Happy Halloween!!

Bookmark this blog so it will be handy next year when its time to start your Halloween marketing again! And remember to check out our regular Best Agent Business blog for information on streamlining your Real Estate business. Happy Halloween!!

Want to Live on Ghoul Street?

Create a GHOUL Street in the neighborhood you are marketing to by inviting several neighbors to do theme decorations. Each house should have a different theme. This would work out even better if you have several listings in the same neighborhood. Then advertise the “Ghoul Street” to the general public. Be sure to have a prominent real estate sign because you might generate some extra traffic to your houses. Make sure they are nicely decorated with pumpkins, mums, etc., but not an overdone Halloween theme which tends to detract from the property.

A Spook House!

Sponsor a Halloween haunted house, probably one tailored more to families than teenagers. While it is not wise to do this in one of your real estate properties, you could go in with some other businesses and rent a place. The publicity will be great. Be sure to pass out treat bags with your business card in it at the exit of the house!

How Scary Can They Be?

Host a Halloween pumpkin carving contest. Advertise for people, both real estate clients and the general public, to send you pictures of their best pumpkin carving. Invite people to visit your website where you can post some great pumpkin patterns and links to more. Have everyone in your office vote on their favorite and send a small gift certificate or other small gift to the winner. Be sure to have people enter their contact information so you can update or ad them to your database. This would be a great accompaniment to your pumpkin giveaway!

Have You Ghosted Your Clients Yet?

Maybe you started “ghosting” your neighbors already. Maybe you have even started “ghosting” your fellow real estate agents, office staff, and business associates. But have you considered starting this fun Halloween tradition in your listing neighborhoods?
If your sellers are still in the listed home you should start with them and one other house. If not, then pick any of the neighboring homes. What a wonderful way to increase the friendliness of a neighborhood and thus the sell-ability of it!

A Basket Full of Fright!

Everyone loves a gift basket! You could thank your recent buyers with a nice sized basket filled with Halloween goodies. You could incorporate some of the ideas on this site, such as the soaps, mini gourds and pumpkins, spring bulbs, and potpourri bags. Some other ideas include candy corn, pumpkin seeds, Halloween decorations, t-shirts, scary movies or books, etc.

BOO!!!

Best Agent Business is involved in a wonderful effort to increase neighborly love—with a frightful twist! We have started what is called “Ghosting It Forward.” This is a combination of the movie “Pay It Forward” and the fun Halloween tradition of “Ghosting” or “Boo-ing,” as some neighborhoods call it. Basically the idea is that you gift some neighbors with a bag of candy, a nice card, a small decoration or any other small gift that you feel is appropriate. The fun part is that you do this in secret!
Do not let your neighbor’s know that you were the one who ghosted them! Include, with your gift, the directions which instruct them to do the same to 2 other neighbors. After a while this idea will spread around your neighborhood, your town, and we might even see it happen all around the country. It has already begun. Have you been ghosted yet?

Tips for a Successful Post Card Campaign

Real estate agents love sending out postcards and Halloween themed postcards are no exception. But do you know the way to grab your client’s attention when they see your postcard in their mailbox? Here are some suggestions:
* Eerie headline
* Creepy Design
* Use your postcards as tickets to a big Halloween event
* Focus the message on a single theme
* Proofread, proofread, and then have someone else proofread!

For more details on these items, visit this link.

A Spooky Candy Box

Have some Halloween themed candy boxes specially made with your real estate office information and distribute this to clients, set out a box or two at open houses, deliver to area businesses such as banks, the chamber of commerce, hotels and anywhere else a number of potential clients might be.

Halloween MUMmies!

Gift your current sellers with pumpkins and mums! Not only will they appreciate the thought, but this will add to the curb-appeal of their homes while staying away from some of the less appealing Halloween decorations. Check out how this real estate agent did it!

Help Find The Cure

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. While most people are focused on Halloween, the election and the economy this year, many are also working tirelessly to raise awareness and money for continuing research towards finding a cure for breast and other types of cancer.

You can have some fun and support the search for a cure as well. Some of the things your real estate office can do include sponsoring a fund raising event or participant, include a message about breast cancer awareness instead of your “hold music”, or send a flyer along with your monthly newsletter. One way to make a good financial impact while also marketing your business would be to publicize an offer to contribute a portion of your October commissions towards breast cancer research.

Best Agent Business recently contributed $1000 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. What will you do?

See the following links to donate, to obtain literature and to find additional ideas and information.
Susan G. Komen for the Cure
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
National Breast Cancer Foundation

A Soapy Halloween Gift

A gift of decorative soap is always a nice way to thank your recent buyers. Here are a few that have the Halloween season all “washed-up”: Pumpkin Spice Soap and Candy Corn Soap. You can probably find more decorative soaps at your local bath store. These could be combined with a washcloth and set in a small basket, or tied up in a mesh bag with a pretty ribbon. Any way you give them, your real estate clients are sure to be pleased.

Halloween Costume Contest and Lunch

Bliss Sawyer has some great Halloween ideas on her marketing blog. One of her ideas is to host a costume-lunch on Halloween! You could invite your clients and farm and give out a prize for the best costume. Make sure you have impartial judges, of course. You could increase the prize and the advertising by partnering with a mortgage company! What a spook-tacular way of increasing your real estate business this Halloween!

Gourds and Pumpkins for Your Recent Buyers and Sellers

A great autumn gift for your recent buyers and current sellers is an assortment of tiny gourds and mini pumpkins. Include a personalized, hand-written note and your business card.

A Fall Gift of Spring Flowers!

