As a business person and writer of your own or other’s real estate marketing materials, plagiarism is an expensive mistake you cannot afford.
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.
The term being used is “swipe-file” where in you collect all the mails you received from other marketers who may have the same offer as yours or from other business. You have this collection mainly for the purpose of finding marketing terms which you think are effective to use for your marketing plan.
You then use your new knowledge on the marketing impact of these words in your own real estate direct marketing copy. You don’t use the same sentences or even impart the same idea in your real estate direct mail. You are just using the ‘words’ to market ‘your own ideas.’
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.
You are merely studying other people’s direct marketing materials and this is totally different from copying their mails. In fact, this method has been used by some of the most successful real estate marketers for years.
A swipe file has been used by all of the most successful copywriters for years. If you aren’t already receiving some type of direct-mail from a variety of firms, contact some. Tell them you’re interested in being placed on their mailing list. You don’t need to tell them why!
One effective method we can borrow from poets and creative writers is to read these real estate marketing materials out loud. By doing this, you get to both hear and feel the power of the words.
So take time to collect and study other people’s marketing materials. Use them as a brainstorming device to help you get started writing.
It wouldn’t help if you somehow feel a little guilt when you do this method. The truth is even the most creative and experienced copywriters have collections of other people’s work. David Ogilvy, a successful copywriter, even admitted that he uses other people’s ideas as inspiration. So if you are having a hard time starting your own copy, why not study other people’s work today.