Target Marketing of Landowners

[thecfarm]

I get those letters. I feel because I own 170 acres. I have no idea how they get my name. Tax records,registry of deeds??I do read them and look at the company's name. I have a logger and use to log the land myself.

[Jeff]

If you search the forum you will find all kinds of ways members have marketed their portable sawmill businesses. I can't remember any of them being direct cold marketing, but I may be wrong. I think you will find the very most effective is to be out there sawing, or even pulling the mill down the road. Get a sign for your mill with your name and phone number on it. Again, I think that cold approach may turn off as many as it turns on. Probably more. Just my opinion on it.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=search2;search=portable%20sawmill%20marketing

[BargeMonkey]

 We routinely pull tax maps and aerial photos at our county tax office, the new ones are pretty good. 99% of the time i would never just cold call a landowner, we see it as a huge turn off. Any logger around here who doesnt have 5-10-20 woodlots ahead is in that situation for a reason. An add in the local paper attracts more trouble than its worth, i see a few timber thieves from greene county always posting "professional" services on CL trying to swindle someone. We go the extra when cleaning up a job or making sure stuff is cleaned up and thats the biggest advertising you will ever need, that and have decent looking equipment, if the landowner see's trash they figure your fly by night and trouble.
It maybe a regional thing but i find more work and meet more people just by getting out of the truck and introducing myself, ran into the new head regional forester out back last fall, 10 mins later he's wanting me to go all over cutting, up this way there is less and less loggers, and the good seperate themselves from the bad quickly.

[clearcut]

Hale87,

I'm not going to comment on the wisdom of your marketing idea, but I will on the method.

Land ownership records are public information and they reside usually in the county recorder's office or the county assessor's office or both. That is where you should start.

Some counties (or states) make it easy to access this information. Bedford County, unlike other counties in the state, does not have easy online access that I could find. So you need to call or visit. They may be willing to give you the information, or sell you the information. They could make it easy and inexpensive and download the data to a CD or flash drive (bring one). Or they could fight you all the way and only offer it up in print for an excessive per page charge. They may offer only on-site access.

The county surely sells land ownership data to private firms and may be able to provide you with contact information to those firms . This is also public information and they have to provide it.

I did find a commercial operation that claims to work with Bedford county, and they will sell you the data. I have no other information on the company or the quality of their data.

    http://www.infoconcountyaccess.com


Good luck!