Real estate flyers are still an effective tool for any real estate marketing campaign. Whether you are marketing a single property with open house flyers or listing description flyers, or if you are using farming flyers to market your services; there are many factors to consider and best practices to follow.
Does it make sense for you to create your own real estate flyers? Should my real estate marketing plan include flyers delivered via email campaigns? What kind of information should I include when introducing my real estate business to my target market using farming flyers?
These are just a few of the questions we will answer in our comprehensive guide to real estate flyers. So if you are ready, let’s start the discussion by helping you decide whether to create your own flyers for real estate marketing or to let the professionals design, write and print your real estate flyers.
Do-It-Yourself or Professionally-Designed Real Estate Flyers
With inexpensive printing and design technology just a few mouse clicks away, real estate agents no longer need to seek professional printing services for their flyers. Digital cameras and camera technology in smartphones and mobile tablets give real estate professionals the tools needed to capture high-quality images of listed properties quickly and easily. On top of that, a quick Google search delivers copywriting tips to improve the marketing impact of your flyers.
Even with all of the tools and know-how more attainable today than in the past, we’re not saying agents and brokers should automatically discount professional graphic design, copywriting or printing services. Instead, there are multiple factors one should take into consideration. Let’s take a look at those now.
Flyer Purpose
Are your real estate flyers being used as farming flyers? In other words, is the purpose of your flyers to introduce your services to the general public? If you are marketing yourself, remember that your flyer is creating a first impression for the majority of your target market. Do you want prospects’ first impressions of you to be one of a do-it-yourself flyer on office printer paper?
Even if you have developed a skill for design and digital photography, professionally-designed real estate flyers on high-quality paper are more often that not going to make a better first impression when marketing your real estate services. If the purpose of your real estate marketing flyers is to provide property information for a home you are listing, then you should consider creating and printing the flyers yourself. Of course, that decision could also depend on property type.
Property Type
The type of property you are marketing is a very important factor to take into consideration when deciding to create your own real estate flyers or to have them professionally-designed. Your high-end, luxury home – a million-dollar listing – requires marketing materials designed and created by a professional. When you are listing homes of this caliber, your real estate marketing materials must also portray a million-dollar image. You may want to save the do-it-yourself flyers for homes that fall in the local market’s median price range or below.
Online or Offline
Will your flyers to market your real estate services reside in the physical or virtual world? With the majority of buyers beginning their search for a home online, real estate agents must also have a strong marketing presence online. In the case of online real estate flyers, most agents can create marketing flyers quickly and easily. Many of the websites or email marketing services agents use will provide real estate flyer templates. In those cases, agents will only need to plug in photos of the home they are listing and create the marketing/sales content that fits into the provided space.
Value of Time
How is your time best spent? This is a very important question to ask yourself. Does it make sense for you to sit behind a computer for hours learning the skills necessary to create real estate flyers? Are you better off focusing on other important aspects of your real estate business?
Many agents and brokers – especially the experienced and successful ones – understand their time is too valuable to try and learn all the skills needed to put together professional real estate marketing materials. Beginning agents may have no choice in the matter as they often are operating their business on a shoestring budget and can’t afford professional writing, design and printing services. This is a choice that is specific to each individual.
Here’s a tip that many real estate agents don’t consider. Whether you need farming flyers, , open house flyers, property information flyers, online real estate flyers, or any other type of real estate marketing materials; start with professionally-produced products. Test a variety of professionally-created real estate flyers and see which ones deliver the best return on investment. Now, use those flyers as examples – as real estate flyer templates – and create your own in the future if it makes sense for your business.
Creating Your Own Real Estate Flyers – Steps and Tips to Get You Started
Speaking of creating your own flyers, here’s a few simple steps and tips to consider when creating your own flyers to market both your real estate listings and your real estate services. Let’s start with the basics of a single property flyer to market a home you are selling for a client.
Step 1 – Rinse and Repeat – Don’t reinvent the wheel when creating your marketing materials. Start with a real estate flyer template based upon successful flyers you have used in the past. Ask other agents or your broker if they have found a formula which worked well for them. Once you test and find a few effective examples, stick with what works. You’ll save time, money and effort when you don’t start from scratch each and every time you create a real estate flyer.
Step 2 – Pick the Right Paper – Don’t choose cheap, lightweight paper for your flyers. A good rule of thumb is to use a paper that is about as heavy and glossy as a magazine. A heavier, glossier paper may come into play when you are marketing a home with a higher listing price.
Step 3 – Create an Attention-Grabbing Headline – Along with the photos of the property you are listing, your flyer’s headline also needs to grab your audience’s attention right off the bat. A good headline will captivate readers enough to encourage them to continue reading your marketing/sales copy.
Step 4 – Choose Your Words Carefully – If you are writing the copy for your real estate flyers, invest some time learning how to craft, well-written marketing/sales copy. You can easily find tips and tricks for creating effective marketing content by doing a quick Google search. You’ll also find a wealth of information in books at your local bookstore.
