The fastest and cheapest way to promote yourself in a cluttered marketMortgagePress.comdirect-mail postcards, generate leads, create sales, solicit referrals
Barraged with thousands of marketing messages a day, your
mortgage marketing targets are tuning you out. Fortunately, in a
fast-paced, high-tech marketing environment, there is a powerful,
yet inexpensive way to cut through the market clutter to hit your
target: Go low-tech with direct-mail postcards.
No, the postcard may not seem exciting, but when you can almost
guarantee that your target will see your marketing message for
fewer than 0.50 cents (including postage) per piece, there are not
many marketing tools that can match the simple postcard in
effectiveness and affordability. In addition, the postcard provides
the flexibility to allow you to generate leads, create sales and
solicit referrals every 30 days for less than $3 dollars a year for
each prospect or customer. "In short," says Joy Gendusa CEO of PostcardMainia, "postcards
work!"
In a recent conversation, Joy shared the know-how she has
learned during nine years of developing and implementing successful
direct marketing postcard campaigns for mortgage companies.
What is the biggest secret of marketing with
postcards?
Regular, repeated mailings are the way to create big, predictable
results. When you mail every 30 days for a year, you will cause a
dramatic growth in your business. People respond to repetition. If
you are a parent, you know how hard it is to refuse repeated
requests for a cookie or a desperately wanted toy. If you are not a
parent, I'm sure you remember asking, even begging for a toy, treat
or permission to stay up past your bedtime until your parents
finally gave in. Your customers and prospective customers are
similar. They need to be asked repeatedly, too.
How do postcards help mortgage marketing professionals
overcome resistance to their messages?
There are really only four reasons people don't buy your products
and services. Look at your own buying behavior and see for yourself
if you believe me when I tell you these four apply to you too:
1. No need
When people don't buy from you, it's because they don't want what
you are offering. They may need what you are offering and not know
or acknowledge that need, but the bottom line is they don't want
it. Save lots of time, effort and money by targeting your postcard
mailings to groups of people who have demonstrated they want your
product or service, or ones similar to yours, and then mail to
them. Follow at least this one piece of advice and become more
profitable immediately. Target your marketing. Promote your
business exclusively to people likely to have a strong desire for
the benefits provided by your product or service.
Examples of those who have demonstrated they want your products
and services are:
•Your own customers;
•Your competitors customers; and
•People who have bought products and services which your
products and services supplement or complement.
2. No money
Businesses and consumers don't usually avoid purchases because they
don't have or can't get the money necessary to purchase. They
usually don't buy because they decide buying something else is more
important to them (like food). You can get them to buy from you by
making it clear to them that buying your product or service will
get rid of something they don't want or will get them something
they do want, [or] will get them more of something they already
have that they like having.
It is your job to get your people and businesses to see that your
products and services give or get them what they really want.
Consumers and businesses rarely avoid buying something because they
don't have (or can't get) the money needed to make the purchase.
They avoid buying what you offer because they place a higher
priority on spending money for something else.
3. No hurry
People tend to drag their feet after they decide to buy something.
The longer they wait to purchase, the more likely they are to
forget why your product or service is valuable or even absolutely
necessary to them. Keep your message in front of them with
repetitive mailings. If you don't, you'll lose the business. The
reason repetitive mailings are so effective is that they remind
your customers and prospects of what they are missing by not having
your product or service working for them in their life. You can
avoid losing sales because of "no hurry" by rewarding customers for
taking immediate action and penalizing those who don't. For
example, offer a special discount price or a special bonus for
ordering before a deadline. If you do repetitive mailings to
targeted customers and prospects, then you will make more
sales.
4. No trust
Most people's fear of losing something is a bigger concern than
getting something that they want. This fear causes them to
frequently avoid buying something they truly want. They don't want
to buy and then find out that your product or service won't solve
their problem. They don't want to be ripped off, feel cheated or
even feel at a loss for not getting a solution to their problem.
You must take away their risk in doing business with you. You must
provide a way that they can "trust" you. If you don't, they won't
buy and you will lose business.
How can postcards help people overcome their fear to
apply for a mortgage from a particular mortgage marketing
professional?
Most people fear losing something they have more than they desire
gaining something they want. This fear causes many people to avoid
buying something they really want. They're reluctant to buy because
they might not get what they expect from your product or service
and they'll lose their money. You have to remove this perceived
risk to avoid losing business because of "no trust." Here are three
ways I've found to be effective for any business:
•Eliminate the risk with an unconditional money back
guarantee.
•Give them testimonials from satisfied customers and/or
provide references that prove the quality and reliability of your
product or service.
•Make it easy for your prospects and customers to communicate
with you and get their questions and concerns answered. Let them
see you and your business are real, and that you value getting and
keeping their trust, as well as present and future business.
Why is it important that mortgage marketing
professionals understand these four reasons why people won't buy
from them?
Mortgage professionals can increase their sales and profits by
knowing the resistance points people have to working with them, and
doing everything they can to have regular contact that builds
trust. Postcards provide an inexpensive way to condition prospects
and customers to trust you, to recognize the benefits of your
service and to get them to see the urgency of calling you when they
need your service.
What is the key benefit of implementing a regular direct
mail postcard program?
When you send out regular postcard mailings, people will buy from
you like crazy because they know who you are, what you can do for
them and why they should trust you. Postcards are a perfect, low
cost medium to overcome the four reasons people don't buy from you.
In short, postcards work; using postcards in repetitive mailings
will make your business soar.
Joy Gendusa is founder and CEO of PostcardMania. She may be
reached at (800) 628-1804 or e-mail
[email protected].
