Likely overthinking this, but trying to strategize on a name for a land buying company. *Disclaimer: newbie here, and have not yet sent a mailer. Coming at this question with no experience besides theory.
Do most land investors try to spell out the fact that they are a company that buys land in their name? Something like “FirstName Buys Land” or something like “Sell Your Land With Us Company”
I see a lot of this out there and I’m wondering if that’s a smart way to increase open/response rates when sending letters. I’m thinking that with a name like “I Want To Buy Your Land” the recipient of a letter would immediately know what the letter they received is about before even opening it and would open it if they were interested in selling land. As opposed to a name like “RandomAdjective Land Company” where it isn’t immediately clear what this company is about and why they are receiving the mail until after they open the letter, which might lead to throwing the mail piece away before opening.
Let me know your thoughts! I know I may be overthinking, but just trying to make sure I don’t overlook strategies to help make the most of my mail campaigns before I start sending.
@keithb I would go with short and memorable. It’s not imperative that “land” or “real estate” or “properties” is included in the name… but it doesn’t hurt.
My biggest recommendation would be, don’t give people a BIG, long name to remember. The fewer characters they have to type when visiting your website or sending you an email, the better (every additional character is an opportunity for them to mistype it and not get to your website).
Never name something after a body of water. Especially if this body of water lies near you.
Suppose your county has a large lake or wetland or river in it and you name your company Snohomish River Properties. This might cause you problems with well meaning environmental folks concerned about preserving wetlands when your property is high and dry.
Nothing tied to a geographic area so when you get a chance to work out of your area it does not hinder your chances. For instance when working near Portland, Or. I don’t want a name like Seattle Land Co.
Directional things like Northwest Land tend to be overused with no way to find them the difference between Northwest Land and Northwest Garden Supply and 50 other companies named Northwest.
Also consider tag lines that are more descriptive! Vacant Land Problem Solvers might be good for a buying name but not well for selling. But as a tag line that could be switched when selling I kind of like it!
The tree service I estimate for is “I’ve Got A Guy Tree Service”. Although it’s a long name, people don’t end up calling our competitor by accident. I signed another larger job last week just because the folks liked our name.
Be sure to both google the name you select and run it with variations though your state licensing department. This helps you eliminate the chance people will call other firms by accident.
Also consider more than one name for different areas of your business. This can be done by using “Doing Business As:” Where it’s permitted. This could help with marketing particularly on the back end to various kinds of vacant land buyers such as homesteaders, farmers, developers, builders, loggers, nudist colonies etc…
@treepimp When in another industry that has a very negative connotations we researched to be sure no one had that name. We found that there was no Al Vance in America. This was in the days before Google and Beenverified. My other idea was to put an idea so generic that there were thousands of them. If I put John Smith there was no way anyone was going to pester a particular John Smith to death.
We developed 6 different letters including one that stated we were doing work on a property near them that might change their property values. This white lie got the phones working. Unfortunately it got the county phones working as they pestered the county about what permits were being turned in in there area.
Remember to create a tickler file. About 3 years ago we closed on a property I had called on twice a year since 1989. NO JOKE. They knew my voice when I called. After they successfully carried a contract with us to completion they have now financed a total of 6 properties for us and we look to continue a great private money relationship with them.
Take a page from realtors who contact folks with a new listing. A second post card asking if they or someone they know is looking to purchase the property near them.