Before advertising for a real estate investing business, the business owner should understand the components of advertising. Placing an ad in a newspaper, posting door-to-door flyers or using a voice broadcast message are all useful advertising methods; however, the advertising will not be successful unless the real estate entrepreneur designates a fitting message with the right medium in the targeted market.
The three main components of advertising, also known as the three big M’s, are: the message, the media and the market. To briefly summarize what each component is: the message consists of the words used in the advertising; the media is the type of advertising; and the market is the targeted group the advertising is meant to reach. Now, the brainstorming can begin. When engaging in the brainstorming session to determine your message, medium and market, you can either do this by yourself or include other associates. The more minds the better the flow of ideas becomes.
To start, asses the market you are attempting to reach. In order to reach a high level of success with your advertising, narrow down your market. You want to make sure that you are targeting potential motivated sellers. Do not necessarily think that a larger, broader audience is better than a narrow, targeted audience. On the contrary, it is much easier to shape a message and pick a medium when you have targeted your market.
Once you have narrowed down your market, it is time to craft your message. This can be anything from an “elevator speech” to an eye-catching phrase. Remember that people are bombarded with advertising practically 100 percent of the time. This puts an added pressure on making sure that your message will appeal to motivated sellers. Center your message on what your business can do for the motivated seller – how will working with you benefit them.
Finally, choose the medium for your advertising. This can include post card mailings, newspaper ads, television spots, etc. A good place to start is to analyze what other investors are doing – where are they advertising? Analyze how their choices have been successful for them or detrimental to their work. The results of your analysis can be a start for your decision making.
Once you have finalized your decisions on your market, message and medium, be sure to have a system in place to track the success of your advertising. Always come back to the drawing table after assessing the effectiveness of your advertising. If the advertising is not working to its fullest potential, ask yourself the following questions: Does my message need to be tweaked? Is this the right medium for my market? Is my market too narrow or too broad?
Until my next post,
James
P.S. For a limited time we have some great real estate course downloads available for free.
Advertising your business plays a key role in getting motivated sellers to call. If you are just getting started with your real estate investing business or if you are working with a tight advertising budget, the free-flyer method of advertising is a cost-efficient solution to your advertising needs. The free-flyer method is an investment of time rather than money, and it still produces the end result you need: to get the message out that you can buy houses.
To use the free-flyer method, you’ll need to find three other business owners that want to do a flyer insert into the local newspaper. Use a four-page flyer with each page being 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches. That is a 17 in. by 11 in. printed paper folded in half. Each of the three business owners will get a full 8 1/2 in. by 11 in. page for their advertisement. Next, you need to find the three business owners. Make sure you pick businesses that you endorse and you would want to be associated with. After all, you will be promoting your business on the same flyer as theirs. Coordinate the process and charge each business owner 1/3 of the cost to do the actual insert into the newspaper. That means you get the fourth page of the insert free of charge to advertise your business.
Another way to advertise your business on a conservative budget is to use door-to-door post-it notes. You have probably seen a similar advertisement before posted on the door to your house. Use a 3-inch by 5-inch post-it note with black ink. Have the post-it note printed to state that you are interested in buying a few houses in that neighborhood within the next 30-60 days. Also include the number to a 24-hour recorded message line in case the seller needs more information on your business. To make this a very low cost option, you can post the post-it notes yourself; however, you can also hire someone to post the notes for about $7-$10 per hour or seven to 10 cents per post-it note. If you do hire someone, make sure to double-check their work by driving through the neighborhood.
The free-flyer and door-to-door post-it note method are two great ways to start advertising for your business. These methods are a great solution for those working on a tight budget, and if used together, these methods will create some good leads for your business.
Until my next post,
James
P.S. What’s your favorite checklists from Real Estate Investing Systems? What’s your favorite form? Let me know!
The following two advertising methods serve well for real estate entrepreneurs who do not have the time to be out in the field posting door-to-door flyers, post-it notes or hangers as their form of advertising. Using bird dogs and voice broadcasts to home owners allow you to maximize your time by not leaving the office and yet still achieving the end result you need.
You can find people that are willing to go out and find you motivated sellers. Some of them are investors that have more deals than they can handle. Others are those that like to drive through neighborhoods and find vacant fixer-upper houses in need of repair. Bird dogs are willing to either sell you the lead for a small fee or give you the lead and get paid anywhere from $500 to $2,000 once you do purchase the house. By finding a couple good bird dogs that are working on a commission only basis, you can really find some motivated sellers quickly.
Another method to find motivated sellers is to do a voice broadcast to all home owners in a specific neighborhood. Provided you comply with the current do-not-call regulations, you can send voice broadcasts out informing people that you are interested in possibly buying their house. This method is surprisingly inexpensive, and it can be very quick and effective when you have a good quality message that you are sending. You can choose to have different messages for when the broadcast connects to a live person or when the answering machine picks up. On the voice broadcast message, include the 24-hour recorded message number so that potential sellers can get more information about your business prior to speaking with you.
If you implement these two methods, it won’t be long before motivated sellers start calling you about buying their house.
Until my next post,
James
P.S. Want a free real estate course download? Check out our downloads page.
Advertising creeps into people’s lives every moment of the day. All a person needs to do is turn on the TV, pick up a magazine or walk down the street to be encountered with hundreds of advertising messages. In order to make certain that a motivated seller responds positively to your advertisement, add a personal touch to your marketing efforts. One example is to use hand-written letters as a form of mass advertising. This article illustrates two situations where hand-written letters can be used.
