First try at direct marketing - hand written or printed?

Question

Please help. I found some good ideas from searching, but there was not quite a tread like this.

Next week I'm planning to try direct marketing for the first time. Yellow letters to all mailboxes in an area with a short message - the goal is to see how it works in my area and to generate calls.

:idea: I'm going to cover the whole area with a general message, so far I have had best luck with newspaper ad "Looking to buy an 2/1 or a 3/1 apartment in need of renovation in (city x), phone no 123 456".

(English is not my first language :) and I do not want to sell with an aggressive and emotional message.)

Should I go with something like,
1) "I buy apartments, call me 123 456"
2) "Hello, my name is Silver. I am looking to buy an apartment that needs renovation in this area. Please call me 123 456"

And should I just print the message to a yellow paper? Or have someone with rather-nice hand writing write the letters instead?

Which message would most likely generate calls?

( I'm flipping apartments since there is a lot more demand for them than for houses in my area. Feel free to substitute the word "apartment" with "house", if necessary. (This thread is not about HOA fees or "house vs apartment".))

Aaron Mazzrillo · Answer

Hi Silver,
I am a professional direct marketer. I mail more than 100K pieces a year to my farm.

There are two basic types of marketing campaigns; demographic and geographic. You are doing a geographic campaign. Your cost to mail handwritten letters is going to be extremely expensive. If your farm is very large, which it appears to be, I suggest you use post cards. Make your message about the benefits of selling to you; I buy as is so you don't need to spend any money doing any fix up, I close quick so you get paid faster, etc.

I like yellow letters using a handwritten font. Using a mail merge, we can print these out by the hundreds in a short period of time. We also leave certain areas blank which we have our assistant fill in to make it even more personal.

Marketing is a lot of experimentation and testing. More importantly though, it is about consistency. Don't give up. Keep mailing and mailing. Change your message, change your headline, but don't stop mailing.

Curious about the pic. What country is this?

Silver A. · Answer

Aaron, thank you. This is the answer and advice I was looking for.

I've had so much fun (really!) finding and auditioning people for the honorable job of writing out thousands letters by hand so I'm gonna give it a go. All in all, having 1000 letters written by hand is cheaper than running an ad in a newspaper for a week  and should generate more calls.
 Postcards would not be considerably cheaper either, I will just print out next batch of letters at home.

The pic is of an lower value area with soviet era buildings in Tallinn, Estonia.

Silver A. · Answer

Thank you Laura, I'll keep in mind the idea of paying for their moving costs :)

I guess I'll just have to try out different messages.

Laura Alamery · Answer

I couldn't open your image. I don't know if the file size is probably too big.
Anyway, no yellow handwritten letters. I think that is unprofessional and some owners might find it insulting :)
In my experience I have always sent typewritten letters, either as a self mailer on a heavier cardstock, trifolded, or in an envelope with some catchy phrases on the envelope itself.
You can design and print them in your printer at home. 
My take on this is: you are not a family member or a friend, therefore the homeowners know that you are an investor looking to purchase their home.
It is more important that you come through as you know what you are talking about, offer something they cannot resist (moving expenses paid, for example), and some great headline. 
For example I had a letter that went out that said on the envelope "We don't want your Listing!" and the letter went on explaining that I would buy the property cash, no marketing and wasted time on unqualified showings, etc (of course I had a clause in the contract about showing the property to qualified partners) and I would pay for their moving expenses up to $1,500. Great response!
Regardless of the size of the geographical area that you are targeting, test it by sending it to 100 owners. You should get 2 to 5% response rate, if you have a great mailer (that is what I shoot for.)
If not, tweak it, and send it to another 100 owners. 
You will get a response, just try to maximize the percentage rate. :)

Silver A. · Answer

Help, any opinions on this?

Here's a picture of the area I will be "farming". 
http://www.upload.ee/image/1316150/area.jpg

Silver A. · Answer

Thank you Chris. I try my best.

I've been reading up on yellow letters, and I am not going to be targeting certain apartments - will be blanketing the neighborhood instead. The closest I can get to targeting is to target the area one street at a time. Would there be a point to it?

Also I will not be using envelopes and stamps - only direct mail and one letter (as in 1 sheet of paper with text) per mail box.

Does it matter in this case if the paper is yellow or not? Hand written or not?

White A5 + printer at home + text = very very low material cost :)

Chris G. · Answer

I do not have much experience with direct marketing, but from all the advice that I have received from successful investors, it seems like a more targeted marketing strategy works better than just blanketing a whole neighborhood.

BTW... you say English is not your first language, but you sure did type that quite nicely. You typed that a lot better than I could have.

First try at direct marketing - hand written or printed?

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