Revealed: top canvassing tips for estate agents

With property incentives such as the stamp duty holiday in full swing, house prices and sales are currently skyrocketing across the UK.

Many buyers are purchasing houses in an attempt to try and beat the stamp duty deadline. But when the stamp duty holiday ends in its current format on June 30 2021, before applying to homes worth up to £250,000 until the end of September, it is presumed the housing market will drastically slow down.

We cannot control the upcoming changes to the housing market, but we can show you how to successfully canvas to keep the sales rolling in and improve brand awareness.

Canvassing involves delivering printed leaflets, letters, or brochures door-to-door. This traditional marketing method has been around for decades because it is proven to generate business leads.

According to the Data & Marketing Association (DMA), “89% of consumers remember receiving a door drop mailing- more than any other marketing channel. And it has a powerful place in people’s lives, with 45% keeping leaflets on a pinboard or in the kitchen drawer.”

A great way to attract landlords, buyers, and sellers is to combine canvassing using print marketing with digital marketing. Social media, website links, and canvassing can be used together in ways that your agency and the client will benefit from.

Here, we take a look at exactly how estate agents can successfully canvas in the modern age.

Make social media a part of your canvassing campaign

Canvassing and social media both rely on two-way communication. When canvassing, you typically ask for someone’s opinion in hope of getting a response back, while a big reason for the popularity of social media is consumer interaction.

By including links to your agency’s Twitter account or Instagram handle, you are inviting your potential client to engage with your brand through popular online platforms.

According to DataReportal, “the number of social media users in the UK alone was equivalent to 77.9% of the total population in January 2021.”

Social media is an essential part of the canvassing experience because it will allow your clients to be more responsive. Including your social media on your print marketing encourages the potential client to engage with your online platforms.

Include QR Codes in your print marketing

We recommend including a quick response code, more commonly referred to as a QR code, in your leaflet, letter or flyer. These nifty codes take up very little space and direct your potential client to your agency’s website and/or social media channels. By simply scanning a phone or tablet over the unique code, your potential client will be transferred to your online platform in seconds.

This innovative feature will not only increase traffic to your agency’s website but is an efficient way to share information about your agency.

Make your canvassing campaign interactive

So, your client has looked at your leaflet, they’ve scanned the QR code and now they are on your website, but what’s next? We believe every interaction with prospects and clients should be optimised. One way of doing this is by integrating the ValPal tool into your website.

The ValPal tool transforms motionless web pages into something a lot more interactive and functional so that the potential client is engaged.

Directing landlords and vendors to your website, which has the ValPal property valuation tool, will offer vendors estimated house price information in return for their contact details. Click here to give the tool a go.

Target the right people

Print marketing is successful because it targets a specific demographic. You are able to distribute in areas that have a high percentage of people from the target market you are focussing on.

If you distribute to the right demographic your campaign will be successful. The target buyer, seller or landlord could be from a specific neighbourhood, or they could own a certain type of property. You get to decide.

Overall, ensuring that you have researched your potential client and that the designated area is significant is vital to the success of your canvassing campaign.

Keep the cost low

Setting up a social media account is free, whereas printing leaflets, hiring a designer to create the leaflet and someone to dispatch them to on your behalf costs money.

Canvassing using letters and leaflets is cost-effective to make, print and distribute. Bulk printing can help you obtain cheaper prices that are in line with your budget.

This is money well spent as you can get a great return on investment through the leads your canvassing efforts generate.

Person-to-person contact is required when it comes to canvassing, so we recommend this is done in a Covid-safe way. This means wearing masks and being physically distant from those within the household.

Technology works well alongside traditional methods of marketing. Traditional print marketing and digital methods are both effective in the property industry. By combining the two you are guaranteed to improve brand awareness.