Posted via web from megbarberva’s posterous

Spring has sprung and it is a great opportunity to reach out and get in touch with your sphere of influence and prospects. So are you in need of some unique “out of the box” direct marketing items or client gifts to send this spring? Here are a few great “out of the box”  ideas to give your direct mail marketing a kick this spring.

The theme here for spring is items that your client can plant, and will be quite memorable.

• Mail a Tree Seedling- Brought to you by Green World Project… Impress your clients and prospects by mailing them a tree seedling for them to plant.  This company has many options to send different kind of tree seedlings options in different kind of packaging. My favorites are the birdfeeder trees! Prices range from $2.50 a piece to $20 a piece depending on which tree package you want to send.  Green World Project will even manage the mailing part for you for an additional fee.

• Plantable Shapes- These cool plantable shapes look like little ornaments, and have seeds embedded in them so people can just plan them as is. The best ones for real estate is the one shaped as a house, but you can go with any shape you would like.

• Flower Stakes  w/ Seeds – The cool thing about these unique flower stakes is, you can put your inprint on these stakes and they already have the seeds attached to them.

• Folded Notecard with Plantable Paper-  How cool is this? It’s a notecard you can have printed with your logo/message and has a paper attached with seeds embedded for planting. Or try Bookmarks with the same concept.

• Mailable Seed packets – Then of course there are mailable seed packets that you can put your imprint on, put on the postage, and mail as is.  Here are several vendors that provide great ones:
• http://www.sanzospecialties.com/index.cfm?action=cat.catalog&categoryID=105
• http://www.reamark.com/catalog/mailable_seed_packets.htm
• https://www.sparrowandjacobs.com/index.php?pageId=4

So this spring, plant those marketing seeds with your past clients, present clients, and sphere of influence.

To make their marketing efforts successful, agents want a well rounded marketing program that includes internet marketing avenues as well good offline marketing tactics. One essential piece of an offline marketing plan is a good print newsletter sent to the agent’s sphere of influence or farm.

Newsletters are a fantastic way to put yourself in front of your contacts and provides them with great information. The problem that many agents run into is writing the articles or finding good content to put into the newsletter. Some agents are just not natural writers, and need a little extra help. The other problem is getting the newsletters them printed and mailed, or finding time to do it yourself.

The following are some of my favorite print newsletter resources that provide the content for you, and allow you customize to your branding, etc. Also many of these will not only print them for you, but can mail them to your list for you, or ship them to you to mail yourself.

• The Personal Marketing Company – They have fantastic looking print newsletters to choose from with different themes. They also give you the option to have them mail to your list for you each month, or deliver for you to mail on your own.

• Rainmaker Newsletters from Gooder Group -  This happens to be one of my own clients favorites. They provide great content to different kinds of market segments you wish to target. They can mail it for you, or send it to you to mail yourself.

• In Touch Today – Another company that does fantastic looking newsletters, with great content, and options for customization. They also have the 12 month mailing options, or will ship the printed pieces to you.

• Sharper Agent – Sharper agent has newsletters that can be sent in an email version or in print. They provide great content, look pretty snappy and you can have them print, or you can arrange the printing on your own (take file to local printer or otherwise). They do not handle the mailing of the newsletters for you though, if that’s what you’re looking for.

• REA Mark or Sparrow and Jacobs – These two companies are pretty similar and also do some great newsletters. They do not handle the mailing for you, but do do up a nice newsletter for great prices.

Of course, you can have your Real Estate Virtual Assistant help you handle all aspects of your print newsletters, from providing the content, manage your newsletter campaigns with companies like the above, or even handle the mailing services.

Though internet marketing has taken up the forefront of many Realtor marketing plans, many agents still find success by regularly marketing to their prospects and sphere of influence via direct mail marketing. The ultimate goal is to continually stay in front of you past & present clients, prospects, and farm, so that they remember you when it’s time to talk real estate. So what are YOU doing to stay in front of your sphere?

The Fall is a great time for marketing, with many ideas or excuses for you to reach out and touch your prospects. And it is always helpful to send them something of value, that they would appreciate and hold on to. The following are a couple ideas to get you going on your fall marketing.

