When working in the realm of real estate, an effective marketing campaign is the heartbeat that keeps a business alive and thriving. One of the more traditional yet still impressively effective marketing tools that people often forget about in the digital age is none other than the humble postcard. The best real estate postcards can actually outperform the more common digital methods of marketing, offering a physical, personal touch to a campaign and connecting to the human side of one’s target audience.
We wrote this article to offer real estate professionals comprehensive insights and guidance on the power of effective real estate postcards, how to use them, and the benefits they can offer. Along with this, we also share some real estate postcard ideas and design tips, so you can feel more confident choosing the right postcards for your business before sending them out.
With the help of this piece, you’ll be more equipped than ever to embark on a localized marketing scheme, so you can generate those all-important leads to get your agency or investment business moving.
It’s easy to forget about the potential of physical marketing materials, especially with all of the digital marketing options out there—from content creation to Google LSA ads. However, the real estate postcard is still a tried-and-tested method of getting a message across, with many benefits that are often overlooked by newcomers to the industry.
Location, location, location is the name of the game in real estate, and postcards are a surefire way to communicate with a geographically targeted market. Professionals can use real estate direct mail postcards to farm specific neighborhoods, demographics, and even streets. With your marketing materials directly reaching the mailboxes of potential clients in your area of operation, you can increase the chances of reaching the right people in the right places, generating quality, interested leads.
We live in an era of spam emails and automated messages, all of which can be moved to the digital trashcan at the click of a mouse. The tangible, physical nature of postcards makes them stand out from other marketing materials, feeling more personal than a mass-produced email. With a nicely designed, well-written message that recipients can touch, feel, and even display, you can forge a more meaningful connection with your audience. Being memorable is everything, especially with so much competition out there.
Running a business is about tracking your outgoings compared to the income that comes in, and real estate postcard marketing is a great way to make the most of your spend. It may surprise you to find out that the production and distribution costs of real estate marketing postcards are actually relatively low, even when compared with many digital marketing strategies. With their potential to inspire high returns on investment—generating higher quality leads—this physical marketing method can be highly cost-effective.
The best real estate postcards stand out for their versatility. You can use postcards for a wide range of purposes in marketing, ranging from the promotion of your newest listings and the announcement of open houses, all the way to sharing market updates and glowing client testimonials. With the freedom to experiment with your messaging, you can tailor your approach to suit the requirements and focus of your business. Postcards offer ample opportunities to angle toward the interests of your target audience, keeping the focus relevant, engaging, and encouraging.
As mentioned above, emails are a dime a dozen, and it’s hard to distinguish the spam from the quality meat—and social media posts are fleeting, getting buried by a deluge of content that’s churned out at quickfire rates. With an attractive, thoughtful postcard, you can create a piece of marketing material that might endure. It could end up on a bulletin board, coffee table, or even a fridge, making an impression long after it’s passed through the letterbox.
With the best real estate postcards, you can see all of these benefits having a positive impact on your marketing efforts, and in turn, your overall business performance.
The best real estate postcards go beyond the practice of printing a simple message onto a flimsy piece of cardstock. You can notice several elements across the board in effective real estate postcards, regardless of the specificity of their message.
Real estate is a visual medium, which is why every postcard you send out needs to come complete with a captivating design. High-quality professional photography is an absolute essential, whether you’re showcasing one of your top properties, a happy homeowner, a picture of yourself, or an expansive cityscape. Whatever you’re showing, ensure the image matches the gist of your message.
Every piece of marketing material needs a hook—that’s where a compelling headline comes in. With a concise, informative, and alluring headline, you can pull your audience in to read the rest of the content. This short, punchy headline should clearly communicate the benefit that you can offer with your services or the value of the information the postcard is providing.
The body content of the postcard needs to engage the reader effectively, persuading them to take proper action. Make sure to keep your messaging clear and straightforward, avoiding real estate jargon while still portraying yourself as an authoritative voice. Finding the right balance can be a tightrope walk, but it’s what will give your postcards lasting power.
It should go without saying, but it’s important to include clear, visible contact information. This can be your phone number, email address, or office location—however you prefer to be contacted, make it as easy as possible for interested leads to get in touch with you.
Real estate farming postcards need strong CTAs to properly encourage your audience to act. Whether you want your audience to visit your website, call you for a meeting, or attend an open house that you’re hosting, make your instructions clear, concise, and compelling. Crucially, give the recipient a reason to act in such a way.
