Ballpoint Marketing Review (2023 Edition)

Although naysayers might argue otherwise, direct mail marketing is not dead. If anything, it makes up the largest portion of local advertising budgets countrywide and offers ROI for businesses across every industry.

It’s one of the most effective ways to reach real estate leads as it allows you to control who gets your marketing message or when they get it, and even how many people you can actively reach.

But while it certainly has its perks, manually writing each mailer is no small feat. When you add in managing each batch and handling unplanned inbound calls, you may have to hire a copywriter or the benefits start to seem hazy.

Thankfully, you can outsource the whole printing process to a platform like Ballpoint Marketing and focus on other important aspects of your campaign.

Check out our Ballpoint Marketing review to see if it’s the solution you need. 

• What Is Ballpoint Marketing?
• Ballpoint Marketing Features & Benefits
• How Does It Compare Against Competitors?
• Ballpoint Marketing Software FAQ
• Is Ballpoint Marketing Worth It?

What Is Ballpoint Marketing?

Ballpoint Marketing is a direct mail service for real estate investors, realtors, and professionals in the real estate business who use direct mail as part of their marketing strategies.

The company offers handwritten mailers customized with local imagery in bulk, saving REI professionals the time to focus on other important aspects of business instead of writing mail. Ballpoint Marketing was created by Justin and Ryan Dossey, a duo of brothers who are also in real estate.

The two spent three years testing the service after realizing that handwritten envelopes were more effective in reaching the recipients. Read on to find out what the company offers in our Ballpoint Marketing review. 

Ballpoint Marketing Features & Benefits 

Here’s what Ballpoint has to offer individuals in the real estate business:

Handwritten Mailers

Direct mail allows you better control over your marketing efforts and is less competitive as a majority of REI businesses are already transitioning to digital marketing. But while better than most strategies, that doesn't mean every mailer a real estate agent sends out gets opened.

This is where Ballpoint Marketing comes in, the company assigns mail writing to a team of bots using ballpoint pens to manually hand write each mailer in beautiful blue ink. The robots sometimes even make actual smudges on some templates to make them appear more authentically hand-written. 

And since most households receive approximately 10 handwritten pieces of mail annually, these mailers from Ballpoint Marketing will certainly spark the recipient’s curiosity, pushing them to open and read that piece of manually handwritten mail in their mailbox. In other words, Ballpoint marketing handwritten mailers allow users to send out marketing mail that appears more authentic, hence increasing their open and response rates. 

Postcard Designs 

On top of being handwritten, each mailer from Ballpoint Marketing spots a unique, postcard design with local imagery that stands out from the moment the recipient pulls it out of the envelope. Postcards that convert aren’t just eye-catching, they also often feature unique elements to spark the recipient’s interest.

That said, each Ballpoint postcard features a design carefully created by a top brand graphic designer and logo creator in the real estate investing industry based on elements from the color persuasion wheel to ensure that every lead is motivated to open and see what it’s inside.

Designs range from a unique, pattern-interrupting comic card option written in blue point pens, to spring mailers dotted with florals in full color and pastel tones to remind the lead of the beautiful spring seasons. Just as you would expect from a company focused on creating authentic-looking handwritten mail, mailers are sent out in eye-catching envelopes as well.

Ballpoint Marketing users can choose between cursive and non-cursive handwriting, and you have three different envelope style options. Users get a 12% discount for envelopes written in cursive. 

Envelopes come with fields for key sender data such as name, address, and phone number, so the recipient knows it was personally meant for them.

For the comic card postcard design, Ballpoint Marketing offers an option to deliver seven different designs in seven months.

As a result, the unique design coupled with Ballpoint’s 7-card drip sequence strategy lets you build brand recognition and awareness as leads will soon start to associate your brand with the outstanding hand-written comic-card mailers.

Ballpointmarketing.com mailers are sent out directly from their office in St. Louis to the prospects. 

Door Hangers 

Door hangers are the way to go for real estate investors looking to reach a local audience. They’re more affordable because they don’t require envelopes or postage, and are harder to ignore as every recipient must open their door. Ballpoint Marketing lets you maximize its effectiveness even further. 

The Ryan Dossey company offers a range of incredibly unique, eye-catching designs guaranteed to immediately capture the seller’s interest, and spark their curiosity. Each door hanger is written using ballpoint pens in real blue ink so it looks authentic, well thought out, and personally written for the recipient, instead of just being promotional. 

Property Records

Ballpoint Marketing basically works this way; you purchase and upload a list of addresses to Ballpoint, choose a campaign (options range from comic card designs, spring mailers to even door hangers), select font, and other key design elements, and then leave the hard work to Ballpoint Marketing’s robots.

You can upload an existing list but if you lack one, worry not because the company offers property records at ten cents each, saving you the hard work of having to compile, or buying from other sources. 

Key Benefits Of Ballpoint Marketing

Here is a brief overview of some perks you'll enjoy when using ballpointmarketing.com: 

Better Control Over Direct Mail Marketing Campaigns 

Ballpoint Marketing offers packages of about 250 to 300 mailers, postcards, or door hangers, and the orders are sent to you instead of the prospects. 

This allows better control over direct mail marketing campaigns since you can order in bulk to cut costs, send part of the batch and deal with the few resulting inbound calls first, unlike when all mailers are printed out and sent directly to the lead and you have to handle calls from all over the country.

Saves You Time

Direct mail marketing is fruitful but let's face it, manually writing all this mail is no joke. That is why Ballpoint Marketing is such a pivotal tool.

