Why Bandit Signs Don't Work....

[Tom Cafarella]

I’m here to give you the sobering truth: Bandit signs DO NOT WORK

As you probably know by now I am a real estate guru junkie. I’ve taken every course, ready every book and watched every webinar known to mankind.

The ironic part, is that almost every single one of these so-called gurus, recommends bandit signs.

How Do I Know They Don’t Work?

Because I’ve done it. I’ve put up 1,000 of bandit signs personally, in addition to hiring staff members to put them out for me. I’ve bought the bandit sign stapler. Yes, the one that allows you to put bandit signs up over 10 feet on a telephone pole.

Now, don’t misunderstand me here…you CAN generate leads from bandit signs. You CAN buy houses from using bandit signs.

The reality is you can generate leads from any marketing strategy. Whatever the marketing strategy that is pitched in the book/course that you are reading now, I’ve tried, tested, and either succeeded or failed it.

Whether or not I’ve “succeeded or failed” at the strategy boils down to whether or not it is effective, and by effective I mean is it the best use of your time and money.

When it comes to effectiveness, bandit signs are simply not effective. Here’s why:

1. The number one reason why bandit signs are not effective is because they get ripped down. Depending upon where you put them and how lucky you get, bandit signs will either stay up for hours(in most cases), or weeks(if you get lucky). If you hear someone tell you about a bandit sign that has been up for months or years, this is an outlier. You don’t want to base your marketing efforts around outliers

1. They make people mad: now look, for those of you who know me, I could care less about whether a marketing method makes someone mad or not if it works. However, in this case, you are making people mad and it isn’t effective. See, it is someone’s job to get the bandit signs down. When they wake up and think that they are going to have a nice slow relaxing day at work, and then get a call that 200 bandit signs are up(and they have to take them down), they get angry….quickly. Put up 200 bandit signs once and they will be angry for a day, and probably let it go. Put up 200 bandit signs for 2 weeks straight, and they are going to want blood. They are going to want to find out who is doing it. The problem for you, is that they have the way to contact you right on the sign. You can throw that number to an answering service, but sooner rather than later, they are going to call the number pretending to be a seller. Yes...this did happen to me. Yes, this will happen to you
2. They get you fined. Again this is a cost/benefit question. Is paying a fine consistently for this worth it? Long story short, the answer is no
3. Another issue with bandit signs is credibility. Bandit signs, in general, give off the impression of a fly by night operation. In a world where consumers are afraid more than ever of “getting scammed” bandit signs don’t do you any favors

Even More Importantly Than Everything Else Already Mentioned: OUTDOOR MEDIA IS DEAD

The last time that you were stopped at a red light, what did you do?

Think for a second….and answer honestly……

If you answered honestly, you know that there wasn’t even a second where outdoor media had a chance to catch your eye. A fraction of a second is all that outdoor media has a shot at these days.

So you have a sign that is going to stay up for a fraction of a day and only grab someone’s attention for a fraction of a second while it is up.

Bottom line here…..skip the bandit signs.

There are way too many super effective marketing methods to even give this one a shot