Voice
When I’m not a marketer, I’m a writer. If for a moment I forget modesty, I think I’m a pretty good writer, for an unpublished one, and one of my best skills is my writing voice.
But I confess, I’m having a hard time finding my voice here. I think I’m trying too hard to not be me - which is intensely personal, even when that’s not such a good idea.
It’s a hard happy medium to find, because I want this to be a place I can advertise professionally without embarassing myself.
I read something today - I’ll have to hunt to find it because I’m not sure I starred it, and to be honest, it was something I’ve read before with different themes on various sites - that if you write about something you love, you’ll get an audience.
Since I feel a bit stiff, here, that means I’m not hitting the right happy medium of writing what pleases me so that it can please others.
Filed under Internet, Writing | Comment (0)Postcard Dos and Don’ts
I read an interesting article this morning about the Dos and Don’ts of Postcard Marketing. Since postcard marketing is a large part of my job (perhaps only 15% of my time at the desk, but 25% of all marketing materials I produce), I definately paid attention.
Here’s what I learned:
- My agents need to get more personal, even if it does involve a little more time and effort. Perhaps a scanned signature added to all postcards, and the removal of “or Current Resident” from our computerized labels (although that little detail didn’t bother the article author much).
- Make sure the picture is decent, and not just the version on the Multiple Listing Service. Nothing would turn me off faster than a grainy picture of a home that’s badly framed in the shot, so what makes us think that the client receiving the postcard would not care?
- Letters are perfectly acceptable ways of promoting open houses and new listings. In fact, when everyone else is sending postcards (glossy or not), your letter stands out. Especially when you send it in an envelope that isn’t just generically white.
- Be willing to shell out more than just your name and number. Personally, a license number on a postcard, for me, would be unnecessary data. However, it does show that you’ve committed yourself to get your license, and you’re not just Joe Schmoe from the street trying to sell me a piece of real estate.
And the two things I disagreed with?
- The highlighter thing? Not so crazy about that. Besides, if the author of the article is so sure she’s going to start a trend with her comment that it worked on her, why would I want to jump on that wagon? I’ll create my own, thankyouverymuch.
- There’s no way I’ll be asking my agents to hand write the addresses on their cards or letters. When they’re giving me orders of 400 mailers to go out TODAY, with virtually no processing time? I don’t think so.
