Marketing Wholesale Real Estate Deals and Services
When you start wholesaling real estate deals and your services, you need to establish your market presence by marketing to homeowners as well as other investors. You want sellers and other investors to think of you when they are looking to sell or invest.
Learn how to market your presence and target the people who are motivated to sell to launch your wholesale real estate business, as well as the nine marketing materials used by successful wholesalers.
Getting Started
Join Real Estate Investment Clubs
Your first step is to join several real estate investment clubs. It is a good idea to join both local clubs and out of state real estate investment clubs. You’ll want to reach out to other investors and hear their stories. You are looking to establish rapport and emotional connections.
Plan to arrive early, stay late, and get to know those in your area. You can use out-of-state clubs as opportunities to network with other investors and bird-dogs looking for new clients. These network-building opportunities, both locally and nationally, are one of the fastest ways to grow your market presence.
You should come prepared to the real estate investment clubs with business cards and other marketing materials.
Reach Out to Other Investors
When you are starting out, it is useful to research and contact other investors. You will find some who are willing to mentor new wholesalers and will give you valuable advice. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your competition.
Speak to Others Connected to Wholesaling
You will want to reach out to anyone who might be in contact with buyers or sellers of houses under market value. In addition to other wholesalers, this includes:
- Contractors
- Bankers
- Title companies
- Real estate attorneys
- Real estate agents
- Lenders
By making your presence known and even leaving them with an information packet, you start to market your services and establish your market presence.
Marketing Materials
Thorough preparation is the key to success. By putting together a packet of information that includes your credibility as a buyer and a seller, business cards, website, and more, you have a professional presentation ready at a moment’s notice.
The purpose of the marketing materials is to get the word out and to build trust with buyers, sellers, and lenders. Here’s how to prepare each of the nine essential marketing materials:
1. Memorable Business Name
Great marketing starts with a great name. You want a name that means something to investors and buyers. Keep in mind that you will also want to get a corresponding URL. You can start by thinking of names and checking for similar available URLs from Godaddy.
Examples of great business names are descriptive. “Detroit Property Buyers” is better than “Smith Capital Partners.” The first makes the business clear, and the second does not.
If you are looking for a great business name or domain name, check out our business name generator.
2. Logo and Business Color Scheme
In marketing your wholesaling real estate business, it is important to establish branding. This is your easily recognizable presence. Think of the swish of Nike or the logo of Starbucks. You want people to see your logo and remember you.
A memorable logo and color scheme will boost your response rate and improve your perceived credibility.
You can have an online designer or a local graphic designer put together a logo and suggested color scheme. Keep in mind that the color scheme will be used throughout your printed materials. Make sure it is clear and eye-catching.
3. Phone Number
You want an easy to remember phone number that sticks in the minds of future customers. You can call your telephone service provider and ask for numbers available with repeating digits or that spell out a memorable word.
If you don’t find one you like, call the numbers you think would be best and start making offers. You should be able to find someone willing to sell his or her number for a few hundred dollars.
4. Website
You want to build a dominant online presence. Most buyers or sellers will start with a simple online search. For this reason, you want your website to establish your credibility as a business while generating new leads for properties. Godaddy is the best go-to for all your web domains.
Pages to include in your website:
- Homepage: This is where visitors will land on your site. Include an overview of your company, your full contact information, and a place for users to join your email list.
- About Us: Here, you should include detailed information about you, your company, and any employees. It’s nice to include a few inspiring lines about what you want to accomplish.
- Sellers: This page will be targeted to sellers and the benefits you provide to them. Include your unique value proposition for sellers. There should also be a web form where sellers can reach you and fill in basic information about their property.
- Buyers: This page will be targeted to buyers and the benefits you provide. Include your unique value proposition for buyers. Have a “contact us” form on this page where buyers can reach out and share their needs with you. Include some detailed questions about the area they are interested in, the size of the property, etc.
- Properties for Rent: If you plan to have rental properties, they should be listed on this page. You can also offer other investor’s properties for rent for a small commission or affiliate fee.
- Resources: This will include any great real estate products and services. With time, you will want to include only affiliate links here to build passive income for your business.
- Blog: You should plan to update your blog one to three times a week to provide useful information to users. This is a great way to stay in touch with clients while providing value. You can also email your blog posts to your mailing list.
While building a website can be daunting, you can do it with many simple services in a couple of hours or even hire someone to do it for you. This can be a professional web designer or a highschooler. The points to focus on in your website are high-quality images, a clean and simple design, and useful content.
Once you have the web domain and site up, you will also want to set up a professional email address. A good formula is yourname@yourdomain.com. Google business tools will give you this professional email and other tools for a few dollars per month.
5. Business Facebook Page
Facebook is a powerful marketing tool. A business Facebook page will raise awareness with buyers, sellers, and lenders. People can “like” your Facebook page and create a community.
To start, ask all your family, friends, and personal Facebook contacts to like your page. People who like your page will see updates on their wall, which their friends will also see, extending your reach.
