Have you ever sent out some direct mail and wondered why no one bothered to get back to you?
Have you ever wondered how to get your direct mail read more?
Have you ever tried other marketing that just didn’t deliver a return?
It may not be the marketing that’s broken.
Rather, it could be that local motivated sellers just aren’t seeing the forest for the trees.
If you’re in a competitive market, you’re probably sending out direct mail and putting up bandit signs and looking for any angle to find more sellers. But guess what: so is every other investor out there.
One “we buy houses for cash” sign from one investor looks just like another after a while.
One “Last Chance” postcard from one investor looks just like another after a while.
To a seller, it’s not that they are unmotivated; it’s the conundrum of choice: when presented with 100 different doors that each look exactly the same, which door do you go through? Many people are actually confused by too many choices and they freeze.
Want to get them to take action? Here’s a simple way to do it: look different than other local investors.
How To Differentiate Yourself From Other Investors
Newsflash: You’re not the only real estate investor in town and unless you can differentiate yourself from the others, you’re just going to be competing to acquire the same properties. (Maybe you already know that your sellers are getting a few of the exact same postcards every day from investors like you who are all claiming to make a fair cash offer and close quickly).
You need to get specific by choosing one or more of the following:
- Focus on the state, city, or neighborhood
- Focus on a certain type of sellers
- Focus on certain types of properties
- Focus on some other aspect of the deal (such as timeline, cash offers, or something else)
Get really specific. Don’t just “buy houses for cash” but be the solution-oriented investor who “buys Houston houses from burnt out landlords who live out of the country,” or, “buys houses around military bases in Florida from military personnel who need to sell fast.”
Once you know how specific you can be, don’t just use a generic “we buy houses” logo with a house and your name; match it with the people you are trying to communicate with. The military one above, for example, may benefit from a military theme.
Of course, it’s not just about your logo but this differentiation should also impact other areas of your service too—from how you dress to how you answer the phone to what your website looks like to any resources and printed material you give to the seller.
This isn’t the end of your marketing. This isn’t the magic pill that will make all marketing irrelevant. Rather, it’s the beginning of stronger marketing that pulls in better sellers.
It’s far more effective because your marketing stands out, and sellers see your marketing and it resonates with the right ones. They see you as the perfect solution for them (versus all the generic investors who are sending exactly the same postcards).
So, what specific, unique brand will resonate with the sellers that you want to serve?
About the author: Aaron Hoos is The Real Estate Investing Copywriter. The best investors in the country turn to Aaron for a copy because they know they’re getting copywriting FOR real estate investors BY a real estate investor. To level up your investing business with more effective copywriting, check out RealEstateInvestingCopywriter.com