The Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 is set to expire on December 31.

It’s not bad enough to lose the home – they get to owe the Feds on top of it.

Congress could extend the Act – but so far there hasn’t been any talk of it in the news.

So do warn your potential clients – the time to list as a short sale is right now. We all know that even after a buyer is found, short sales take longer to close, so there really is no time to waste.

That’s why I wrote a letter and added it to my short sale letter set – and why I’m offering it to you, free of charge.

Click the button, enter your address, and the letter will be on it’s way to you in moments.

Our county and state election primary is next Tuesday and this week our mailbox has been filled with “Vote for me” ads – but a whole lot of people have already voted absentee, so those ads are simply wasted paper, ink, and postage.

It’s sad, because our news coverage here is such that I’d never even heard of a few names on that ballot. If I’d known something about those people, I might have voted for them.

But maybe not – most of the ads don’t say much beyond “I’m wonderful, pick me.” But you never know. A few did state their position on one or two issues.

What does my tale of  ” too late” political advertising have to do with real estate?

It’s just a reminder… Don’t come late to the party!

Don’t procrastinate about contacting that FSBO or Expired listing or any kind of  lead. Do it as soon as you’re aware of it.

Otherwise, those prospects may “vote” for someone else before they even know you exist.

For good ideas on how to get there first, read my weekly real estate marketing ezine for May 9.

And if you don’t know what to do to follow up after you’ve made first contact, go to my prospecting letter page and follow the links to FSBO letters, Expired Listing letters, and any of the niche letters. Read the descriptions and gather ideas – or just get the sets you need and save time by using the words I’ve already written.

Image courtesy of Dreamstine.

In this dream, I was thinking about the keywords for the post and writing things about potatoes. Then suddenly I thought “What am I doing?” This post isn’t about potatoes!

No, what it was about was customer satisfaction, customer service, and delivering what you promise. It was about consumers being able to have some faith in the quality of the merchandise they buy. Maybe even about integrity in marketing, since those bags of awful potatoes are labeled “#1.” (I don’t want to think what #2 or #3 look like.)

So, when you write a blog post (or any other content) stop and think about the “core idea” of your message.

For instance: You may be writing about a celebration coming up in your community, but what you’re really writing about is the fact that your community is a good place to live. Here you’ll find good things to do, involved citizens, etc.

Whatever your core idea, be sure to include it in your copy – and in your keywords.

Image courtesy of Dreamstine.

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.

A recent Active Rain post posed the question: “Which words make you disregard a marketing message?”

Here are some of the replies:

Paradigm shift
hard-worker
well-respected
“KILLER”
Progressive
Well-respected
Content-rich
Quality
Urgent
Utilize
Typical
Innovative
leverage
A-list

Two of my own favorite “love to hate” phrases are “drill down” and “Hold his feet to the fire.”

These are quite often used when promoting a teleseminar or some kind of training program. And there’s just something about those phrases that make me think the speaker (or writer) is a phony.

Then there are the sentences that attempt to impress, but simply sound pompous. For instance:

Let’s all partner to leverage our passion and proactively initiate a world-class paradigm shift that will optimize enterprise-level interactions.

If everyone who might possibly use your services or buy your merchandise was aware of you and what you have to offer, your revenues would increase. But, a whole lot of people who might love you don’t even know you exist.

Unfortunately, “same old, same old” ads in the local news won’t get their attention. But if you do something unusual, you’ll turn into news, and becoming news will give your exposure a giant boost.

What does that have to do with Halloween?

One thing you can do that will get you noticed AND create goodwill in the community is hold a pumpkin give-away.

We did that one year when I had a real estate agency, and we got both a story and a photo in the local news – two weeks in a row. On top of that, we attracted the favorable attention of dozens of people who had only been marginally aware that we existed.

I forget the monetary cost, but it was far less than the price of two newspaper stories!

We contracted with a pumpkin grower to deliver two bins of small pumpkins – you know, the big cardboard bins that sit in the grocery store filled with pumpkins, melons, or corn.

Then we offered one free pumpkin per child. All they had to do was come to our office to get them – accompanied by a parent.

Another time I purchased a few hundred American Flags on sticks (that held our business cards) and we handed them out in the parking lot at the post office a couple of days before the 4th of July. That was a LOT of fun.

Both of those events got people talking about us and our agency for days.

Why talk about Halloween right now? Because if you want to try it, you need to get those pumpkins ordered!

It’s finished now, and you can read all about it at www.promotemyrealestatecareer.com.

