A Phil Hall Op-Ed: I don’t know about you, but I don’t take much pleasure in going to my mailbox after the postal carrier stops at my home. After all, there isn’t much pleasure to be found in the mailbox: some bills, a crummy free community newspaper that I never read, advertising circulars that wind up in my circular file, and fliers for local fast-food eateries that I never frequent.
The other day, there was something in my mailbox that I was not expecting: a postcard from a realtor. I was surprised, since I cannot recall the last time anyone sent me a postcard.
What I found striking about the postcard was that included a QR Code box beneath a block of text that said my neighbor’s home on my street recently sold and I should scan the QR Code to see what it sold for. I wasn’t interested in that information – I am not the type of person who wants to know how much money the next person is making.
Still, I had to admire that the postcard made me stop, read and think about its contents. I can’t recall the last time that I didn’t view a direct mail marketing piece as a waste of time, paper and postage.
I should mention that the realtor who sent the postcard included his photo and phone number. From the photo, he seemed like a pleasant-looking individual – perhaps the type of person I could do business with if I wanted to sell my home. He also included his broker number, which was a nice confirmation that I was dealing with a genuine realtor and not some amateur dabbler.
But this postcard made me wonder why I don’t see more realtor-generated postcards. Has real estate marketing become so heavily ingrained with SEO, Instagram videos, Facebook and Google advertising, and TikTok antics that postcard marketing seems antiquated?
I can understand that printing postcards and paying for the postage requires a cash infusion that is not needed when marketing online. I also know that overdoing direct mail marketing will have a negative effect on recipients – also in my mailbox are a seemingly endless number of fundraising pitches from charities that I supported once but still insist on contacting me endlessly for more money.
However, this realtor’s postcard stood out, both from the novelty of its format and in snagging my attention when I least expected it. I don’t currently need the realtor’s service, but I wonder if anyone else on the street who received a similar postcard will be calling him in the near future.
So, let me ask you a question: Do you use postcards as part of your marketing outreach? If you have, what were the results? And if you have not, is this something that you might consider?
Please leave your feedback in the comments section below. I am interested to hear your opinions.
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
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