Seth: Hey, everybody, how's it going? This is Seth Williams, and you're listening to the REtipster Podcast.

Today I'm talking with Larry Jarnigo. So Larry reached out to me not long ago with something interesting that he was doing that I haven't heard from, I don't think any other land investors out there.

Not that it hasn't been done, but it's not commonly done, where Larry put together a TV commercial for his land business to basically advertise that he's buying land from people. Because this is such a unique thing, at least at the time of this recording, I thought, “You know what? I want to find out more about that.” I want to understand how he did this, how much it costs, how effective it is, what the pros and cons are of this, all the questions I could think of surrounding that, because I'm sure a lot of other people in the RETipster audience will be interested in learning more about this as well.

So, Larry, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing?

Larry: Yeah. Thanks, Seth. This is great. Been listening for quite a long time, so it's really neat to be on the other side.

Seth: I appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for listening. Glad to have you on board. So how did you first hear about this idea of doing a TV commercial? I've had the idea myself, but with the other stuff that I've done, it's like, that's working fine.

Why mess around with a TV commercial? It almost feels like it's too broad or too much of a shotgun approach. When I think of this, it almost feels like putting my ad on a hot air balloon or flying a plane across the sky, or having a billboard that just shoots it to everybody out there. But is it working for you, and how is it working for you?

Larry: Yeah, it's working for me. It was nerve-wracking, even just the idea of being on TV, but it's working. And I think it's worth sharing with the audience just to have other ideas and options.

As our businesses have grown, we've seen people moving from just direct mail to texting to calling to ringless voicemail to all the different things. And this is an avenue that people aren't really talking about, don't know much about. I dug in, and I went through it. It's been working great.

So I wanted to kind of share what I can with everybody.

“Hi, this is Larry with Land Exit Advisors, and I buy land for cash. Do you have vacant land you inherited? Land you had plans for, but circumstances have changed?

Turn that unwanted land into cash! I buy all kinds of vacant land with four-plus acres and road access. I will pay you cash fast, all with no fees, no banks, and no realtors. Stop wasting your money year after year paying these taxes.

Call me today. I'll buy your land for cash. Call 2567-9800. That's 2567-9800.”

Seth: Now that people have heard that, how complicated was it for you to make this ad? Like, did you just do this at home, or did you have to go to some studio to do this? Or how's that work?

Larry: Yeah, great question. So I found out about it through a podcast for House Wholesalers, and a guy was talking about he's been having success with it for years and years. I forget if he has ties to TV or was in that world, or maybe he just has partnered with the folks that put it all together, the folks that have been doing this for a long time.

And I've seen commercials before for house wholesalers, so and so Tennessee Buys Land, or whatever it might be. I knew this could be a possibility. And so when I got on the phone to talk more about the program, they really walked me through it and described everything. I mean, they have it down to a science with what they do for the house wholesalers. It's pretty much going off of their script.

You're basically looking for those motivated sellers, and so it takes a little while to get it set up. They're talking to you about what are your thoughts on your background, what are your thoughts on this and that. So you're going back and forth with a whole team of folks that have been in TV making commercials. They buy all of the spots on all the different channels, and they talk to you about that. And then the big day comes.

So I had to go down to the Fox TV station here in Nashville and it was pretty nerve-wracking. It was great. I mean, they had everything ready for me. I had my script. And the beautiful thing about it is you're really just reading one line at a time.

So it's not like you're just standing up there for 30 seconds and you have to have all this stuff memorized, because you'd be surprised. You look it over a few times, you feel pretty good about it. But when you get in there, they're guiding you saying, hey, you got to use your hands, you got to smile. It did take a few takes for each individual line, and I wasn't really expecting that.

They're such pros. They edit it. The guy behind the camera was the one saying, okay, yeah, that was great. Let's just redo it one more time. Use your hands, smile a little more. They really hold your hand and walk you through it.

Because like anyone else, I was nervous and kind of freaked out about the idea of it.

Seth: It's not like I've ever been on TV or have some big social media following or anything like that. Sounded really good. I mean, you kind of look like a pro. Just seeing and hearing what that came across like at the end.

I can say, as somebody who's been doing YouTube for a while, I can't speak for all YouTubers, but I'm actually, like, terrible at delivering lines. And if anybody ever thinks I sound smooth, the only reason is that there's a lot of editing involved. There is a ton of cutting. That whole thing about saying one sentence at a time, sometimes that's really what it boils down to. Unless you really have thought through every possible word you're going to say a hundred times, it's really hard to go on for minutes at a time without making cuts and that kind of thing.