1. Fall Events Calendar – Send your sphere a postcard containing fun fall events going on in your neighborhood or town. Let them know about the hayrides, pumpkin displays, fall festivals, or costume contests going on in your area. And be sure to attend some of those events to meet your prospects and show them that you are not ALL about real estate ALL of the time.
2. Fall Time Change Reminder – The most popular fall time marketing opportunity is the fall time change reminder. It is a simple thing, but clients appreciate it, and it’s a great excuse to get in front of your contacts.
3. Winterizing Tips – Homeowners appreciate a good home improvement tip. Remind your clients to keep one of their biggest investments, in top shape. Before the sting of winter takes it’s hold, send your clients a few tips on how to winterize their homes and get ready for freezing temperatures.
4. Thanksgiving – Sending Thanksgiving wishes seems almost an obvious choice for fall marketing, but I recommend you do it with twist. Use it as a client appreciation opportunity and work out a discount coupon with a favorite local shop or restaurant (local business love cross promotion). To “give thanks” to your sphere, they can bring the postcard to said local business, and appreciate a discount on you. You may even get extra cards printed for that partnering business to display for you.

Do those get your creative juices flowing? Need to know how to implement something like this? Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions has your answer. Let us coordinate your fall postcard marketing with our custom designs and we arrange the printing and mailing for you too!

Announcing our “Pre-Vacation” Special – Order your Fall Time Change postcard from one of our exclusive designs before the deadline on October 6th, 2008*, and receive 10% off the design fees we normally charge. Contact Megan for more details on this and other postcard marketing opportunities.

*Orders received after October 6th for the fall time change are not guaranteed to be sent out in the proper time. Please act fast!

Megan Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions, LLC, and publisher of The REAL Advantage E-Zine. Megan has spent 9+ years doing the “behind-the-scenes” work in the real estate industry assisting agents with their real estate marketing and transaction needs.

The temptation is there. All these slick internet lead companies are hounding you weekly, telling you that they can promise 100 ”scrubbed” leads per month that are ready to buy and sell RIGHT NOW. And for a significant chunk of money, all those “great” leads could be yours. Sure, why not pay that exhorbitant amount for those leads to automatically come to you? Let’s just pull all the newspaper advertising, direct mail marketing and traditional farming and funnel all our marketing dollars into this internet lead company since all these leads will most likely lead to successful transactions. With the promise of all these hot leads, who needs any other advertising? 

The above scenario is a huge myth and a big mistake in my opinion. Believe it or not, there are agents and whole real estate companies out there that are abandoning their newspaper advertising, direct mail advertising, and farming to sink all of their marketing dollars into the internet and internet leads. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent on fancy websites, lead capture software, search engine optimization, pay-per-click ads, and lead generation companies. Real Estate agents and brokers are looking for the next big technology tool that will bring in a boatload of internet leads without them having to do much work to get them.  The problem is that internet leads are likely to cost more time and money in incubating these as leads and abandoning a well rounded marketing plan to solely depend on these internet leads can end up hurting more than helping.

Internet consumers searching for real estate are not necessarily ready RIGHT NOW to buy a home or sell real a home.  For many, the internet is where they go upon first searching homes and feeling out the marketplace. The internet gives them the opportunity to scan ads and do a “drive-by” of available listings without having to leave home. They want to remain anonymous for as long as possible until they are really ready to take the plunge. And even when they do fill out a web form for property information, statistics show that those leads can still take 6-12 months or more before they become active real estate buyers or sellers. I do not believe that the return on investment that many of these internet lead generation companies will convince you of, is as good as they promise.

According to NAR’s 2006 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 80% of buyers used the internet for their home searches. But in stark contrast, only 7% of buyers found the agent they used on an internet site.  40% of buyers used agents that were referred to them by friends, relatives or neighbors and another 13% used an agent they have worked with in the past.

Those statistics affirms my belief that you cannot dismiss the idea of having a well rounded marketing plan that involves not only the internet, but also the traditional farming and marketing methods to your friends, family, past clients and your neighborhoods you serve.  People are more likely to use someone they trust or is trusted by a close friend or relative, not some stranger on the internet that sent them an auto-email. When you continuously market to your past/present clients, friends, family, and neighborhoods through newspaper, direct mail marketing , even email if you can, you will stick out in their minds as the one they trust and the neighborhood expert.

Technology in real estate is ever growing and ever changing and there will always be something “bigger an better” that promises to generate tons of leads without lifting a finger, but they never quite live up to the hype. Don’t fall into that trap. When revisiting your marketing plan think about going back to the basics. Never underestimate the power of basic farming and advertising in your community and service area and watch the leads and referrals roll in.

Are you staying in touch with all your past and present clients or customers? It has become increasingly important to make sure you keep in touch with people on a regular basis that can in turn help boost sales and increase referrals. Doing so keeps you and your busniness fresh in your prospect’s minds and you become their “go-to” person when their friends are looking for a real estate professional, or they are ready for that next home.

