By now your 2013 Calendar Magnets have found their way onto refrigerators throughout your community. That means impressions are building by the minute! You’re already building towards success in 2013.

So what can you do to maximize your return on investment? Here are three ideas:

1. Follow up with your most important prospects in person or by phone. Hopefully your magnet sparked thoughts and conversations about buying or selling, and your one-to-one introduction could begin a valuable relationship for both of you.
2. Deliver content through any of the channels that you listed on your Calendar Magnet. You are likely to see in boost in attention from those channels as your calendar is received, so their first impression of the content will be important.  Your challenge continues as you need to deliver content on a regular basis that keeps your prospects engaged with you.
3. Watch for the reaction and respond accordingly. Do you see increases in web traffic, Facebook friends, Twitter followers or phone calls compared to this time last year? Even incremental increases can mean great opportunities. Focus on improving the channels that show promise, and be sure to feature them again on your 2014 Calendar Magnet.

Prospects notice and appreciate your attention. Even small impressions like seeing your face on the refrigerator become powerful and effective when repeated day-after-day. And by implementing these three ideas, you can get the highest possible return on your investment.

To help you prepare for the new leads that come your way in 2013, we’re offering a 15% discount on the essential items you will need to nurture those relationships. Enter code RBE15 to save on Business Cards, Thank You Cards and Notecards. Offer ends 1/18/13.

It’s never been easier for businesses to follow up with leads that come their way. And all of us in sales and marketing are taking full advantage of that. According to Fast Company, the average consumer sees or hears nearly 3,000 marketing messages per day. As I’m sure you’re already thinking, the key is to make sure your message is relevant enough to be one of the few that is actually noticed and responded to. For those of you that do direct selling, there’s a proven tool to stand out from the noise, and it’s been used for centuries.

A Handwritten Thank You Note is a simple and fast way to show your prospects and leads that you are on their side and that you can help. It’s a chance to make a personal connection in a sales environment full of noise (including messages from your competition).

While it may sound like a big time commitment to write a personalized note, it really isn’t as tough as it may sound. The key is to plan ahead. Have a stack of Thank You Notes readily available in your office. We can provide you with cards that will carry your logo, colors, messaging, and overall brand with great care. Take a look at the Thank You Card design options available to you and order enough for you to start sending handwritten notes after every new client meeting.

Modern Home Classic Thank You Card | HC-10355

Once you have a supply of Thank You Notes on hand, all you have to do is write a brief note after each meeting and mail it. Here’s a simple 4-step guide to writing an effective thank you note:

1. Thank them for meeting with you
2. Prove that you were listening by repeating what they said and what they need
3. Tell them how you will solve that need (be specific about what you will do)
4. Sign your name

It’s that easy to gain the undivided attention of your new lead. And moments like that are priceless for your business.

Get started today by choosing the perfect Thank You Card to represent your business.

Magnetic Calendars continue to be a proven tool for building impressions, specifically for real estate agents. And just like all forms of marketing, it can be easy to forget what the end goal is. By taking a little bit of time to plan, you can keep the ultimate goal in mind every step of the way.

Here are 4 tips to maximize the return on investment from your Calendar Magnets:

1. Segment your leads

Who do you want as your clients in 2013? The process of answering that question will likely bring to mind a few different types of people. Families with small children. Condo dwellers. Returning clients. Whatever the answers, each of these groups has unique needs and unique values. As you are planning your calendar magnet campaign, consider ordering multiple versions. Some of our customers order their calendar in multiple languages, while others simply change the tagline to uniquely show value to each segment.

2. Personalize with a response in mind

This is your chance to make your Magnetic Calendar exactly how you want it to be. You can either do this yourself on our website by using our design tool, called Design Studio, or have one of our designers do the work for you. Either way, there is no setup fee unless you want to make complicated changes to the template (which we’re still happy to do for a small charge).

Start by deciding how you want your segments to respond. Are you hoping for a phone call to set up a meeting? A visit to your website? Connecting through Facebook? Set up your contact information and imprints to emphasize that action.

For real estate agents, there are usually many different things that could be included. Take a moment to consider what each element is accomplishing. For example, do your designations and titles add credibility or create confusion? Does it move your recipient closer to the action you want them to take? Sometimes less is more. On the other hand, are you actively using social media? Maybe you should feature your account(s) on your calendar.

3. Consider the right delivery method

The most common way for our customers to distribute their Magnetic Calendars is to mail them.  That does continue to be successful, but occasionally it’s worth it to take a more personal approach. Would it be worth your time to deliver them face-to-face? Many people still go door-to-door, which gives you the chance to make a personal connection with the neighborhood you are targeting. Other options could be to sponsor a sporting event or throw a neighborhood party. Ultimately it comes down to choosing your priority. If you are most interested in building up awareness of your business in a large area, mailing is still the way to go.