So it sounds very normal. And I remember the first time I ever hired, like, a video editor for my stuff, and I was just super embarrassed to send him my raw footage because it's just so bad. I actually held off for years hiring an editor because of that, because I just didn't want people to see how dumb I looked.

And he was like, “Yeah, man, this is totally normal. Everybody does this. Don't worry about it. This isn't bad at all. This is just part of what editing is all about.” And it's like, oh, okay, well, cool. I don't know if you're just lying to make me feel better, but at least it's good to hear from you too, Larry. It doesn't have to be that perfect to make it look good in the end.

Larry: Yeah, I kept apologizing to the guy behind the editing, kept saying, I'm sorry, need to redo it, and he's like, “Buddy, I have seen people that are total disasters come in here, and that's why we have editors.”

Seth: So you say you did this at the Fox station. So does that mean this only aired on that Fox channel, just like a local TV station? Is that the only place where this thing has been airing?

Larry: No. Good question. My TV commercials are in Alabama, and I just went to my local station to actually shoot it. So that's just kind of part of the package that is paying for your shoot. And it doesn't matter where that is because they're just going to compile it, edit it, and then send it to the stations.

I'm in North Alabama, my commercial, and I'm on five different channels. Again, they have it down to a science of what my target audience might be. What are they watching? When are they watching TV? So it's like 09:00 news. It's during the day. Wheel of Fortune or whatever it might be.

Again, they've been doing this a long time and they know what we're looking for based on all their experience with the house folks.

Seth: Is it almost like an independent contractor for you where they're just shooting and producing the commercial, but they would then send it to NBC and ABC? It's not like it only goes to Fox stations, right?

How did you even land on Fox in the first place? Did you just not know where to go? So you called them up?

Larry: No, I mean, again, they're holding your hand. They're telling you, hey, we've reached out to a few different studios. We got the best price with Fox. Go there this day. This time, shoot your commercial. So it was real straightforward. Again, none of this research or anything was done on my end.

Seth: When you say they are holding your hand, who are “they?” Like, who set this up for you?

Larry: The house wholesaler works with a team that is on TV. They have some kind of agreement together. Obviously, he brings in clients and then they kind of take it from there.

It's a whole team of folks that help you with each different part of it. They buy all the media for you because I think that's really an intimidating part. It's like, well, gosh, how much is this going to cost? How do I know I'm not getting ripped off by the TV company, right? And so you have them on the back end saying, negotiating on your behalf for the lowest price possible.

Each market has a significantly different cost. So I chose Huntsville because it was about half the price of Nashville. I mean, I live in Nashville would have been convenient there. Obviously, it's a growing town and there are a lot of landowners, but the price was so much different that I went with Huntsville.

So you can imagine in some areas where people work, you don't need to live in the state. You go down to the studio, a week or two later, your ad is in that market. And if it is rural, it might be much more affordable than mine is in Huntsville.

Seth: So, how did you find out about this house wholesaler? Like, can you share who that is, or if people want to work with that person, how could they get in touch with them and put these pieces together like you did?

Larry: Sure. So Tony Javier is his name. Basically, the program or the link is Remtvremtv.com Land. He's got a landing page.

You schedule a call with Tony. Tell him, “Hey, I'm in land. I heard from Larry.” Then he'll just kind of go over what the situation is and how it all works and you guys just kind of go from there. Then you schedule a call to talk about it with the TV team, and if it's something that you want to go forward with, they set up, I think it was about $10,000, to get it all set up at the commercial and all that. And then it's been $5,052 a month in ad spend. So I sent checks that are already prepaid for three months in advance, and those just kind of hit at the first week of the month.

And, yeah, you're up and running. The commercial in Tennessee was going to be like, $9,000. Huntsville is a very hot market. It was in Forbes as the number one city to live in in the country. So if you're being cost-conscious, there's going to be other markets that you can get for cheaper than that. So for that, $5,000 and some change for the monthly cost of running the ad.

Seth: You said this runs during the day, so it's probably not like the highest-viewed time of the day. How many times per day does it air? Like, what's the total that you get out of that in terms of just air time?

Larry: I forget all the numbers on it. It's been a while since I looked at that. But it is not all just in the middle of the day. They understand that you might have folks that work at night or during the day. Nine o’-clock local news, you're going to be on there. You're catching eyeballs again, they have it down to a science. They know that people aren't just sitting around at noon. And those are the only people that you're going to be able to get a variety of different channels.

