It’s a big no-no for any business person and writer to copy the work of others when writing their own real estate marketing materials.
But you have probably read or heard about the practice of direct marketers to keep all the copies of direct mails they receive for reference. So is this considered plagiarism or a dirty practice of real estate direct mail heist? Not at all, so let me explain how you do this and why.
A swipe file is your personal stash of direct-mail copy. It comes from any number of sources. Some of it, no doubt, will be from your direct competitors. Other sources may be from areas of direct marketing that have absolutely no connection to your real estate investing business.
The knowledge you get from these previous copies will be then applied to your own real estate direct marketing copy. However, you are not using the exact sentences or ideas but you make use of your own ideas to market your offers. This way, you are not mainly copying or plagiarizing.
What word or phrase can you use to your advantage in your own mailing. I’m not telling you to copy the paragraph word for word. Not only is this illegal, it’ll be highly ineffective as well. But choose a word or two you like and work it into your next headline.
In this way, you are not committing a ‘direct mail heist’ when you keep and study other people’s direct marketing materials. Successful real estate marketing professionals have adopted this as SOP.
So make a point to sign-up to receive real estate direct mails whenever you can! And when you receive these sales letters, especially those real estate postcard marketing mails, make sure to study the headlines and P.S.
If you can, why not read out loud these real estate marketing materials like what poets and creative writers do. This is actually an effective way in hearing and feeling the impact of the words used in the copy.
Other people’s marketing materials really helps in bringing out your creativity when you study them. These would inspire you to come up with better and unique real estate marketing materials.
A swipe file, if used properly, it’s neither stealing nor plagiarism; it’s inspiration, pure and simple. And who among us can’t use a little more inspiration?