If you want to include a note with your Magnetic Calendar mailing, consider our new Magnet Carrier Cards. These linen cards include slits that wrap around our Mini Calendar Magnets. Each card has space on the back to print a greeting or holiday message to your leads. They can also be personalized to any color that you wish. Many of our Mini Calendar Magnets even have coordinating Carrier Cards that feature similar design elements.

For those of you concerned about mailing weight, the magnet and card total about .7 ounces. These cards can be ordered while you are selecting your Mini Calendar Magnet under “Select Coordinating Items”.

4. Plan to Follow Up

Are there specific times of the year that you are going to follow up with these prospects? Consider including that on your magnet. Some examples are inviting people to a First Time Home Buyer class, attending high school sporting events, or visiting your target neighborhoods on National Night Out.

By following each of these four tips while ordering your Calendar Magnet, you can feel confident that your investment now will lead to a growing source of leads in 2013.

Pinterest is the hot, new social network on the scene. Pinterest has experienced record growth [PDF download] in 2012- increasing its user base faster than any other network to date. Pinterest users reportedly spend 89 minutes on the site on average- second only to Facebook. The site is heavily dominated by women, so much so that one in five American women are on Pinterest, according to a recent Pew Research report.

Pinterest is a “virtual pin board” where users can “pin” images they find across the internet to categorized interest “boards” where they can find and remember them with ease. Much like other social networks, Pinterest allows users to follow other users or specific boards of other users, and presents them in a feed. Users can like, comment and re-pin images that others have posted-whether or not they are following that user. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest is a public network, meaning all content users post is public and available for anyone to view.

Due to its rapid rise in popularity, Pinterest is a great place to connect with your clients and potential clients in your community. Here are some tips to get you started:

• Create unique boards for your listings- Creating an entire board for your listing gives you the opportunity to show off the home’s unique features. Use the home’s address as the board title. Create pins for each image of the listing, using specific descriptions with relevant search keywords when possible. For example: Use an image of the home from the outside as the board cover then include pinned images of the Master Suite, Kitchen, Living Room, Dining Room, Backyard etc…

• Create a board introducing yourself or your team- Pinterest is a great way to visually relay information about yourself and your specialties- automatically reinforcing your reputation. Pin your headshot and images that speak to your specialties. Make sure to include specific descriptions and your business contact information!

• Pin from the page you want to lead customers to- Pinterest is great because it will always provide a direct link back to the page you’ve pinned an image from. Pinning images directly from listings on your website will increase traffic and lead potential buyers where you want them to go. If you choose to upload a Pin, be sure to write in a link to lead them to your website.

• Create a board for your Home DIY Ideas- Pinners love simple do-it-yourself ideas for home decoration. Pin advice, tips and tutorials for home staging, decorating your home to sell, or for the season! You want to demonstrate your expertise, and position yourself as a trusted source of reliable, helpful information in your local area.

• Create boards for local happenings and info in your specialty areas- Pin images that link to events, happenings and cool finds in the areas you specialize in. If you’re an expert at helping first-time buyers downtown- pin images of the hot downtown restaurants, the best downtown grocery stores, the area block party, the best downtown brunch spots, etc – you want to demonstrate that you’re an expert in the area, and that buyers can trust you as a reliable source of knowledge.

• Cross-promote your pins on your social networks- You already have established contacts on social networks, so why not share your brand-new Pinterest account with them? When you pin a new image, you have the option of sharing it to Twitter and Facebook automatically. Just remember not to over-share.

With a few easy steps, your Pinterest account will be ready to go. Happy pinning!

Delivering a consistent brand in person, in print, in digital media and on your website can be difficult. It takes hard work and sometimes creative thinking. But the benefit of that consistency is awareness of your business in the community.

How MagnetStreet can help you achieve brand consistency in your promotional magnets

We believe that you should be able to achieve that level of brand consistency when you use promotional items as a part of your marketing plan. That’s why we work so hard to create design templates that can be completely adapted to show your brand rather than ours. We also provide one of the most flexible personalization tools in the industry, called Design Studio, so you can play around with templates and see proofs in real-time to make sure you are in complete control. And if you’d prefer to have one of our professional designers make those customizations for you, no problem. We won’t even charge you any fees to do so (within reason of course!).

We’re happy to announce that our new Magnetic Calendar designs are now available for you to browse, personalize and order. These designs are some of the most flexible we’ve ever had to give you as many options as possible as you showcase your brand.

