There's a lot to love about direct mail marketing. It delivers cold, hard sales leads directly to your doorstep and is one of the most cost-effective ways for real estate agents to get new clients. Unfortunately, it can be difficult for many new agents in town or don't have much experience.

Most agents send out mailers to brag about their accolades or sales stats, making it all about themselves.

Let's flip this concept and create value. Here are some tips and tricks that will help you write better direct mailer marketing campaigns:

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Know Your Target Market

Are you speaking to buyers? Sellers? Leasers? You have to know who you want to address.

Sending out mailers that simply say, "Contact me if you're looking to buy or sell," are simply not effective.

You must give your target prospects a clear, direct action to take.

Define your audience, speak to them directly, and you'll see results immediately.

Research Local Areas And Present Points Of Interest

To be successful in the real estate industry, agents must have a thorough knowledge of their market area.

Prospects want to know what their new lives will look like outside of their new home. Schools, shopping, dining, health & fitness – these are all part of a purchaser's consideration when they're looking for a property.

This presents a perfect opportunity to highlight some of your market area's best parts that would appeal to prospects.

Show them local food spots, top-rated schools, or even the popular goat yoga studio that's down the street! 

The ultimate goal here is to be their personal tour guide – someone who can walk them through the best parts of the area – to prove that you are, indeed, the best person to guide them through their move.

If you really want to make an impression and plan on farming a particular area for a few months, turn this into a themed mailer campaign. Showcase a new area every month to create a consistent, branded feel in the mind of your prospect. While your results might start slowly, the consistency that your campaign over time would bring will blow your prospects' minds away.

If you're not sure what area you should focus on, just pick. According to move.org, 67% of Americans move within the same county. This leaves you with a long list of neighborhoods and small towns that are worth showcasing through your direct mailer marketing.

Takeaway: be their personal tour guide through your direct mailers!

Present Market Area Statistics

Similar to the "tour guide" approach from the last example, a successful agent knows his or her market area's monthly sales and inventory.

This is a different approach to position you as the expert. 

Many prospects are overwhelmed by the amount of real estate industry data they find online. They simply don't have the industry experience to properly make sense of the data to make the best decision. Most can't even discern between a buyer's market and a seller's market.

It takes experience in the industry to take raw data and present it in a way a fifth-grader can understand.

This is where your expertise comes in. 

Use your mailers to provide them valuable insights about the market. This is your chance to explain extraordinarily complex concepts in a digestible way.

Unsure of what data to actually use? Try this quick method:

Take a statistic that you think is valuable and ask yourself why the average person would care.

I like to use the phrase "because this means" to help me flesh out these reasons.

For example:

You see that the average days-on-market for a given area is 14 days. That may be exciting to you as an industry professional.

Why would the average person care?

Because this means that homes are selling faster than usual.

Make sense?

Takeaway: give your prospects valuable insights in a simple way!

Hype Up Incentives

Incentives are an incredible way to excite prospects that are on the fence.

Depending on your brokerage, this may require a small bit of leveraged risk on your end as an agent.

The important thing is to resist the temptation to decide solely on your bottom line. You may find that you have to look at the bigger picture or in a more long-term sense.

Remember that real estate sales are all about relationships, and while you may have to take a small hit to your bottom line in the short term, the relationship you create with a qualified prospect can feed you for years to come.

A small loss of a couple of thousands of dollars can easily turn into multiple transactions down the line from referrals and repeat business.

Every situation is unique, however. An incentivized strategy may work well in a dense area like New York City but perform poorly in the Los Angeles market. 

You must make it make sense for you. Calculate the risk you're willing to take and assess the potential referral and repeat business opportunities before locking yourself into any specific incentives.

Once you decide on the incentives you'll offer, it's time to market them!

When you promote your incentives, figure out ways to make them sound irresistible to your prospects. A great incentive presented blandly will not make very much difference.

Follow the "because it means" method again.

Here's an example:

Why is a "no closing costs" incentive important? Because it means you'll have more money to upgrade your property, pay on the down payment, save for a rainy day, and more!

Takeaway: calculate the right incentive you're willing to offer, then make it irresistible!

Parting Thoughts

Your direct mailer campaigns are a great way to attract new business – if you do it the right way.

Steer clear of overbearing self-promotion – what most agents do – and provide value to the end prospect.

If you turn a simple postcard mailer into a pleasing experience for the prospect, it will make them wonder how well you'll treat them if they were an actual client of yours.