Wholesale Marketing Campaign

[Sean Ellis]

Hi everyone!  This is my first post on Bigger Pockets and I'm looking forward to being a part of this community.  

I am getting ready to start my first marketing campaign to go directly to the seller and buy properties and was wondering what your preferred avenue of marketing and budget is.  I already drive for dollars and have picked up a couple that way and will continue to do that. I've researched doing postcards, SEO, bill boards, and even radio ads; is anyone doing these and are they effective?

Finally, if I had $100 a month to spend on marketing, where would you allocate that money towards marketing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated and I'm looking forward to the feedback!

-Sean

[Mike Dorneman]

@Sean Ellis Check our listsource.com

You can purchase specific lists in your desired zip codes. You can filter by many options, I usually start with absentee owners (means owners mailing address is different than the property address = rental property). I like these prospects because many landlords actually hate being landlords and would entertain an offer.

As for your marketing budget... If $100.00 is your max monthly, your o pay option is really sponsored Ad’s on Facebook. That said, $100.00 is t going to get your many eyes.

[Sean Ellis]

@Mike Dorneman thanks for the tips!  I should have been more clear in my marketing budget.  I plan on spending at least 5k a month marketing, the $100 figure was meant to represent what percentage of dollars should be spent where?  Any advice on that matter?

[J.D. Schmitt]

@Sean Ellis I would echo exactly what @Mike Dorneman said in terms of starting with Facebook. It is a lower barrier of entry for most. Targeting is really good, no minimums, and easy enough to set up. 

In terms of an exact marketing mix (ex. 50% to Facebook, 25% to ListSource, 25% to Google), that'd be a tougher question for me to answer. Even for large (non-RE) clients that I work with, it's a test and learn always. I'm sure there are some others in the forum that have a longer track record and opinions. But, this probably differs a lot person to person. 

I see you're in Fort Worth, let me know if I can be a resource. I work at a large digital advertising agency here and looking to get into Real Estate investing more seriously this year. 

[Kyle Mccaw]

@Sean Ellis Truthfully, $100 / month is a very low budget. Driving for dollars may be your best bet. When I was actively looking for deals postcarding non-owner occupied houses worked great. GoBigPrinting and YellowLetters are both great vendors for this. My average was 1 deal for about every 3,000 postcards. You can pull the list for free from the MLS.