Want to make yourself a household name in real estate? Every now and then we get an idea that really demonstrates marketing leverage. I’ve seen this done before (and perhaps you have too), but in this case, agent Brent Palmer not only gets exposure for his business, but provides a helpful community service in the process – it’s a win-win positioning.

If you’re willing to spend a little money up front, using a system like this could really boost your business (as a quick suggestion, I’d add an offer/call to action on the trailer, such as “Find Your Perfect Home on the Internet at: www.BrentPalmer.com”, and on the other side I’d put something like, “Learn How to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar at: www.BrentPalmer.com”). Here’s how Brent describes his great marketing system…

“I purchased a covered trailer and had a sign written on it to stand out. Then I have mailed all non-profit organizations and schools in the area and offered it for free use.

I have had an instant take up on the offer and is now booked out up to 2 months ahead of time. Of course I do let clients use it for moving as well!

The trailer is light, easy to use and clients love it. When not in use I leave it strategically parked so it can be seen. Wheels locked of course. It has pulled in business and has been excellent profile for me.”

I use a simple marketing tool that has not only resulted in sales but in new listings as well.

When I take a listing, I do what all agents do and that is take tons of photos of the property & home. I don’t stop there however, I then make professional looking CD’s complete with Music, descriptions, and a photo slideshow with movement and unusual transitions from one slide to the next.

A program called Pro-Show Gold is used to create them. This program can be purchased on the internet for around $60.00. It is the best $60.00 I have ever spent. I then burn around 30 copies of the CD and put them in hard cover cases and place as many as I can get in large flyer boxes that I found at Office Depot ($14.95 each).

I place the boxes filled with CDs next to my Real Estate sign. I leave extras with my sellers so that the box never has to remain empty. My clients love it and prospective buyers do too. I have had many calls from people wanting me to list their homes just because they stopped to pick up a CD from one of my listings and loved what they saw.

I have made many sales that were a direct result of buyers picking up my CDs. They tell me that it is refreshing to be able to go home and pop the CD in the computer and view the entire property in the comfort of their own home. Clients have let me know that for those weekend trips riding around looking for property, this was a pretty special find.

What makes this even more unusual is that I live and work in a very rural area in a very small town. I have been in business for two and a half years and I have been a multi million dollar producer since year one. I began using this marketing tool 3 months after I became a Realtor.

There are other reasons that I have been successful so far, however this is one of the things that I am doing, that no one else is. It has significantly set me apart from what other agents do. My listings are rural, spread out and time consuming to get to. I can show my properties without having to be there! (Cuts down on gas consumption too!)

“When we bought new office space downtown we wanted to install the best company sign that our community had ever seen. Unfortunately, my home town does not allow the type of sign I had in mind… a large screen display that rotated through our listings, enticing both buyers and sellers to use our services.

So instead, in our main street office window, we installed a 56 inch HDTV that will have the same desired effect. We run it with a simple photo program from an older computer that we were not even using before.

Each of our best listing photos will appear onscreen with captions that could be addresses, prices, or “BUY ME”. Between photo displays, we can also intersperse messages such as “Needed: bi-lingual agents” or “We need houses to sell” or “Needed: irrigated farm ground to sell.”

We can also feature new agents, top agents, or agents of the month throughout the rotation of photos and messages. We expect our move to a better location to double our volume of both business and agents. We expect the main street HDTV marketing to help!”