Who should be your target audience?
Before you start printing your direct mail, you need to decide who will be the recipient of those letters. Instead of hitting every home in an area, mail to people who fit a certain profile.
According to Joy Gendusa, CEO of PostcardMania, “You have to get the idea that ‘marketing is persuasion’ out of your head. You aren’t convincing someone to buy from you. You are showing the recipient of your card why you are the best choice in your industry.”
This quote perfectly summarizes why you should be targeting specific lists.
In an ideal world, you would only mail to people who are already interested in what you offer! You can improve your response and conversion rates by marketing to the right people. Seek out your target audience with the following ways:
- Absentee owners: These are owners whose mailing address is different from the property address. This situation could be due to a number of reasons, but it typically indicates a rental property. Many landlords find themselves motivated to sell because, frankly, landlording isn’t easy. Other times, absentee owners may be property owners who have moved from their primary residence but failed to sell their previous home.
- Inherited: This is exactly what it sounds like—people who inherited a property but aren’t motivated to care for it.
- Eviction records: During the stress of an eviction, many landlords realize they no longer want to own the property.
- Probate: When a person passes away, their home may go into probate. Oftentimes, the family needs to deal with emptying out the home, cleaning up the property, doing necessary repairs, and selling the property. This can be an overwhelming task, which means probate lists may be receptive to a direct mail campaign.
- Pre-foreclosures: When someone stops making their mortgage payment, the bank will begin the process of foreclosure. During this time, it’s possible to reach out to the homeowner and offer to help stop the foreclosure and save their credit.
- Expired listings: When people try to sell their home through a real estate agent but are unable, the property becomes an expired listing. This is when an investor can come and purchase the home from the motivated seller.
- Tax delinquent: Not paying one’s taxes is an indication there is something wrong and there may be motivation to sell.
- Divorce: When people go through a divorce they often are VERY motivated to sell quickly.
How to build direct mailing lists
Lists can be built in a few different ways. Let’s go over the three most common ones.
1. County/public records
You’d be surprised at the amount of information that can be found through public records. Generally, the county assessor’s office is the place to go. If you are unsure of where to access your local government’s public information, check out NETROnline.
2. Driving for dollars
Driving for dollars is not the fastest way to build a list for real estate investors, but it can be one of the cheapest. It’s the process of driving around and looking for properties that indicate there is a problem, such as long grass or boarded up windows. By writing down the address, you can search public records to create a list of potential sellers.
3. List brokers
Perhaps the fastest (and most expensive) way to compile a list is using a list broker. There are several large companies that you can purchase lists from, but most get their data from the same public sources that you can access.
When using the list brokers, you can narrow down your list to get specific. For example, you probably would not want to mail to someone who just bought their home last year, because there is likely not enough time for them to be motivated to sell.
Filter based on:
- Equity
- Number of bedrooms/bathrooms
- Year built
- Year the owner purchased
- Late payments
- Notice of default filed
It’s easy to get overwhelmed when trying to build your list. Direct mail is not about getting the perfect list, but about continually testing and tweaking it to get it right.
Contact Us:
At Dynamicard create professional-looking mailers, complete with your own logo. We feature high-value content to get the best reach possible for prospective clients. Our mailers are fully customizable and allow you to connect with your community. This customization makes our mailers even more informative and effective. The possibilities are endless! Mailers can advertise new membership services, provide coupons or even show off new facilities! Direct Mail Marketing is a powerful way to build and maintain your client base.
If you’d like to find out more information about how your business can benefit from direct mailer, or if you have any additional questions you’d like to discuss with someone in a bit more detail, please don’t delay – contact us today.