Kevin Stirtz wrote this great article about the importance of follow up in The Fortune is in the Follow Up.

Need help keeping in touch with your clients?  This article found on Realtor.org illustrates some simple steps to stay connected.  The following is a selection of some of those steps. 1. Call within 24 hours of the closing to congratulate the client on the sale or purchase.

2. Send a thank-you note within one week after the closing thanking them for thier business and emphasizing what a pleasure it was to work with them.

3. Create a binder for the client containing copies of the paperwork, such as contracts, appraisals, inspection reports, warranties, and settlement statements generated during the transaction. They’ll remember you when they have to check this information at tax time.

4. Offer to provide referrals for household services such as plumbers, electricians, contractors, carpet installers, landscapers, or appliance dealers.

5. Send a customer satisfaction survey form two to three weeks after the closing to get feedback on customer reactions. With this you can ask for an endorsement or testimonial letter you can use in your presentation materials and on your Website.

6. Find out if the client has any friends, family, or business associates who might be interested in buying or selling their homes.

7. Set up a client file that includes personal information such as names, birthdays, ages, pets, and hobbies for the client’s family.

8. If you haven’t done so already, add your client to your montly mailing list or newsletter subscription.

9. Enter the anniversary date of the closing into your calendar so in the following years you can send them a greeting card commemorating the anniversary date of their purchase.

(Info provided with the help of Realtor.org http://www.realtor.org/rmotoolkits.nsf/pages/follow03 )

Coming Soon… Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions “Stay Connected” program.  Keep in touch with all past clients and friends with our new Stay Connected marketing program. Send closing anniversary cards, and monthly direct mail campaigns to keep yourself in front of your clients. Call us for more details!

The main headline on the Drudge Report for much of today has been “The Big Cool Down”, regarding the recent trends in the real estate market. According to this article supplied by Reuters, Existing home sales lowest since January 2004“, the sales of existing homes fell 4.1 percent in the month of July, and the supply of unsold homes was the highest it has been in over 13 years. Some say this is a sign that the bubble is bursting. Others remark that this is merely the market transitioning.  In the higher-priced markets, some buyers just simply had tired of the overheated prices and decided to wait it out on the sidelines. Once prices adjust accordingly, many speculate, that the buyers will come back.

What steps are you taking to stay ahead of this “cooling” trend? Over the next few weeks, the BVAS Connection will go over ways to help improve your marketing power and keep you from getting caught up in that slow market rut.

Real Estate Postcard Marketing – How Your Website Relates
By Brandon Cornett

Real estate agents have been using postcards to market their services for decades. But as technology evolves (i.e. the Internet), postcard-marketing strategies must also evolve.

Real Estate Postcards + Website Tie-in

To get the most from your postcard marketing program, you should integrate your postcards with your real estate website. Most buyers and sellers use the Internet at some point to conduct real estate research. The Internet helps people shop for homes, learn about mortgages and find real estate agents.

This Internet activity is already happening, so you don’t have to do anything to generate it. All you have to do is capitalize on it. How can postcards help you capitalize on web traffic? Here are some tips:

The Postcard Offer

One way to integrate postcards with your website is to promote an offer that the reader can take advantage of online. This might be a free report, a seminar, or anything else that can be downloaded, subscribed to, requested, or learned about online.

This increases the value of the postcard, which in turn increases the postcard’s chance of generating a response. Just be sure you have some form of lead-capturing mechanism in place on your website, even if it’s something as “low-tech” as having people email you for the item. The point is to make contact, not just to give away freebies.

The Online Resource Center

Why not build an informational resource section of your website and point to it with your postcards? Maybe your resource center includes property listings with virtual tours. Or maybe it’s a collection of home buying downloads, such as a mortgage guide or a buyer’s checklist.

By doing this, you are once more adding value to your postcard. You’re giving the recipient a reason to (A) hang on to the postcard, (B) visit your website, (C) learn more about you, (D) trust you, (E) contact you, or all of the above! This last point — direct contact — comes from having website lead generators in place like we talked about before.

Alternate Response Paths

By tying your postcards into your website, you’re giving people two ways to respond — direct and indirect. A direct path on a postcard would be a phone number. Some interested prospects will choose the direct route and call you straightaway. But those who are less direct would rather learn more about you first. They need to get comfortable before they “raise their hands.”

 * Copyright 2006, Brandon Cornett.

About the Author

Brandon Cornett is the author of “Real Estate Postcard Marketing,” an insider’s guide to using real estate postcard marketing. Agents, you can increase your postcard I.Q. by visiting  http://www.realestatepostcardbook.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brandon_Cornett