I wanted to share a marketing campaign idea I've used in the past that got me two listings: custom made fortune cookies.

Back when the market was just starting to turn good (2003) I started farming an area of about 400 homes. To do this I just handed out flyers door to door ("Just sold", "Just listed" in your area, flyers). I didn't mail into the area, just went door to door on my bike at 6 AM putting flyers on doors. I did this for about 5 months (one flyer per month) with no success that I can remember.

Then I came across a company that would make fortune cookies that would put what ever sayings inside that I wanted and individually seal each cooking in its own wrapper.

So I made up a few sayings (don't remember exactly what...probably something like: "Your fortune will change when you list your home with Don Glasgow (435)673-0886"). I then handed out the cookies to the farm area by putting them in a door hanger bag along with a flyer of some kind.

The result: I quickly got two listings, both of which sold. Probably $6000 or $7000 net to me. One of the homes still had the fortune cookie fortunes sitting on their coffee table, when I went to list the home. Both homeowners mentioned the fortune cookies.

Now bear in mind that if I had not handed out all of those flyers before handing out the cookies I probably wouldn't have gotten the listings. I don't know that for sure, however.

Shortly after that I stopped farming because, like most agents at that time, I could barely keep up with all of the homebuyers / investors that were buying homes through me.

I'm now going to use the cookies for getting expireds attention / listings. First by sending a lot of interesting, low key, soft sell mailings and door contacts, then hit em with cookies. We'll see what happens.

Just thought I'd share that, in hopes of hearing what other agents have done for unusual marketing.

Don

That. Is. Cute.

Cool idea. My most unique effort was post cards. I ebayed a ton of old post cards from across the country and handwrote them to my mailing list. It took a while, but I think it was effective. I cannot attribute a sale to it, but just talking about it makes me want to do it again. When is the last time you got a real post card in the mail, not one with your company logo, but a real tourist post card. I am sure they were read at a higher rate than other mail.

Doing' bpose: What kind of postcards are you talking about? and what kind of message did you write on them?

The fortune cookies sounds good! is that expensive?

That's quite clever; perhaps I'll think about doing that. I like the postcard idea too. Either approach is going to interrupt the automatic throw-the-flyer-in-the-trash response that most people will have, and that's a very good thing.

Anyelina - you can bulk order the fortune cookies for under $.50 apiece. I found one website where you can get 500 custom cookies for $50. You can buy old postcards in bulk on eBay for pretty cheap as well (as an example, this morning someone was selling 16,000 old French postcards--including 8,000 that were unused--for $1000 + $200 shipping from Europe). So, costwise, either approach seems to be roughly equivalent to a more traditional marketing campaign.

These were post cards people had collected over the years from their personal trips around the world. Buckingham palace, Niagra Falls, National Parks, etc. I can't remember the message I penned, it has been about 6 years, maybe 7. But how often d you get a post card from Stone Henge? I still have some of them left, maybe 50 or 100. I think I ended up paying around a dime per postcard. A very good deal. I think I even did some store bought ones from local shops also. Those were less eye popping, but certainly still interesting. They ran about a .25 a piece.

This talk about postcards reminded me of a program we tried years ago that was successful but for some reason we didn't repeat it.

It came about when I did my usual drop by visit about 30 days after the clients moved in to their new home. The wife told me everything was fine and they appreciated my service, but even with our great service selling the old home was stressful, and buying the new home was stressful, so they needed to destress and they took a week off to a nice island.

As they were showing me photos of the vacation they showed me one of them lounging on the beach looking totally content and it gave me an idea. I would use the photo on a postcard as a market piece.

The photo was the front of my over-sized postcard and the back said this is the ABC family and they said that selling a house can be stressful, and buying a house can be stressful even with our great assistance, but after it's over help with the unstressing would be nice, so thanks to their idea we are announcing our unstress program. And then a basic unstress on us message. might still work today, who knows?

That reminds me, Brian, when I was a kid one of our local Realtors had a gimmick where she would give all of her clients a free trip to Hawaii as a thank-you gift.

I never quite understood the link between buying/selling a house and going to Hawaii...until I bought my first house. Then it definitely clicked.

That's a good idea, Don. As it becomes increasingly important to find ways to separate your marketing efforts from the clutter, I would say that you have definitely found one marketing medium that isn't being tapped into by many realtors.

Don, that is a great idea and I believe I may use it! As we get busy, we forget the way that made us that way. When I first started out and actually ran print ads, I had a doodled face of Grouch O Marx over my picture. It made light of those cheesy Realtors pics we have to get. To some, it can be a turn off to others a turn on. But, that's the type of person I am so I attract others that are the same, most of the time. Any who, GREAT IDEA!

Like some others I really like the fortune cookie idea. This time of year is probably great for something like that. probably much better than sending out the annual calander.

As I mentioned I started mailing out fortune cookies to previously contacted expireds (mail, call or visit).

Got a call from an out of town expired to meet and list his home next Tuesday. He called because of the previous marketing and he said the cookies were the kicker.

I have found that the more expensive cookie companies are worth the money in regards to speed and customer attention.

Don

Don, the cookies could have been the "kicker" with this expired client, but can any weight be given to the fact that people kept the cookies around longer than any mailing? For example, mailings typically get pitched in seconds of opening, however, don't people generally feel more reluctant to throw food away? Hmmm....

[quote=Andy Perkins]That reminds me, Brian, when I was a kid one of our local Realtors had a gimmick where she would give all of her clients a free trip to Hawaii as a thank-you gift.

I never quite understood the link between buying/selling a house and going to Hawaii...until I bought my first house. Then it definitely clicked. [/quote]

Spendy closing gift!


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How did you manage to mail the fortune cookies? I would have thought they'd be smashed to bits after going through the post office.