Thoughts on Marketing…

Readability and communication are more important than proper grammar in marketing copy.

And yet, amateur marketers still pay too much attention to the rules their High School English teacher taught. The result is dry as a bone, stiff copy.

And you know, nobody reads dry words until they’re required to do so.

At the same time, being too casual makes you sound a little demented. And I HAVE seen it done. In fact, I’ve received emails with a subject line that went something like: “Like You Gotta Dig This!”

Uh – no, I like don’t gotta.

I thought that “like” habit had fallen out of fashion years ago – but I was wrong. I not only heard it in the grocery store this week, I heard it on a television commercial tonight.

But there are a couple of other common errors that I’m seeing more and more lately.

One is the over-use or mis-use of commas.

Look how difficult it is to read this:

By now, you know, that following instructions, from your high school English teacher, will cause you to write dry, dull, uninspiring copy.

This one is SO easy to avoid. Here’s the trick:

After you write a sentence or a paragraph, read it out loud. Pause at every comma. If it sounds like normal conversation – great. If it sounds choppy or clunky or halting (as if you were really not sure about what you wanted to say) get rid of a few commas.

The other is the over-use of descriptive words and phrases.

Take this sentence from a property description one of my ezine readers found on an agent website: “Well-favored uncommonly modern kitchen equipped with top-of-the line appliances and unpredicted materials.”
(No, that’s not a typo. It said “unpredicted.”)

Sadly, all those words draw attention to themselves and away from the message they were meant to convey.

Keep it simple – and communicate.

You want people to read your marketing messages, right?

Then let your copy be a conversation… Not a lecture, not a demand, not even a blatant advertisement.

Before you sit down to write, think about the people you want to reach. Then narrow that down to just one of them. Picture that person in your mind’s eye…

What will they be doing when they get your message? What will they be thinking / worrying / dreaming about? That’s what you want to discuss with them.

Now pretend that you’re sitting across the kitchen table from them, sharing a cup of coffee and perhaps a plate of cookies – and just talk.

The message you write will be much more natural. Your words will flow easier and you won’t be tempted to throw in any “$40 words” for emphasis. (You wouldn’t do that in person, would you?)

The best part – people will enjoy reading what you write, and they’ll respond… What could be better? (The cookies, maybe??)

Do you use open houses to gather real estate leads?

Sometimes they work, and sometimes all you get for your trouble is a few hours alone. That’s pretty frustrating if you’ve gone to the trouble to send invitations and provide refreshments.

So try this instead:

When you close on a home sale, let your client invite 20 or 30 friends to a closing party! If they’re the sellers, it will be a going away party. If they’re buyers who are new to the area, you can invite the neighbors and it will be a get acquainted party.

Match the refreshments to their lifestyle and preferences, so it will really feel like “their” party. It could be wine and cheese, beer and pizza, or even punch and cookies.

Right now is when your clients love you most and will be glad to introduce you to those friends they’ve invited. And when they meet you in person and see how charming and helpful you are, they’ll be even more likely to think of you when they need a Realtor – especially if you don’t let them forget you.

When you visit with people and hand them your business card, tell them that you occasionally send market reports and ask for permission to add them to your mailing list. Be sure you have a notepad in your pocket for that purpose – not everyone carries business cards, especially to parties.

The day after the party, send a “Glad I met you” note and offer to supply them with any information they might want about the current market. If they’ve handed you a business card, and thus their mailing address, take the time to hand-write that note and send it by postal mail. If not, email is better than no mail.

Once they’re in your drip campaign, every month or so you can send some news of interest, just to remind them that you’re there when they need you.

Use the same campaign for these folks as you do for others in your sphere of influence – you don’t want to annoy them by suggesting that they might be ready to buy or sell.

If so, how can you shove them off that fence and into a buying mode?

First, show them how the law of supply and demand dictates that rents will continue to rise. In some communities it is already cheaper to pay a mortgage payment than a rent payment. If foreclosures continue, so this trend should also continue.

Get the numbers for your own community and show them the comparisons.
Then talk about the fact that mortgage payments build equity for you while rent payments build equity for the landlord.

But here’s what’s really important:

As long as you don’t plan to move, it doesn’t matter if your home increases or decreases in value over the next couple of years. If you want pride of ownership, love the home, and can comfortably afford the payment, that’s what matters.

Next, when you own your home you don’t have to answer to a landlord. You can paint the walls, change the light fixtures, and drive nails to hang pictures. You can even move a wall if you really want to.

On top of that, when you own your home and have a fixed rate mortgage you don’t have to worry about the monthly cost going up or being evicted because your landlord failed to make payments (or wants his kids to move in, or sells to someone who wants to live there themselves.)

Of course there are tax advantages. I found a website that shows how much tax you pay after deductions – and it can be eye opening.

For instance, for the year 2011, a married couple filing jointly will pay $22,372 on an after deductions income of $100,000. Pretend for a minute that they have $16,000 in deductible interest and no other itemized deductions. After eliminating the standard deduction of $11,400, they’d still have an additional $4,600 in deductions for income tax purposes. Their tax bill would drop to $16,100. That savings of $6,272 comes to $522 per month that could go toward a house payment, savings, vacations, or whatever else they liked.

