo to go along with your contact info, and use it on every card. Try to use complemetary colors on every piece, and similar phrasing in your messaging.
Keep it simple. When your postcard arrives in the mail, it will have a couple of seconds at most to make an impact before the recipient decides to toss it in the recycling bin or read it further. Don’t try to make the sale with a wall of text – choose a farming postcard with a snappy headline, and close with a compelling call to action.
Stay on target. For a successful farming campaign, who you send your card to matters almost as much as what you say. Whether you’re building a mailing list, buying one, or using EDDM, you need to choose carefully where to send your postcards. Don’t be afraid to target different areas with different messages – one of the benefits of a real estate postcard campaign is its cost-effectiveness, so adding more targeted messages won’t break the bank.
Once you’ve planned your campaign, don’t forget about getting it into recipients’ hands! With EDDM or postcard mailing services, you can have a full campaign sent out without having to lift a finger.