The Investor Carrot Experiment!

Is Content Marketing More Powerful Than Direct Mail?

That is the question I seek to answer in “The Investor Carrot Experiment!”  As I coach several real estate professionals around the country who mail in addition to the other methods I teach in The Red Pill Sales System .  I thought it might be a nice personal challenge to myself to see how my ability to generate leads online vs. their mail campaigns.

While I won’t chastise those who mail, it’s just not what I teach.  Additionally, It will serve as a nice “control” model.

It’s no secret. I am not a fan of direct mail. The overwhelming majority of real estate trainers seem to promote direct mailing as a way to generate business.  While direct mail will certainly generate some prospects, I doubt the quality and quantity of those leads relative to the amount of mail sent.

In short, you gotta send a lot of mail, for quite a long time to maximize your benefits out of direct mail.

Why I Believe In Content Marketing

The beauty of a properly set up, and optimized website and accompanying blog is it’s permanence.

While a yellow letter might get thrown away, or a bandit sign cut down; a blog post about how to prevent foreclosure in Tucson would stay up as long as the site is in place.

The good news is that when you are marketing via a blogpost, or a Craigslist ad that directs traffic to your site, it is specifically target the demographic you are looking for.  For example, if I wanted to attract a estate sale, I might want to write a article for my blog entitled “I inherited a house… what do I do?” and then share it on my social networks, or via email to my customer base.

When the customer is looking at your information, and is initiating the contact with you, this dramatically changes the dynamic.

Unlike when the customer is receiving unsolicited emails, this email comes from a trusted source.  Or they see it on Facebook, or perhaps find it on Google (after it’s been properly optimized).  The key is, it’s not from a stranger, and it only appeals to those with a specific need.

As time passes, the article remains on your blog.  Google’s search engines constantly look for relevant articles, and again, with proper optimization, your article can rank quite high, very quickly for critical search terms.

Many Roads to the Mountain

There are many who still cling to the vestiges of yesteryear.  It’s ok.  But for the rest of us, those who are moving forward into the 21st Century, we understand that the world itself has changed.

While direct mail, bandit signs, door knocking, and other forms of lead generation have worked in the past, there are more efficient, and economical ways to generate business.

That is not to say that these items do not have their place.  There is always a need for a well trained, sales oriented professional to help assist those who need to sell their home quickly.

The problem is that there is precious little sales skills training for them.  In my book Sales Skills for Real Estate Investors, I stressed the importance for Realtors® who Invest, as well as Wholesaling Investors to use sales skills to maximize their opportunities.

This includes bandit signs, calling for sale by owners, expired listings, as well as other forms of finding “now” business.

The truth is, for the brand new Realtor® or Wholesaler, although active prospecting is the best form of business generating activity you can do, it ends when you put the phone down.

To maximize your lead generation capacity, as well as increase your efficiency, it makes sense to have something running 24/7 to collect, educate, and convert leads to a blog or website.  For me, that is Investor Carrot.

The Investor Carrot Challenge

So, for the next 60 days, I will work with my sites www.KarlBuysHouses.com, and www.SmokingHouseDeal.com,to generate motivated Buyer and Seller leads.

I will periodically report to you here on this page to give you screenshots, as well as the good, bad and ugly of my progress.  I encourage you to follow this blog to ensure you get the latest post!