One way to advertise your real estate investing business is to send out hand-written letters to non-owner occupied houses. You can purchase a list that shows home-owners who have their tax bill sent to a different address than that of the house they own. This often times means it is either a rental house or a house that is not occupied by the home-owner. For this list, you can send out a letter on yellow legal paper that looks like it was hand-written. Here is the step-by-step process to create the hand-written letter.
Use a white sheet of copy paper and put the yellow lined paper beneath it, so that you can see the lines through the copy paper. Then, hand-write the letter leaving the name of the person you are sending it to blank. Take the original hand-written letter that is on the copy paper and copy it onto yellow legal paper. With the same pen previously used, write the name of the person you are sending the letter to on the copies made with the yellow legal paper. The end result is a letter that looks hand-written which is personally addressed. Address the envelope by hand rather than using a mailing label. This keeps the theme consistent throughout – the addition of the personal touch. The seller is more inclined to open and read the letter if it looks personal on the outside.
You can also send these same hand-written letters to home-owners who have been cited with a code violation. Many times when a house has been cited with a code violation, it is an indication that the seller may be motivated. To obtain this list, go to your city courthouse, and they will give you a copy sometimes for free and sometimes at a very nominal expense.
By adding a personal touch to your advertising methods, you have a higher chance of dealing with motivated sellers. Although this article has given you two situations where a personal touch can be used, you can brainstorm several other ways to add this same touch to your current forms of advertising.
Until my next post,
James
P.S. Haven’t got your copy of Real Estate Investing Systems? What are you waiting for… it is AWESOME!
Whether you are a rookie real estate entrepreneur or a veteran, it is always beneficial to evaluate your current advertising methods. You should assess whether or not your methods are reaching the right market and if your message is being received with a positive response. In this article, you will find five effective advertising methods for your business.
Although this article addresses five methods, you only need to implement two or three of these methods. Set up a tracking system to measure the success of each advertising method. If after further analysis you decide you are not getting the success you were hoping for, institute a couple more of the methods.
Method 1: Door-to-Door Flyers
Door-to-door flyers allow you to get your full marketing message out to people in one step. Your flyer should also include a 24-hour recorded message hotline, so that sellers can be pre-screened and given the benefits of working with you prior to reaching your phone directly. Depending on your budget, you can either deliver the flyers yourself or hire someone to put out the flyers for you. Hiring someone will cost you about $7-10 per hour or 7 to 10 cents per flyer. To have the flyers printed, you can use your local copy shop.
Method 2: Door-to-Door Door Hangers
Similar to flyers, door hangers are mini flyers hung over the handles of doors. These can give you about half to a third of the space of a flyer, since they are usually printed two or three to a page by a printer.
Method 3: Postcards to For-Sale-by-Owners
Owners who are selling their houses without a real estate agent are potentially motivated sellers. You can either compile a list of for-sale-by-owners or use a service that can complete this task for you. A good way to contact for-sale-by-owners is to send postcards. You can upload your list to the US Post Office website to have the postcards mailed out. By using the US Post Office and a company to compile the list for you, you reduce the time spent on creating the advertising – time better spent on dealing with motivated sellers who are already calling.
Method 4: Postcards to Out-of-State Owners
Similar to the postcard you would send to for-sale-by-owners, you could also use the US Post Office website to send out postcards to non-owner occupied houses or out-of-state owners. Out-of-state owners have their property taxes sent to a different state than that of the house they own. With a postcard, you have a limited space to get your entire marketing message out. In this case, include your 24-hour recorded message line, so that the seller can get more information about your business prior to speaking with you.
Method 5: Over-Sized Postcards to Entire Neighborhoods
A saturation mailing of an over-sized postcard to every house in a neighborhood produces great success in receiving phone calls from motivated sellers. Depending on the size of your budget, it is recommended to send out 5,000 postcards to 5,000 different houses in certain zip code. A mailing of this size should result in 10-15 calls from motivated sellers. From those calls, about one or two will sell their house to you. The cost to mail out the 5,000 postcards can be less than $1,500.
Although this may not be the most cost effective way to buy a house, it is still an effective way of advertising. For example, if you target at least $20,000 in profit per house and spend $750 in advertising to buy the house, the $20,000 profit makes the cost of the postcards justifiable.
Until my next post,
James
P.S. For step by step checklists and systems for implementing your real estate investor marketing plus much, much more order a copy of the most excellent Real Estate Investing Systems from Amazon.
If a seller is working through a real estate agent, the process of transforming the seller into a motivated seller becomes a bit more difficult; however, it can be done using creativity and persistence. Real estate agents and brokers typically list houses and want to be paid a commission once the house sells. Getting a seller to deed you their house is hard when working through a real estate agent because of the following:
- Most agents want to be paid cash for their commission. And most of the time when you buy a house “subject to”, it is because they owe too much on the house for a cash offer, and real estate agents may think, often incorrectly, that there is not enough cash to pay a real estate agent their commission in cash.
- Most agents do not understand the concept of buying a house “subject to” or on a lease option and many will discourage the seller from considering such offers.
- Agents have told the seller they can sell their house for cash, and the seller is expecting to bring them a cash buyer.
Do not be discouraged in these situations. If you strongly believe the seller will benefit from working with you and is properly motivated to sell their property, be creative and persistent. Here is one way you can work with the real estate agent to attain the end result that will benefit all parties involved.
Real estate agents may be more inclined to work with you if they cannot get a particular house sold and if the seller’s situation is conducive to your solution of buying the house subject to the existing financing. In this case, you can offer to pay the real estate agent their commission on the amount with which you buy the house; however, you will only
pay this commission once you close on the house with a buyer. This can be a year, two or three later. This situation typically works well for the real estate agent, the seller and yourself in situations where the property is unlikely to sell traditionally and the agent will not be paid at all.
Until my next post,
James
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