Direct Mail – DIY or Outsource?

Direct Mail – DIY or Outsource?

As promised, I’m coming at you today with a life-hack that will put you in control of your success in real estate. If you’re like me, you’ve probably tried to cut costs (especially when you’re just getting started). As far as marketing goes – cutting costs, although may seem good on your budget at the time, is highly detrimental to the overall growth of your real estate lifestyle business. Let me explain ….

So, what exactly do I mean by “cutting costs”, well I am referring to the DIY folks out there that would rather write letters themselves than pay a mail fulfillment center (by the way, that was me about 6 months ago!). I was so frugal, aka CHEAP, that I would attempt to write my own yellow letters.

There were several reasons this was a BAD idea:

1) Attention – my attention span can only last about 5-10 minutes on any given task, if you’re like me, this equated to about 2 letters before getting bored and antsy!

2) Low Volume – there was just simply NO WAY I was ever going to write enough Yellow Letters to be effective.

3) Not Scalable – think about it? Why develop habits you only later have to change, if you cannot scale a current process, find a BETTER WAY … Remember, the goal of being a Gen-Y Real Estate Investor is to have a lifestyle business, NOT to be enslaved by a part time endeavor … That is where I was about 6-8 months ago ….

Now, pay attention to the fact not all direct mail fulfillment services are created equal. I have looked at close to a dozen and pricing is across the board. You want to look for a flat-rate fee, not a progressive discount. This way, you don’t get hooked by the offer on the home page come to find out you need to order 5000 mail pieces to get that deal!

I’ve been using YellowLetterShop and have been impressed. Their prices are the best in town, without a doubt. Only .19 cents to print the letter, .10 cents to fold/stuff, and either .39 or .49 cents depending on if you use a standard mail stamp or first class mail stamp. Believe me, there prices ROCK! Just to give you an idea, I paid $165 for a 245 mail-piece order today, while the same order at a major Yellow Letter distributor was $286 – this is because it requires a bulk order! But, not with YellowLetterShop, you get the same service at a better price!

These guys have pre-made templates you can use or you can create your own copy (check out NO B.S Direct Marketing by Dan Kennedy for help with this!), you can also choose the ink, paper type, envelope type, etc.!

You’re probably wondering how to get started? So what are you waiting for, go check them out!

**As of this post I am not an affiliate with YellowLetterShop and have no financial benefit to using them, other than being a satisfied customer