When it comes to real estate marketing, there isn’t a single “best” platform or medium that will magically get you more leads so you can sell more flip houses. In my experience flipping houses for the past eight years, I’ve found that you really need to do a little bit of everything, and that includes direct mail.
At the same time, whenever we teach our Success Path Education seminars, I hear a lot of questions about failed direct mail campaigns or campaigns that weren’t as effective as people had hoped. Well, if you’re not getting the results you want from your direct mail marketing efforts, don’t give up! They can be really effective. But take a minute to read through some of the most common reasons that direct mail campaigns fail. If you’re making one or more of these mistakes, there might be something simple you can do to turn your next campaign around.
YOU MADE IT ALL ABOUT YOU
Your postcards or mailers tell potential buyers or sellers how great you are. They talk about what you do with your rehabs and the amazing work you accomplish. That’s all great, but it’s not going to do anything to convince people to work with you.
If you want people to respond to your ads and mailers, you have to tell them what’s in it for them. Focus on what you do for your sellers and/or buyers, not what you do for the properties you fix and flip. Show them how you can solve a problem for them, and you’ll have much better results.
YOU DIDN’T PERSONALIZE IT
How often do you hold onto (or even read) mailers that are addressed to “resident”? Never, right? Yeah, your buyers and sellers don’t read them, either. A little bit of personalization can go a long way toward making your direct mail campaign more successful and getting more leads for your house flipping business.
YOU PERSONALIZED IT - BUT YOU USED THE WRONG NAME
Personalization is a great way to grab people’s attention. Put their name on something, and they’ll at least look at it before it goes in the trash. But if you decide to personalize your mailers, make sure that you have the right names. If you screw up someone’s name, they’re not just going to throw away your mailer, they’re going to remember you as the house flipper who couldn’t get their name right.
YOU ONLY SET OUT ONE SET OF MAILERS
A direct mail marketing campaign can’t be a single postcard or mailer. It needs to be a series of cards with different related messages. The more of your postcards a motivated seller sees, the more likely they’re going to be to remember your name. Sending out a bunch of one-time cards isn’t going to get you very far.
YOU WROTE A NOVEL ON A POSTCARD
Yes, I know that you have a lot to say about your house flipping business and what you can do for your buyers and sellers. Don’t write it all on a postcard! Loading up a card or mailer with text is a great way to get it thrown directly in the trash. Creating an attractive card that stands out and has a few key points will be a lot more effective than writing a huge block of text that they won’t ever read.
There you go—five reasons that your direct mail campaigns might be failing. If any of these look familiar, fix them and then try again to see how much better your next campaign goes.