Here are 4 of our favorites:

This design has an open text box in the bottom-left corner. Feature a favorite quote or your slogan.	This design has a list of important dates on the right that can be personalized for your community by providing changes to our designers. The two images in the lower left corner can be used to feature houses you've sold, examples of your photography, or anything that shows your expertise.
This design is simple, masculine and organic. It includes an open text box at the bottom that can feature a quote or slogan.	This design has a fresh and seasonal feel with four images on the bottom featuring each season. These images can be left as is or changed to feature anything that shows your expertise.

Find more designs like these by viewing all of our 2013 Magnetic Calendars

Take your time and find the design template that most resonates with your brand personality. Be sure to use the filters available on the left side of our gallery pages to narrow down your choices as you look. We would even recommend that you pick a few designs, add them to your cart, and make them your own in Design Studio. Then you’ll be able to compare the finished designs and pick the one that you like most (and best communicates your brand personality).

We look forward to seeing the creativity of our customers again this year!

People wait all year long just for the summer festival season to start. Many communities now schedule events that provide easy chances to interact with neighbors and experience community in ways that will remind you of The Wonder Years. From movies and concerts in the park, to carnivals, lollapaloozas and food fests everyone loves summer events! So, how can you capitalize on the festival season — to help you build awareness and grow your business?

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Give the people in your community a useful, attractive and handy event schedule — personalized by you!

1. Build Awareness: Shine new light on your business.
2. Build Relationships: Meet new people by handing them out in person.
3. Targeted Exposure: Yours is the most popular magnet on the fridge!
4. Community Engagement: You develop strong ties to your community.
5. Personalized message: You’re in control of colors, fonts, imprints, events, etc.
6. Everybody wants one: But who offers them — except for you!

Summer events can usually be found on your city’s website or by calling your city hall. Some other events that may not be sponsored by the city but could be included are sporting events, concerts, art shows, car shows, and county or state fairs. Ask your friends what they like to do in the summer to help spark your creativity.

If you want to go the extra mile, attend the events that you list by yourself or with your family. When people see that you are part of their community and relate to you, they’ll trust you more. It’s a great opportunity to make new connections with future customers.

To help you get started with your Event Schedules, we’re having a sale during the month of May. Save 15% on any of our business products! Use promo code RSF15 when you call or place your order online. The sale ends 5/31/12 and is not valid with any other offers.

Get ready to build your business by building awareness through Event Schedule Magnets. Be sure to share the great stories you have about attending community events in the comments below. We all love learning from each other’s experiences!

Earlier this spring we discussed how partnering with local schools can build recognition and respect within your community. The Sponsored School Magnets idea is one of our favorite suggestions for companies looking for a new way to build their business. Read this post to learn more about the idea. One of our customers has taken this idea to new levels that really impressed us, so we want to introduce you to him in order to inspire you to come up with your own unique concept.

Gary Shapiro has been a real estate agent in Scottsdale, Arizona for the past 40 years. He’s built his business on volunteering in the community, being active with the school district and the city, and through a leadership program that he founded.  One way he connects with schools is to sponsor a School Contact Magnet each year, and using a very innovative technique.

“I designed an art contest using the school’s mascot as the theme.” said Gary. “Every year the magnet is different and would showcase someone from the school. The winner has their design as the background.”

As an example, here’s the winner from Laguna Elementary School for next year’s magnet:

These magnets are given to the parents of each student in the school to use throughout the year as a reminder of their phone numbers, website, address and hours. From the school’s perspective, it’s a clever way to provide useful information in a way that celebrates the school and the students. From Gary’s perspective, it’s a great way to connect with the neighborhoods that he targets for his business which are those surrounding the schools.

“It’s primarily image-building,” Gary said when asked how these magnets impact his business. “When I meet with sellers in those neighborhoods, I give them a magnet because they may not have a student in that school, but it shows that I’m connected with the schools. I’ve also been able to set up appointments for new buyers in town to meet with principals because of my relationships with them.”

Gary first pitched this contest by scheduling appointments with the two principals that he already had built relationships with over the years. “My son went there and my friends kids are there. I wanted to be the source in my area for school and real estate information. I decided to approach the schools with my art contest idea,” said Gary.

The principals ended up loving the idea so much that they pitched it to the principal of the third school in Gary’s neighborhood. “Today, a third school is signing on. I’m now volunteering to do the magnets for Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale,” said Gary.