You can post your blog posts to Facebook and drive users to your site through Facebook. It is a way to increase your reach and bring more users to your site every day. Once on your website, you want them to see your unique value proposition and sign up for your mailing list. From here, you can continue to cultivate them and build potential contacts.
Finally, Facebook targeted advertising is another tool you can use to increase your reach. With targeted ads, you can advertise only to people in your local area who are interested in real estate investing, buying and selling houses, etc.
6. Business Cards
Business cards can be professionally printed for $30 or less and make a big impact.
Plan to always have business cards with you and hand them out liberally. Give one to anyone who asks about your business. Ask to leave some at the local coffee shop. Ask banks if you can leave some in their mortgage departments. Brainstorm other local businesses that might let you leave or give out a stack of business cards.
Here are some tips to make your business cards stand out from the crowd:
- Add your picture. Marketing research shows that people are more likely to hold onto business cards with photos on them.
- Choose an unusual size. This is an old marketing trick to make your business card stand out, literally. Consider square, house-shaped, extra long, or other distinguishing features for your business cards.
- Add an interesting tagline. This should be short, bold, easy to read, and catchy. You want to hold their attention from the first glance.
- Make it easy to read. You don’t want potential clients squinting to read the print.
- Add all your contact information. This includes your full name, phone, email, website, physical address if you have an office location, and all social media handles.
7. Seller Credibility Packet
The seller credibility packet is what you will present to homeowners considering your services. Your objective of the seller credibility packet is to build trust in your professional services. It is a brochure that serves to explain your business and how you differ from other investors. You want the seller to have a clear understanding of your services and why you are uniquely qualified to help them.
Points to include in an exceptional seller credibility packet:
- Professionally designed materials. This can be done in under an hour through an online freelancer or by a local graphic artist. A professional impression is essential.
- High-quality images. Be sure to use high-quality stock photos to emphasize the professional quality and imagery.
- Your full contact information. This should appear the same on your business cards as well.
- Core Services. Include an overview of the core services for sellers who want a quick sale or don’t want to use a real estate agent.
- Any other services you offer. This can include repair services, moving services, credit repair, etc.
- Benefits to sellers. A description of your business and why it is a benefit to them. You want to highlight at least three to four benefits to the seller.
- Testimonials from past sellers. These are an important selling point and will often touch the emotions of already emotional sellers under pressure to sell.
- Other testimonials. Even if you are brand new, you can gather a few testimonials from your friends, your accountant, or your attorney (among others) to add to your brochure. In that case, plan to update your brochure after you have wholesaled a few properties.
It is a good idea to keep a few seller credibility packets in your car or in your bag. You never know when you will meet potential sellers. If you have prepared the packet well, the information will serve to inspire them to work with you even when they are reading it at home.
8. Buyer Credibility Packet
The buyer credibility packet will be similar to your seller credibility packet. It will serve to build trust with potential buyers or investors. Here you want to differentiate yourself from other real estate wholesalers so they are motivated to work with you. You want other investors to understand how you are uniquely qualified to help them.
The buyer credibility packet will also be a brochure with all the information of the seller credibility packet but geared towards buyers.
In your buyer credibility packet, include:
- Professionally designed materials
- High-quality images
- Your full contact information
- Any other services you offer
- Benefits to buyers (here is where you want to highlight at least three to four benefits to the buyer)
- Testimonials from past buyers
- Other testimonials
Again, it is a good idea to keep these in your car or bag to have ready to give to investors of potential buyers.
9. Private Money Credibility Packet
The private money credibility packet presents your business and services to private lenders. You may come into contact with many private lenders or people who are in a position to be private lenders.
This brochure should be both in print and email format so that you can easily share it with interested investors.
What to include in your private money credibility packet:
- Your contact information. This includes full name, company name, phone, email, physical address, website, and social media handles.
- Information about how private lending works. First-time private lenders should be confident in the process and your ability to guide them through it.
- Business information. Include your company history and background.
- Buying philosophy. Here you will elaborate a bit on how you choose properties, which neighborhoods you are looking in, and the vision guiding your business.
- Offer terms. This includes the purchase price, potential return on investment for them, interest rates, and any other terms.
- Benefits to them. Briefly describe why both your buying philosophy and offer terms will benefit the private money lenders.
- Testimonials. You can ask private lenders you have worked with to write about their experience and share it in the brochure. They can do this anonymously or with a photo.
- Frequently asked questions. Include 10 to 20 questions that new investors might have to help them understand the process.
With this packet, you will be able to answer questions and address the concerns of private money lenders. This will help you build a core of private money lenders that are confident in your business and ready to work with you in wholesaling real estate.
Putting It All Together
Now that you have your marketing materials, you are ready to get the word out. Start networking, and come prepared. Hand out business cards, as well as buyer, seller, and lender credibility packets as needed.
Remember that you want to create a professional impression while building trust and credibility. Your market presence will bring you increased wholesaling leads. By establishing trust and credibility, you open new doors for wholesaling and building your real estate investment business.