Postcards For Real Estate Marketing

Are real estate recipe postcards a "tasty dish" for postcard advertising success, or are they a waste of time and money?

Only the individual marketer could respond to that concern with any finality. The answer will originate from experimentation and screening with different postcard marketing methods, contrasting one method against an additional, etc. But I 'd be happy to give my take on the topic, based on the time I spent working in the postcard marketing sector.

What's a Real Estate Recipe Postcard?

Let's beginning with a fast meaning, just so we're on the exact same page. A real estate recipe postcard is an advertising postcard sent from a real estate agent to their audience (typically residents and possible home buyers). On one side of the postcard, there's a photo of a delicious dish with the recipe listed out. You know, chili disadvantage carne, bananas nurture ... that sort of thing.

On the other side of the recipe postcard, the agent will detail his or her contact info with some kind of "Call me when you require assistance" message. The standard property is that the recipient likes the recipe a lot-- or finds the postcard so thoughtful-- that they dial up the agent and state, "Will you assist me get / sell a residence?".

I know, it's a bit of a stretch. However that's how real estate recipe postcards are supposed to work. The question is, do they work that way? An even better question is, how do the response rates from a real estate recipe postcard stack up against a postcard that makes a powerful offer and uses proven techniques of direct mail marketing?

To my expertise, there has never been any type of research on the effectiveness of real estate recipe postcards (when compared to a different form of real estate postcard). Sure, you'll find a handful of reviews here and there, and maybe some "Usage real estate recipe postcards!" promotional copy on a postcard company's website ... but that's probably it.

So here's my take on the topic, based upon my professional experience with both postcard advertising in general and real estate advertising in particular.

Me personally, I would not spend a dollar on real estate recipe postcards. And do you wish to know why? Since while a real estate recipe postcard might produce one feedback out of a thousands mailers, there are means to obtain much better feedback rates. You know ... those tried-and-true postcard marketing techniques, like making an offer of some kind.

There are additionally ways to integrate the real estate postcard with an educational website, thus producing a "very card" that could enhance the success of both advertising networks. In short, I believe there are much more powerful techniques to real estate postcard marketing than just slapping on a recipe and awaiting the phone to ring. But that's simply me.