In it, you’ll find 107 ways to promote your career, and all but about a dozen of those ways are either completely free or cost only the gasoline to get you out and about.

If you have a different kind of business, I also have an e-book for you. In it you’ll find a plan to keep people coming back to your physical store, or to keep ordering your party plan merchandise or “door-to-door” products such as Avon.

Read more about How to Market a Local Business.

The truth is, you can do a great deal to help yourself by spending your time and using your imagination.

Yes, you need a good website, and yes, your website needs good copy. You also need business cards. But beyond that, a whole lot of what you could get talked into will be a waste of dollars.

The catch is, you do have to spend the time.

Just as there’s no magic pill to give you good health, there’s no magic pill to make your business take off.

Lately I’ve been thinking about how that applies to each and every business in the universe. And the fact that there’s more to it than that.

People may know about you, even want to do business with you, but if they can’t find you easily, they’ll go elsewhere.

You have to make yourself “Easy to Get.”

Just the other day I needed to find an acquaintance that has a small side business. I knew the name of the business, but it wasn’t listed in the phone book. I knew her first name… no help there. Finally her last name popped into my head and then I only had to remember her husband’s name to find them in the phone book. I persisted because I knew she was the only person nearby who could provide what I wanted. But if there had been someone else in the Yellow Pages…

You get the idea.

So what can you do? First of all, if you have a local service business, hand out your cards all the time. Never assume that since you gave them out once, people still have them. They probably don’t. Or if they do have one, they won’t remember where they put it when they need you. Give your cards to friends and ask them to pass them along. Give them to every new person you meet. Post them on the bulletin board along with the others at the local cafe’. If you leave a great tip after dinner, leave your card with it. When you pay a bill with a local merchant, include your card.

When you do a mailing to prospective customers, include your card. They might not keep the whole letter, but the business card might go into their card file. At the same time, make darn sure that letter has all your contact information on every page. That includes your phone, fax, e-mail, and mailing address. If you use your cell phone often, include that too.

The same goes for e-mail. Never assume that everyone wants to communicate electronically. Add a signature to all of your email that shows what you do, along with your phone numbers and your postal mailing address, as well as your return email address.

Then there are print ads. Every once in a while I see a newspaper ad that was a complete waste of money. The ad might have gotten my attention, but they forgot the address of the business and/or the contact information.

In short, make it easy for anyone to find you … no matter which method they prefer.

Never hide from people who want to give you money.

Wouldn’t case studies lend more credibility than short testimonials?

We know testimonials work in every service business. But we also know that they are not always believed. It’s too easy to write a testimonial and assign it a fake name – or simply something like “J.W. in Phoenix.” Who is to know, when no address is given?

A case study, on the other hand, tells a story, and clients give their names. They talk about a problem someone had and how you (or your products) solved that problem.

If you think about it, in real estate, most transactions have some kind of story about your service that a buyer or seller would be pleased to tell.

How do you get an interesting case study? By having someone else interview your past clients, then write about it. Why someone else? Because modesty will prevent you from asking enough questions about what you did and how it affected them.

A third party can ask those questions that get people to explain what happened and take pleasure in singing your praises.

Think about it – your clients won’t tell you what you did. You already know that. About all they’ll say to you is that you did a great job, and thanks.

Case studies might be a good marketing tool for you. If you agree, call me!I’d love to help you stand out in your marketplace.

Image courtesy of Dreamstine.

For some reason, that got me thinking about the word “lavish” and the pictures it paints. It’s an intriguing word. It attracts attention – perhaps because it isn’t over-used.

I didn’t read the article yet but I would assume from the tone of the title that “Lavish pay” probably means “too much” or “How much I’d like to have.”

My trusty thesaurus says that when used as an adjective, “lavish” means: generous, liberal, extravagant, profuse, abundant, bountiful, immoderate, excessive, unsparing, lush, or prodigal.

Hmm… prodigal was interesting, so I looked that up in the dictionary. It means “wasteful, lavish, or reckless with money.”

So obviously, the word “lavish” can either convey a positive or a negative impression. It all depends on what you’re describing and why.

But what does the word “lavish” mean when you use it in your advertising? More to the point, since it is an attention-getting word, where and how can you use it to paint a vivid and positive word picture?

My first thought was it it would apply to a bountiful buffet table… but you don’t sell buffet tables with homes. At least not when they’re filled with tempting treats.

How about using it to describe lawns, shrubbery, and gardens?

Perhaps a “lavish master suite – complete with ….”

What else? How would YOU use it?

Share your thoughts!