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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
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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
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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
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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
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