Real Estate Direct Mail Marketing: The Cost-Effective Solution To Your Conversion Needs

Real estate direct mail marketing has withstood the test of time, and is still an investor’s greatest ally in an industry as competitive as residential redevelopment.

In an industry as ripe with competition as real estate, one has a tendency to do everything in their power to stay ahead of the curve, and for good reason. Those that aren’t able to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack are surely to be relegated to a forgotten memory. At the very least, neglecting to stand out will place your real estate business behind the proverbial eight-ball.

It’s worth noting, however, that standing apart from the competition has become synonymous with adopting the latest technologies or conforming to the latest trends. Isn’t it funny how staying ahead of the competition requires one to adopt the same real estate marketing trends of their competitors? In order to be the best in today’s real estate market, you have to do what everyone else is doing — only better. For what it’s worth, trends become trends for one simple reason: they work. The advent of technology has certainly come to the aid of residential redevelopers and investors on multiple levels. It’s hard to imagine operating a successful real estate investment company without the likes of Facebook or Instagram to boost your brand identity or increase public exposure.

But I digress, sometimes the best practices are not those on the cutting edge of technology, but rather those things we are most familiar with that offer the best results. While I strongly advise coming to terms with industry trends, it doesn’t hurt to use an old trick or two, especially when marketing your services for leads. In fact, there is one real estate marketing strategy that I maintain will trump its counterparts now, and well into the future: direct mail. Real estate direct mail marketing has never been a more viable option than it is today, and every real estate investor needs to include it in their consorted efforts to gain exposure.

The Truth Behind Real Estate Direct Mail Marketing

I urge you to consider a real estate direct mail marketing campaign, as it’s not quite time to relegate the age old strategy to the pages of antiquity. If for nothing else, a direct mail strategy (if done correctly) may actually serve as one of your strongest lead generation outlets. Nothing, at least that I am aware of, combines cost-effective lead generation with a conversion rate as high as real estate direct mail marketing.

Despite what every tendency in your body tells you, print is not dead. While society has turned ever more to the likes of digital media and mobile devices, there will always be a time and a place for printed media — even with online efforts encroaching on its territory. If for nothing else, printed materials are not an ultimatum, but rather a compliment.

According to the Direct Mail Association, “Direct mail continues to serve as a key driver in most omnichannel marketing plans. It’s complemented well by online efforts, and fills a much-needed niche. Where online is generally low-cost, low impact, print is higher-cost, higher impact. Where online marketing is passive, direct mail is active. Direct mailings are proactive and tactile – demanding that the recipient DO something with it.”

The Direct Mail Association supported their claim, and acknowledged that direct mail marketing efforts “accounted for 46.8BB of spending” last year. What’s more, spending resulting from direct mail is expected to eclipse 2015’s numbers by year’s end. It’s hard to argue against the viability of real estate direct mail marketing, as the age old strategy continues to command a substantial budget from today’s most perennial marketing platforms, and there is no reason you shouldn’t do the same.

Data released by the Print on Demand Institute (PODI) found that direct mail marketing efforts coincided with some of the highest conversion rates of any other medium, which begs the question: Why wouldn’t you consider real estate direct mail marketing for your own company?

I maintain that real estate investors need to view direct mail as a compliment to a larger marketing strategy. It’s not enough to simply send out printed media and hope for a response; you need complement it with subsequent outlets. That said, real estate direct mail marketing reaches its true potential when it is optimized with other factors. In fact, every real estate direct mail marketing effort should coincide with printed media that sends its recipients to an online platform; it’s the dual platform approach that makes direct mail so valuable.

If that wasn’t enough, direct mail has the ability to remain visible to the public for longer periods of time than its online counterpart. According to the Direct Mail Association, “direct mail also enjoys longer “shelf life” than email, so it might be profitable to evaluate your existing landing pages and offers to see what can be repurposed to offer through direct mail. If you do, remember that people may access it weeks after the mailing, so make sure that the pages and offers are still good—or put a firm deadline on response time.”

It’s worth noting, however, that the benefits of a real estate direct mail campaign extend beyond physical marketing efforts. At the very least, direct mail is a lot easier to track than digital media, making the resulting analytics more valuable to future efforts. The more you are able to learn from previous attempts, the more successful your future endeavors will be.

All things considered, real estate direct mail marketing has withstood the test of time for one simple reason: few marketing platforms can promise a similar conversion rate with such a minimal capital investment. Don’t make the mistake of thinking online media has replaced printed media completely; implement a real estate direct mail marketing campaign in your business as soon as possible.