Successful Bandit Sign Marketing

How can real estate investors unleash bandit sign marketing campaigns that really work?

Bandit sign marketing is one of the oldest, and most popular tactics in the real estate investor tool chest.

Do they still work?

What best practices can be employed to get the most out of this real estate marketing strategy?

What are some of the alternatives?

Bandit signs are those little signs you see stuck in the ground on street corners, medium strips, stop signs, trees and tied to telephone and light poles. They typically aren’t pretty. They shout “We buy houses, Cash for Houses, Sell Your House Fast, I buy houses” or sometimes advertise herbal supplements, dream jobs, mattress for sale or homes for rent. Realtors, real estate agents put out similar signs for open houses, or For Sale By Owners (FSBOs) using to promote their homes and open houses.

So can bandit signs work?

How do you make them work for you as a real estate wholesaler, rehab or buy & hold real estate investor?

What if they don’t work for you?

Obviously one of the biggest challenges with bandit signs might appear to be aesthetics. Of course before judging its worth looking at the data and even testing it. If you are worried about putting up ugly bandit signs then make them better looking. Depending on whether you are selling houses, renting them, buying them, or trying to attract cash buyers there are a few options. You may also need to adapt your bandit sign designs based on where you are putting them, and the amount of competition out there.

Should you use different colors and bold font?

Are they going to be constantly torn down, or will they last months or years?

Knowing this; is it worth investing in branded, professionally printed signs versus hand written ones?

Are you including your business name, logo, toll free number, local phone number, website, and enough details?

Are your signs interactive?

Whatever level you design your signs most likely they will range in price. Just remember that traffic will generally only have a couple seconds to notice and take down the information on your bandit sign. Placement of bandit signs can be challenging. They may be illegal in some cities and counties so do your research and learn your city or county ordinances pertaining to road signs/bandit signs. While you can play cat and mouse with local authorities and may be able to afford to replace your signs and absorb the cost of fines it maybe worth considering. Investors also need to resist the temptation to mess with other people’s signs. Realtors and even politicians have been found messing with each other’s signs. They’ve stolen them, run them down, re-purposed them for their own uses and more.

What’s really most important for successful bandit sign marketing for real estate investors is lead management. If you don’t handle incoming leads well it’s all a waste. Automation may help to ensure no leads are lost, and to make sure all prospects are entered into a database for higher R.O.I. for ongoing marketing efforts and future campaigns. But above all the key to success is still going to be catching those hot leads live, and converting them without any downtime. If bandit signs just aren’t right for your area perhaps you will consider yard signs, bench ads, billboards, bus and subway ads, and vehicle decals.

I”ll See you at the closing table,

Marcel Umphery the “R.E.I. Successmaker”