By handling the designing and printing process for you, Ballpoint Marketing allows you the time to focus on other important aspects of the campaign and your business. 

Personalization 

In this era of the Internet, adding a personal touch to your marketing strategies will go a long way in helping you connect with clients. Ballpoint lets you add that personal touch to your direct mail marketing campaigns through its handwritten mailers and elaborately designed postcards.

The unique local imagery coupled with high-quality graphics capture the seller’s attention and are an image the recipient will forever associate you with, facilitating your brand recognition efforts.

Read Also: Real Estate Wholesaling Postcards: The (Ultimate) Guide

How Does It Compare Against Competitors?

Here is how Ballpoint Marketing fares against its competitors:

Ballpoint Marketing vs Yellow Letter HQ

Yellow Letter HQ is also a direct mail marketing company for real estate. The company offers a range of direct mail solutions including handwritten letters to postcards.

While both Ballpoint and Yellow Letter HQ work towards the same goal: getting you noticed through handwritten mailers, the former offers designs that are not only authentic but also feature incredibly captivating graphics.

For instance, Ballpoint’s comic card postcards are high quality, and unique, while we found Yellow Letter's graphic designs pretty basic. However, Yellow Letter is more than a direct mail company for real estate investing. The company offers skip tracing, lists and leads, a returned mail feature, and a list organizer. 

Ballpoint Marketing vs PropStream

PropStream is an online software for real estate brokers, investors, and agents. It has an advanced feature stack that includes tools like skip tracing, a deal analyzer, rehab estimator, real estate comps, target marketing through email systems, and postcard generators.

PropStream even lets users pull important lead data such as property list pricing, listing pictures, and failed listings from MLS databases. You can also create and send postcards directly to leads via PropStream.

Keep in mind that both platforms are equally good at what they do, but if you’re looking for the utmost unique mailer and postcard designs, Ballpoint Marketing is the way to go.

But if you’re looking for a direct mail marketing platform with advanced features, PropStream fits you better. 

Read Also: PropStream Review: Pricing, Features & More | Real Estate Skills

Ballpoint Marketing vs DealMachine 

DealMachine is a real estate investing platform well known for its driving for dollars feature with a string of features including direct mail marketing. The platform lets you increase audience engagement through mailers featuring a picture of the owner’s property.

You can customize the message, color, and even design of the postcards to fit the target audience better. DealMachine postcards are great, but Ballpoint still takes the cake for us in terms of design. Besides being handwritten to capture the recipient’s attention, the postcards feature high-quality, unique graphics you won’t find elsewhere.

They also feature high-quality and uniquely-designed envelopes, adding a personal touch to your direct mail marketing campaigns. So which is better? If you’re looking for authentic personalization, Ballpoint suits you, but if you need advanced direct mail marketing tools like an ROI tracker and automated follow-ups, DealMachine might work better for you. 

Read Also: DealMachine Review: Is It Worth It?

Ballpoint Marketing FAQ

How Much Does Ballpoint Marketing Cost?

Each batch of Ballpoint postcards and mailers has a specific cost, but basically, most mailers range between $1 and $1.80.

Ballpoint Marketing does not offer monthly or annual subscriptions but if you’d like to send out a particular volume of mail monthly, contact the company to set up a monthly subscription. 

Does Ballpoint Marketing Offer Discounts?

Although they’re already competitively priced, Ballpoint offers discounts on bulk mailers depending on the quantity. The discount is applicable once the order is in your cart. 

How To Get Ballpoint Marketing Coupon?

We could not find any information on coupons on the platform’s official website but you can find plenty of them online, as long as you ensure it’s a reputable coupon site like CouponBirds.com.

Does Ballpoint Marketing Offer A Subscription?

No. Ballpoint Marketing products are individually priced. However, the company does offer to set up monthly subscriptions for real estate agents, wholesalers, and REI professionals who’d like to send out a specific volume of mailers each month. 

Is Ballpoint Marketing Worth It?

Ballpointmarketing.com specializes in direct mail marketing which is why we think they’re incredibly good at what they do. The mailers feature unique designs and feel more personal than other options thanks to the hand-written complete with ink smudges touch. They also offer unique postcard designs and door hangers, and if you need a list of addresses, property records are offered at only 10 cents each. 

We also think that using bots to manually write each mailer is such an ingenious move. Not many real estate software platforms are yet to integrate this level of tech and we believe it has the potential to change the industry because today robots are writing mail, who knows what they’ll help you do in the future?

Ballpoint Marketing is worth it if you have a dedicated annual marketing budget and are looking for a direct mail marketing solution with a personal touch.

But if you’re looking for a solution with advanced features, you might want to check out your other options as it’s solely a direct mail marketing platform or pair it with other real estate investing tools like Call Porter to make the most of it.

If you're an investor that does not have thousands of dollars per month set aside for direct mail advertising (or any other marketing that doesn't guarantee a profit), we recommend checking out our brand new free training on acquiring deals from the MLS without spending a dollar in marketing!

You'll see how we're helping investors and wholesalers across the country achieve financial freedom using the highest ROI acquisition strategy available. See you there!

*Disclosure: Real Estate Skills is not responsible for the information provided by Ballpoint Marketing or on its respective website. Ballpoint Marketing is an independent company which provides real estate services to investors. Real Estate Skills trains on using Ballpoint Marketing and the benefits of using the service but is not responsible for the content it provides.