Who is your Target Market?

Copyright (c) 2007 Jacques Coquerel

Many investors send direct mail without Clear Idea of their prospect The following are the kinds of questions you need to think about to define your target markets: What is the target market? Can you draw a picture of your target prospect? Can you define their emotion(s) at the time they receive your mail? How do you picture this person?

- Young or old?
- Emotionally attached to the house or completely detached?
- Are they living in a nice and cozy house or in a mobile home on the other site of the track?
- What are they doing when they receive your mail?
- Are they happy? Annoyed? Don't care?

Picture someone living in a mobile home in a rural area, not happy to receive your letter because of a property they lost a year ago. Now let's picture someone else who is in the mood of receiving your letter or your postcard. A homeowner who is pleased that finally someone is interested to solve their challenges. A motivated seller who receives your letter at just the right time. You see you are there for a purpose. To reach out and help the prospects. They NEED your help and you can find them through Direct Marketing. Well, I'd like you to carry the second image with you because you don't want to deal with the first one, the unmotivated suspect. The second recipient may turn out to be a motivated seller and make you money. The first will suck life out of you. I'd like you to understand that you cannot work with everybody. Let's all agree right now that if you receive a 1% response of your mailing you should be happy. If someone tells you that you'll be receiving 10% response may I suggest that he is not doing direct marketing? Don't even listen to him. Let's use absentee owners as an example of a direct mailing campaign system. I like to picture this absentee owner as an executive who has been transferred against his desire and put his property up for sale and it has been on the market for 6 months. But because of bad marketing on behalf of the real estate agent, the property is vacant and is not selling.

Your best target should be happy receiving your mail Do not deal with unmotivated sellers Find the motivated sellers and work with them. This absentee owner can be someone who inherited a property he has never seen in his life. Because he has a good tenant he never thought of selling the property. Now the tenants have moved out and left a mess behind. He needs someone to help


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Jacques Coquerel is a real estate investor based in Atlanta, Georgia. He has made more than 750 transactions since 1996. You may visit one of his sites http://www.reonline101.com and receive a 13-part FREE ecourse on real estate investing.