October and November is the time of year that homeowners need to think about spring flowers. This is a great opportunity to thank your recent buyers by gifting them with a bag of spring bulbs. Combine this with October gardening tips and a Halloween or fall-themed thank you card. You could also send the gardening tips to all your real estate contacts via an email or print newsletter.

Protect Your Clients from Scary Home Problems

Create a paper or virtual flyer with a haunted house motif and the things that home sellers should beware of (and fix or remove) when listing their house, include things like mold, clutter, leaking roof, pet smells, etc. Also create one for buyers with things they should look out for when purchasing a home. Send this in the mail or via email to your current clients and put a stack of them in your real estate office for walk-ins. Your assistant at Best Agent Business can develop this for you!

A Spooky Virtual Greeting

Send virtual cards to your contacts. Use an option provided by your real estate database provider or visit an online card site. Create a cute virtual card thanking your clients for “scaring up some business” or other fun Halloween sentiment and send it to all your email contacts. This has minimal cost and can be handled completely by your Best Agent Business assistant!

Leaf Print Cards

Send your clients a creative fall reminder using real leaves! There are a variety of ways to make homemade leaf cards. The most popular, although the most difficult, would be to paint some well shaped leaves and press them onto the front of a card, lift it off and you will have a nice leaf print. You could also gather a selection of beautiful fall leaves and scan them or take pictures of local fall scenes. Print these on postcards or folding cards along with a Happy Halloween or Happy Fall message and send them to your real estate contacts. Be creative and have fun!

Scare Up Your Real Estate Office

Get the children of your clients involved in decorating your office! Provide coloring sheets or a link to an online coloring page. Post every entry in your office and a few days before Halloween draw the name of an entrant to win a prize such as a bag of candy or a cute fall decoration. You might even come up with a catchy real estate phrase to use with coloring pages of haunted houses, such as “A haunted house is great for spooky fun, but have you seen our non-haunted listings?”

The Great Pumpkin Giveaway!

Host a giant pumpkin giveaway! First you will have to locate one and purchase it. The bigger the better! Once you have secured one, send out emails or postcards to your contacts and let them know how to enter to win it! This would be a great way to get your contacts to update their information by filling out a specific form. You can mail them one to return, direct them to stop by the office to fill one out, or set it up online. Include a request for information like a phone number and an email address (which may need updated). Be sure to have the drawing at least a week before Halloween so the winner has plenty of time to pick it up and carve it! If you need help with your postcards or processing the results, be sure and ask Best Agent Business how we can help!

Wall Street, Halloween, and a Presidential Election

What do these have in common? Your fall marketing campaign! This October, these are the things on people’s minds as well. Coordinate an email campaign, a postcard mailing campaign, and related blog entries. Some effective marketing themes are:

· Don’t be tricked by a bad economy, many treats await in our local housing market

· Not a ghost of chance you can own a home? – call us today for some surprising options

· Homes a plenty await in a buyer’s market! (create a Cornucopia image, with homes coming out)

Playing on the contrast of Wall St. vs. Main St. in the recent economic tumult and on the election, email campaigns might be developed with messages such as:

· Get your new Main Street address

· Welcome to Main St, USA – your new home awaits!

· Let the $7500 tax credit assure your new Main St. address

· Don’t let John or Barack be the only Americans with a new address this January

· Cast your vote for a strong economy – buy a home!

· The votes are in! 2008 is a great time to buy a home!

Do all these ideas seem overwhelming? Contact Best Agent Business today and see how easy it is to have us get you started!

October Poetry

Send a copy of an October-themed poem written in calligraphy or a nice hand writing.

Here are a few especially nice ones:

"The sweet calm sunshine of October, now

Warms the low spot; upon its grassy mold

The purple oak-leaf falls; the birchen bough

drops its bright spoil like arrow-heads of gold."

- William Cullen Bryant

"The scarlet of maples can shake me like a cry

Of bugles going by.

And my lonely spirit thrills

to see the frosty asters like smoke

upon the hills."

- William Bliss Carman

"The leaves fall patiently

Nothing remembers or grieves

The river takes to the sea

The yellow drift of leaves."

- Sara Teasdale

"October's poplars are flaming torches

lighting the way to winter."

- Nova Bair

"October's the month

When the smallest breeze

Gives us a shower

Of autumn leaves.

Bonfires and pumpkins,

Leaves sailing down -

October is red

And golden and brown."

- Can Teach Songs

Trick or Treat!

When its time to get the candy ready to pass out to trick-or-treaters, whether at the office or at home, take some extra time and expense with this neat idea. Fill small Ziplock baggies with candy and your business card. A great treat bag would include some mini-candy bars, suckers, bubble gum, etc. Be sure to get the stuff that everyone really likes! Then toss your business card into the bag and zip it closed. Most parents look through their children’s candy before allowing them to have any, and your treat bag will be sure to stand out! Hopefully they will hang onto your business card or pass it along to a friend! You could use magnetic business cards so its easier to keep it "sticking" around. Even if just one listing or sale were generated from this, it would be well worth it!

Free Pumpkins for your SOI!

Your contacts will take notice when you give them a free pumpkin this year! You will first need to contact a local pumpkin patch and arrange to use your pumpkin tickets. You will pay them for any tickets redeemed. Then download this Word file, add the name and address of the pumpkin patch along with your name and information. Be sure to stamp the back to designate it as "official." Then mail these out to your choice of contacts!
Free Pumpkin Coupon Word

The Smell of Success!

Well, the smell of autumn, anyway! Want a nice way to have your current clients thinking of you throughout the week? Scoop some potpourri into individual decorative mesh, fabric or cellophane bags to give to each of your clients. Tie it with a pretty ribbon and a mini pumpkin or apple. Some great fall scents are pumpkin, apple, and spice.