The Postcard Premise
The idea here is to create an online real estate resource center for your particular community or town, and then point to it with your real estate farming postcards. By having a variety of lead-generation tactics in place on the website, you could ultimately make contact with visitors.

The Resource Website
If you already have a website, you're halfway there. The key is to turn your website (or a new one) into an "epicenter" of local real estate information. The site should be full of helpful information - much more than the average real estate website. There's no room for mediocrity here.
You could incorporate a blog, a forum, helpful articles, property listings, an "Ask the Agent" section; you name it. These days, blogs and forums can be installed onto a website right through the website's control panel, making this approach much simpler than it sounds.
For best results, avoid the "all about me" approach that most agent websites follow. Instead, strive to make it an "all for us" website - an online community, if you will.

How the Postcard Relates
For this idea, I see the postcard as a welcomed messenger. The real "heavy lifting" is to create the resource website in the first place. [Sidebar: A willingness to do "heavy lifting" is what separates top producers from the rest of the pack.] Once the website is done, the postcard's job is a lot easier.

As for the postcard creative elements, I envision a headline such as: "Where Austin Goes For Real Estate Information." Beneath that headline, there might be four or five images, each representing a section of the resource website: Q&A Forum. Ask the Agent. Property Listings. Daily Info Blog. Current Interest Rates, etc.
I would use the postcard to position the website as a community resource (not just an agent's personal marketing website). I would also feature an "Ask the Agent" button at the top corner of each web page. Wherever people go on the site, they can "click to query" the expert (that's you).

Can you see the lead-harvesting potential of such an approach? Can you see the PR, branding and search engine benefits as well? I can, and it gets me excited just thinking about it!

Conclusion
To succeed with real estate postcard marketing, you must start with a great product, service or offer before you conduct a mailing. The postcard is not the product or offer. The postcard explains the product or offer. The more interesting the product and the stronger the offer, the better the postcard response rates.

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Brandon Cornett teaches real estate Internet marketing to agents across the U.S. and Canada. He is the author of many articles and books on real estate web design, search engine optimization, real estate blogging and more. Visit the author at http://www.armingyourfarming.com