You want your promotional materials for events to be memorable, useful, and to have an impact, but how do you make that happen? We are here to help! Let’s look at a few ideas on how to select the best real estate marketing materials and the answers to some questions you may have before you place your first order for your own real estate marketing events.
12 Months of Fresh Real Estate Marketing Events Ideas
Before you get promotional materials, you need to have a great event! Here are a few ideas for creating a memorable event that will be enjoyable for you to create and for your guests to enjoy!
- January – Host a Superbowl party with a widescreen TV, lots of snacks, a few promotional give aways and invite past, present and potential new clients!
- February – Host a semi-formal (or formal) Valentine’s Day Dance, including some light refreshments and good size dance floor! Give away your promotional materials, but host a silent auction for your favorite charity – the charity will help you organize the event! You hire a DJ or band and provide light refreshments and perhaps a disco ball!
- March – Trivia & Monday Margaritas in March! Have an event for your clients with a variety of margarita flavors and a great game of trivia. It will be entertaining and the “prizes” for those winning each round can be one of your real estate promotional materials!
- April – Start a book club this spring! Meet in the local library, in your office’s conference room or at a local coffee house. Invite clients – past, present, and future – with a hand-written note and provide refreshments and copies of the book.
- May – Organize a community yard sale in an area where you need more name recognition! You will provide the advertising (online, signs in yards, newspaper ads, radio ads) and you can go door to door in the neighborhood introducing yourself and inviting each resident to join the area sale. You select the date and times and have a sign-up sheet with contact info for each resident who plans to join! You can give out your promotional materials when you go door to door so even if they don’t join the yard sale, you get to talk to them and leave some marketing materials behind!
- June – Picnic and movie night – invite people to bring a picnic and enjoy an outdoor movie. Consider black and white classics, family favorites or even a scare-fest for horror fans. Buy or rent a projector and a huge screen and provide sodas, water and popcorn!
- July – Celebrate July the 4th with your clients. Host a Family Fun Day complete with field games like sack races, water balloon tosses, watermelon eating contests, and other favorite summer activities and events. Be sure to have sparklers on hand – and maybe even a few fireworks – for when it gets dark.
- August – Host a “The Kids are in School!” hobby day. Consider a card-playing event (anything from Bunko to Poker), a mid-morning tea tasting, or a manicure event. Anything that will help Moms relax and enjoy some child-free fellowship. Remember, women are usually the ones that make the final decision on what house to buy (and often what agent to use!) Court the moms!
- September – Walk and Play Day at the Humane Society – Consider working with your local humane society or animal rescue organization to have members of the community come in to walk dogs and play with puppies (and kittens too!) You provide the advertising, send invitations out to everyone in your farm list and provide a few door prizes (larger/nicer promotional items!) for those attending and participating.
- October – Consider an Octoberfest event or a Halloween Family event, or maybe a event a masquerade party! Be creative.
- November – Have a pie party. Invite past, present and future clients to one of your open house properties to enjoy a selection of a dozen or so gourmet pies as a “thank you” during the thanksgiving season. Be sure this is held ahead of Thanksgiving, before schedules get too full!
- December – Host an afternoon with Santa for your clients with children and grandchildren. Be sure to have hot cocoa and coffee a selection of cookies for the children (and the adults) and Santa should give out candy canes!
How to Select the Best Promotional Materials for Your Event
No matter what kind of event you have planned, you should look for a promotional item that matches the theme (and use branded greeting cards for any invitations to these events.) Need some ideas for a great “matching” promotional material for real estate?
Here you go…
- If you are hosting a book club, provide bookmarks.
- If you are hosting a Superbowl party, hand out branded local sports schedules.
- If you are hosting a Valentines Day event, consider seed packets and call them “Do it Yourself Bouquets.”
- For a “The Kids are in School” event, you can provide a magnet with the school holidays listed or a school sports schedule.
- At your December event, provide your attendees with a calendar for the upcoming year.
- At the Pie Party, you can provide the recipes for each pie along with a branded kitchen measurements magnet.
- Hand out American Flags for July the 4th events.
- Give away branded bottle openers at any event where drinks are a focus (wine tastings, Superbowl, Margarita Monday, etc.)
- Provide pens and notepads for any cardplaying events.
FAQ: Using “REALTOR®” on Real Estate Promotional Items & Materials
The word “REALTOR® is a trademark of NAR and they have specific rules for its use. These include that the word should be in all caps and will include the registration mark. Only members of NAR can be referenced with the word and it is not to be interchangeable with the terms real estate agent or broker. It will describe members of NAR only and should not be used as a term for a business or a particular vocation.
Can I use the word REALTOR® in my logo?
You should be careful about using the term in ways that cannot be easily changed since membership in NAR is a requirement of use. If your membership ends for any reason, you will no longer be able to use the word. You may NOT, however, use the term REALTOR® in the name of your firm or business.
Which of the following is an incorrect use of the REALTOR® trademark?
- HotShotRealtor.com
- BestRealtorinOhio@gmail.com
- Joe Smith, REALTOR®, DJ & Beauty Consultant
- Jane Smith, Your REALTOR®
All of them. You cannot use descriptive phrases or word to modify the trademark, you cannot attach a geographic location to the term, you cannot attach other vocations to the trademark and you cannot use the trademark as a term for a particular business/vocation.
How can I get the little “r” after REALTOR®?
If you are trying to create the registered trademark symbol (®) to use it in your printed materials, you can do so in several ways. Here are three easy options:
- Cut and Past (copy) it from an online or existing document.
- Type (r) in a word processor program like Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
- Use a windows keyboard shortcut: Press Ctrl+Alt+R.
Can I use REALTOR® on my business card?
Yes! If you are a member of NAR, and you follow their guidelines for the use of this trademark, you can use it on your business card.
Can I use REALTOR® in my marketing?
Absolutely – IF you are a member of NAR, and if you follow their usage guidelines!
If you plan to use the REALTOR® term or the REALTOR® logo in your marketing materials, you should review the Membership Marks Manual on the NAR website.
Happy marketing, good luck with your real estate marketing events, and happy holidays!
Need help deciding how to best reach your clients? Reach out to us!