Estate & letting agents flyer distribution formula
Do you work for, or own your own estate or letting agency? Are you looking to increase local brand awareness? Are you targeting more prospective buyers, vendors, tenants and landlords? If you answered yes to the above then please read on to learn a specific formula we have used for many of our estate and letting agency clients, which is proven to give very strong response rates.
We work for over 30 different estate and letting agents, ranging from independent companies through to the big franchises such as Martin & Co, William H Brown and Your Move. We actively work with each client to ensure they get the most out of their campaign. We have distributed far in excess of 50 different designs and have learnt which ones work, and which don’t; and now we want to share this with you.
Why they don’t work
A flyer is not intended to be a brochure that explains everything about your business, nor does it necessarily need to emphasise every service you offer. As such don’t overload your flyer with loads of text about every service you do – it will overwhelm the receiver. Also, a really dull image of a house won’t generally entice anyone to consider moving, so choose images carefully. No call to action means no one will call! People don’t respond to information, they need to be given a reason to respond, and to do so promptly. Finally, people don’t usually respond on first view, therefore, giving up after one distribution will not allow the campaign to really take off.
The keys to creating a great flyer design
1. Bold headline. Have a bold headline in place so that the receiver can respond straight away. E.g. ‘Make the move this month into your dream home’. Notice the use of alliteration to make it memorable. This can be then followed with a sub headline, e.g. ‘By getting a free valuation from us this week’. This is a prompt actionable headline.
2. Eye catching image. This doesn’t need to be a house. It can be a family enjoying themselves in a modern living room. Once Your Move creatively used a chilli, and had their headline as ‘the market is hot’. So be creative with your use of images.
3. Call to action. Without this they don’t have a reason to call. It can simply be ‘We are currently doing valuations in your area, and would like to offer you a free valuation’. Or it could be a more direct approach such as ‘20% off sales fees with this flyer’.
A quick point on print
The paper stock you use represents your business. If you are targeting the lower end of the market then use a thin stock, but if you are targeting premium properties them use a premium stock. So use 130gsm for the lower end, and 250gsm – 350gsm for the upper.
Targeting the right distribution areas
Unlike many clients, you will probably have a strong knowledge of your target audience. Many franchises tend to have a set boundary you are able to distribute in, where as the independent companies tend to have freer reign. Remember to be focused and target specifically to your ideal audience – for instance, for Martin & Co target student areas around new year so they can let all the students know about the new student properties they have on for let.
The essential bit of the formula
So you know how to design the flyer, you know which print stock will be best and you know where to target. The final bit piece is drip effect marketing. This is the age old principal of drip feeding people your message over a period of time. People don’t tend to respond first time. As such, you need to target them over and over – we tend to recommend targeting the same people at least 3 times with a 4-8 week space between each distribution. If you don’t repeat, your response risks being minimal, if you do repeat, you are building a great foundation for a consistently strong response.
Extra nuggets to consider
Focus on the purpose of your distribution from the outset. Who are you targeting, where, what incentives are you offering, quantity, budget, drip marketing, etc. Remember not to sell all services at once. For instance, if you’re a letting agent, having a flyer targeting both landlords and tenants won’t generally work. This is because tenants tend to live in the less affluent areas, and landlords live in the more affluent areas. This conflict of areas prevents them been a good match on a flyer.
Good luck!
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