Sending postcards is an effective marketing tactic for generating leads and building brand awareness. While they are typically only 5×7 inches in size, real estate postcards can have a big impact when they are sent for follow-up communication, upcoming listings, just-sold properties, open houses, and more.
Some of the best real estate postcard ideas can be used to inspire future direct mail marketing campaigns in order to attract, nurture, and convert real estate leads into clients.
If you’re wondering what to put on your real estate postcard, just check out our list below:
1. Ready to Sell
Homeowners who are considering selling but haven’t made a commitment are your target audience. Find out what would cause them to take action and address those concerns in your marketing strategy.
Give them reasons why selling their house now would be a good idea, such as market trends or tax incentives.
2. Just Sold
This is something you should definitely have in your real estate marketing starter kit: showcase a home you recently sold, with a few highlights of the property in bullet form.
If you are able, try to make your postcard design include key information about the property value (especially if it was above the market value), the size of the home, how long it was listed, etc.
3. Just Listed
This new property is a great offer and you should see it! It is a very nice place and has a great location. Your postcards will help keep your name top of mind for recipients even if they’re not looking to buy right now. Whenever they are looking for a property of similar size, location, or value, your name will be the first one they think of.
4. Hot New Listings
This would be a Just Listed postcard but highlighting several homes instead of one to provide a quick snapshot of the diversity of properties you offer.
Given that people are visual creatures, it’s important to choose your most unique or popular properties and showcase them with a stunning image and one to two key pieces of information, such as listing price and neighborhood.
5. Tired of Renting
This Real Estate postcard would likely appeal to first time home-buyers who are looking to transition from renting to owning. It might be a good idea to target this postcard towards apartment complexes, condominiums, or neighborhoods with a lot of starter homes, since there would be a higher percentage of renters in those areas.
6. Property Management Services
Do you offer property management services for either commercial or residential properties? Then advertise it! Many people do not know that real estate agents can offer property management services. Therefore, it is important to raise awareness about this.
7. Vacation Home Ideas
If your target market is higher-income households, you’ll be able to take advantage of their demand and help create more demand.
You can design a real estate postcard that looks luxurious and beautiful, while also invoking the feeling of a perfect vacation home. By highlighting that you can help make it happen, you can design a postcard that will catch the eye and stand out.
The person you’re sending this to may not have thought about a second property before, but you’ve just given them the idea.
8. Partner Campaigns
Building successful partnerships are essential to expanding your real estate business.
You can make yourself look like the home expert to potential clients by featuring partnerships on a postcard. You may be able to split the cost of the postcard design, printing, and mailing.
Some possible partner campaigns might include:
- Deep-clean professionals before a home sale
- CPAs who specialize in property sale/purchase taxation
- Moving companies—great for both buyers and sellers!
- Interior designers and home organizers
- Roofers or remodelers
9. Welcome to the Neighborhood
Welcome new homeowners to the neighborhood by checking for recent home sales in public information databases and sending a postcard. A new homeowner may not be looking to sell for a while, but when they eventually do, you want to make sure you’ve left a good impression.
10. Non-Promotional Local Content
The most effective way to make yourself known as a friendly expert in your area is to deliver a combination of promotional and non-promotional content. No one wants to hear from a business that only talks about themselves.
Some good ideas for non-promotional content would include:
- Tips for first-time buyers/sellers in this area
- Hyperlocal real estate trends in property value, home design, etc.
- “Year in review” trends
- Upcoming restaurant openings or other local hotspots
- Calendar of community events or sports games
11. Virtual Tours
Many potential homebuyers prefer to tour a house in person rather than look at still images of it on a listing website. However, not everyone will want to do this tour in person. Offer your virtual solution on a real estate postcard!
If you have any other features that require high technology, you could highlight those too.
For example, you could offer drone-based photography with all of your listings or you could have an online chatbot to accept customer inquiries 24/7. There are a few things you can do to make your postcards more effective, and one of them is to offer value-added services.
12. Referral Specials
Sending postcards to your previous clients is a great way to drum up new business. You can increase the number of referrals you get by offering a small gift in exchange for each one.
