Jim Negron
Door Hanger Advertising Ideas for Realtors
The success of a door hanger distribution campaign is determined by a number of factors, starting with having a clear objective for the campaign. Once you have defined the goal of the campaign, the door hanger must be designed to motivate the prospect to respond to your call to action, for example, come to your office, go to a website or call on the phone. We call this motivating offer “A Magnet”.
Here are a few Ideas and Magnets that have been used successfully by our clients. Use one or a combination, but do not over crowd the postcard with too much information. The door hanger must pass “The Glance Test”, which means the reader will know what the door hanger is about with just a passing glance. This can make the difference between getting noticed or being tossed out as junk advertising.
- It is all about you!
When you are advertising your services, it is not the time to be modest. Selling Real Estate is a one on one, personal service. Include your photo and a brief resume. If you are new to the business, do not try to conceal it, let folks know that you are building a reputation and will work harder to get results. Include memberships in community organizations or church groups. If you live in the neighborhood you are targeting, be sure to mention it. - Farm Area: It’s Not The Size But The Frequency That Counts
Door Hangers are an effective and affordable way to keep in front of new listing prospects. A smaller distribution area scheduled on a frequent basis will yield the best results. Remember, your name needs to be “top of mind” when the decision to sell is made. The only way to do that is to distribute on a regular basis. Be consistent and over time, the listings will come. Once you’ve built momentum, it’s time to expand that farm area. - Develop A Market Plan for New Listings And Give It A Name
Sure, most listings sell through the MLS. What other marketing activities do you include with your listing service? Open house, lawn signs, newspaper advertising, website, door hangers, etc. Make a list and present it as a results oriented marketing package. Make it even more special by giving it a name i.e. “The Exclusive, Bill Sullivan, Residential Real Estate, Marketing Plan”. - Use A Slogan To Help People Remember Your Name
Sometimes it may seem corny, but it works. i.e. “Selling Your Home? If You’re In A Hurry, Call Billy Murray!” - The FREE Market Analysis Offer
Everyone uses this offer, but perhaps a little rewording can make it more appealing, by targeting curiosity: “Find Out How Much You Neighbors House Sold For….You May Be Surprised!” - List The Houses You’ve Sold Recently. Don’t Have Any? You Can Still Make A List.
Put together a list of houses that have sold recently, including prices and a brief description. If they are not your listings, put a small disclaimer at the bottom “complied from MLS data base”. - Can You Offer A Discount Brokerage Fee? People Love To Save.
If your broker allows, you might consider offering a discounted brokerage fee and advertise: “Full Service At A Lower Fee”!
Like it or not, you are competing with Disney World and McDonalds!
Even if you are not in the restaurant or amusement park business, Disney World and McDonalds are marketing giants that have affected the way entrepreneurs promote their businesses.
When you visit Disney World, you expect the restrooms to be clean and the employees (or “cast” as they like to be called) to be smiling and helpful. You know that if you go into just about any McDonalds worldwide, their award winning French Fries will taste the same as all of their other locations.
Consumers have grown to expect excellence from theses and other world class operations like Wal-Mart and Netflix. Therefore, you can’t get away with using slogans in your advertising that have become cliche. “Lowest Prices”, “Personalized Service”, and “Best Selection” and so on, don’t have the same impact on prospects as in the past.
Consumers take those things for granted. They expect a business to deliver on the basics, and if they don’t get what’s expected, they will take their business somewhere else.
Answer this question: “Why should a prospect do business with me instead of my competition who is offering a similar product or service?” You should be able to answer this question in a brief sentence or two. And here is the real challenge – the answer must be compelling enough to attract more customers than your competition.
In marketing terms, your answer is called “A Value Proposition”. Develop a good one and then use it on your door hanger advertising campaign!
Using Door Hanger Advertising For Your Lawn Service
Spring is almost here and many of our regular lawn service customers are getting ready to distribute door hangers in their local neighborhoods. Door Hanger Advertising is a great method to use for growing your lawn care business. If you are considering door hanger distribution, here are a few things you should consider.
