The right marketing is crucial for any realtor. If you want customers to find you, you’ve got to get the word out about your listings, showings, and ability to help buyers find the perfect new home. With a combination of digital and print marketing materials, new realtors can set themselves up in their market, and established reps can expand their businesses. When choosing printed products, booklets should be high on your list.
A Real Estate Booklet Is a Great Marketing Tool
Digital marketing may have come into its own—especially with the ability for buyers and sellers to see houses online—but most realtors still rely on printed materials. They rely on time-tested products that include:
- Signs
- Business cards
- Banners
- Brochures
- Flyers
- Door hangers
Types of Real Estate Booklets
When you consider creating a real estate booklet, there are several types you can use. Think about who you want to reach, and design your brochure for that audience. You may find you need various types to create a fully dimensional advertising plan.
Showcase Your Listed Homes
Use a real estate booklet to show off the homes you have under contract. A brochure, like a catalog, allows a potential buyer to look over your properties when they’re relaxed and ready. It’s a low-pressure way for them to compare homes, their prices, and their amenities.
Focus on Your Services
What makes you stand out from other realtors? Use a brochure to highlight the ways you will go beyond the ordinary for your customers. If you can, include reviews and references from past customers that highlight the wonderful job you did for them.
Introduce Yourself
Get to know your potential customers by sending out brochures that show your work, past successes, recent listings, and other information they may find helpful. Let them know what you’ll do for them as their realtor.
Describe the Neighborhood
As a realtor, you prove your expertise by showing that you’re knowledgeable about the area and the local market. A brochure describing your area can help people feel welcomed and equipped with an insider’s knowledge. Include important tips about neighborhood businesses, stores, schools, services, and social events that newcomers might enjoy.
Guide to Buying and Selling
Create a guide for first-time buyers or sellers who are keen to learn more about the real estate process. Provide a brief timeline and helpful tips for both first-timer buyers and experienced sellers. Include information about financing and mortgages.
Real Estate Booklet Design in 7 Steps
Every brochure needs a plan. Here’s a standard set of steps you can use to plan, write, and print yours:
- Decide who your audience is, and what information they would find most useful.
- Choose the size and format of your booklet.
- Select your colors and branding elements.
- Write the copy.
- Get your pictures and graphic elements.
- Design the layout, back cover, and front cover.
- Finalize the real estate booklet design, and get your booklet printed.
1. Figure out Who Your Audience Is
When you start writing anything, your first step is to define your audience. Knowing who’s going to read your real estate booklet will help you refine the content. People who are actively looking for a home would appreciate a listing of properties, including those listed by other realtors. Those new to the area would enjoy a guide to their new neighborhood. People who are thinking about buying and selling would benefit from a guide that explains the process.
To write the most compelling text for your booklet, ask yourself these questions:
- Why should someone read this booklet?
- How much do they already know about the subject of real estate?
- Should you use a casual, conversational tone or a more elegant, upscale one?
2. Choose the Size, Format and Binding
Booklets and brochures come in standard sizes. Once you decide on the size, you should also decide whether you want your brochure to be a foldout or a bound booklet. The standard sizes are:
- 5.5 x 8.5
- 8.5 x 11
- 12 x 12
Any of these will work to help your real estate booklet design stand out.
The next decision is about your binding. The binding choice will affect how the book opens while people are reading it. If you want it to stay open on a table, consider perfect binding or wire binding. If you want a booklet that’s flat and lightweight, choose perfect binding.
3. Select a Color Scheme and Style
Color is an important part of real estate booklet design. If you have a favorite color palette, use it in your booklet. Do you have colors associated with your branding or logo? If you don’t, it’s time you created a business logo and chose your branding colors. Using them across all your printed materials will ensure a cohesive marketing message, so add them to your business cards, flyers, banners, and brochures.
4. Write the Content
Once you’ve defined your audience and your style, the next step is writing the content for your booklet. Decide what information you want to convey, and try to come up with some headlines and subheadings to organize the content. You don’t need to overload the booklet with text. For a real estate booklet, the pictures should do most of the talking.
If writing isn’t your strong suit, use these tips to create engaging content:
- Keep it simple. Use plain language, avoid jargon, and get right to the point.
- Make it readable. Use subheadings, bullet points, and bold text to make your booklet easy to scan and read. Write short sentences. Break up long paragraphs. Leave room for pictures and white space.
- Keep the focus on the reader. How can you help them? What useful information can you provide?
- Break it up. Add a subheading every one to two paragraphs.
- Write the way you talk. Use conversational words, be warm and friendly, and add humor when you feel it’s proper.
5. Find Pictures
Every well-designed document needs pictures that pop. For real estate booklet design, your choices should include photos of the houses and apartments on your list. Be sure to take good, clear pictures and use high resolution.
You may want to add:
- Your picture
- Photos from community and charity events
- Photos of the neighborhoods and cities you work in
- Housing-related graphics from copyright-free sources
6. Design the Layout and Covers
Once you have the content and images, you can start your layout. If you’re not a graphic artist, consider hiring one to handle this task. You’ll get professional design that works beautifully with your colors, text, and other elements.
If your budget won’t stretch to that, you can find excellent, easy-to-use templates that make designing easy. You can find free real estate booklet design templates on Microsoft Word, Adobe, Canva, Microsoft Publisher, and other sources.
Front and back covers are essential to your real estate booklet design. An eye-catching, well-designed cover will attract attention. You want your real estate booklet to stand out, so use bold colors and a strong central image on the front.
7. Get Your Real Estate Booklet Professionally Printed
Professional printing will take even an ordinary, DIY-designed booklet to a higher level. If you want to create a professional image, you need a booklet that looks sharp, with clear text and bright graphics.
Tips to Make Your Real Estate Booklet Stand Out
- Get creative with paper choices. Glossy paper looks striking and produces rich, high-quality colors. Uncoated, non-glossy paper is more down to earth and results in muted colors.
- Add functions. Include a helpful, creative touch. For instance, consider turning the inside page spread of your booklet into a map of the local area you work in.
- Use a clean, uncluttered design. If you’re a first-time designer, stick to a straightforward design. A booklet with plenty of white space is attractive and easy to read.
Get the Professional Edge
As a realtor, you depend on your professionalism and customer service skills to succeed. At Dazzle Printing, you’ll find that we rely on those same qualities to succeed. We’ll give you a winning edge with sharp-looking booklets and other printed materials.
