This Marketing Method Has Made Me a Small Fortune

by Jason Hanson on October 17, 2009

  

The marketing method I’m about to share with you always seems to elicit a lot of emotional responses. A lot of people hate it and bad mouth it, but guess what? I don’t care. Why? Because it makes money and it gets results. You should track all of your marketing methods and if they’re working keep doing them and if they don’t, then obviously stop.

I’m pretty much willing to bet that anybody who doesn’t like this method has never used it (the most likely reason) or has never gotten a deal from it because they don’t know what they’re doing (I’ll show you the perfect plan.) So what method am I talking about?

Here’s a blurb from an email I received last week, from one of my partners…

“Over the past week I have been putting out my new signs, I attached a pic of it, check it out. So far the signs have been pulling an excellent amount of calls. I’m getting an overwhelming response. For example, I put out 50 signs last night in high traffic areas and just today I got 11 calls.”

Yes, good ole’ bandit signs. One of my two favorite marketing methods (the other is direct mail.) And as you read from the above quote, if you know what you’re doing you could get flooded with calls.

So how do you get results from your signs? First you have to get them out. I’ll admit, nobody enjoys putting up signs. I didn’t like putting them up at 3a.m. but I certainly liked the money. As soon as I could afford it, I hired someone to put up my signs (I found my sign person at a local REIA meeting but you can also use Craigslist.)

Next, you need to have a marketing plan.

My personal plan is to put up 50 signs every other weekend. You need to put up at least 50 to make an impact and you have to do it multiple times because this business is a numbers game (and because the more people see your sign the more credibility you’ll get and the more likely they are to call you.)

Also, carefully choose the location that you’ll put up the signs. You want major intersections. You want stop lights. A bandit sign is no good if people can’t read it because they’re flying past it at 75 miles an hour.

So what would I do right now if I were you? Go order bandit signs of course. This method is such a winner because most people are too lazy to put them up. That’s why there isn’t too much competition for those of us who put up signs…. just as long as you follow a written plan (I use a simple Excel spreadsheet to keep track of the weeks my signs are to go up.)

$5,000 would probably make you like them more…

And if you haven’t used bandit signs before, I would definitely try it. You probably won’t like putting up the signs… but if you get a quick $5,000 wholesale deal I have a feeling you might like it a little more.

By the way, from the multiple calls on the bandit signs my partner put up, we have two deals in the works. Hopefully they’ll pan out and my “love affair” with bandit signs will only grow stronger.

Note from the Editor: Please make sure you’re complying with all local and other laws when doing any type of marketing activities.

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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Dan Nerling October 18, 2009 at 4:49 pm

I am new to Real Estate.
I’m very interested in knowing more about Tax Lien and Deed investing
I’m also very interested in knowing if anyone is pursuing Escheating or Overages
I’ve bought 3 gurus e-books and I have a general idea how everything works.
What I need now is to talk to someone who is actually succeeding in these niches.
Thanks!
Dan

Reply

2 Joshua Dorkin October 19, 2009 at 11:34 am

Hey Dan – Jump on our site at BiggerPockets.com and you can ask these and any other questions you’ve got on our forums.

Reply

3 Dave Sharp October 19, 2009 at 1:49 pm

Jason –
Isn’t it illegal to slap those signs up all over the place in most places?

Reply

4 Ryan Moeller October 20, 2009 at 4:51 pm

I put up about 40 signs one month and received some calls. Most of the calls where city workers telling me to take them down, but I did get some leads. I would hire people to put them up again. I am curious to hear more about your direct mail marketing. Which lists do you market to and what is your message and strategy? Do you do problem/agitate/solution? Other?
.-= Ryan Moeller´s last blog ..Cash Flow Duplex =-.

Reply

5 Dick Rosen November 24, 2009 at 10:44 pm

Jason, I would like to hear more about or even see a sample of the spreadsheet that you mentioned for tracking your signs.

Reply

6 Morgan Smith September 14, 2011 at 11:27 am

Like your articles! Go on ;)

Reply

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