13. Seasonal Messages and Offers
It can be challenging to create new marketing campaigns all year long, so why not use existing campaigns? If you want to promote a deal, using shared holidays is a good way to make it relevant to your customers’ lives. These might include:
- 4th of July deals from a lawn care partner
- Special partner offers for moving high season (spring and summer)
- “New year, new home” specials
14. Open House Invitations
The more people who see your house, the better chance you have of selling it. Invite your neighbors and people in the area to your upcoming open house. Be sure to include the key event details—address, time, and contact information—and to highlight a reason why someone might want to attend. A free snack bar or casual networking, maybe?
15. Workshop or Webinar Invitations
You can build your professional and client network by sending out invitations for free workshops or webinars on real estate topics. You can establish a reputation for being an expert and helpful agent by hosting events. This will make you stand out from the majority of agents in your area.
This design is very simple and effective for real estate agents who use direct mail campaigns.
This campaign can be used to showcase different types of victories by simply switching out the black and white photo.
Frequent mailers help build your brand and make recipients more likely to remember your name when they interact with your content.
This postcard could also be used as follow-up for your Just Listed campaign. This text is talking about how well the real estate agent sells properties. They could send this information to potential sellers to show them how efficiently they work.
This text is saying that sellers who need to sell their homes quickly will be happy to know that this home sold quickly. This could be due to the location of the home or the price.
16. Sold Over Asking Price
This postcard has a clear message and will grab the attention of whoever receives it. If you’re looking to show potential sellers that you’re good at selling homes, try selling them for the maximum price. It’s a great way to get their attention and show them what you’re capable of.
If you choose this postcard template, we recommend adding a call to action such as “Reach out for a Free Home Valuation!” or “Contact Us to Sell Your Home” on the back of the postcard.
If you work mainly with sellers, you might be looking for a variety of designs and ideas to help them sell their products.
17. Incentive for Expired Listing Leads
This postcard uses a different approach to target owners of expired listings by offering an incentive. This not only advertises a significant monetary reward, but also offers a direct listing of the home as a reward.
A gift card to a hardware store can be highly relevant and motivating for an owner of an expired listing who needs to make improvements prior to relisting their home for sale.
18. Urgency Meets Experience
The giant red panic button is the first thing you notice when you look at this postcard. If you can relate to the feeling of having an expired listing, this is a great way to get attention.
The owner is not left without a solution for their panic. Instead, the language on this card offers help from someone who is experienced and has proof in this specialized circumstance.
If you want to be successful in following up with expired listings postcards, you should download our free templates and use them to reach out with a real estate prospecting letter. This letter should offer more information about your services, client successes, and how you can help sell their property.
19. Relevant Information for Expired Listings
It’s just as important to break the ice with direct mail as it is to break the ice when meeting someone in person.
This design helps you stand out from many other agents by offering a question and education about expired listings.
The aim of this real estate postcard is to make homeowners who have had their listings expire think about why their home didn’t sell.
If you want to be successful in selling to potential clients, you need to first empower them with knowledge. Show them that you are an expert in your field and that you can provide value to their current situation. Additionally, this makes homeowners question what other three questions they should have asked.
20. Bright Open House Invitation
This real estate postcard has an inviting feel to it. The information is also highlighted effectively using placement and color. The date and address are both posted clearly, and there is even a spot designated for a positive testimonial.
This postcard can be displayed on a fridge with a magnet and the homeowner can add it to their calendar.
21. Property Spotlight Open House Postcard
This postcard focuses on the property and includes important information in a clean, simple design. The listing’s price is at the top, with a big feature image to show the best part of the home, and a large heading to make it clear what kind of event it is.
You can find a wide range of real estate postcards on Canva that can be customized to suit your requirements. By using premade templates and adding your real estate logo, contact information, and headshot, you can be sure that your brand will be recognized by your community.
Their services are either free or come with a paid plan that has more design options.
22. Foreclosure Experience Postcard
This foreclosure postcard template features a symbolic image of falling blocks set against a backdrop of white space. This creates a bright, eye-catching design. Preforeclosure can be a difficult and overwhelming time for anyone – it can feel like your world is crashing down. This postcard shows empathy for anyone going through this tough time.
It’s an effective way to reach people who are in the process of foreclosure while being sensitive to their unique situation. You should include your logo, contact information, and a call to action on the back of the text.