1- Divide Your Market Into Groups
Group A: Homes in the neighborhood that already have a lawn service. Within this group are:
- Customers that are happy with their lawn service
- Customers that are unhappy with their lawn service
- Customers that consider their lawn service “just ok”, or nothing special
Group B: Homes that do not have a lawn service. Within this group are:
- Potential customers that think they can’t afford a lawn service
- Potential customers that no longer want to mow their own lawn due to age or health
- Potential customers that might need work done occasionally
2 – Create A Special Offer For Each Group
When creating a special offer, be aggressive. It’s hard to get potential customers to change their habits. Whether you are trying to get them to fire their current lawn company and hire yours, or to stop doing the work themselves, you’ve got to give them a strong enough incentive to get them out of their “comfort zone”.
Here is an example of a strong offer that has been used successfully by lawn services. Headline – “NEW CUSTOMER INVITATION: FREE LAWN SERVICE! Details in smaller type – Pay For 2 Cuts At Our Regular Low Price and Your 3rd Cut Is FREE!”
That works out to be a 33% discount on the first three cuts. After 3 cuts, if they like your work, you’ve probably got a regular customer.
Don’t make the mistake of evaluating the success of your door hanger advertising campaign by considering only the first purchase a customer makes. Look at the lifetime value of a customer. Here is a link to an easy to use calculator that can help you determine the lifetime value of a customer.
Remember that the purpose of your door hanger is to generate a lead. You’ve still got to make the sale. So be prepared. Answer the phone live if you can and if you must use a recorded message, let the caller know that you will return the call quickly (the quicker the better).
Don’t worry about having the lowest prices and don’t get annoyed if the prospect seems to focus on price. The reason most callers start off with price questions is because they don’t know enough about the lawn service business to ask other questions. So, be prepared to defend your prices by describing the differences between you and your competitors.
When you give a price, look for a reaction from the prospect. Some potential clients may be embarrassed to question your prices. This is a “hidden objection” that you can dispose of by addressing it head on. For example you might say, “if you are shopping for price, you will find that the rates of most of the qualified lawn service companies in town are within a few dollars of each other. We not the highest or the lowest, however our service is way above average. Here’s why…..”
Keep close track of which offers are working best and then fine tune your door hanger before mailing again. Door Hanger Advertising is an on-going process. You’ve got to distribute, track response, fine tune and then distibute again. After awhile your response rates will become predictable and your business will be growing along the way.
Sign Up For Our “Bulk Mail Boot Camp” – It’s FREE!
Want to learn more about direct mail advertising? Sign up for our new “Bulk Mail Boot Camp” – it’s FREE. The course consists of 5 videos (each is about 3 minutes long), and includes all the basic training you’ll need to launch a successful campaign.
You receive one video per day for 5 days. Here’s what is covered:
- Day 1 – How Much Should You Spend On Your Direct Mail Campaign?
- Day 2 – How To Design Your Postcard
- Day 3 – Creating A Mailing List Using Neighborhood Saturation
- Day 4 – Creating A More Targeted Mailing List
- Day 5 – Response Rates and Results
Several hundred have already “Graduated” from the course since it was introduced in mid February 2010 and the reviews have been very positive. To find out more or to sign up CLICK HERE.
How Much Would You Pay For A New Customer?
What if there was a store that sold customers? No, not a store that sells to customers, I mean a store where small businesses could go and purchase new customers. And let’s say that store has all types of customers on the shelves, like in real life, difficult customers, cheap customers, average customers and even best customers.
Let’s deal with factor one first. How much would you pay for a new customer? Isn’t the amount you would pay for anything determined by the value of the product or service. The same rule should apply to customers. So before we ask the question, how much are you willing to pay for a new customer, let’s ask how much is a new customer really worth. Here’s one method you can use.
