It’s Marketing Madness Monday

Actually I did this Tuesday, but started it Monday. And Monday has a nice ring to it for my title.

Because I’m marketing, I’m washing my pick-up truck today. That’s part of my focusing on marketing. More on that in a bit, but I wanted to see (and share) what could be done in quick and cheap marketing.

There are so many ways to market – market for leads that is. I’m interested in finding new properties right now. I’m talking about getting your name out there. In my case I’m trying to tell the world (or the parts of the world closest to me) that Jay Buys Houses!

So what are the options? Here is a very non-exhaustive list: business cards, vehicle signs, bandit signs, shirts, direct mail, internet (incl. social media), and print ads. That sure doesn’t cover it all, but that’s how the majority of leads are found. If you chunk “word of mouth” in, we could be at 90% of all leads.

Let’s start with the low hanging fruit, and sticking to the premise of fast and cheap, let’s look at business cards, vehicle signs, bandit signs, and shirts.

The internet is littered with resources – companies vying for your marketing dollars. I’ll share the places I’ve had success with. Because it’s computer based, that means you can do a lot of work from your desk – putting a check in the “fast” box. Just don’t overthink it. You can easily go into a fit of comparing prices and design options. It requires you be a bit decisive.

Business cards: I surfed a bit but ended up at VistaPrint.com. Their prices are hard to argue with and if you poke around a bit there are always discounts to be had. If you’re not happy with the price, just create an account and store something without buying it – you’ll probably soon be emailed with discounts on that very item!

By the way I have two kinds of business cards. The first is more professional and descriptive for working with fellow investors, contractors, etc. The second is bright, bold, and simple, proclaiming that I buy houses, my number, and a quick array of reasons to call me (divorce, tired of landlording, etc.). These cards get left anywhere and everywhere. I designed new cards in little time and 1000 pieces were on their way to me for around $45.

Vehicle signs: First you’ve got to decide if you want magnetic signs or stickers. Stickers are nice, and can be even less expensive than magnets. But I opted for magnets, thinking I might want to go someplace without the advertising. I designed three customized signs (incl. a long one to go across my truck’s tailgate) easily and quickly on Signs.com for $140. I thought that was cheap, but if I wanted smaller, less customized signs, I could have had that for well under the $100 mark.

To finish off the truck I went back to VistaPrint and ordered 100 magnetic business cards. My tailgate sign includes “Take a card” and has a few magnetic business cards stuck next to it. The magnetic business cards cost me about $30.

I stopped ordering there. Enough for one day. But I did hunt just a little further. Bandit signs could be had for about $5 each (single-sided / 18”x24”) at SignsOnTheCheap.com.

Shirts are another thing I’ll get to eventually. But I found decent T-shirts with single-color print (both sides) for around $15/each when ordering a dozen. I had better luck on shirts with local screen printing shops than online services.

So you can see, for well under $200 I’m outfitted with business cards and vehicle signs. For a few hundred bucks more I could have bandit signs and custom shirts. And you’re well on your way. And so I must wash my truck so I can put my new signs on!