Hey Moguls, it’s me again – JD Esajian. I was just wondering if anyone else is sick of hearing:
“There aren’t enough deals out there.”
“It’s just too competitive.”
“Even the MLS is dead.”
If so, I just want you to recognize it as BS. Yep, I said it. Whoever says those things is just not doing some things right. We always have 5-12 different marketing campaigns at any given time. Right now, we have 5 that are performing like crazy and I’m going to share them with you.
#1 The Online/Lead Generation Combo
Nowadays, thanks to the internet, it’s amazing what you can accomplish when it comes to marketing...
On our core website, we have various squeeze pages set-up. These pages are content-specific sites for individual leads (such as direct sellers, pre-foreclosures, foreclosures, and so on) that are attached to our main website, which is connected to or database (that collects all the lead information).
We also invest in what’s called a PPC campaign. This is a paperclip on the internet that you actually pay to generate leads online. It works by generating keyword specific advertisements, like on Google for example. So those ads that you see on Google, if you click on them, someone paid for it. If you are good at marketing with PPC, you can generate a great deal of leads.
#2 The MLS
Believe me, there are plenty of deals on the MLS. We also market fairly heavy for deals on the MLS for leads that become active or get listed that day or that are pending. With properties that are pending, that deal has not gone through or is contingent on something. If someone fails to do their job and that deal falls through, and you didn’t submit a back-up offer, you are out of the game.
Another is expired listings. There are reasons that it expired. Maybe that seller wasn’t motivated, or the agent wasn’t any good, or the seller changed their mind. Contact them or contact their listing agent when you see that it has expired and put a deal together. Maybe you can be a problem solver when putting that deal together.
#3 Bandit Signs
We've always done bandit signs historically. I will be honest with you… at some point in your investing career, many of you will slow down on one of your successful business campaigns for various reasons. That happened recently with bandit signs and my business. We pulled back, and for a couple of months we did not put out or bandit signs consistently.
We realized this mistake, and at the start of the year we started using our bandit signs consistently again. I’m telling you, our phone has been ringing off the hook since we started focusing on them full force.
#4 Direct Mail
Most of you are really familiar with this one. You target motivated sellers and send letters to them. Here are the basics…
One of the biggest mistakes that investors make is to send out just a few mailings and then call it quits. These are called “campaigns” for a reason. It’s very important to understand that your response rates will go up with subsequent mailings.
Some people will look at your mail piece for a year or more before they call you. You want to be the one that is still mailing to these folks when they finally become motivated. Remember that time and circumstances change things. This is especially true for absentee owners.
An interesting study a few years ago resulted in some impressive statistics for response rates. The number of deals derived from direct mail campaigns look something like this:
After the 1st Contact: 2%
After the 2nd Contact: 4%
After the 3rd Contact: 6%
After the 4th Contact: 10%
After the 5th Contact: 81% (Yep, that stat is correct…but there’s even more mind-blowing and helpful stats…)
The study went on to say that 90% of the people gave up after the 3rd contact. If you want to be one of the 10% who sticks it out and closes 81% of the deals, you must have a system for doing this. Without some type of system, it will never get done.
Before you can send a letter, you need to come up with a list of sellers. You can come up with a list using your own detective work or you can purchase a list through places like listsource.com. Your local PVA or tax assessor’s office may have an accurate list available.
#5 Door Knocking
This is just as it sounds – actually physically knocking on someone’s door. Try to target homeowners in foreclosure, about 30 days or less until their auction date so you know you are dealing with a highly motivated seller. Even if they aren’t interested, ask them if they know someone who might be.
The worst that usually happens is that someone may be rude, but usually people are extremely friendly. And they love to talk and gossip about their neighbors… like who they heard is getting a divorce, or someone might be getting ready to sell, or somebody is having financial difficulty and possibly facing foreclosure. All useful information for you, Mr. Detective/Investor.
Market, Message, Media
Market, Message, Media – the who, what, and how of marketing – comes from the Godfather of Marketing, Dan Kennedy. Make sure you are targeting the right people, using the right message, the right way.
Market = Who are you marketing to? What type of lead are you marketing to?
Message = What is your message? What are you trying to say?
Media = How are you reaching them?
3 Traits of Successful Real Estate Marketers
To wrap all this up, let’s look at the top 3 biggest secrets of successful real estate marketers…
#1 Consistency
Have you ever spent good money on marketing, then got a deal or two in the hopper, got distracted, and stopped all your lead generating while you focused on the deals, and then found yourself suddenly without any deal flow?
This is an all too common problem of inconsistency in marketing that plagues most mom and pop investors. Successful marketers treat it as a marathon, not a series of sprints.
#2 Follow-Up
Have you ever spent good money on marketing, only to drop the ball on the follow-up? Maybe you were overwhelmed, missed an email or missed the window? I think we have all been here at least once. Put a system in place to make sure this doesn’t happen.
#3 Tracking
Have you ever spent good money on marketing several different ways and generated good leads, only to have no clue where the leads really came from? You need to know which marketing tactic worked awesomely, which one only worked marginal and which one didn't work well at all.
Remember:
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overall and looks like work.”
~ Thomas Edison
In other words, a lot of people come out of the gate like a Thoroughbred, but by the time they are passing the finish line, they are a donkey, so don’t be that jackass and make sure you finish strong.
Mogul Thoughts?
Do you guys have any marketing tips? Do you have a campaign that brought your business to another level? Or maybe you have one that was a total flop. We’d love to hear about it all in the comments section below.
Be Consistent – Always, always, always consistently marketing. Don’t lose focus on any campaigns.
Follow-up – You’ve gotta follow-up and put systems in place that prevent you from dropping the ball on potential leads.
Track – Know where your leads are coming from, then rinse and repeat.