What Are Pop-Bys? (And Why They’re An Effective Marketing Tool)

Every real estate agent needs to employ several different lead generation strategies to grow their business. While email drip campaigns and social media outreach are great places to start, there’s also something to be said for maintaining a personal connection with past clients as a means of generating referrals.

With that in mind, this post is all about using pop-bys as a marketing tool. Keep reading to learn what pop-bys are and how they can help you to secure future business.

What are pop-bys?

In real estate, pop-bys are a marketing strategy. They are specifically meant to be a method for reconnecting with past clients, as well as for generating referrals and new business.

Pop-bys involve giving the client a small gift, usually one that has a cute marketing slogan attached. The name comes from the fact that you have to “pop-by” the client’s home in order to give them the gift, which opens up the opportunity to catch up, reconnect, and ask for a referral.

Why pop-bys work as a marketing tool

These small gifts work as a marketing tool in two separate ways. On the one hand, they’re a way for you to ensure that you stay at the forefront of your clients’ minds. The gifts will help them to remember you and the fact that you’re in business each time that they receive one, which will make them more likely to use your services when they go to sell their home in the future.

On the other, at a subconscious level, the theory of reciprocity is at play. The theory states that it is a social norm to respond to a positive action with another positive action. In this case, since you’ve done a nice thing by giving your client a gift, they might feel the urge to do something nice for you in return. Usually, this amounts to them mentioning you to their friends or giving you a referral directly.

Tips for creating effective pop-bys

Now that you know what a pop-by is and how the psychology behind this marketing strategy works, the next step is to learn how to create an effective pop-by.

Choose a pop-by gift that you can buy in bulk

The first step to creating an effective pop-by is to choose the item that you’ll be giving as a gift. Ideally, this will be something that you can buy (or make) in bulk and that can be bought fairly affordably. The dollar store is often a great place to look for potential gifts.

Some common examples of gifts include:

• A bag of popcorn
• Seeds
• Scissors
• Ice cream scoop
• Corn on the cob holders
• Honey

Pair it with a catchy slogan

Once you’ve decided on the right gift, the next step is to come up with a catchy slogan to go with it. You can make up one of your own or use one that you found online. However, the key is that whatever slogan you choose needs to be relevant to the item and also to real estate.

Take these slogans for the items listed above as an example:

• A bag of popcorn: “Just popping by to see if you needed any real estate advice”
• Seeds: “Your referrals help grow my business”
• Scissors: “My team is a cut above the rest in real estate”
• Ice cream scoop: “Get in touch if you need the scoop on the real estate market”
• Corn on the cob holders: “I’m just a phone call away if you ever need to get a hold of me”
• Honey: “Thanks for bee-ing an amazing client”

Don’t forget to include your branding and contact info

The next component of your pop-by gift is your branding and contact info. Obviously, you’ll want to include your name so that your client knows who’s responsible for giving them the gift. However, you should also include your phone number, email address, and website so that your client can easily get in touch with you if they have a real estate inquiry.

Some real estate professionals simply attach a copy of their business card along to the gift, but doing so can get expensive. It’s perfectly okay to simply make a tag with your slogan and contact information on it that can be attached to the gift.

Consider making sure there’s a way to secure your gift to the doorknob

Lastly, you may want to make sure that there’s a way to attach the gift to the front door. In the event that your clients aren’t home when you drop off their pop-by, you’re going to have to leave it behind. If you simply leave it resting by the front door, there’s a chance that it could fall and someone could trip over it, which would not be good for business.

One way to counteract this possibility is by adding a knotted loop of ribbon to the gift (This can also be how you secure your tag with the slogan.) That way, you can simply place the loop around a door knob and be on your way.