Business Card Marketing Ideas For Realtors – Business Cards on Steroids
Unless your real estate brokerage mandates that you have a certain business card template, you need to start mixing things up and get crazy with your business card marketing. Your card needs to look different from every other Realtor’s and agent’s business card out there.
When prospects see the inside of a house after you’ve shown it, their eyes need to go straight to yours out of all the business cards sitting on the table.
When you hand someone a business card in the grocery store, it needs to make them want to frame it and hang it above their bed (ok, over exaggeration but you get the point).
There’s really only so much you can think of when it comes to business card marketing ideas. It’s hard to look different sometimes but there are enough options to make it work.
Let me show you…
Let’s start with the color. Most Realtors and agents use a white background for their card, right? One option is to just switch up the color. Go orange or yellow, or purple, or neon green. Make it standout. Don’t mix those all together and look like the “hippie agent” though (unless that’s your brand), but put some color into it. Don’t be afraid to be different. Just make sure it lines up with your brand that you’re trying to convey to prospects.
Another simple business card marketing idea is that the font style can be changed too. Make sure the font color goes with your card background but play with the style. DaFont.com has some great, free ideas of all kinds of font styles. Play with some of those and see what looks best for you and your brand.
Your profile picture could use a face lift too. No, I’m not saying you’re ugly. You’re beautiful just the way you are. What I mean is you should try taking a different picture of yourself.
How about a picture of you with a client? You with your dog? You sitting on top of a roof? You leaning on a giant key that’s the size of “Andre the Giant”? Get creative and think outside the box. Put a picture on there that prospects are going to remember!
What do you have on the backside of your card right now? Is it blank? Do you have some tacky phrase about “the best compliment I can receive is a referral from a friend….”? I actually hate seeing that one. That’s NOT business card marketing in a unique way; that’s just silly.
When I’m showing a house, I always look at the backside of the agent’s cards that have shown the house before me. I see that phrase on there all the time. It’s almost worse than leaving it blank. Who’s going to refer someone to you just because you say you’d appreciate it? Unless you’ve built a relationship with that prospect, it’s meaningless. If this is you I’m talking about, I’m sorry. But please consider changing that up.
OK, enough ranting. Back to this business card marketing lesson…
Instead of a tacky phrase or a blank backside, how about offering a “FREE Report” about something if they go to your site and fill out their name and email in your opt-in box?
You could offer…
“FREE 7-Day e-Course on How to Sell Your Home in 21 Days or Less” “FREE 10-Minute Interview with Your Town’s Funniest Realtor” “9 Ways to Avoid Selling Below Your Listing Price” “3 Tips on How to Sell Your Home for $30,000 More”
Give prospects a reason to go further with your business card. That’s the whole point of this business card marketing technique. Make them want to know more about you. Don’t let them think you’re the same as the other 2 million agents out there.
Now for my favorite way to enhance your business card marketing. This is awesome and I barely see any Realtors or agents doing this. It’ll make you look like Donald Trump… plastic and metal! Let me explain more…
What is your card printed on right now? Some kind of paper, I know, but what kind? Does it feel like you took some copy paper as thin as single-ply toilet paper and slapped your name and phone number on it? Or does it feel like the typical semi-durable card stock that we always see?
Do you think your card would stand out more if it was made out of a thin sheet of metal? Or plastic? No, I’m not kidding.
What if the card had your logo on it only it was cut into the business card instead of printed on it? You can actually do this stuff with business cards now.
Yes, it’s a bit more expensive but it’s a marketing piece. It says something about your brand and image. Don’t spend $5 per card but feel free to splurge a little more than the home-made Staples business card kit you bought Thursday morning.
While this business card topic is a common one, you can see there are all kinds of variations you can implement to stand out from the crowd. And when you literally have a million other agents out there to compete with, you need to stand out!
Follow the guidelines and ideas and I gave you and put your own twist on it. Take some time to think and come up with something unique and creative. Think about all the prospects that receive and see your card. Don’t you want to maximize those marketing pieces to their fullest potential? With these ideas, you’ll be on your way.
Starting an Online Business – Pros and Cons
Starting an online business isn’t any better or worse than opening a traditional storefront, but it is different.
While traditional stores require fairly large initial investments for rent, utilities, employees, merchandise and advertising, online businesses require similar start-ups costs that include website design, server fees, marketing, and merchandise.
One major benefit to opening an online business is the speed in which you can open your doors to the world. An online business can be up and running virtually overnight, especially if you use a full service server that makes website templates and other business essentials such as advertising, marketing, shipping and management tools available.
Even choosing a domain name can take minutes online compared to waiting weeks for a ficticous name certificate from your state government for a traditional business name.
When you run a business online, your customers never have to know how big (or small) your company really is, and for many the flexibility of working during off hours is a major advantage. With no foot traffic needing to see your store’s merchandise, you can also save thousands by keeping inventory at a minimum.
With so many benefits to running an online business, what are some things to watch out for? Advertising, for one thing. You can’t grow a business if no one knows you exist. While you may have a few similar stores to compete against in a traditional mall setting, your online store must compete with thousands all over the world. Making yours stand out among the rest can take some ingenuity and know-how. It’s important to take the time to learn how to make your online business pop up first on search engines such as google and yahoo in order to survive – and grow.
Choosing a great server right from the start is also essential. Your server is your business’s lifeline. If it goes down, everything regarding your business – from your website and email to order taking and delivery services – comes to a screeching halt! If this happens too often your existing customers will look elsewhere for service.
In addition, it can be very difficult to change servers once you have become established, so it’s important to choose carefully from the beginning and spend whatever is necessary to get the service you need. This is not an area to pinch pennies!
If, however, you find a responsible server that offers enough services to grow along with your budding company, it can take much of the daily business burden off of your shoulders as manager and owner.
Regardless of the type of online business you are creating, remember these simple steps to success:
-Find a server with a good track record and the ability to grow with your business.
-Find out how to make your business stand out in various search engines.
-Learn how to find and maintain customers on the worldwide web.
-Llearn the unique marketing strategies reserved for online businesses.
Business Plan – Is a Business Plan Really Necessary?
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” This is a legitimate question posed by Jesus Christ of Nazareth in the Gospel of Luke (14:28). Business plans are the equivalent of counting the cost of building a temple. Who would start a business without first counting the cost of starting and running that business. This is the purpose of the business plan.
Business plans are necessary but only if you want to avoid the consequences of failing to do so. Jesus continued his lesson in the next verses, “Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.” In other words, if you neglect planning, you will ultimately fail. No matter how great your idea, no matter how passionate you feel about the business, you must still take the time to create a working business plan.
Business Plan Help
If you’re stalling in your business plan creation, start at SBA.gov to get the basic section of the business plan and to learn what each section should contain. Draft a bare bones plan then find your local Small Business Development Center (SBDC). SBDCs offer free business consulting and very inexpensive workshops in all fifty states. Between these two sources you will be able to create a plan that will get your business off the ground quickly.