I remember him saying that there's one channel that plays Mash all the time. I forget what channel it was, but he's just like, we've had so much success with that channel and that older clientele that might be interested in watching that. So it's really interesting.

Seth: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Are you also sending out direct mail or doing any other marketing? Or are you just doing this commercial at this point? How do you know which of your leads are coming from this commercial versus some other marketing medium?

Larry: They set you up with a CRM and it's great. It's high-level, so you can listen to the calls. They set you up with a number and then I have that number go to answer first and they have the script.

Just like when you're sending mail, and you maybe use PATLive, it's the same kind of thing. You give them the questions and so the lead pops into your AirTable or whatever it might be, just like you do with regular mail. And so then I just label it TV. Just work the lead like I normally would.

As we're all trying to evolve, you got to have your hand in a few different cookie jars. And so I'm doing text messaging right now, still doing direct mail, and now TV. TV has been good, but I think it's been bringing me at least one deal a month. I do things differently. You might have someone that buys anything and everything. I'm not really like that.

I'm looking for at least $10,000 to $20,000 profit per deal. And something else interesting about my commercial is I say four-plus acres with road access. Right? That's what I'm looking for. You have people that love infill lots or this or that, and so you can make it broader.

And I could have bought way more deals than I have. I have my niche and it's what I'm going for and what I'm looking for. And you can do whatever you want with it.

Seth: So the number that you tell people to call in the commercial. Is that like its own standalone number that's just used for the commercial so you can easily track which people are calling because of the commercial?

Larry: Yeah, that's exactly right. They give you that separate CRM. It's got a number and it's one of these kind of good, generic numbers, like or something kind of easy and catchy, and then that number forwards to your answer-first number. And again, they're kind of walking you through this and helping you with it throughout.

Seth: So it sounds like you're spending what was the exact number again per month?

Larry: $5,000 something. $5,052. Yeah.

Seth: And that's yielding you one deal a month. That's making $10,000, $20,000, I think you said, or possibly more. Comparing that to direct mail, would you say you get a better ROI from other stuff?

Larry: It probably equals out to they're all probably the same. I'm mailing about 2,000, sometimes 3.000 letters a week in mail. I do direct mail with blind offers. I'm sure, like most of you guys, you're seeing that the deals per mailer or per amount have really gone up in the last year and a half or so.

And so they're all producing. These are quality leads. These are folks that I think are weary of the direct mail. They're weary of a text message. And you would be really surprised at the credibility that you have when you're on TV.

They're just like, oh my gosh, I'm talking to the guy on TV like some kind of small-town celebrity or something. But it builds a ton of credibility. And so a lot of the folks, they don't know anything about real estate and they see you on there and they know that you're in land and you're kind of an expert.

And so I'm not a big person to try and give them ten cents. I know there are a lot of slick people that are really good at negotiating and all that kind of stuff, but generally, I'll evaluate it, look at all the comps, and then I'll check to see what the tax-assessed value is. If I can double my money or more and give them a tax-assessed value, that's kind of what I try to do, just let them know, “here's what I'm basing my offer on.”

Seth: The tax-assessed value, is that 50% of market value? Is that what that means in Alabama?

Larry: It just depends. It depends on the county, depends on what it is. But I've seen it to be around that, I guess.

Seth: Yeah, there is something about that, when you're on TV. There's a guy near us who has these outdoor advertising billboards. He's an insurance agent. I don't know the guy. I don't even know what kind of insurance he does, to be honest. But I see his picture all over the place and I actually saw him in person at a thing a couple of weeks ago. I don't even talk to him because I was like too nervous to go talk to him. But I was just like, “Hey, you're that guy, you're this celebrity.”

It's just this weird, I mean, it makes no logical sense, but just like because he's this face that everybody sees, it's like, wow, he's that movie star-type person. So you're right. There's something weird in the human psychology about being on a TV screen or just being a prominent, well-known face that builds instant credibility, whether it should or not.

Larry: Yeah, it really does. It can seem like such a daunting thing to get it all set up and actually be on TV. So I think there is some psychology based on, “This guy obviously knows what he's doing if he's on TV,” right? And you can't get that out of a letter even if they read it, and you say Better Business Bureau and all these different things, there's just way more power in that commercial.

Seth: Yeah, totally.

I don't know if you know this, but how many people still watch TV these days? Not probably the right representation of everybody, but we don't have cable. We don't even have local TV stuff at my house. Like I can't watch TV. We've got all the streaming stuff and that's how we spend our time on the TV.

