If you’ve read my blog post ”4 Critical Reasons To Use Direct Mail”, you may be wondering how to start using direct mail to find your below-market real estate investment opportunities, as well as how to manage your mailing lists.

First, identify the target area you want to receive your direct mail. Second, create your flyer, deciding on the format, material, the color of the paper and the layout and fonts. And, of course, design the content. Your audience isn’t likely to be sophisticated about real estate or finance, so keep it very basic and to the point!

There are several direct mail services that are relatively easy to use, in some cases entirely online.

• The USPS Every Door Direct Mail (United States Postal Service )is one of the easiest to use. You can set up the content and order the mailings online.

• FedEx has a direct mail service, and lists volume prices as low as $0.157/piece.

• UPS Small Business Solutions highlights their color printing, along with the mailing itself.

• Many other providers are available – perhaps some local to you – with an internet search of “direct mailing services”.

Depending on what you decide to send, cost normally ranges from about $0.40 to $0.60 per address for a postcard mailing, and this includes the postcard and the stamp. I suggest sending to an area of about 1,200 to 1,500 addresses minimum. With a response rate of 2% to 3%, more or less, that’s between 24 and 50 responses. If only 2 or 3 of those results in abelow-market deal earning minimum profits $5,000 and up (well up), I’ve made from $10,000 to $15,000 after expenses … or much more!

To refine your cost effectiveness you should track the responses to your mailings. You might want to do your first mailings in a basic worksheet such as Microsoft Excel, but in time you’ll need a more sophisticated program that will be less cumbersome and time-consuming.

To be truly effective with direct mail you’ll eventually need automated data management of your mailing list. Some companies,such as Mediascope,offer comprehensive direct mail mailing list management and mailings. You may eventually step up to a full customer relationship management system such as Infusionsoft.com. If you are reaching out to a large geographic area – and as your mailing list builds over time – these automated systems will be well worth your time.

Free yourself to do what a direct mail manager can’t do – that is, fix & flip, wholesale and manage rental investment properties! Delegate the tedium of outreach management to the system providers and get to work on your next real estate investment project!

Are you using direct mail? What tools are you using to create mailings and manage your mailing lists?

Want to earn money with little or no investment of your own? Keep an eye  for my new upcoming ebook “STREETWISE PROPERTY INVESTING WHOLESALE BLUEPRINT” explaining wholesaling and how to make it work for you!