As a real estate agent, your contact list can be one of your most valuable assets in your marketing toolbox. How can you increase its value and use it to get the most out of your real estate newsletters?
Many real estate agents we speak to struggle to know what types of emails to send when they do not have listings or open houses to promote. Our advice, send out a newsletter to all past clients and contacts on your list. Newsletters are an excellent way to stay in touch and on top of your prospect’s mind. It gives you an opportunity to reconnect with past clients and customers and lets them know that you can still help them find a new home or sell their existing residence.
Most agents we speak to understand this concept but most struggle on what information to include in a monthly newsletter. Below, we outline some of the best tactics when constructing the perfect real estate newsletter.
1. Always Provide Valuable Content
Your sphere is always thirsty for the most up to date real estate market information. Providing the latest trends and statistics on pricing, neighborhood demand, days on the market, and inventory provides real value to your past clients and brands you as an authority that they can trust and count on. Depending on the size of your contact list you should not be sending out the same information to each customer, because some of the content may not be relevant. The best way to manage this is by segmenting your customer emails into different groupings, so you are only sending the most pertinent information to each type of contact. Segmenting at its most basic level would be to create two categories, one for buyer clients and another for past sold customers, but it can become more granular than that. Examples of other segments you might create are:
- Prospective buyers and sellers
- Recent buyers and sellers
- Customers from past sales
- Grouping by geography or neighborhood
Segmenting each group into different a category will ensure you are sending the most relevant information to each of your contacts which will minimize unsubscribes and keep your prospects engaged with you.
2. Set A Goal And Design Corresponding Calls-To-Action
Before you sit down and try to write your real estate newsletter, consider why you are sending it and what do you want your recipients to do after reading it? Sending emails are an effective way to drive traffic to your website; which is one the main goals. However, driving traffic from your newsletter to your site requires a strong, distinctive, and well-placed call-to-action. Your call-to-action communicates to the prospects what they will find of value on your site. What about sending an email newsletter to let recipients know about new listings in the area? Well, in that case, it is important to include some beautiful photos of the listing, a well-written property description, and a defined button to act as your call-to-action to view a listing’s complete details to drive traffic back to your website or property landing page.
3. Reinforce Your Brand
Each email you send is an opportunity to strengthen your brand and your credentials, reminding your contacts about their relationship with you. In real estate, where face-time and personal relationships matter so much, your photograph is your brand regardless of what brokerage you work for. I suggest including your agent photo in each one of your email communications, no matter which segment you are sending to. However, don’t forget about your broker's logo, especially if it is a national brand, this will reinforce to your contacts quickly who you are and what your affiliation is. If you are targeting prospects who have not worked with you yet an essential tool that works well is customer testimonials. Ask some past clients if you can use their testimonials on your website and in your emails, this is called social proof and can be a very impactful way to establish yourself as a market leader. Furthermore, be sure to include links to all your social media sites and any specific pages on your website that you that you think are important. In conclusion, a well-crafted email newsletter is an important part of a real estate agents digital marketing strategy. Following these steps will allow you to optimize each send and make a lasting impact on your past, future and current clients.