What is the norm out there? I could see how the older generation would totally still be into that. I know my parents and my in-laws both still watch the local news and they're in their 60s. I mean, that's just kind of the world that they evolved in.

But do you have any stats on that? Or do you have any idea what portion or what segments of the population are still engaged in TV and see these commercials?

Larry: Sure, yeah. I mean, I think it relatively mirrors the folks that are calling from direct mail. It's an older generation. I mean, I do have a commercial property I got through the mailer and the guy's probably in his 50s or so.

I think there are different marketing avenues that you want to touch for different people. I would say that the people that are responding to text messages are going to be a little bit younger than the folks with direct mail and TV, for sure.

Seth: And in your commercial, you tell them to call? Do you tell them to text anything or go to a website? Or you just tell them to call the number, and that's it? And you say that a couple of times. Is there a way to increase engagement and make sure it actually sticks in their brain and they take action?

Larry: Maybe the website on one of the pictures, I don't remember, but you really just want them to call. And it's interesting because I've gotten quite a few leads through my website because they might not want to call, but they've taken a minute. They've seen that ad a couple of times and they just might be sitting there on their phone and typing in my company's name and then submitting their information that way. And I've even gotten emails from people saying, “I saw your commercial, I have a couple of questions,” or something like that.

So, believe it or not, they don't just all call, they come about because they see you on TV and they might do a little research on their own end.

Seth: When it comes to the website portion of it, could you, similar to the phone number, have a unique website URL that maybe forwards to a different place or somehow tracks which people are typing in that thing because they saw it on the commercial? Because that's something worth trying.

Larry: It probably is. I wouldn't say that the traffic is that high to warrant me getting that granular. I guess some people are really into that. I'm not.

Seth: Yeah, I mean this kind of thing, for land investors anyway, this type of unconventional advertising approach, it makes me wonder about a lot of other unconventional advertising stuff, like sponsoring an event or a conference or little league baseball team or somehow inserting your name somewhere else that most people wouldn't normally do. Just makes you wonder like, could that work? Would that be more or less effective?

I can see how TV makes a lot of sense because you can actually insert a lot of relevant stuff that they can take action and do. And it probably also varies based on whether you're trying to buy or sell properties.

It seems like possibly the downside of TV is that the person really needs to be paying attention and pick up the phone and call right then or right after, because as soon as that commercial is done, they're gone. If they find you on the internet or if they get a piece of mail, that piece of paper is right in front of them, it's not like they can forget that. They could throw it away, but it's not like they need to act in 20 seconds, or they're not going to be able to do it.

And a lot of this stuff, this is the struggle I always have with any kind of marketing medium, is that there's a lot of speculation. I might be wrong with this stuff I'm saying, but it just seems like that could be the case.

Does this TV company or the commercial company, do they give you any kind of stats or analytics on we could tell that these many people were watching at this time, when this commercial aired? Kind of like Google Analytics would be able to do, or is it a lot of guesswork, like they don't really know who's watching?

Larry: I imagine they might, and you could probably work with them to dive into that if you wanted to. I don't spend my time doing that when I see a commercial. A, I don't usually buy things from there. B, I probably don't have a pen handy.

And so the beauty of it is you're hitting them a few times and if they're watching a particular program at a certain time of day, chances are if not, that week might happen, another week that you're going to be on.

And again, it’s a catchy phone number, too. It's not like a bunch of numbers you could never remember. I forget what exactly it is, but I feel like it's 256-477-000. And, so they do try to make it something that someone could pop into their head and be able to write down.

Seth: So it's not like a vanity number, like with the word LAND in it or something like that, right? It's just the numbers are what you tell people.

Larry: That's just one number they pick that's easy. But I might inquire about that because it would be easier if the last four said LAND, right?

Seth: This number was something like, it goes through them, right? It's not like you order a new number on Open Phone or RingCentral and then give that to them. But do they control all that?

Larry: Yeah, they give you the number and then you give them a forwarding number. I'm actually moving into another market and it's been amazing. I thought, well, am I going to need to reshoot the entire commercial and no, they change my graphics, and then they have a voiceover person come in say the new phone number.

If you're having a ton of success with this, you could be in for five, six, who knows? I mean, depends on what you want. But you could be in a lot of different markets all over the country, all with just that one commercial that you walked in on for 15 minutes a year ago or something.