The sponsorship has gone so well that now each year, Laguna Elementary has an award ceremony for the winning student. When I spoke with Gary, he had just returned from  the presentation for the 2012-2013 winner. “The winning design is framed and put up in the school,” said Gary. “Laguna has seven plaques on the wall in the library showing their artwork along with the magnet. This morning we were on cable TV presenting the winner with a framed magnet as well as an ample supply of magnets for their grandparents and friends.”

“Someday the winners will be able to come back with their children and say ‘look what I did’”.

Gary also had two pieces of advice for other businesses considering sponsoring a school magnet:

1. “Be prepared to do it for the long haul. If you do it one time and expect to get rich, that’s not realistic. They’re looking for commitments, not flash-in-the-pan ideas. Be prepared to go the long haul.”
2. “The attribution that I get from this…my name is in mouse type. It’s really small. You can’t be an ego-maniac and make this work. You have to put the school and kids in the front of your more selfish interests.”

Take it from Gary, Sponsored School Magnets are a highly-effective way to build your image in the community. Parents love to see that you genuinely care about their children and the school they attend. It’s probably safe to assume that when one of the parents in Gary’s neighborhood is looking for someone they can trust to sell their home, the person that comes to mind is Gary.

What do you think about building your business with the School Sponsored Magnet idea?

What do families in your community think about your business? Do they know who you are? Why you matter to them?

Families with children are vital customers for most small businesses.  If you’ve been a reader of this blog for awhile, you’ve already been introduced to a secret weapon for reaching these families at a low cost and minimal effort: Sponsored School Calendar Magnets.  It’s worth reading again now that spring has sprung.

Now is the ideal time for you to approach schools with your idea to sponsor a School Magnet. Right now they’re working on finishing plans for next year before this one ends. It’s not a difficult sell: you’re giving them an idea that will save them money, headaches, and improve communication with the parents of their students by putting their calendar & contact information on a magnet rather than a sheet of paper that’s easily lost or damaged.

As you can see in the example above, the magnet makes it easy for parents & staff to see unique dates during the year like days off and parent-teacher conferences. We work with hundreds of schools each year that order these calendars, and the feedback is always overwhelmingly positive. It reduces calls to their office because parents are more informed, and it increases attendance at events included on the calendar.

The difficult part for many of these schools is that their budgets are getting tighter and tighter. Many schools are forced to skip this vital tool simply because they can’t afford it. Imagine how much they would appreciate a local business offering to cover the cost!

The benefit to you as a business can be seen in the bottom right corner: your important information is seen every time a parent checks the calendar. That leads to hundreds of impressions spread over the school year per household.  The impressions come with the significant additional benefit of showing these families that you care about their child’s school. The cost of the magnets (normally around $500 for the whole school) is easily returned as families take notice of your business and become clients.

Here’s how you can get prime advertising with School Magnets:

1. Request a sample and catalog of our Sponsored School Calendar Magnets
2. Contact the school (elementary schools are the most likely to say yes) and propose the idea to the principal
3. Set up an appointment with the school to choose what they want on the calendar (dates, phone numbers, etc.)
4. Place your order at Magnetstreet.com/Sponsored-Magnets or by calling 800.788.8633

As always, our Customer Care team is available to answer any questions about how to approach the school or the ordering process.

Taking this step today will lead to 9 months of valuable impressions next school year. And by associating yourself with a worthy cause, you build rapport with your community. Sounds like a win-win for the school and for you!

Let us know how it works for you! Tells us your story in the comments section below. We’d love to post some examples here on the blog.

Most successful small businesses have a certain niche that allows them to stand out from the crowd. The challenge for passionate and dedicated entrepreneurs is to build a reputation that is centered around your niche so that it’s the first thing that comes to mind when people think of your business. Only then, do passers-by stop to take a peek behind the curtain of your window or website. Only then, do first-time customers become passionate fans that tell all of their friends and colleagues about you. Only then, do you move from “I hope this will actually work” to “I hope I can handle this growth.”

Fortunately, the past 8 years have made the task of communicating your niche MUCH easier.  Why 8 years? That’s when Facebook first launched (yes, only 8 years ago). Along with Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and others, community-based sites have changed the world of small business marketing forever.  These sites give you a blank canvas to communicate your niche in whatever way is best for your audience.

Once you have begun to connect with your community using these tools, you’ll have a great library of content that proves your expertise in an interesting, fun, and personal way. Think of the possibilities: how-to videos, weekly video updates on the marketplace, blogs featuring your customers (like this one!), daily tweets with a special deal, daily Facebook posts with a picture of your “Chef’s Special”. The list goes on and on, and only you know what will interest your customers.

So how do you build fans, followers and subscribers in your community so that content is seen?

