Checklist: Real Estate Print Marketing Essentials

Print marketing is a powerful tool anyone can use to help their business grow, but it's especially essential in the highly competitive real estate industry. If your goal is to become the neighborhood real estate agent, saturating a local market is the key to success, with the right print marketing and direct mail strategy, you can dominate any market.

Using postcards, flyers, door hangers and more will increase your visibility in your desired market. Assuring that when a prospective client is looking to buy or sell a home, they call you first.

Building a collection of printed materials should be one of your top priorities. We put together the Conquest Graphics Real Estate Print Marketing Checklist to guide you through the most useful products and bulk mail solutions to make you the best known real estate agent in town.

Essential Print Products

Postcards

Postcards, paired with direct mail, is an extremely effective way to dominate your local market. In today’s digital world, where technology has empowered consumers to choose what advertising they see and don’t see, direct mail is one of the few advertising options left that will assure your message reaches its target.

Real Estate agents can use postcards to promote their activity in a neighborhood. When a home is up for sale send a postcard to let neighbors know what home prices are in the area. Then when the home is sold, send another to show that you got the job done. This is a proven strategy to attract both buyers and sellers, by increasing awareness of your business, the vitality of the market and your ability to close a deal.

Business Cards

The worst answer to “can I have your card” is “I don’t have one.” A business card will assure that a networking contact, business partner or client has the necessary information to make contact with you when they need to. Giving out a quality business card shows that you care about the small details and take pride in your business. Carefully choose your design and use high quality paper form a reliable printer to make a good first impression.

Door Hangers

Knocking on doors and speaking with homeowners directly is the most basic way to promote your real estate business. But what if no one is home? Leaving a door hanger will let residents know that you were in the neighborhood and took the time to stop by and say hello.

Banners

Displaying a banner on a garage door or anywhere outside an open house is a big way to attract prospective home buyers. If you buy a high quality vinyl banner, you can use it over and over for all your open houses. You can also use banners in conjunction with a traditional for sale yard sign to make it abundantly clear that a home is on the market.

Letterhead

Printing documents on custom letterhead helps your business's legitimacy. If you are just starting out as a real estate agent, using letterhead can make you look more established and professional. Letterhead lets clients know that communication is coming directly from your business and, like business cards, shows that you care about the small details.

Pocket Folders

Any real estate transaction requires piles of contracts, listing information, financial documents and more. Boost your business professionalism by providing clients with a custom pocket folder so they can keep all their paperwork organized and remind them who is taking care of their transaction.

Flyers / Newsletters

When hosting an open house, be sure to put out a stack of flyers showcasing your other listings for similar homes in the area to show buyers what their options are. Pairing your listing showcase flyer with a well written market status newsletter will help inform buyers and let them know that you are always looking out for their needs and best interests.

Bulk Mailing

Every Door Direct Mail

EDDM is a program offered by the USPS focused on simplicity and affordability. Unlike other bulk mailing options, EDDM does not require a mailing list or acquire bulk mail permits. Simply choose your carrier routes and your mail will be delivered to every resident in your district.

The cost compared to other mailing options is considerably lower because you or your EDDM provide handle some of the mail sorting and bundling. Since the price is so low, using EDDM for new listing and "just sold" postcards can be very affordable.

When you use EDDM, mail-pieces are addressed to “Resident” not a named occupant like Jack Clark or Nancy Smith. However this may not be as big an issue when sending out postcards announcing home listings and sales. If you are looking for a more personalized option or want to use variable data then EDDM may not be the best choice for you.

EDDM does have some qualifications your mailpieces need to meet to be eligible for the program. You can find out more information about EDDM by checking out our What Is EDDM blog post.

Saturation Mail

In cases where EDDM is too restrictive or you wish to address mailpieces to named occupants, Saturation Mail is your next best option. Saturation mail requires you to purchase a list and acquire a bulk mailing permit.

After purchasing your mailing list, you will need to have your mail-pieces sorted according to the walk-sequence numbers defined by that list. Since set up for saturation mail can be costly and time consuming, we highly recommend working with a mail house.

You can learn more about Saturation Mail by checking out our other blog post EDDM Vs. Saturation Mail.

Learn More About EDDM