Help-U-Sell Real Estate celebrates its 40th anniversary with a commemorative logo.
If you aren’t a fan of ours on Facebook yet, you may not be aware that we’re celebrating our 40th anniversary this year. Time flies when you’re saving people money!
Don Taylor founded Help-U-Sell Real Estate in 1976 as a consumer-friendly alternative to the high percentage-based commissions most other real estate agents charged. He believed a low set fee, information without obligation, and freedom of choice were the wave of the future. Four decades and thousands of happy clients later, and we’re still helping sellers (and buyers) across the country!
This is one of four new website banners.
To commemorate this milestone, we’ve created an anniversary logo and marketing collateral (with more to come), including website banners and a new postcard. The EDDM postcard will be available in the next co-op from our print vendor, Excel Printing and Mailing, on April 1.
Brokers can access variations of the new logo and the website banners in the Office Management System’s Download Library. The postcard will be on Excel Printing & Mailing’s website soon.
Update: Excel Printing & Mailing now has eight postcards of varying messages and sizes with the 40th anniversary logo. They have their own section on the site. Look for the “40-Year Materials” title to see the selections and customize your order.
The new Help-U-Sell Real Estate broker websites' homepage will feature video, so creating your own videos is on our list of top marketing ideas for 2016.
The first full week of the year is usually focused on catching up from the holidays, but the 51 weeks ahead should get some attention, too. What are your marketing plans for 2016? We have outlined five ideas to get you started.
1. Website Content. The new Help-U-Sell Real Estate broker website template will debut shortly. The new site is responsive, meaning it adapts to the size of the user’s device screen whether it’s a desktop computer, a tablet, or a smartphone. We have created new pages for the broker sites that will replace the outdated, text-heavy pages on most of our brokers’ sites now. We encourage brokers to localize the new pages’ content and to consider making landing pages on other topics that fit their market and their expertise. Ask yourself: Whom do you want to attract to your website and, ultimately, as your clients? We can help you with the creation of any pages you might want to add to your broker site.
2. Video. The new website template prominently features video, on the homepage and on many of the new landing pages. These videos are narrated by James Dingman and can be used in your marketing, as well, but we strongly suggest filming your own videos that can replace the landing page videos and the ones on the homepage. The personal touch means a great deal in this day of social media, where consumers want to get to know people before they conduct business.
3. Social Media. Speaking of social media, do you post consistently to your accounts? Take stock of your social media profiles (update any contact information, photos, etc.) and make an editorial calendar with what to post when. Think about adding new networks, such as Instagram or Periscope, to the mix, or removing ones that you never use. Also, you might want to advertise on these platforms, especially Facebook. You can target specific audiences based on place of residence (down to zip code), age, income level, and other factors for a low cost.
4. Co-Op/EDDMs. Print marketing isn’t dead, it just needs to be highly targeted to make the most impact. Our print/mail vendor, Excel Printing and Mailing, is running a co-op through January 15 on EDDMs (the U.S. Postal Service’s Every Door Direct Mail program), where you can print and mail customized postcards for only $0.29 each. The mailings go to the post office’s carrier routes that you select. We recommend doing research using your MLS to discover the carrier routes in your market that have the highest turnover rates. Read more about how to do this on James Dingman’s Set Fee Real Estate Blog (see the Target Your Market post).
5. Center of Influence Postcards. If you didn’t participate last year, or even if you did, the CI postcard program is a must for staying top of mind with your colleagues, past clients, friends, acquaintances, et al…anyone who knows you. This year, we’ve expanded from eight to 10 postcard mailings for the year. Excel Printing and Mailing handles the logistics of the program, and you can opt in and customize your postcards via your OMS. Read more about the CI postcards.
With a focus on marketing in the right places, you can make 2016 your best year yet. If you’re a Help-U-Sell Real Estate broker and you want any guidance from the corporate office, send us an email. We’d be happy to help you!
Whether you are planning to expand into new markets this year or you’re a new office, we have created a new postcard for you to announce your debut in an area. The “Now in Your Neighborhood” design is available through our print vendor Excel Printing & Mailing. The Now in Your Neighborhood postcard announces your brokerage's expansion or grand opening.
The postcard can be customized in almost every aspect, from images to message. Tailor it to fit your climate, your target clients, and your office.
The reverse side of the postcard explains how Help-U-Sell Real Estate helps sellers and contains a testimonial.
The new postcard is available as an EDDM (every door direct mail) item, so you can target a specific area to receive the mailing. Excel Printing & Mailing has set up a co-op for Help-U-Sell Real Estate franchisees to enable a lower cost per piece. The postcards, with postage and shipping, are only $0.28 each.
Once you’ve logged into Excel’s site, you will click on Office Co-Op to see all six of the available designs, customize them, and place your order. The co-op ends Mon., Jan. 19.
Be sure to order enough postcards for the next three months. The next co-op for EDDMs will start in April.
The eight postcards in Help-U-Sell Real Estate's new program include testimonials.
At last week’s annual Success Summit, we unveiled a new automated postcard program to help our brokers stay in touch with their centers of influence (CIs). The broad definition of a CI is anyone who can put your name with your face. Did you know it costs five times more to generate a new lead than to tap into people they already know? That is why we created this new program.
The program has eight postcards that will go out during the year to the broker’s selected contacts in our proprietary Office Management System.
Excel Printing & Mailing has worked with us to make the set-up process as simple as possible. A broker simply logs into the Office Management System, selects the contacts, uploads a personal photo, enters a client testimonial, and chooses from a set of real Sold and Saved images. Then the program will be set for the entire year. Brokers can make changes and add contacts throughout the year.
The front side of the postcards will contain information that cannot be edited. This is for cost-efficiency purposes. The reverse side of the cards will have the broker’s photo and contact information and either an office testimonial or a Sold and Saved image of the broker’s choosing.
The messaging of the postcards is a balance of general, timely information, such as a spring-cleaning tip, and Help-U-Sell Real Estate content, including the Easy Way chart.
The postcards will cost approximately 45 cents each, postage included.
Keep an eye out for more details and registration information for a webinar that will walk you through setting up the program.
The newly redesigned arounds postcard boldly displays a recent Sold and Saved to entice potential sellers who live near another agent's listing.
As our branding continues to evolve, so do our marketing postcards that you can order through our print vendor Excel Printing & Mailing.
Updated arounds postcards, which you send to households surrounding another broker’s listing, are available now. Log onto www.husmailnow.com to customize and order these. A two-listing brag card that matches the new look and feel of our other marketing materials is also on the site under ETM Postcards.
If there are other postcards you want to see updated or other marketing messages you want to send, let us know. We are here to help you.