Small Business Example: ABC Dry Cleaners
Work out the numbers for your business and go on a shopping spree! Buy as many new customers as you can. But wait minute, you might have a limited amount of cash on hand. Furthermore, your cash flow may not allow you to wait up to two years to recover the profit. That brings us to factor number two: your budget. The most important thing to consider here is being consistent. You can start with a small budget and expand it as cash flow permits. Determine a budget that you are comfortable with and then stick with it.
Don’t despair, you can get new customers with advertising. But you’ve got to pick an advertising method that is measurable. Door hanger distribution is very measurable and it is cost effective. You can even target the type of customer your looking for (your definition of the best customer), by picking neighborhoods based on home values and proximity to your business.
Keep close track of the results of your door hanger distribution efforts. Then compute your cost per customer: Cost of the distribution divided by the number of customers generated. By fine tuning your door hanger design and special offers you can increase the response rate and lower your cost per customer.
Advertising isn’t easy, but if you know the cost to generate a new customer and the value of that customer, you will be well on your way to running successful advertising campaigns.
Vacation Rewards Program: Great Way To Get New Customers
Door hangers are an affordable and effective way to reach clients in your neighborhood. Getting door hangers distributed on a regular basis is half the battle. But even if you hang them on every front door in town, your door hanger still needs to attract attention and then motivate your prospect to contact you. You need a strong offer to get the best results. How about this headline: FREE VACATION with Any Purchase!
Would a free vacation to Disney World, Las Vegas or San Francisco attract new customers? You bet it would. With our new program, now any size firm can afford to launch a Vacation Rewards Program for their business. A free vacation is a great sales incentive. In addition to attracting new clients, it can be used to build loyalty with existing clients. You can also reward customers who send referrals. It can even be used to motivate inactive customers.
With our Vacation Rewards Program, you can present your customer with a travel certificate for hotel accommodations for up to 2 to 6 nights. The only charges your client will pay are hotel taxes and small housekeeping fee (both are usually less than $29 per room, per night). Participating hotels include selected properties operated by Holiday Inn, Howard Johnson, Quality Inn, Travelodge, Radisson and others. The cost for each voucher is less than $4 although they have an actual value of $600 or more. By the way, there are no blackout dates.
Seem too good to be true? Well, this is not a sales gimmick. You clients won’t have to sit through a high pressure time share sales pitch. They will be treated just like any other guest paying full price. So how do we do it? This program is administered by a company that is a professional hotel booking agent. They have been filling unused hotel rooms for over 24 years and can provide a list of satisfied repeat clients as references. Hotel Rooms are subsidized by theme parks and local tourist economies to increase traffic. Everyone wins, your client, the hotel, local attractions, restaurants, but most of all your business will benefit, because you’ll be adding new satisfied customers to your client list.
The program is valid for 12 months from the date your company enrolls. There is a one time fee of just $395 for 100 Vacation Certificates and personalize thank you letters. Complete instructions and promotional ideas are included with the package. You are not involved in the reservation process. All you have to do is present the certificate to your customer. The Certificate has compete booking instructions including a telephone number and website that are available 24/7.
Your clients will love the gift of a free vacation and you can generate more sales without discounting your product or service. Your cost is less than $4 per sale which is probably a lot less than the cost of discounts you may have offered in the past.
If you would like to find out more about this exciting program visit our new website http://vacationrewardsprogram.com/
Big Promotional Possibilities With Small Cards
In today’s economy, businesses are cautious about spending money on advertising and marketing. Here’s an idea that is both affordable and effective: Small Card Marketing.
So why use small cards instead of a larger flyer?
In this case, smaller is better. Small Marketing Cards are the same size as a business card (3.5” x 2”). Prospects will tend to hold on to them because they fit into wallets, shirt pockets and purses. Furthermore, their stylish design, quality card stock and glossy UV finish give them a valuable appearance that gets attention and more retention.
What will fit on Small Marketing Cards?