Seth: I don't know if you've been following a lot of the AI stuff going on and it's hard not to follow because it's all over the news. But video is getting to the point where not only the voice, but also the image of the person probably, in the near future will, be indistinguishable from an actual person. Like if you just make a computer-generated image of someone.

I guess the benefit of using your actual face and voice is that if you're the person picking up the phone and talking to them, they're going to be that connection and acknowledgment of like, “Wow,I'm talking to the movie star that I saw on TV!” but for people who, for whatever reason that they're hesitant to get on camera or whatever the issue might be.

I understand that because I, believe it or not, feel weird about that too. Even these days. I'm sure there are ways around that if you're really wanting to do a TV commercial, but you don't want to be the face of the voice or if you're nervous or something. There are probably ways to work around that. At least there will be soon.

Larry: Yeah, absolutely. And again, it's one line at a time, you're in and out of there in fifteen, twenty minutes, and it's done. You don't need to worry about that or stress about it anymore.

Looking back, I wish I wouldn't have stressed about it as much as I did. Because they do such a great job with all the graphics and all the stuff in the background. They have it down to a science on how to use your hands, smile, and then you don't have to do it ever again.

Seth: Remind me, how long is this commercial? Is it 30 seconds?

Larry: 30 seconds.

Seth: I don't know if you've ever had this where you go into a movie theatre, and before the show starts, there are different commercials that run before the previews happen. I wonder if you could use this for that or put this on Instagram or a YouTube ad.

We were talking to Peter Nukasani, back in episode 150. He brought up the idea of running ads on Hulu (which I don't think he was actually doing that), but it was just an idea like nobody else is doing. I don't know exactly how Hulu works, but I would imagine since it's online, you could probably get hyper-specific and only air to people in that relevant market when they get on.

But have you thought about that kind of thing? Like, since you're okay with being on the camera and being on TV, why not repurpose it for this other stuff?

Larry: Yeah, that's a great point. And I know there are a ton of land investors that do an awesome job with their websites and social media. I've put mine out there on my social media. It's on my website. You can write when someone goes there's a commercial again.

And again, you're just building that credibility and you're the expert. And so, if you have all of that stuff in place, this is just more fuel on the fire.

Seth: I think we've kind of talked about this a little bit, but in terms of the quality of leads that come in from a TV commercial, would you say the quality is better? If somebody actually calls you or goes to your website because of that TV commercial, are they more likely to actually do business with you? Or is it the same kind of…

I mean, you probably wouldn't get calls from angry people who get a low offer for a minute because they don't have an offer yet. Like they wouldn't call you for that. But the interactions that you have with the people who call because of the commercial. Is it more likely that you'll end up closing the deal? Or any thoughts on that?

Larry: My commercial does say four-plus acres and road access, but there are people that have land that they want to sell and really get rid of. We all know some of it is garbage. And so regardless of what I say in my ad, they're still calling with the tiny lot, or the landlocked property, or whatever it might be.

I did, in my questionnaire or my script, when they call, I ask them if they know what the tax-assessed value is. I'm teeing them up to get the mindset of that's probably what the offer is going to be, or that's what we're looking at, or that's what you might be able to expect something along those lines.

But the majority of the people that are calling from TV have no clue what it's worth to get mad about your offer from your direct mail or how wrong it is. But the people from TV, I've not found people to be offended by a lower offer, for sure.

Seth: When you look at what TV ads can do that other marketing methods can't, does anything stand out to you? Is it maybe the credibility-boosting or maybe reaching audiences that otherwise wouldn't respond to direct mail or text or something like that? Why do this? Why not just stick to the same old things that everybody else is doing?

Larry: Well, I think that no one else is doing it. Then you got these landowners that we need to get in front of. They’re weary of direct mail. They're weary that some random number on their phone is trying to buy their land. People can be sentimental about their land and family land.

And when you're coming on there as this credible source, you're going over, how this is all going to work, I'm hiring a title attorney to handle this, I don't expect you to just mail me a check, I'm not going to mail you a check, and you send me a deed. Nothing weird like that's gonna go on this. And you're talking them through this, and they're thinking, “Okay, this guy is on TV. He knows what he's talking about. He's confident.” They feel really good about it. It's completely a win-win.

Seth: Now, that whole thing about how nobody else is doing it. So my brain immediately goes to this place of, well, everybody else is doing it, and all of a sudden, how many commercials would it take to completely saturate this and just be too much? Is it pretty much one guy or girl per market and that's it? If I made a commercial that was better than yours instead of running it in Huntsville, does that ruin your chances? What do you think that would do?

