Postcards are a relatively inexpensive and often effective way for real estate agents to inform residents within a selected ZIP code or other specific geographic areas of recent sales in the neighborhood.
Everybody in a given neighborhood is always curious about how much a nearby home just sold for (it often affects their property value), but postcards that announce your “just sold” real estate can be more than informative.
Postcards can and should confer a sense of authority within the local market and thereby convey a subtle message that if future home sales are to occur, your real estate agency or a particular agent there is the most appropriate to be involved due to the agency’s or agent’s current track record and familiarity with the current market.
But how do you design a postcard that people will read before it’s thrown away? Is there a way to customize or personalize a postcard to increase the possibility its message is absorbed by the intended recipient? What tweaks and techniques can you employ to upgrade your real estate just sold postcards?
Let’s explore a few important elements to keep in mind when upgrading your “Just Sold Real Estate” postcards that can refresh your approach to this time-tested method of real estate branding and communication:
- Use online templates and tools: Whether you hire a printer or other vendor to make and send your postcards or do everything yourself, you can put your personal stamp on them by helping design them. There are several online templates and design tools available and many of them are free. Feel free to experiment and make changes until you find the look you desire.
- Size, shape, and type of postcard: Many real estate agents have settled on a 6-inch-by-9-inch full-color postcard. Other agents prefer smaller postcards similar in size to the postcards vacationers send to friends and family back home. You should verify with the U.S. Postal Service that your postcard meets its regulations.
- Photography: Colorful images of elegant homes get noticed because people are curious about how much a nearby home is sold for and want to see how their home stacks up against just sold real estate nearby. Make sure photos selected for postcards are professionally executed. Images should be focused, lighting should show contrasting colors and the photo should be cropped to best present the image. A photo of the closing agent (with a friendly smile) is also appropriate.
- Text and layout: A quality description of the just sold home should not only describe the residence (address, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, square footage, listing price, sales price, etc.) and its features, but also the neighborhood and why it is a great place to live. Make sure the color of the typeface is easy to read against its colorful background. Try to be brief, as cramming too much text onto a postcard gives a cluttered look that may be bypassed by the recipient, but don’t forget to include your phone number and website address.
- Fonts and effects: Avoid using too many fonts or combining incompatible fonts. Two or three styles of type are plenty. Experiment with different typefaces, the sizes of characters (point size), and the boldness (weight) and color of fonts until you design a winning combination. Don’t go overboard on effects, either. Too much sizzle can overpower your message or confuse the reader.
- QR codes and links: For postcards sent through the U.S. mail, consider including a QR code that recipients can take a photo of with their smartphones and be directed to your agency’s website. You can also include links to your website, but smartphone users find QR codes much easier to respond to when they are seeking additional information.
- Customization and personalization: Some vendors can customize your postcard message and even personalize it. Not only is the address label unique, but the message printed on the postcard is personalized – for instance, the salutation addresses the resident by name – which may coerce the recipient to read and absorb the postcard’s message or even save the postcard instead of discarding it.
- Printing companies: Some postcard vendors are full-service, that is, the design, print, label, and mail the postcards; all you have to do is pay the invoice. Depending on how busy you are, you may want to farm out your postcards to a vendor. But you should always insist on final approval of the postcards’ draft design before they are printed, and then have several people scour the proposed final design for any flaws before the printing press runs.
Just Sold Real Estate Postcards are an Easy, Inexpensive Way to Get Noticed
Upgrading your just sold real estate postcards can be an easy, inexpensive way for you and your real estate agency to separate yourself from the crowd and get noticed in the community where you are selling homes.