A lot more than you think. How about a mini menu? By the way, menus aren’t just for restaurants, if you’ve got a price list, it’s a menu. Realtors can use Small Marketing Cards as a mini listing card showing photos and features of a property for sale. They can be used as a “frequent buyer” punch card at the point of sale or a coupon card to attract new customers. The only limit is your imagination. Our marketing team will help you fine tune your ideas.
What about Small Marketing Card distribution?
Point of sale distribution is easy. Just give every customer a Small Marketing Card before they leave your place of business. Other promotions will require a bit more creativity.
INVENTORY YOUR RESOURCES:
- How many employees and family members are available to hand out Small Marketing Cards?
- How about your business neighbors? Offer them a cross promotion opportunity – they display your Small Marketing Cards on their counter and you display theirs.
- Participate in networking clubs, organizations (i.e. chamber of commerce) and attend business card exchanges.
- Ask the owners of the establishments that you do business with (dry cleaner, florist, sub shop, your favorite pizza place, etc.) to display your Small Marketing Cards. Most will be happy to reward your patronage.
- Include Small Marketing Cards in all your correspondence, billing, shipments and packages that you send out.
- Don’t forget your most enthusiastic distribution person – yourself! Get in the habit of carrying and giving out Small Marketing Cards at every opportunity.
Set A Goal
Set a goal. Even a modest one of just a 100 Small Marketing Cards a week will bring results. Then try to increase that goal each week. Remember, the more Small Marketing Cards you put in circulation the better you’ll do. Be consistent and you’ll see a steady stream of new business.
Increase Results By Running Several Promotions Simultaneously
Small Card Marketing is so inexpensive, you can even afford to run several promotions simultaneously. Run a client Birthday Promotion with Small Marketing Cards and give them out all year long. It will only cost you $16.50 per month. Combine that with a Frequent Buyer Punch Card and a stylish Coupon Card to attract new customers and you’ll have a pretty comprehensive marketing campaign in place for less than $50 a month. By the way, Small Card Marketing is a great way to test promotional ideas before spending a lot more on traditional marketing methods.
Ready To Get Started With Small Card Marketing?
Have questions? Ready to get started? Fill out the simple form on the home page at www.SmallCardMarketing.com and a member of our marketing team will contact you the next business day.
It Isn’t A New Idea But A “S W O T” Analysis Of Your Business Is Still A Good One
Door Hanger Advertising is an effective way to grow your business. However, all advertising should be part of an overall plan that sets your business apart from the competition and creates a demand for your products or services.
A “S W O T” Analysis is a simple yet effective marketing exercise (first introduced in the 1960’s) that can help a business focus on improving sales.
The initials stand for:
- “S” – STRENGTHS
- “W” – WEAKNESSES
- “O” – OPPORTUNITIES
- “T” – THREATS
You don’t need a marketing guru to conduct the analysis, you can do it yourself, if you are willing to be honest. Start with 4 blank sheets of paper and title each with the headings shown above.
Here are some examples to help get you started:
STRENGTHS could be –
Your location, a one of a kind product or service, a reputation built over the years, your staff, etc.
WEAKNESSES could be –
Your location, similar products and prices offered by nearby competitors, not enough parking, a bad reputation
OPPORTUNITIES could be –
A competitor goes out of business, new homes being built in the neighborhood, new products available from a supplier, using the internet to expand sales, etc.
THREATS could be –
New competitor opens nearby, gas prices go up, temporary road construction, etc.
With a completed analysis, you will be better equipped to develop an effective marketing and advertising plans, including a door hanger advertising campaign.
Grow Your Restaurant Business: The Advantages Of Door Hanger Advertising
Door Hanger Advertising is a great way to grow your restaurant business. Unlike newspapers, radio or tv, door hangers allows you to put your advertising dollars exactly where your potential customers live. You can target geographically by neighborhood.
Door hanger advertising also allows you to control your budget, by the size and frequency of your distribution.
