"Dumb question" about my Direct Mail Campaign

[Amanda Fox]

I CANNOT FIND the answer to these basic question on BP (I'm sure I'm just not looking in the right spot - Aahh!) HERE IS MY DIRECT MAIL CAMPAIGN PLAN. 6 mailers (at least) to a targeted list of approx 500 properties (vacant and distressed found by driving neighborhoods once a week eventually growing to 500) once a month for 6 monthes, scrub the list, keep sending mailers to the remaining and add new properties to get back up to 500.

OK, my 4 QUESTIONS are: Should I send a mix of "handwritten" personal letters (definitely not yellow letter since everyone else seems to be doing this - hah. Planning to send a small folded white sheet with blue "handwriting" (I turned my handwriting into a font) writing in a small envelope) and postcards (planning oversized) in my 6 step campaign?? If yes, should my personal letter seem like it is from a different person than my postcard and not have my business name?? Should I write a different message in each personal letter and each postcard or should it be the same message?? Does anyone have suggestions for my marketing campaign?? THANK YOU!!!

[Vanessa Blais]

Well, I did direct mail marketing for 6 of the 8 years that I was investing in RE, and I've spent my time since then doing direct response copywriting, so I can throw my hat in here...

First, targeting, targeting, targeting, targeting, targeting, and did I mention, targeting?

I never put money into direct mail just to houses that were abandoned. Just because no one is in them, doesn't mean they're in any kind of distress.

Now, I used a service called 'Foreclosures Daily' (which last I heard had gone out of business, but I saw something very similar to it on SREIA's website today, so maybe they're back, or a replacement is...) I subscribed to 3 counties and every day, I could log in to the site, and get the lists of every Lis Pendens that was filed in the clerks' offices of all 3 counties the day before.

*If your county(ies) have their public records searches available online and you're computer savvy, you can use macros to mine the same data every day. (You can also outsource the macro creation to someone who is computer savvy if you aren't, and expect to pay $50-$75 an hour for them to do it. Hours will be dependent on the number of counties you want to mine data from.)

Next, I used Microsofts Streets & Trips program to create a route to go see all of these houses on the list that day, and though knocking on doors or leaving door hangers did yield some results, what I was really out there looking for was the houses that were in foreclosure and had already been abandoned. Once they've left the house, the emotional attachment is gone and they're out of the mindset of 'save my house.'

Everyone got mail... 7-11 pieces (this depended on the equity in the house, as Foreclosures Daily didn't just give us the Lis Pendens Info, but ALL the public info on each property- how many mortgages, how much each was, the assessed value, the physical and mailing addresses of the owners according to the tax collector, etc, etc etc.)

I didn't do 'yellow letters.' I did a post card and then letters. All my letters were typed, but the envelopes were hand addressed by my assistant or me, and had a live stamp, and in BIG RED LETTERS had the words "Check Enclosed" written on the envelope. Inside was a very, very, very obviously not REAL check, with a GIANT "VOID" stamp right on it, with instructions to call us for a real check.

The next letter was usually an 'advertorial' with a yellow post it note attached that said "Thought you should see this," -J.

Then the remainder of the series just continued to give them more reasons to call us.

Hope that helps somewhat. :)