Larry: TV guys will only allow three house wholesalers. Some markets are bigger and they might allow more. People are not dropping off. They're not saying oh, “I can't believe you brought someone else in.” That's something you'll want to talk to Tony in the team about, but as far as I know, I think there might be one other person doing TV somewhere in Florida for land. And I think they actually do houses too.

So they probably say something along the lines of, “I also buy land if you have vacant land.” But mine is pictures of all of farmland and land in the commercial. And so it's very specific. And again, if you want it to move to different markets, you've already made the commercial, so you can do that. That's completely reasonable. You can work an entire state over the course of a year and a half, or something like that, just moving around through the different markets.

Seth : All land investors out there who send direct mail can probably relate to this on some level, where you might get an angry call from somebody who's like, “You're a scammer! And I’ll call the attorney general on you or report to the local news!”

It's easy to think that way when all you have from a person is a letter with no face, no voice, no personality, just maybe a lowball number on there, maybe not even that. But when you can see a person's face and hear their voice, and not just that, but see it on TV, the thoughts go through their mind like, “Is this guy really a scammer? Why are the TV stations letting him do a commercial? No, he must have some credibility. He must be a legit guy if he's going through all these steps.” When really, nothing has changed about your business. You're just doing it on TV now, and you never were trying to pull anything smart. You just changed the way that you're communicating with people.

But do you agree that it’s a big part of this?

Larry: Yeah. And it's interesting because it's kind of the same leads that you get, like I said, from direct mail, they might be a little bit older. I was kind of leery of how you shoot the commercial. I buy land for cash. I just kind of didn't like how gimmicky that is. And they were just like, “Larry, don't try to reinvent the wheel. It speaks to people that are motivated to sell.”

So I'm not getting people that know what their land is worth and they're trying to get full market value—it's just the folks that are calling in and they're not going to use the land. They don't want it, and they hear cash. I mean, so you're getting a qualified lead just because of how your presentation is. Yeah, it's working great.

Seth: Yeah, I think most people have a pretty good intuition. If you're a sleazy salesman, that comes across pretty quickly and they can pick up on that, but watching your commercial, you just seem like a normal, nice guy. And I think that's probably how a lot of people are, even if you're not even the most well-spoken, slickest person on screen.

It almost plays to your advantage to be normal, to be the common person that understands that nobody's gone through that kind of thing. Again, that's stuff that you can't really get from a letter, but you could from being on TV.

So are you planning just to keep running more and more of these ads?

Larry: I think are will probably move around a little bit. Like I said, I'm going into another market now. I'm excited about it. You can get creative. I basically just use the footprint that they have for the house wholesalers. So, you know, I ordered my little golf shirt with my logo on it to add legitimacy to me and my company, but I think there are a lot of different strategies that you could have for this. If you're going after hunting property, maybe wear camo, be that land guy.

I got into land a little differently. Maybe I don't have a big history of being an outdoorsman or a big hunter or anything like that. I never did any of that stuff. So I think there are probably a lot of ways that you could get creative on how you want to present yourself to the people you're actually really targeting.

Seth: Yeah, when I think of what I saw in your commercial, and I think of what that would look like if I saw that as a sponsored ad on Facebook or something, I don't know, I can’t put my finger on it, but the way it was shot doesn't look like an online video ad. It looks like a local news TV station ad. It just has that look and feel to it.

Usually, when I see online video ads on something else, it just doesn't look like that. That kind of cameras they’re using, the pacing, and the music… But if you were to just copy and paste that thing out of some of the plays, it feels like you almost have to redo it in a way to cater more to the audience.

Larry: We're going into the place they're shooting the real news, the real everything, so it's a little intimidating. Again, you got your lines, and your script, and you put it on the ground, but you're on a huge green screen. Like, the floors are green screen, behind you is a green screen, and there are massive big-time TVs, and you think like Anchorman, those big TV cameras in there, and it shows up in that, like you said.

Seth: I would be intimidated by that, for sure.

Given that you're paying a little over 5,000 bucks a month to air these ads, at what point would you look at this and say this isn't working? Is it if you get zero deals per month from that, or two, or one? What kind of deal volume do you expect in order to say that, “Yep, this works” versus “No, this doesn't work. I'm gonna stop doing it in this market.”

