Direct Mail Almost Killed My Business - SEO Saved It
I wanted to share my experience, frequently I'm contacted about direct mail marketing from listeners of the BP Podcast I was interviewed on in 2014. It was an honor to be interviewed, while the mindset and business organization tips offered still hold true. The marketing information is outdated and dangerous. Let me explain...
From 2012 - 2015 I mailed 5,000 - 15,000 mail pieces per month in Southern California. Various types of letters and postcards with a good amount of success. But in 2015 I started to notice a shift, my marketing was becoming less effective as competition for off market properties grew and new wholesalers and house flippers began to try their luck at direct mail.
Midway through 2016 I pulled the plug on all forms of direct mail and PPC marketing. I was fighting a losing battle, it took 10-15k mail pieces to get a deal and most sellers I reached were inciting bidding wars that I couldn't win. If I did get the deal, the wholesale fee would barely cover my marketing costs to get the deal. I was getting frustrated and felt embarrassed and afraid that my business model was no longer viable.
At that point, 1/3 of my deals were coming from a website I had created in 2014. It was poorly designed but was ranking fairly well in my market. I noticed a trend that the sellers I reached via my site were much easier to deal with. To survive in my competitive market I knew I had to make big changes or I'd bleed out on the marketing costs of direct mail and PPC.
Over the last two years I've sourced 100% of my deals from my website, which tends to rank in the top 3 spots for most keywords in my market. This change eliminated most of the stress and pressure I felt from high budget marketing. If I don't think a deal or a seller align with my goals, I can easily pass on it since my costs to reach them are negligible. In the past I'd be trying to fit round pegs in square holes to cover my marketing costs, running myself ragged on every lead to squeeze something out of it.
I now spend under $1000 a year on design and maintenance to allow a fast, efficient, clean and safe website. This helps Google take notice and I am routinely making little tweaks to try and stay ahead of the curve. For a small company like mine, this provides me enough deals to thrive on while not stressing the typical costs and pressures of marketing in a fiercely competitive market.
The intent of this post is shed light on the alternatives to large marketing budgets, technology is our friend and frankly I don't see many people looking in their mailbox for answers to their questions these days. They are on their phone. Direct mail might be a great way to reach sellers (especially the old ones) but the trend is shifting and it is no longer a creative form of marketing. Dealing with tech savvy sellers (of all ages) has made my life much easier and relieved a lot of stress. Feel free to ask any questions if you'd like to open a discussion on SEO, web marketing and its merits.