Direct Mail, Door to door Distribution, Marketing

Estate Agents Two-Pronged Marketing Strategy

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It is becoming a widespread opinion that many of us are now becoming ‘digitally blind’, and that the old ways of marketing see a resurgence as a consequence.

In a recent marketing article in the Negotiator Magazine, it quoted that, “people born in 1994 or later…34% had deleted social media permanently, while 64% were taking a break”. It goes on to point out that, “Consumers are clever too. What they once thought was an uncanny fluke - those Facebook adverts that read your mind, for instance - is now understood as modern marketing trickery.” As a result, businesses now need to find an approach, which consumers aren’t blind to. Read on to learn about a two-pronged ‘old’ marketing strategy, which is proving to be very powerful for the estate agents nationally.

Out with the new, in with the old

We used the headline ‘out with the new, in with the old’ on a recent advert in the Negotiator Magazine as a simple play on words of a popular phrase, highlighting that 1, this is now the way many consumers and (therefore) marketers are going, and 2, that Mr Flyer is of course ideally positioned to help businesses go back to the ‘old’ ways of marketing; namely print marketing. This doesn’t mean we recommend you disregard digital marketing! It’s vital to have a balanced marketing mix, and not to be reliant on one approach to build your estate agency business.

The two-pronged approach

What is the approach? I hear you ask! Ok, it is two different methods for two different markets. In most estate agency businesses, the revenue is a combination of sales commission and rental commission. However, these, of course, derive from different sources - sales commission from vendors, and rental commission from landlords. Now, the first strategy I’m sure you will be aware of, is door to door flyer distribution. This is a very common strategy for attracting vendors. However, as it would be pot luck for your flyer to land in a landlords home, we need something more ‘direct’. Therefore, direct mail is what we use to target landlords. To avoid confusion, door to door distribution literally is where your flyer is delivered door to door, whereas direct mail is posted to specific addresses, which fit a set target demographic (in this case, landlords within X miles of your agency).

Attract new vendors with door to door distribution

Out of all the different sectors we work for, estate agents are by far the most successful in terms of ROI when it comes to flyer distribution to attract vendors. Despite this, we hear so many people tell us that it doesn’t work for them/in their area. It’s not the strategy that is failing, but the implementation. There are a number of factors, which determine your success. These range from:

  1. Specifically choosing appropriate locations.
  2. Having a design with a clear call to action - a reason to respond (it doesn’t have to be a discount!) and an eye-catching image (not of your office please - no one cares!).
  3. Printing it on appropriate paper. If you’re delivering to the most premium houses in your area make sure your printing on the most premium paper, otherwise you will appear cheap and unprofessional.
  4. Finally don’t treat flyer distribution as a one hit wonder! As the negotiator article states, “home movers only engage with agents every 3, 5 or even 10 years. They won’t be actively tracking a brand outside of the moving process, but the drip-feed of door drops keeps the agency’s name fresh for when the time does come to move.”

Profit from the new letting fee ban with Direct Mail

I could write a whole blog on this, but in brief, your industry is, of course, being squeezed by recent government legislation on tenancy fees. However, there are positives from this for you. For sole letting agents this ban is crippling, but for those of you who provide both sales and lettings, you’re likely to see a lot of the small letting agencies disappear, leaving more landlords short of an agent. Now is the time to capitalise on this. We provide full direct mail campaigns, from GDPR data compliant sourcing, design, print, personalisation (Dear Joe Bloggs), enclosure into an envelope and the postage itself…and all this is often cheaper than a stamp! If you want to grow your residual income, this is a great strategy when implemented correctly.

How to start the two-pronged strategy

Whether you’re a startup agency or have multiple offices, we are positioned to help you build your business and your brand through the traditional marketing strategies of door to door flyer distribution and direct mail. Some of our clients only do 5,000 a month, others are doing well over 100,000 each month, but we will simply recommend what is appropriate for you and your business.

To start attracting new vendors and new landlords, please do contact us today on 01484 598555, or email us at [email protected]