Why Isn't Everyone Using Original Advertising in Real Estate Investing?

When I meet with homeowners who contact me through advertising, I strive to get the purchase contract signed first and then I ask for the other advertising they have received from investors. I simply say, "Mr. Homeowner since we have now agreed to the price, would you mind if I borrowed the other advertising that you received from investors?" Inevitably they say "Of course, and I don't need it back."

I scour through every piece to see the newest and greatest phrases or cartoons that I haven't seen before. The pieces come to homeowners mostly in distress which seems to be foreclosures and probates. The foreclosures are the most because of the motivated nature of the homeowner and the ease of finding their name in the public record. The probates require more work to find but are available from the public record or services that resell the public record information to the public.

What I find interesting is that, especially in foreclosures, the range of mailers is gigantic. I have seen FedEx packages, large (1 ") envelopes stuffed with nearly a hundred sheets of paper, invitation envelopes, regular envelopes, and tons of postcards.

I remember a specific postcard that was so overly mailed to homeowners that everyone I spoke to had at least 3 - 8 of the same card from different investors. It is a plain manila colored postcard that had the message about saving the prospect's home, and a small insignia in the bottom corner that appeared to be from a government agency. Apparently a national speaker ("Guru") was selling a course that this mailer was a part of and every investor who bought the course, and did mailings, used. While it had some good text on it, the writing was too small and the agency's "logo" didn't matter to homeowners.

In probates, about 99% had very similar letters. Initially each letter expressed condolences, and went on to say how the investor could help the Personal Representative. Some were very short, "Sorry for your loss" and some rambled on about how the writer had lost his/her family recently. Seems that a lot of the investors had just lost relatives themselves - at least that's what they said.

One other thing that was interesting was the foreclosure mailers that contained a bulky item that made the potential reader open the envelope instead of throwing it in the trash. These items often were life savers with a line in the enclosed letter taking about throwing the homeowner a "life saver" by talking to the investors. The cancelling machines seemed to love these mailers because they either crushed the item inside, or the envelope had to be hand cancelled but was usually returned to the sender. If the sender wanted to resend the letter, he had to pay an additional charge!

The most successful mailers that we have used have been in pastel colors and each type of mailing contains a series of at least five pieces to a prospect. They are also mailed in a matching pastel envelope. Each letter or postcard contained a different "message" and we never had them sequentially linked to one another.

I have seen where an investor has a second or third letter that references the previous ones - these seem not to work as successfully as mixing up the content. Another part of a successful mailing campaign is the time in between mailings. Generally every two weeks (bi-monthly) is close to an ideal period with one last piece being sent a month after the last bi-monthly piece.

The ideal content has to answer a simple question and do it simply and quickly, "What can you do for me?" If you are having trouble answering this question from a seller, start over and keep thinking about it until you have a real answer. The reader doesn't care at all about your credentials if you can't help him. Focus immediately in your mailings answering this key question and your mailings will bring you more and more prospects.

Most investors are afraid of creating their own advertising pieces out of fear they won't work. The reality is the advertising piece should be created by the sender to best express his personality - professional, casual or other. It is easier to use someone else's pieces especially when they have been proven in actual use. The most important aspect of mailings is that the results are tracked and the pieces modified as needed.

Writing advertising pieces is difficult for many people. The simplest way is to look at other advertising pieces, even those not related to real estate investing. Tear these apart one sentence at a time and try to understand what the writer is trying to accomplish. Is he trying to motivate the reader by greed or fear? Is he trying to diminish his competitors' abilities, or create urgency for his product by only having a limited number available or a short time remaining?

The key is testing your final pieces and one important aspect is your mailing list. If the prospects are not qualified for your help, you are shot gunning your mailing and can expect poor results no matter how good the mailer is. If you have a direct mailing list, the so-called rifle approach, your success will be much better.

You should consider trying at least 500 mailing pieces to a qualified mailing list before you make any changes to your pieces. If you decide to make changes, make one at a time and test it. Next make another change and test that change. The problem in making multiple changes at one time is one of these changes could kill the campaign while another could skyrocket it - but you will never know that.

In summary, mailing pieces are a vital part of most investors' prospecting campaigns. An investor needs to not be afraid of sending his original mail pieces because it is likely better than mailing letters and postcards that are likely being mailed to the same prospects from the students of a specific national guru. Once you get in front of a prospect that called or gave their information to you online, ask them, "What was the critical part of my letter that motivated you to call me and not someone else?" Their answer will be extremely helpful in improving any changes to your future mailings.

Dave Dinkel has over 35 years experience in real estate investing which has given him a unique perspective into the real estate market. http://www.DaveDinkel.com is the place to interact with Dave Dinkel. You can read some of the latest informative Real Estate articles he has written. Here you can discover and educate yourself on topics ranging from foreclosure, For Sale By Owner(FSBO) Sales, Credit and much more.