"I've decided to leave," Beth said in a shaky tone. "It's nothing against you, the company or anything like that. I've just decided to make a change."

Beth wasn't the first agent that I had lost, but was definitely one of my favorites. She was a good producer, took advantage of the classes and training we had to offer and knew the technology better than anyone. After my attempts to dissuade her failed, I had to ask what my competition brought to the table that we didn't.

"They market my database for me," she started. "They upload my contacts into their system and a couple of times each month they send out a well-written email to them branded with my information."

My jaw hit the floor. Didn't she know she was giving away the lifeblood of her business! How could an agent give this responsibility to their company? No agent would ever grant their broker this, right?

Fast forward two years to find me sitting at a desk working for that company in question, formulating a content marketing plan that would take the responsibility of marketing off of our agent population, present them as knowledgeable, consummate professionals and most importantly—manage our company brand in the eyes of hundreds of thousands of consumers. I, much like Beth, now understand the value of a company-managed email marketing program and how this empowered agents to focus on doing real estate and stop trying to market.

I've told this story to hundreds of brokers at conferences and gatherings over the years, and 99 percent of them responded with the same shocked look of disbelief.

Just the Facts

In 2008, while many watched their top producers fail and the lower quartiles take part-time jobs or migrate to the holding company, we watched as agents who should have failed out of the business continued to crank out transactions. They didn't work harder, market more, invest in new technologies or venture into short sales and foreclosures like the top agents did. They simply continued to add new blood into their database and allowed a frequent, consistent and professionally written message continue to engage their audience.

How to Make This Work For Your Company

There are certain key indicators that point to success with this system. Here are a few that I've identified as crucial:

• The agents believe and trust their company leadership and culture.
• The brokerage doesn't produce crap. It invests in engaging content.
• Every email brands the agent (first) and then the company (second).
• There is a simple opt-out for both agents (to remove clients) and clients.
• The roll-out is well-thought-out and strategic.

What Makes for a Successful Roll Out?

Of the line items above, a solid roll-out strategy is probably the most important, second only to company culture and trust. This strategy must be outlined, supported and embraced by everyone in your organization. Marketing, office managers and brokers must not only understand the benefit of this program for the agent, but speak intelligently about it with their agents.

Some suggestions for roll out include:

• Create a two- or three-month content calendar of sample messaging.
• Have email design mocks available for agents that include their cell phone, direct number, headshots, websites or personal logos.
• Offer assistance in the export/upload of agent contact lists.
• Allow agents to segment their lists for different message frequency.
• Have specific monthly send dates for messages.
• Beta test with company champions. Encourage feedback and suggestions.
• Track metrics—open rates, unsubscribes, click-through rates, etc.
• Send content to agents for approval two days before sending and offer them the opportunity to opt out.

Technology to Use and Benefits to Your Organization

There are many options for platforms to run this kind of campaign. Stand-alone email providers such as Rezora and Mailchimp and website companies like Tribus already have this built into their backend. Regardless of what service you use as the mechanism, the suggestions above should be followed and implemented.

At the end of the day, this all comes down to increasing your agent count (through recruiting and retention), increasing the number of deals your organization converts (including referral, marketing and online driven) and increasing brand awareness for both your agents and organization.By creating a centralized email marketing database for your agents, you will differentiate yourself in your market and provide stand-apart value in your next recruiting appointment.

This article originally appeared on the REAL Trends Blog. Reprinted with permission of REAL Trends Inc. Copyright © 2013