How much to spend on postcard campaign?

Question

Hey BP Fam,

I would like to know an average cost of a postcard campaign per piece. My marketing plan calls for 6x4 postcards. Any suggestions on size for max ROI. I have calculated anywhere from $.20 - $.53/piece. The most distinguishable variables are postage and source of list. I have quoted multiple mailing services including EDDM, click2mail, vistaprint, and mailing in house at the rate of $.37/piece. I learned about “shared mail” by searching BP forums and have found a company that services my target area. Will be contacting them on Monday.

I understand that ultimately it will come down to me just jumping out there and taking action. I have a budget but within the last few days I have found myself becoming paralyzed from my analysis or experiencing analysis paralysis. I WILL BE SENDING OUT MY FIRST SET OF MAILERS BY FEB 1. I’m claiming that. At least 2500 postcards. Another thought in my analysis is multiple strategies (max 2 starting out) has its benefits too. Ultimately my question is what’s a good price I should be paying per piece starting out?

Thanks in advance!

E. Harris

Antonio Coleman · Answer

Eric H. Well overall the site looks pretty good when it comes to the setup. But if you want any chance of getting local leads online you must think about optimizing those pages. Because right about now the search engines are confused about what your website is about and what location your are located.

Plus you will need to add more educational content on your website. Without that your site just looks like you want to buy houses and nothing more. People want valuable information on all type of types so you must add that content.

There are a number of other things that needs to be done but these are the ones I will jump on this week.

Just inbox if you need and more hep.

David Rupp · Answer

I was getting around one lead every day. Once I scaled it up to 100 letters a day, I was getting 4 maybe leads a day. If you have the systems in place, by all means hit it hard. But if your like I was, starting with no experience, I would suggest starting a little slower just to figure out what your going to do with the leads as they come in. You could probably start a little faster then I did, but just find a number that works for you.

EDIT: I just read your bio, you have been doing some investing for a while. I think you can start with a few more letters then I did. :)

Eric H. · Answer

@Andrew LeBaron Thanks for responding! My website went live a few days ago. Please let me know what you think.

www.harrishomesllc.com

Antonio Coleman · Answer

Yo Eric H. It's great to see that you taking that next step in growing your business buddy. Besides sending out the cards have you done any numbers games to response rate. This is the most important thing when dong this since you will be spending tons of money.

Next do you have a website that is target for local people and ready to capture leads. If not then don't send our any letters just now because your response rate will be really low.

Your site must be the tunnel you want to send people to so they can opt-in for something vale. Doing this forces them to take action and give you al  their contact information. This is just the tip of the iceberg but this is the route I will take before sending out one letter. This is the something I tell my clients so be careful if you go into this without having your foundation setup.

I will be doing a full guide on post cards and direct marketing here in a few week so be on the look out of that. In the mean time here is some valuable real estate marketing content you can start with..

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/author/antoniocoleman/

Eric H. · Answer

Thanks for responding. My plan was to drop 5000 at once and see what happens. What has your response rate been @ 25 letters/day?

Eric H. · Answer

Thanks for the response. I was actually going to be sending out 5000. 2500 for each strategy/list. I am being conservative and calculated a 1% call rate totaling 50 calls. I have multiple google voice numbers for each marketing piece. The phone numbers go straight to voicemail. I will not be fielding any live calls. I am giving myself 48 hours to respond. Thanks for the encouragement! It's definitely needed and appreciated. I am going to be following up on leads aggressively. I can't afford to throw any marketing $ away.

David Rupp · Answer

I am new at this, but I would agree with @John Horner. When I first started mailing, I would send out just 25 letters a day, so that I could figure out what to do with the leads as they came in. It really helped me handle it all as a total newb. Good luck.

John Horner · Answer

2,500 is a lot for your first time, do you have processes in place to handle all of these leads?  Whether they are leaving a voicemail or talking to an answering service, you will need to be analyzing every deal, following up with them and traveling to visit a handful of properties at least.  If you get 3% that is 75 calls in a week or 2.

You are doing great and way to take action, you just don't want to throw away good leads because you don't have time to work them all.

How much to spend on postcard campaign?

Most Popular Reply