Larry: It’s a small sample size because I've only been doing it for four months, but there has been a little decline from my first, maybe two months to my last two months. So, I think, you really just need to monitor the amount of calls you're getting and if you're not happy with it, again, the beauty is you shot the video. It's not over, let's try another market. Or you could even turn it off for a little, and then turn it back on, give it a few months' break.

Because you've already done all the work. All it is, is paying for those spots. So you don't have to really dwindle down before I just totally cut it off. But I don't plan to do that. I plan to just move around to different markets if it completely dries up. But again, very small sample size for me to just say no, that's not the same number of calls I got in the first month to the fourth month. I'm not gonna say that yet.

And they're not all going to be home runs and maybe some months aren't going to be home runs.

Seth: And how long have you been doing this now?

Larry: My first ad started January 9. So I think I was shooting my commercial maybe back in December. Probably started communication with them in November. So yeah, there's a little onboarding and ramp-up to when those calls go live. You want to have everything set up with your script and your call center and all those kinds of things.

Then, once it's up, I mean, it's great. It's just like a mailer or PATLive, the leads just pop into your CRM.

Seth: Yeah, sounds like maybe it just needs a little bit more time to figure out the exact metrics. Like, when is it a success versus not? Or how long do you need to try it before you can even make that call?

Curious to see where this goes for you, and if it ends up working long-term, or if different markets receive it differently. And I guess it's also helpful (and I know you've mentioned it a few times now about how you're very specifically going after four acres with road access, I think you said), and that, I'm sure, plays some role on this as well.

In terms of if somebody was just willing to take anything and everything, they probably get different results. And I'm sure you probably get calls from people anyway who don't fit that profile, right? Like people who have properties that are less than four acres or something like that, you probably still hear from them, right?

Larry: I’ve had people with houses that have called that are in a bind. And it's really interesting. As part of the program, you're in a mastermind with a bunch of wholesalers that do houses and so I made some great connections and really learned from them on hiring and the structure of house wholesalers, and then I've been a great resource for them. They'll call me, and we had one that didn't really work out.

But a lot of the house wholesalers, they don't know land. So if they're around your area and they don't bring deals to you and say “Hey, let's partner up on this,” I’ve probably not done a great job of being on all those calls. And I probably need to because I think there's some low-hanging fruit there in networking within the group of wholesalers to be that resource to them.

If you are on those calls, and you say “Hey, I'm working in Arizona” or whatever, you're gonna have house wholesalers get leads. And they will get leads right now they don't know what to do with them. They have nothing. They don't know how to evaluate them, and they're just kind of throwing them off.

So if you can get into the mastermind and make relationships, actually stay in touch, which is what I've done a bad job of. That's a whole other avenue right there for you as well.

Seth: You said you get about one deal a month from this $5,000 ad spend? Is that what you said earlier?

Larry: I've got four deals. So I've been doing it for four months, and I could have probably had a lot more, but I’m picky. I'm not a big volume guy. I'm more of a cherry-picker.

Seth: How many actual calls come in from these things? I know we've talked about the number of deals, but do you just get hammered with call volume after this? Or is it 10 calls and one deal for that, or 20 calls and one deal from that? What should a person expect if they run this kind of ad? Should they have a whole team ready to handle the call? Or what are your thoughts on that?

Larry: No. And I mean, there’s one guy that I talked to in Memphis. He's on the calls, and I have an assistant she'll usually do the initial call, and then I'll get on if there's some negotiation or she feels like there's value to be added by having the guy in the commercial to come on.

But yeah, it's 127 calls. So it's 30 calls or so a month. They're spread out, you might get three one day and none the next. It's nothing that's not manageable, and you know you're doing a good job of qualifying it on the front end by asking them what county it's in. What name is it under?

So you can do it like we normally do or look it up on a map where you're not going to have a reference number. But if you ask the right questions, you're going to be able to know instead of just wasting a bunch of time. You're going to just handle it like you would direct mail and you're gonna look it up before you ever do anything with it.

Seth: And I know you said, I think, to shoot the commercial and produce it, that was 10 grand. What is the cost of working with Tony? I assume that's probably a separate cost, right?

Larry: His separate mastermind is $99 a month. I don't know the exact specifics if you have to do it or not. You might just be able to run the ads without it.

Seth: Is that a cost of him or his team? Like finding the right stations and doing all that negotiation on your behalf? Is that what you're talking about? Or how do you get that hand-holding from him and his team to get this stuff set up?

Larry: That's the initial 10,000. That includes your video shoot, and the negotiating, the picking the channels, all of that stuff.

