Real Estate Newsletter Best Practices

If you're a regular reader of the blog, you know that I often discuss the value of keeping in touch with your real estate leads and past clients. In an industry where business is frequently propelled by repeat and referral business, REALTORS® can't risk losing touch without also losing out on commissions.

A survey by the National Association of REALTORS® found that 85% of home sellers would likely use the same agent again or recommend that agent to others. How can they recommend you if they can't recall your name? No wonder keeping in touch is such a crucial piece of the real estate marketing puzzle.

Sending out a monthly e-Newsletter is one easy thing that you, as a REALTOR®, can do to stay in touch with prospects and clients on a regular basis. In fact, it should be an important part of your real estate marketing strategy. Some real estate agents get bogged down by believing a monthly newsletter is too complicated or time consuming. The truth is that with the right tools, your monthly newsletter can be easy, automatic and effective. Here are some best practices for your real estate newsletter:

Greet Your Reader by Name

When you run into someone you know on the street it's likely that you greet them by name. This is a social practice that builds relationship rapport and makes the person feel valued. The same notion applies to your real estate newsletters.

Show Your True Colors

As a real estate professional you are the face of your brand. Being recognizable and approachable is part of your business. Build awareness by branding your newsletters and emails with eye-catching, graphic headers. Show off your headshot and make your contact information impossible to miss!

Take every opportunity you have to make your prospects and past clients familiar with your name and face, so that when they need a Realtor you're the one they call.

Timing is Everything

Finding the right frequency for your newsletter is a question that comes up a lot. Write too often and you risk bombarding your prospects. Don't write enough and you risk your prospects asking, "Who are you again?"

When you send your e-Newsletter on a monthly basis, you still have room to reach out now and then with a phone call, birthday card, or holiday greeting without overwhelming your clients.

Offer Valuable Home Ownership Advice

Part of staying in touch is reminding your prospects and past clients that you're an expert on all things related to home ownership. Your newsletter is a prime opportunity to showcase your vast knowledge with information on real estate, home ownership tips, and the purchasing process. Your goal is to offer information so valuable that your readers are pleased to see it in their email inbox.

Understand Who is Reading

When you have a clear idea of who is reading your newsletter multiple times, you have a good idea of who may be interested in utilizing the services of a Realtor!

Prospects and past clients who open, forward, and click on hyperlinks within your email are clearly engaged with your content and are very interested in what you have to say. These are potentially very hot leads. The next step is to pick up the phone and give them a call.

Know When to Mail It

Here's a good plan for deciding exactly who in your database to send out an e-Newsletter to: categorize your database (group your contacts) by A-List, B-List, and C-List.

Your group of A-List contacts will be comprised of mostly past clients who you value the most (perhaps they've given you a large number of referrals or they've done a lot of business with you in the past). Your B and C lists will be comprised of both clients and prospects and you can choose which contacts to put in which list depending on your relationship with them. You may put a prospect who hasn't been returning your phone calls in your C list, for example.

You can send your monthly e-Newsletter to everyone in your database, but I also recommend sending a monthly direct mail newsletter to your A-List because direct mail often has the most impact. Direct mail is more expensive, but the extra cost is justified for A-List relationships. If you're uncomfortable sending your A-List both email and direct mail newsletters, you can always use your e-Newsletter strictly for your B and C Lists.

To view the original article, visit the IXACT Contact blog.