Building the Right List for Your Direct Mail Campaign

Mike: Welcome back to the Flipnerd.com REI Classroom, where experts from across the real estate investing industry teach you quick lessons to take your business to the next level. And now, let’s meet today’s expert host.
Kevin: Hey, guys, this is Kevin Ramirez from NC HomeBuyers of Raleigh, North Carolina. Today, I’ll be the host for the REI Classroom and I’m going to talk about what it is like to build the right list for your direct mailing campaign.
Mike: This REI Classroom real estate lesson is sponsored by theinvestormachine.com, Flipnerd’s private investor coaching program and your blueprint to investing success.
Kevin: Building the right list is probably the most important part of a direct mailing campaign. This is because if you’re mailing to the right people, you’re going to get the right results. There are two ways to mail out to direct mailing. One is to buy a list from a list source, and the other one is to build a list yourself. I think that if you want a better return for your investment and you want to get better results of your direct mailing campaign, you should build the list yourself. The reason for this is because not everybody is going to be mailing to the same leads that you are because you compile it yourself.
There are three big ways that I’ve found to build a good mailing list. Number one, direct mailing through D4D or driving for dollars. Number two will be to get code violations. Number three is to get tax delinquent leads. Driving for dollars, pretty straightforward, you drive around. You look for properties that need repairs. You get the mailing address down. You search them to the county records and you send them letters. Add those to the list.
Two, code violations, these are probably the hardest ones to get out of the list, which is good for you as an investor because not everybody’s going to have access to it. You can find them if you know where to look. These are not going to be in your county website. These are probably going to be with a city inspector. What I did to get mine was to reach out to the inspector. You’re going to have to reach out to the inspector, to the head of the urban development program in your city or to the nuisance side of the city development. One of them is going to have that list for you.
Number three would be a tax delinquency list. This one is one that you can find in the county records. You can find it online or you can simply call your tax assessor’s office and request for someone who has this information. The reason why I like these lists is because not everybody’s going to have it and you’re going to have the upper hand when it comes to being pretty much one of the only people who are mailing them.
What I would recommend you to do is to compile this list, mail it out, keep mailing them, and as you mail out, keep building into the list. Keep adding driving for dollars leads. Keep adding tax delinquency leads. Keep adding code violation leads. That way, you will build a big list as time goes on. You’ll start with a small, 1000 or so lead list and you’ll build to 10,000 to 15,000 you can mail every two to three months. The reason why I recommend you start with 1000 or at least 1000 leads is because of tracking. If you’re mailing to less than 1000 leads, it’s going to be harder to track. You’re not going to get a specific percentage that you can fall back on, but if you’re mailing to more than 1000 you will be.
That’s it, folks. Make sure you build the right list. Make sure you stay consistent with your marketing and sending out direct mailing campaigns. I will see you next time in the next REI Classroom.
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