Why Marketing Fails
You spend hours prepping. You get your list ready. Your cold callers or texters lined up. Your mail ready to drop. Your expectations match your volume and budget.
But still.
Sometimes nothing happens.
Crickets. Or angry replies.
Why?
I want to show you 3 reasons why marketing can fail, and how to correct them.
- Blending in with everything else
- Bad timing
- Technical failure
1. It blends in with everyone else
This one has the biggest impact. If your market is flooded with yellow letters, then sending another yellow letter will get less response. If you are cold calling in a market saturated with AI dialers and new investors, response drops compared to five years ago.
That is just the nature of marketing. When something is widely used, effectiveness goes down.
Sometimes you accept it. In cold calling, there is only so much creativity you can add. You can try new phone numbers, scripts, tactics, and hope the list still converts.
Or you can try something different.
A new look. A new angle. Something that interrupts the pattern. Consumers get numb to the same old thing.
How to add newness in marketing
Mail is one of the easiest ways to add newness. A new design, a new envelope tactic, new copy, or a creative twist can make a real impact.
Here at Ballpoint Marketing, we are always testing new ideas in our Laboratory.
And the newest angle we just released is the Fighter Jet Postcard.
Why is this new? Why does it stand out?
Other than the flashiness of the design that is impossible to ignore, it includes a message that is completely fresh in the real estate investing space.
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Right on the card it says:
"A donation has been made in your behalf to a veterans non profit."
We have never seen any other mail piece in this niche do that. It fits perfectly with the theme. It grabs attention. It is hard to ignore.
This Fighter Jet Postcard is on sale for Black Friday for 11.11% off. You can check it out here:
Get 11.11% off the NEW Fighter Jet Postcard, this week
2. Bad Timing
The next common reason for failure is timing. Or just plain bad luck.
This shows up a lot with one-off campaigns. You might have a solid list, working numbers, fast follow-up, and a strong mail piece. You still might get a dud.
Smaller campaigns see this more often. Bigger campaigns (5,000 or more) wash out the timing issue. When a large campaign fails, it is usually a creative problem or a technical problem.
If you are mailing a small list of 2,500 owner occupants, but there are 20,000 in that area total, you are betting that your small slice contains:
- A seller
- A seller who needs to sell soon
Timing matters. Their life circumstance needs to match the day the mail hits.
What can you do
1. Qualify more. If your list is small, add qualifiers like probate, inherited, expired listings, or foreclosure.
2. Mail more often. If there is a seller on your list and they have not responded yet, and your piece is good, it might be timing. Hit the same list monthly.
3. Expand your list if possible. If a target area has 6,000 owners, it is best to hit all 6,000. You do not know where the sellers are hiding. This week our newest postcards are only 49 cents each, which means you can hit that list for about $2,940.
3. Technical Failure
There are also simple technical problems that break campaigns:
- Wrong phone number. Triple-check it. Call it yourself before you approve a print run.
- Bad data sorting. This happens more than you think. Names and streets get mixed up when lists are merged.
- Print shop or USPS smearing contact info. Always get a digital proof. We offer samples and digital proofs with orders.
- No speed to lead. If you are not picking up the phone, your deal flow is dead. Check out Call Porter for live answering 24/7 and weekends.
- Bad web presence. Many sellers Google you before calling. If your online presence looks scammy or empty, response drops.
There is no magic button in marketing. But there are unfair advantages. When everyone zigged with the same tired mail, we dropped something loud, sharp, and patriotic. The Fighter Jet postcard is built to interrupt patterns, raise response rates, and make your mail unforgettable.
So if you want to swing harder this quarter, test something fresh. Try the Fighter Jet card and see how people react when your mail is impossible to ignore.