Small Business Marketing | Marketing for Entrepreneurs | Realtor Marketing » direct mail marketing

Small Business Marketing – Layering Your Marketing Message

Tara Jacobsen — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:49:44 +0000

Small business marketing is all about getting prospective customers to notice you. I KNOW, you think that small business marketing is about getting them to BUY from you, but first they have to know you exist!

The easiest way to get people to notice you is to show up everywhere they go, from in person, to their mailbox, online at social media and in their email inbox. This process of being everywhere is officially called layering and should be part of a planned structured marketing campaign.

LL Bean is stalking me. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the LL Bean gang! They have American made clothes (I am from the rust belt near Pittsburgh so this has always mattered to me). Their clothing is unbelievably high quality and they have a no questions asked return policy. Seriously, you can wear your shoes, clothes or coats for YEARS and if something goes wrong, they will make it right, no questions asked.

Years ago I got on their mailing list and they have continued to send me catalogs, even though I have not ordered in quite some time. Sort of nice, but did not compel me to buy.

Social Media Marketing

So today I opened my Facebook and they had posted a message about extreme weather clips on the LL Bean Facebook page. Not a picture of their product with a link (although they have them too!), a video from the weather channel about terrible cold weather.

Small Business Marketing Tip – So NOW I am thinking about cold weather in conjuction with LL Bean! They have snuggly warm coats and slippers in case it snows like that here.

Email Marketing

After cruising the Social Media and noticing the LL Bean clip (I didn’t watch the video but got the gist and the association stuck). I popped open my inbox to delete messages (I mean read my email…hehehe). What showed up there? An email from LL Bean!

Now I am in marketing so I tend to notice when things happen like this, but I am also human and the urge to buy something from LL Bean is getting greater and greater!

Direct Mail Marketing

So, as most of you know I am an internetty kind of gal. I get leads from the internet, teach internet marketing classes and have every whiz-bangy kind of appliance needed to access the internet at my disposal.

That having been said, I rarely BUY things on the internet. I go to stores and look at catalogs (doh, I just happen to have an LL Bean catalog handy!). Sending me a catalog will definitely make this layering marketing work better for the Bean!

How To Do Layering For Small Business Marketing

So you are a small business owner or entrepreneur and you are thinking to your self (in a really snarky tone, I can hear you) that you do not have the millions of dollar advertising budget that LL Bean has! That figuring out all that technology is going to take time and money you don’t have.

Here are some easy ways for small business owners to capitalize on what we have seen here today!

Direct mail marketing – There are two ways to do direct mail marketing on a shoestring. Print dinky postcards on colored paper, 4 to a sheet or buy them from Vistaprint for pennies on the dollar. I checked yesterday and the cost for a postcard stamp is 29 cents so the cost to do a 100 piece mailing should be less than 50 bucks total. I am getting ready to send a 100 piece dinky postcard mailing this week and will let you know what the response rate is!
Email marketing – if you are not using an online database like Constant Contact or Office Auto Pilot (the one I use) yet, start today. Figure it out and start building a list! Send them informative emails. I KNOW, you are all clamoring about what to send, send something that is related to your business!
Pick up the phone – Call them to see if they got what you sent! Your mailing made this a much warmer call.
Social Media Marketing – Post something about this on your social media like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus or LinkedIn. Be careful not to be too salesy, just something good and interesting for them to enjoy that is related to your business.

With my coaching clients, I recommend that we have “theme months” where we pick a theme and market to that using multiple sales channels. I can’t stress enough that you should pick a theme for this month RIGHT NOW, set up some of these layered sales outlets and get started bringing in more prospects and sales!

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If you would like to find out more about my Small Business Marketing coaching programs today, give me a call 727-415-9165.

Realtor Marketing Funny Realtor Postcards

Tara Jacobsen — Fri, 14 May 2010 21:03:49 +0000

Realtor marketing is generally a serious thing. That having been said, if you have the right personality, funny realtor postcards can be a great advertising tool!

When I was Realtor, I frequently used humor to make connections with my clients, prospects, sphere and farms. While I did not use comical sales verbiage often, when I did I got an overwhelmingly positive response! While this is primarily about postcards, the ideas that are here will work for door hangers, popby cards and even t-shirts or notecards.

When do funny realtor postcards work?

I have known some really serious realtors who would not dream of leaving their homes without their power suites, pumps and hairspray firmly in place. They fly through the day, decreeing things and are generally not all that fun-loving. Funny realtor postcards are probably not even on their radar.

Now me, I am the self proclaimed queen of corn and find any and all puns funny. The picture above with the saying “it is fang-tastic” always makes me smile – fang-tastic, get it?!?!?! Okay, back to serious realtor marketing then. So, long story short, if you are funny in real life then marketing based on puns, plays on words or funny pictures could work for you.

A side note, in the current market sellers are not all that happy and will probably not be as amused by a funny punny card, stick to the serious for them right now.

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What types of headlines work?

