Signage is an important tool for you to use in your real estate business. There are several different kinds of signage you can use. You can use magnetic signs, or vinyl lettering for example on your vehicle. You can also “wrap” a vehicle with signage. This is a little more expensive and a little more permanent, however, it can be easily removed should you decide to sell your vehicle. Something I do in my personal business is to supply sun shades to friends, relatives and vendors such as my pool person and lawn man that say “We Buy Houses, Quick Closings and our phone number. That way, anytime they are parked somewhere, their vehicle is a billboard for our business.
Some of the other types of signage are yard signs, and street signs. These are the smaller signs that you can tack to posts or stick in the ground. Every property you own should have one of your signs in the yard letting the world know that you buys houses. If you have a rental property your signs should be in those yards as well. One way to avoid the “sign police” when placing signs is to keep them off main roads and keep them in subdivisions where you want to buy houses. Or, if you know of a home in pre-foreclosure in a particular subdivision, place one your “avoid foreclosure” signs at the entrance and exit to the subdivision. If you know of a house that sits at a busy intersection, you can knock on the door and ask the owner if you can place one of your signs in their yard and pay them with a free pizza coupon once a month. This is another inexpensive way to get your message out to the public.
Other types of signage include door hangers, flyers and banners. If you see a vacant house simply place one of your door hangers on the door. Go back a week or so later and recheck the property. If the hanger is gone, replace it with another one. Sometimes a neighbor will pick them up because they may need your services also. You can also have someone hang these or place flyers door to door for you. This is a great way to canvas entire neighborhoods where you want to buy houses.
Banners are another great tool to use. I use these in two ways. One is to put them up in local parks where there are baseball, softball, soccer games, etc. The parks usually sponsor your putting up these banners and it is fairly inexpensive to do so. Another use for banners is to contact store owners who own properties on main roads with fences around them such as car lots. Ask if you can pay them a small amount each month to place a banner on their fence. This is a good way to get signs up on main roads without any hassles.
Remember that anytime you are using signage the message must be short and to the point. The person walking or driving has only seconds to see your message. It needs to be something like “We Buy Houses” and your number and web site address, or “Avoid Foreclosure”. Remember to give your potential seller more than one way to contact you. This makes it easier for the seller to choose how they want to contact you. If you do have have a web site, this gives the seller the opportunity to “check you out” before they actually call you.
For more information on these and even more great marketing ideas, go to my web site at marketingmagiclady.com