Physical marketing and digital marketing don’t have to be mutually exclusive! It’s important to include any social media handles on your postcards, as it can allow leads to engage with you in another way while also building your online presence—a vital element of visibility in the modern industry.
As stated above, design is a vital element of the best real estate postcards. We’ve compiled some of our top design tips for postcards, so you can create attractive, engaging, and ultimately effective mailers.
As we all know, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and that phrase is never truer than in the real estate industry. It’s important to showcase your properties (or even just properties like the kind that you work with) using high-quality, professional photography. Catch your audience’s attention from the first second with captivating imagery.
Remember, it’s not an abstract piece of art. There’s no need to crowd a postcard with masses of imagery and information. Keep the message and imagery clear and simple so the message isn’t lost on your audience.
The use of color is a vital design technique for evoking emotional reactions, which is why you must be thoughtful when using it in your postcards. Again, keep it simple, making sure to use two to three main colors in a scheme that feels cohesive with your branding.
A picture may paint a thousand words, but the words still count! Make sure to choose fonts and sizes that are easy to read, so your audience can get the message with a passing glance.
Your brand is your identity, so you need to keep it consistent. This helps to build a recognizable, trustworthy image across the industry and with your audience.
With the key elements and design guidance that we’ve offered, you should be more ready than ever to create effective real estate postcards. Just remember to keep your materials eye-catching, engaging, and persuasive at every stage.
Creativity is key in any visual medium, but with real estate postcards, you still have to operate within the conventions of the medium. We’ve put together some of our favorite real estate postcards and templates from across the industry, sharing our opinion on why they work so well.
Property Listing Postcards:
One of the most common uses for real estate postcards is the practice of showcasing new or noteworthy property listings that you’re selling or representing. This example template by PhotoMyWall covers all the bases of what an effective listing postcard needs: a clear image of the property’s exterior, shots from the inside, and key pieces of information about the property itself. It also features a space for a picture of the agent and their contact details, giving the recipient the opportunity to act.
Open House Announcements:
Template from Wise Pelican
Postcards are a great way to announce open houses, drawing in local people to come in and take a look around. Even if these attendees don’t have an interest in that exact property, it’s a perfect venue for getting some valuable face time with people who might be interested in the future. Wise Pelican’s template is a great example, showing the property with a professional image, the price of the property, details of the location, and the time of the event.
Just Sold/Just Listed Postcards:
Template by Canva
Just Sold and Just Listed postcards are effective tools for creating buzz in the local area while also positioning yourself as a successful professional entity. They can help to inspire the “fear of missing out” (FOMO), motivating potential sellers to take the next steps. Canva’s template is effective, displaying the property, giving it a clear description, and making it obvious that it’s recently been sold. The description should also include how much the property was sold for, showcasing how much money you can generate for your clients.
Market Update Postcards:
Template by Wise Pelican
The real estate market update postcard is a way to establish yourself as a knowledgeable professional in the area, showcasing your awareness of recent sales, trends, and local statistics. These postcards offer value to potential buyers and sellers in the area, all while leading them back to your business. Wise Pelican’s template is a great example, with a lot of information presented in clear, large fonts without feeling overloaded.
Testimonial Postcards:
Sourced from Help-U-Sell
Word of mouth goes a long way, and with testimonial postcards, you can create it for yourself. To pull it off effectively, you could follow Help-U-Sell’s example. Its testimonial postcards stand out for pictures of happy couples, along with clear success stories written in their own words.
Holiday or Seasonal Greeting Postcards:
Template by Realty Studio Design
Holiday greeting cards and seasonal messages are an effective way to stay at the forefront of your contacts’ minds while also helping to forge a more personal connection with them. It shows that you care about people as more than business entities alone. While the message itself can be fairly generic, such as in this template by Realty Studio Design, it’s important to make it clear who the message has come from with images and brand identity included across the card.
Every postcard we’ve described serves a purpose, and by tailoring real estate postcard templates to suit your business specifically, you can effectively communicate vital messaging to your target audience. Finding the right templates can be hard, but plenty of sites are out there, along with CRM systems that include templates part and parcel with their full services.
Just remember to always keep visual appeal in mind as you provide true value to the client, and always include important information about your business.
It’s clear that the best real estate postcards can truly make a positive impact on your marketing efforts, so what are you waiting for? With our guidance, you should feel equipped to produce visually exciting,