Seth: Sounds good. I mean, any other markets you've looked at? I think you mentioned Huntsville and Nashville and how there are different costs per month to run that. I mean, if you’ve looked at super high-traffic markets, like how much could this be if you were doing this in LA or something like that, what would be a high-end amount that a person would have to pay? Have you looked into that all?

Larry: I have not. I just kind of worked in the area that I am working and I like.

Another interesting thing is my ad says I buy land all over the U.S. They have not worked, but I have talked to people that live in Huntsville that have land in Nevada or wherever that they saw the commercial, and they're like, “Hey, I got this out here” and wherever.

You know, it's not just that market, you're letting them know you buy land all over the United States. And we all know that some of these out-of-state owners, they don't have maybe as much sentimental value and are going to be easier to letting go, so I'm glad I remembered to touch on that because those leads do come.

Seth: Larry, I appreciate you sharing all this with us. Is there anything else that person should think about or consider or know about if they're interested in this kind of thing?

Larry: I mean, if you're good with getting out of your comfort zone for 15 minutes and rolling into a TV studio, it's a set-it-and-forget-it kind of thing. You're not sitting there working on your next meal or holding your giant list for skip tracing and all that kind of stuff. I think it's an avenue that people should look into, at least have a conversation with Tony, and answer something they can, and see if it's right for you. I think it's definitely an avenue that has not been touched that much.

It's obviously working for house wholesalers. I've had a good experience. And so there's just not that many people doing it. And I think we all know how expensive mail is and hiring a bunch of people to run text messages. I don't think that that $5,000 is completely unreasonable. I'm getting results, and again, your market might be half the cost of what mine is. You don't know until you reach out to them and get these questions answered.

So yeah, again, their website is remtv.com/land to get connected.

Seth: I'll include a link to that and a few other things we talked about in the show notes for this episode. This is episode 158, so you can go to REtipster dot com, forward slash 158 to find all that.

One final question. Obviously, you are a fan of this TV ad thing. Get a gun to your head and you're not allowed to do two of your three marketing methods. So you're doing texting, direct mail, and TV ads. You're only allowed to do one, and you can't do anything else with your TV or direct mail, or texting.

Larry: Man, I guess it depends on the day, but if I don't get any calls one day, then I'm going to say something else. And we've all seen the great results that direct mail can yield.

But I can’t give you a good answer, depends on the day. But I do really love that I can set it and forget it. There's no other work that's involved. There's none of the uploading. There's none of the picking the mailer, there's none of the pricing, there's none of that stuff. So it's definitely up there. It would be hard for me to turn it off at this point, for sure.

Seth. I guess it just depends on what your response and acceptance rate is on direct mail, but 5,000 bucks a month, or what could they send close to 10,000 units a mail, depending on where you get your mail from and what kind of mail you're sending. If you're getting maybe a deal for every 3,000 mailers so that could result in two or three deals, maybe from direct mail. But again, it all just depends. You’re right, it probably is different from month to month.

Probably one of the big benefits with TV is that you're just reaching people in a very different way that they don't otherwise see or think about, and there's the credibility. It's a very viable thing that you'll get deals that can only be had from TV if you want to go down that route simply because people are turned off to any other way of hearing your message. So that's worth considering too.

Larry: Yeah, one hundred percent. I'm sure people are getting a deal every 3,000, but I primarily work in the southeast, more than five acres, and it's not 3,000. That's for sure. It's much more than that. Maybe double that. I feel like it's reasonable because of the kind of deals I'm getting.

Seth: Well, if people want to reach out to you or ask you a question or anything?

Larry: Yeah, people have seen me on Facebook and asked me questions, so I got two profiles Larry Jarnigo, you can search me, there's there's not many of them. Maybe my dad has one or something.

I had a one for business with a professional headshot, and then just a personal one. Doesn't matter; hit me up. They know I enjoy talking shop and meeting people on social, guys. So yeah, I'm happy to talk about this stuff, hop on a call, Zoom, whatever, you can find me there.

And then my business is Land Exit Advisors. And so you can just email me landexitadvisors@gmail.com is another place to find me.

Seth: Are you in the REtipster Facebook group?

Larry: Oh, yeah.

Seth: That is the correct answer. So you could also check out Larry there.

Appreciate you coming on. Thanks again.

Again, if you guys want to see the show notes, REtipster dot com, forward slash 158. And if you have your phones out, go ahead and text the word “free,” F-R-E-E to the number 33777, so you can stay up to date with all the stuff going on with REtipster.

Thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.