18 Your Guide to an Effective Real Estate Marketing: Choose Your Mailing Lists Carefully

The most common mistake committed by investors for their initial marketing campaign is the failure to recognize the importance of mailing list. If you want your real state investing firm to gain more customers, you must take notice of this.

What? Have I just committed direct-mail heresy?

Hardly, every successful direct mail marketer knows that the mailing list is the vehicle upon which his success rises or falls. Oh, it’s a ton more fun talking about copy and headlines and offers. And this is indeed the creative side of the business. But every single person who has made a fortune in direct mail harbors this secret that few dare repeat.

In fact, here’s a quick formula for success to keep in the back of your mind. It’s called the 40-40-20 principle of direct marketing. And it means that 40 percent of your efforts should be focused on selecting your mailing list. Another 40 percent of your should be directed to your offer. The remaining 20 percent of your time then can be spent on your copy, your text and the general design of your mailing. It’s a little known secret. But it’s a very effective little known secret.

So begin with choosing the right list. First, by making sure you use a list broker. Today, you can rent a list of names in just about any category imaginable – and many even the most vivid of your dreams can’t imagine.

Ask questions you really need to know. Make sure that the list is fresh and updated. Ask him to provide you with the information like the company the list originated from and the process how they created the list. Ask if the duplicates can be removed from the list and if the list can be given to you in various formats.

Ask all the right questions. Don’t just take his generalization that this list is right for you. It may very well could be, but discover the last time it was updated (a good broker updates a minimum of once every three months) How did they create this list in other words, what sources did they use in pulling these names together. Does the list contain duplicates? And if it does can your broker eliminate them for you? What are the formats you can receive this material in, CDs, internet downloads, emails, labels?

Keep learning about your customer. Your success in picking a high quality mailing list is only limited by your knowledge about your customer. No matter how experienced your data broker is, additional information from you about your customer is crucial to helping them build a better list.

Some of the things you should know are the demographics of your target customers, their common interests, habits, location, and etc.

Be clear about your objectives. So these are the basic things you should consider in assessing which lists are correct for your real estate marketing campaign. And yes, the effort required is double than what most real estate investors believe.

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