Promotional magnets are a great way to connect with your community again and again, and at a low cost per impression. Each of those impressions is also a chance to introduce people that you aren’t yet connected with to your social content.  Many of our customers have started to feature their Facebook accounts on their promotional magnets because it’s easy to do, and it’s smart marketing. We’ve now made it easy for you to do so as well.

Here’s how each of the most popular community-based sites allow you to promote your accounts:

Facebook allows you to use this “f” logo to reference your content inside of it. You can have one of our designers add this logo to your magnet order by asking for it in the yellow “Notes for Designer” box inside of Design Studio, our online personalization tool. As you see in the calendar image above, we also recommend referencing it as one of your imprints (Facebook: Amanda Renolds).

Twitter has a variety of logos that you can use to feature your logo, but this one will fit best across all designs. Our designers have all of the usable logos, so just request it along with your Twitter handle to be added to your magnet in the yellow “Notes for Designer” box inside of our Design Studio tool as you order. Twitter recommends using the phrase “Follow me on Twitter @username” next to the logo for easier searching.

LinkedIn allows this square icon to be used on our promotional magnets to reference your LinkedIn account. They recommend displaying the URL for your account next to it (www.linkedin.com/in/customname) to make it easier for people to find you. As with the Facebook and Twitter logos, you can have one of our designers add this logo to your magnet by asking for it in the yellow “Notes for Designer” box inside of our Design Studio tool as you order.

YouTube™ is quite a bit more stringent in the way they allow use of their name and logo. If you want to promote your YouTube™ videos on your promotional magnet, you can say “YouTube Video Community: MyName” or something similar, but are not allowed to use their logo. Since these restrictions are difficult to abide by, we would suggest referencing your website to see these videos and not mention that they are hosted on YouTube. For example, “Find videos on staging at website.com”.

Have you included your social media content on your promotional magnet? We’d love to see what you did and how it worked for you. Include a comment below or email me at greg@magnetstreet.com.

Building a consistent brand that also differentiates you can be difficult for a real estate agent. Many agents who are affiliated with a real estate company, like RE/MAX or Prudential, are provided graphics that can be used in advertising and promotions. Being connected with a powerful brand that has a lot of equity and trust built with consumers, can be beneficial. However, if you don’t build your own unique identity to go along with that corporate brand, your ads and promotions will simply blend into the clutter of all the other agents using those canned tools. I would bet that if you asked the marketing departments of those real estate companies, they would agree that their tools are a starting point and need to be used in conjunction with their agents’ unique take on it.

One of our customers, The Bahl Team, shows their efforts to develop a brand that both takes advantage of their powerful corporate brand (RE/MAX) while including unique and personalized elements to help consumers remember their specific team.

As you see in the image below, the magnet includes:

• A strong tagline at the top
• A memorable slogan that helps you remember the name of the team
• Consistency with colors and a pattern
• Prominent contact information
• Visually-appealing design

These same elements are present on their website, and I’m sure everywhere else they advertise around Toronto. Consistency like that have been proven to build brand awareness.

The hardest part of building a consistent brand is taking the first step, and then sticking to it. If you don’t have the skills to create the visual portions, consider hiring a professional freelance graphic designer to guide you through the process. The cost will be well worth it in the long run, and once it’s built, the visual elements are yours to use.

The taglines and slogans should ultimately be chosen by you, because you are the one that will have to support those promises in your daily interactions with clients and prospects. Once you’ve done that, you’ll have the tools you need to consistently present yourself and/or your team to the community.

If you have already built a brand like The Bahl Team, you can easily apply it to any of our magnets! There are two options for you to choose from:

1. If you have access to a graphic designer you can have them create the magnet artwork for you based on our graphic specs. The easiest way to send them that information is to go to our Custom Magnets page, choose your size/shape, and email them a link to that specific page. Once he/she has completed your artwork you can simply place an order on the web page you sent them or by calling us (800-788-8633).
2. If you don’t have access to a graphic designer but have the original artwork for your brand (logo, patterns , icons, etc.), one of our graphic designers can put it onto a magnet for you.  Call one of our Customer Care Reps to talk through the details. We’ll take the elements and design a magnet based on the examples of other work you provide. Depending on the amount of work that needs to be done, there is a minimal design fee.

Benefits of investing in your brand
Building a consistent brand takes some investment up front, but the benefit of sticking to it is tremendous. Awareness of your business in the community will grow exponentially as prospects begin to connect the dots between each of your marketing efforts.  They’ll see you as the agent they should call when they are ready for someone to market their home, because you’ve proven that you know how to market your business.

Have you built a brand that you’re proud of? Let us know! We’d love to see what you’ve done by telling us what you did in the comments below.