And of course, if they have other itemized deductions, such as employee business expense or medical bills that would normally be swallowed into the standard deduction, their savings will be even higher. And this doesn’t consider state taxes – if you have those, they might save there as well.

Check out that website I found, and use it to show your fence sitting buyers how much they’ll save.

http://www.moneychimp.com/features/tax_brackets.htm

Business cards are some of the least expensive but most effective marketing pieces you can buy. Unfortunately, too many people keep them stowed away in a desk drawer instead of handy in their pockets.

Your business card should do two things:

• Reveal both your name and your face – so that people who don’t remember your name can connect your friendly and helpful attitude with your face.
• Reveal what you do. If you sell real estate, say where or specify your niche. If you’re an engineer, tell what kind of engineer. If you’re a writer, let them know what kind. For example: Novels, poetry, news, or marketing copy.

Once you have that informative card – give it away to as many people as you can. Here are some ideas:

Start with people you meet in social situations. You don’t have to be pushy about it, just hand them a card and say something friendly and non-threatening. For instance, “Get in touch any time you want to know what’s going on in our market.”

Do the same for people you chat with when you’re shopping or doing errands. For instance, the grocery store checker, the bank teller, and the pharmacist.

And then…

When you pay a local bill by mail, put a card in the envelope.

When you leave a nice tip – leave your card with it.

When you volunteer to help with a project and will need to be in touch with other volunteers, give each of them your card. You don’t even have to mention your business, it’s just the easiest way to give them all the contact information they need.

When you meet with your child’s teacher, give him or her your card. Again – it’s a good way to provide your contact information.

Give your card to the providers you pay – like your doctor, dentist, hairdresser, mechanic, dog groomer, and veterinarian. And remember the people who mow the lawn, clean the house, service the pool, and wash the windows.

Every one of those people is a potential source of business, and you should never assume that they know what you do for a living.

Your goal in writing real estate ads is to “Put the buyer in the home” and cause them to need to see it in person. To do that, you need to paint some word pictures of both the physical and the psychological benefits of the home.

That means instead of writing “large kitchen” you should write “12 X 14′ kitchen offers space for friends and family to help with holiday meals.”

And instead of saying “surrounded by trees” you should write “tall Pines surround the property, assuring privacy.”

I know – some places on the web you don’t have room so you have to be boring and uninspiring. But some places – like your own website – offer all the space you need. So use it!

Ever since July, when I got this new HP computer to replace an old one that is dying, I haven’t been able to come here on my primary computer.

Every time I wanted to update this blog, I had to go fire up the old computer and hope it was going to work. Back in July I spent at least 40 hours with techs from HP, Wild Blue, GoDaddy, and Netgear – and more time with friends who are techie.

No luck.

So, rather than take more time away from writing for my clients, I gave up for a while. Then, over the Christmas holiday, I started researching again. And I got lucky!

Thanks to a suggestion from a friend, I called Wild Blue one more time – and this time was connected to a woman who knew exactly how to fix the problem. When I said “Oh why didn’t they connect me to YOU back in July!” she told me that she didn’t work there yet in July.

So… if you’re having this kind of problem, take heart. There is a solution.

First, Happy New Year! I wish you health, wealth, love, joy, and happiness for 2012 and beyond.

And while I can’t help you with most of that, I do hope to help you with the wealth part by bringing you useful marketing tips and ideas.

Here’s the first one:

Forget New Year’s Resolutions. Instead focus on goals, and break them down into manageable pieces.

You know the old joke: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

It’s the same with ambitious goals.

Think what you want to accomplish over the next year, then write down the steps to get there, and assign them to the months.

Next, take the January steps and assign them to the weeks. Then take the weekly steps and assign them to the days.

I have to admit – I’m going to do my best to follow my own advice this year, but it’s difficult for me.

I tend to want to get it done all at once, and get frustrated when that isn’t possible. I also have a terrible time deciding which pieces are most important, and thus should be done first.

So one of my goals for 2012 is to discipline myself to follow the plan!

Wish me success – and I’ll wish success for you!

On Thursday I wrote an Active Rain post talking about how funny it would be if real estate agents used the same tactics that many other marketers use.

What if they said:
“Scientific discovery reveals the secret to hypnotizing buyers into choosing your home – and paying top dollar!”

But then… someone commented with an idea that’s part hype and part good sense.

Read the post and the comment, then tell us what YOU think.

Copywriting has plenty of rules for you to follow, and maybe even more than one that’s labeled “Rule #1,” but this one is too important to ignore.

The rule is: Remember that it isn’t about you.

Your marketing, if it’s to be effective, HAS to be about your prospective customers/clients and what they want or need.

Test each of your marketing messages (including web pages) by checking to see what the first sentence is about. If it says “we” or “I,” rewrite it.

Then count the number of times you say “we” or “I” or any variation thereof. Next, count how many times you use some version of the word “You.”

Unless you’ve used “you” at least 3 or 4 times as often as you’ve used “I,” – rewrite it.