There are numerous sales channels that you can use for funny realtor postcards including buyers, farming, holidays and more. Here are some ideas to get you started. If you have some more that I missed, please leave them in the comments!

Buyers – Looking for a new pad – pair with a frog picture
Buyers – Why the long face – Having trouble finding a great house? – pair with a horse face
Sphere – Help me CLEAN UP in real estate and enjoy this soap from Sister Agnes – we used this one to when we commissioned little soaps to give as popbys at Christmas time
Sphere – I will SPRING into action as soon as I get your referral…if you know anybody that is looking to buy or sell a home, please let me know!
Sphere – Don’t fall for any old agent, get the best – with pictures of leaves
Farm – Would you be my, could you be my, won’t you be my neighbor! – let them know you work their neighborhood
Farm – Isn’t it time to find out what your home is worth? – with a clock picture
Investors – Jump into the real estate market – with a diving picture
Fall – Real estate is kicking off the third quarter in sales, there is no better time to get back in the game. Winning interest rates, wide open inventory all add up to a touchdown for the “home” team!

Additional Funny Realtor Postcard Resources

Please visit our Realtor Marketing Resources page to find out what companies we recommend for Realtor Marketing services!

How To Write a GREAT Sales Letter!

Tara Jacobsen — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:33:59 +0000

You know I never re-post stuff from other people but Gabor Olah of PLRwholesaler sent out one of the more informative emails that I have gotten recently. His email about how to write a great small business marketing sales letter was very informative and easy to understand. PLR is Private Label Rights and this guy offers a bunch of great content (make sure you get on his mailing list)!

Many people have asked what’s the secret to writing a compelling sales letter that sells. Every communication you send to customers or prospects should have a clear purpose – and your sales letter is no different.

Now there’s simply not enough space to go into detail about every aspect of your sales letter, but below is a
brief summary of some of the major points you need to address.

Before sitting down to write a sales letter make sure you are clear about the product or service you are offering, the price, any bonus offers, whether there is a time limit, etc.

Think from the point of view of the customer. What will make them interested in your product or service?

Do not make the letter about you or your company. You will not make sales by telling customers about the latest events in your office or the history of your company’s expansion. The letter should be about the customer, their problems, and how you can solve them.

Headlines are the most important part of a sales letter. So it’s important that you try to come up with at least twenty different headlines and then select the best.

Generally headlines should be longer than 3 or 4 words, but less than 17 words. Take a look at newspaper headlines and other sales headlines for inspiration. Be specific. If you have a figure of 37% then use it, do not say ‘over 30%’. Do not exaggerate in your headline to get attention. If it cannot be believed readers will not bother to look further.

When you first begin writing the main body of the letter do not edit it as you write. Just write what you think is the main, important message and do not stop to correct spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. If necessary stare determinedly at the keyboard as you write, or better still turn the monitor off on your PC.

The reason for this is that if you continually stop to make corrections the words will not flow and the message may become confused. Don’t get me wrong, it’s vitally important to make sure that your final copy contains no spelling mistakes. But this should be done once your first draft is completed.

Avoid long sentences and paragraphs in your sales letter. You want to make the letter as easy to read as possible and the most effective way to do this to “trick the eye” by creating whitespace.

You can do this by breaking the letter up into subheadings that refer to the contents of the next section. Your subheadings should give enough information for someone skimming down the page to understand your offer.

Once you feel your letter is complete put it aside for a while before reading through it again. You may spot
mistakes or areas of confusion that you didn’t initially notice.

If you cannot leave it for a period of time give it to someone else to read. Ask them to skim through it to see if they get the main points of the message. If they do they can then read each sentence and give you their impression of the letter.

Now as I mentioned at the start, this is only a very brief summary on the steps you need to follow to create a sales letter. While it’s by no means a full-blown explanation, it gives you a place to start.

Sincerely,
-Gabor

Find out more about PLRwholesaler!

Realtor Marketing – Direct Mail Postcards

Tara Jacobsen — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:50:15 +0000

Realtor Direct Mail Postcards

The BEST marketing money I ever spent when I was an active Realtor was on direct mail postcards! I sent them out to my farm, to past clients and to prospects. To this day, two years later, I still get people who mention that they are sorry that I am not still sending them as it helped them keep up with the real estate market in the area that I farmed!

So why should YOU mail out realtor postcards? Here are my top five reasons!

They hang around A LONG time – people will keep them on their desk, bulletin board or refrigerator for longer than you ever though possible!
It reminds people that you are still in business – I know, you are a professional and should not have to say so BUT with the market the way that it is you never can be too sure.
You can market your listings – I know this one is not popular but it is true! Part of the reason you are paid commissions is that you market a property. I always made sure to put my client on the mailing list and boy did it make an impact that I was doing my job when they got it in the mail.
They help grow your farm – When you do consistent mailings into an area you become the defacto neighborhood expert even if you have never had a buyer or listing there!
Lastly, the cost has come WAY down from when I was doing it!!! – The price per piece, including addressing, First Class Postage, and Delivery is now $.40 per piece. Dang.

