A large part of commercial real estate is finding ways to stay in front of property owners and give them a reason to have a conversation with you. One of the ways I have been doing that is through direct mail. The mailer below is one that we recently sent to property owners throughout Northern Nevada. Instead of just sending something asking owners if they want to sell, we focused on providing information about bonus depreciation and other things that could actually be useful to them.
One thing I have learned from doing mailers is that the information you send matters. In this mailer, we explain bonus depreciation, cost segregation, and some of the ways owners may be able to use those tools with their real estate, while also making it clear that we are not tax professionals and owners should talk with their CPA before making a decision. Mailer 3 – BD (1) We also included some of the properties we are currently working on so owners can see what is happening in the Northern Nevada market. The goal is to give someone something useful instead of sending another piece of mail that immediately ends up in the trash.
So far, mailers have actually been a good source of conversations for me. I have had owners call after receiving them, and in some cases those calls have turned into conversations about their property, what it may be worth, or what they are planning to do in the future. Direct mail is definitely not cheap when you consider the printing, postage, and the number of pieces that have to be sent out. At the same time, commercial real estate is a business where one good deal can pay for a lot of marketing, so if a mailer creates one real opportunity, it can easily make the cost worth it.
For me, the biggest takeaway has been that marketing does not always have to immediately lead to a sale to be valuable. If an owner learns something from the mailer, remembers my name, or calls me with a question, it has already helped start a relationship. That is also how I want to build my business long term—by staying in front of owners and continuing to provide information that is actually useful to them. If you own commercial or industrial real estate in Northern Nevada, I would be interested to hear what kind of market information would actually be useful for you to receive.
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