Step 5 – Focus on Photos – Include plenty of photos of the outside and inside of your listing. You know what sells a home. Showcase those features in your flyer’s photos. And remember, there is no excuse to use photos that are not visually appealing. Use online editing tools to correct focus, color, contrast and other image issues.
Step 6 – Be Brief – The real estate available for content on your flyers is scarce. Don’t write long-winded, wordy photo descriptions. Let your photos tell the story. If the kitchen has custom cabinets and granite countertops, make sure those features shine through in the photos. There is no need to repeat in words what is obvious to the eye in your listing photos. Use the available real estate on your flyer to sell your home and not to describe pictures of a home’s features.
Step 7 – Invite Action – You know the drill – ask for the sale. Write a call to action that doesn’t tell a prospect to take action, but instead, invites a prospect to take action. Make sure your call to action – whether it is to make an appointment, email/call for further details or visit your website for more photos - is front and center and impossible to miss.
Step 8 – Share Contact Info - Don’t forget to add your contact information! Yes, this seems like an obvious detail. However, it can be one that is overlooked. The last thing you want to do is to create a marketing masterpiece and forget to share how interested buyers or sellers can contact you.
Tips To Make Your Flyers More Effective
If you are real estate agent looking to create farming flyers to market your services to your target market, then you will want to follow most of the above steps and tips. There are a few other steps you will want to follow to ensure you stand-out from the other real estate agents marketing their services to prospects. Below are a few steps we suggest you follow to ensure you make a good first impression and gain a contact list full of new clients.
Step 1a – Stand Out from the Crowd – Forget about following in the footsteps of all the other real estate agents sending out “Just Sold!” real estate flyers. Find a unique angle and amplify the message related to that angle. Are the neighborhoods you are farming full of out-of-state landlords? Create flyers showcasing your experience working with real estate investors and showcasing your investor buyers’ list.
Step 2a – Lend a Hand – Your real estate flyer marketing content should explain how you can help both buyers and sellers accomplish their goals and end their pain. They could care less if you won awards or sold four houses last month. They want to know what you can do for them. Ensure your marketing copy focuses on your prospect and not on yourself.
Step 3a – Send and Send Again – A property listing flyer usually sits in a box in front of a home waiting to be picked up, or it may sit on a website waiting to be viewed. When you are marketing yourself with a real estate flyer, you need to send out multiple copies at regular intervals. Think how an email marketing campaign or the offline sales process functions. It takes multiple touches to reach the final result. So when you are sending out farming flyers, start testing a variety real estate marketing campaigns to discover what is bringing you the best ROI.
Final Thoughts and Extra Tips for Effective Marketing with Real Estate Flyers
Want to magnify your marketing effectiveness when using flyers for real estate marketing and sales? We’re going to share a few extra tips below to help you do just that. Some of these tips are obvious and some are not. Either way, these tips can help increase your real estate sales and give you an extra step on the competition.
Showcasing Social Media in Offline Marketing Materials
Social media marketing is now a part of almost every real estate agent’s marketing strategy. All of your marketing materials – online or offline – should include mentions of your Facebook page, Twitter account, Pinterest boards, YouTube Channel and other social networks. Here’s a tip for you to use when sending out real estate flyers.
Instead of using the generic “Find Me on Facebook” with accompanying Facebook logo, use your actual online Facebook web address (i.e. Facebook.com/MyRealEstateCompany). The same goes for your Twitter account or other social networks. Here’s why.
Unlike an online real estate flyer, your Facebook logo isn’t clickable on a paper flyer. Instead of forcing your prospects to go to a social network and search for you, give them the exact address. During their search, they may actually find one of your competitors. Don’t make your prospect work to find you. Make it easier for them to find you and they will be more likely to actually take the time to visit your social marketing sites.
Drive Your Prospects to a Lead Capturing Location
Smart real estate agents understand the power behind contact information and follow-up marketing. Your real estate flyers can be the first step in this marketing/sales funnel. Always find a way to filter your prospects to an online location.
Your professional website or blog is a one such place. Even if you are using a single property flyer for a listing or open house, include a call to action (i.e. “Does this property not fit your family’s needs? Make sure to visit www.mywebsite.com/properties to see a full list of our property listings.”) and send those prospects to an online location that offers useful info and a lead-capturing form. Your list will become a powerful tool for your real estate success.
Utilize Cost Effect E-Flyers in Your Real Estate Marketing Campaign
Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to reach your audience and turn prospects into clients. Using e-flyers is also one of the most cost-effective ways to market your listings and services. Ask around and do a little research to find an email marketing service for your e-flyers.
A service like Benchmark, MailChimp or Constant Contact saves you the time and effort of creating e-flyers and email marketing campaigns from scratch each time. They also allow for A/B testing which will help you determine the most effective ways to get your desired results from your virtual real estate flyers campaigns. Remember, the majority of people start their search for a new home online. Why not reach out to them and make first contact in their inbox before they have a chance to click over to another online real estate website?
We hope you found the information in our guide to real estate flyers helpful and useful. We also know that we didn’t have the space to include everything related to real estate flyers and real estate marketing campaigns using flyers. We’d love for you to fill in the blanks. Please leave your success stories, tips, ideas or opinions in the comments below.