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That last one is a life saver!!! The one thing that I did not like about doing real estate postcards was the cost! First I had to order the printing, then I had to have a bulk mail stamp to save on postage, then lick and stick the stamps and finally schlep on down to the post office and make sure I had my postcards sorted the right way. Wow am I having a bad flashback!

The cool thing now is that you can order one or a thousand with no change in price – the weensy ones are forty cents no matter the quantity you order when you use www.BrokersHelper.com (KW Agents make sure you use My Red Tools for a little discount).

So as you are planning your marketing for the upcoming year, make sure that you consider adding direct mail postcards to the mix. Here are some of the top ones that I sent out with great results!

Expireds
Just Listeds
Just Solds
Neighborhood Info
Spring Ahead/Fall Back
Happy Thanksgiving
Funny Realtor Postcards (if you are not the queen of corn like I am don’t do these)
Future sellers drips
Farms
Under contract in X days

Ones I didn’t send

Recipes – I am a realtor not a cook!

Hope those help with your realtor direct mail marketing ideas – please feel free to comment if you notice one I may have forgotten!!!

What is database marketing? Solving small business marketing problems!

Tara Jacobsen — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:20:06 +0000

According to Wikipedia, database marketing is “a form of direct marketing using databases of customers or potential customers to generate personalized communications in order to promote a product or service for marketing purposes”.

Wow is that not helpful! My definition of database marketing is to have all your clients, potential clients, prospects, vendors, friends and family all in one place that you can use to send out direct mail, email marketing and generate call lists. Currently on my “marketing TV tray” I have a post-it note with a name of someone who I need to add to my database, two business cards and a sign in sheet from a class that I taught. If I do not add them to my database today I will

lose their name entirely
find them in three months and forget why I had their card
find them in six months and be too embarrassed to send anything because they won’t remember me (I KNOW I won’t remember them!)

So how do you use your database for marketing?

Send out emails to your database – This is FREE! You can start a bi-monthly newsletter and send your marketing message out WITH a nice piece of information that will be of value to your readers. For home service people that might be tips on how to winterize their home, ways to clean their grout or even a list of associated vendors they recommend. For real estate professionals it might be market stats, information about first time homebuyers or how to prepare their home for staging. Whatever you send, make sure that you think – “would I be interested in reading this”. If not – write something better! (if you are stuck on what to send, check out our Small Business Marketing Solution – Â Thrive Client Contact System)

Make phone calls – Each month pick a couple of letters (A-C, S and T) and print out your database people whose last name starts with that letter. Carry your list around and when you have a couple of extra minutes call your people!

Send direct mail marketing pieces to your database – You can mail your clients a monthly piece of newsletter marketing, marketing postcards or even your personal brochure. Please note – if you are going to judge the effectiveness of your direct mail campaign by 1 sent message don’t bother. You need to send out your direct mail message for at least 3 months in order to be able to find out if will work! If you can’t afford to send out to your entire database, cut it in half and send half of your people a letter, newsletter or postcard each month, rotating the names so EVERYONE gets something at least every other month!

Some other things you can do with your database:

Collect Birthdays and send a nice card out a couple of days before (I am BAD at this – you WILL NOT get a card!)
Make notes about what you talked about – your people will think you are brilliant when they realize you remember all their personal info! Just pop in and take a peek at their notes BEFORE you call them!
Upload relevant documentation and attach it to their record. You can attach their invoice, sales receipts, contracts etc. by scanning them into a PDF and then uploading them to your database.

If you will commit to using your database, adding EVERYONE you meet the day you meet them, you WILL get more business and make more money!!!

Your Favorite Medium

Tara Jacobsen — Sat, 10 May 2008 23:53:02 +0000

No this is NOT about psychics or charlatans! This is about what YOU think works and how that affects what you DO.

Now to give you some background on where I am coming from, before returning to marketing, I built my highly successful real estate business in Clearwater by using direct mail marketing pieces and networking. I am more than willing to drive across town to visit someone in person rather than call them on the phone and I hardly ever send marketing or informational emails to my clients.

I was sitting in a meeting this week with a realtor who ONLY sends email, no direct mail and who also networks very well. She is adamant that direct mail does not work, she has tried it before and got nothing for her effort. I told her that I had tried email before and it didn’t work AT ALL. Come to find out that both of us had sent ONEÂ or TWO pieces, MONTHS apart and then decided that it didn’t work.

I hate to talk on the phone so I assume that everyone hates to talk on the phone. She LOVES email, the internet and all things technology related and so she thinks she has the best chance of getting her message across by doing what makes the most sense to her.

What we found out is that one way doesn’t provide a whole message. Some people who you communicate with will get the most from your emails, some from direct mail and you can never go wrong talking with someone on the phone or face to face. The key is to talk to them EVERY month in EVERY medium to remind them that you are still in business and still want to serve them!