There are many other advantages of door hanger advertising, here are just a few:
- It’s personal, between you and your prospect
- It’s not as public as other media, your competitors won’t have access to your coupons and special offers as they do in newspapers and other media
- It’s limited to one door hanger per household, which means special offers will not be abused, for example, by prospects buying more than one newspaper and clipping multiple coupons
- Response is easy to track
- You can compare results by neighborhoods and determine your best market area
At this point, you might be asking yourself, if door hanger advertising is so powerful, why isn’t every restaurant in town doing it?
It’s true, distributing door hangers can play a big role in growing your restaurant business, however, it is going to take some effort and a budget. It’s not just a matter of putting your menu or a few coupons together and distributing them. A successful campaign is a bit more complicated than that. To gain some insight into the process, I suggest reading this BLOG, which contains ideas and tips on design, strategies and more. It’s written for busy owners and managers. Each posting can be read in a minute or less. Feel free to leave comments and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.
Of course, everyone wants to hit a home run the first time at bat, but prepared for some hits and misses. Every distribution is important and provides an opportunity for you to learn more about your market area. Results will vary, even if no one responds, that is still a result (obviously not what you were hoping for) and the result, that no one or few people responded, can be used to make a course correction.
So, if you have decided to start a door hanger advertising campaign, begin with a distribution that is large enough to establish a base line of results, usually about 2000 to 3000 pieces. Don’t be tempted to save money on printing by ordering large quantities to be used in future distributions. What if your offers fall flat and don’t work? Then you’ll be stuck with the extras or worse, feel obligated to put them out and repeat the results.
Door hanger advertising works. It can work for you. But, unless you are prepared to stick with it, you may be wasting your time and money. It is going to take some trial and error. The good news is, that over time, with experience, results will become predictable. That’s when you can expand your efforts, and door hanger advertising won’t be costing you money, it will make you money.
Divide Your Sales Territory Into Primary and Secondary Markets.Use A Different Door Hanger For Each.
Target new prospects in a secondary market with door hanger distribution and a strong offer.
Door hanger advertising offers many strategic advantages that are often overlooked. Because you are picking the distribution areas, you have the ability to target exactly were you want to prospect for new business.
For more effective results, divide your market area into two territories:
1- Your primary market, where most of the residents are aware of business and provide the majority of your daily sales. (usually the homes closest to your retail location)
2- A secondary market, an area from which you don’t see much traffic. Perhaps this secondary market is a little further away or has a strong competitor servicing it. Whatever the reason, you suspect there is potential for new business.
Now that you have two seperate markets, create a door hanger specifically for each market.
You primary market contains your loyal customers which provide the majority of your sales. Don’t take them for granted. Keep in front of them and remind them why they like your products or service. Reward them with new offerings and discounts. Spend the majority of your door hanger advertising budget on this group.
The secondary market is your chance to grow your business. Be more aggressive with your special offers. Give this group a reason to travel further or to experiment with a new supplier. Don’t measure the success of your door hanger campaign by each individual transaction. Remember, if you just break even or even lose a little bit on each new sale, you’re getting a shot at a new customer. Measure the value of every new customer on what he will spend in the future, not just first sale. And don’t forget aboutn the word of mouth factor. If he tells family and friends about you, that’s an extra bonus and more sales!
Many business owners fear that if they give a deeply discounted offer of their door hangers, folks that live further away will come, use a coupon, and I never be seen again. Perhaps that’s true. But if it is, it means that your product or service is not special enough for them to consider coming back. Think about it.
Here’s a final tip that might help you save money when creating more than one version of your door hangers. Door hangers are often printed on letter size card stock (8.5 x 11.5 inches). The door hanger image is repeated either 2 or 3 times on the same sheet and then cut them in thirds or half after printing. So a 1000 sheets will yield either 2000 or 3000 door hangers depending on the size.
If you provide the printer with more than one version of your door hanger, the order can be printed at no extra cost except perhaps for an additional artwork charge.
Give this strategy a try and you’re sure to see new customers. Good Luck!