You’re an excellent agent and you’re fully committed to your networking schedule. You introduce yourself to caffeine fiends waiting for their fix at the local Starbucks, you hand out business cards at your friend’s summer barbecue, you frequent open houses looking for buyers and you make a point of posting on social media that you’re available to take on new Real Estate clients on a somewhat regular basis. So why is it still so hard to reap the benefits of all that networking and posting?

The answer: you’re forgettable and people loose stuff. #harsh #iknow

The truth of the matter is that when you hand out business cards at networking events, unless the card recipient is truly ready to buy or sell a home and just happen to not have a Realtor yet, then they’re probably going to loose your card and/or forget about you in three years when they’re ready to make the big move.

And posting on Facebook a few times a month (or let’s be real, once a month) with just your newest listing doesn’t do anything to differentiate you from the dozen of other Realtors in your hyper-local market doing the same thing. Why should that friend of a friend you met one time 9 months ago choose you over the other two Realtors they’ve probably met in that same time frame? Unless you’re actively maintaining those connections in an authentic way, you’re going to waste much of your efforts.

Creating content on a consistent schedule and sharing it with your networking contacts can lead to 3 times and as many leads and 6 times as many conversions as traditional marketing efforts. And which channel is best to focus on: without a doubt it’s your email list.

 Read on to learn why building an email list for your Real Estate business is so important for consistent sales and lead generation and how to master the art of email marketing without being sales-y.

Why build an email list instead of focusing on social media?

1. You own that list

Algorithms change, people close their social accounts, their usage changes, the list goes on. And of course, you have to play by each platforms “rules” in order to “beat the algorithm” as it were and see consistent engagement on your social content. At the end of the day, when you’re investing a lot of time building your social media presence without directing your audience to your email list, you’re building your home on borrowed lands. 

You ultimately want to be in control of your audience and your contacts. It could be devastating to your Real Estate business should a particular channel shut down, close your account or change their terms of use causing you to loose contact with an audience you’ve invested a lot of time into attracting. But, if you’ve been steadily growing your email list in the background, then you own that list and no one can take that away from you.

The icing on the cake when it comes to posting on social media is that roughly only 10% of your audience ever sees what you post. Whereas the average open rate of email for Realtors is a whopping 27%! Even if you just follow the numbers, it’s easy to see why making email marketing the center of your Real Estate marketing strategy can yield the best returns for your efforts.

2. You can become a trusted resource

Picture the following scenario: a homebuyer is getting ready to sell their home. They’ve lost contact with their first Real Estate agent and are now looking for a new one. They met a Realtor at a holiday party a few months back who they thought was nice enough and professional. Another Realtor they met last year asked them to join their email list. This second Realtor has been sending them an interesting email twice a month for the past 18 months. Emails with market updates, testimonials of happy clients, special discounts they’ve negotiated with local businesses, an invite to a neighborhood meet-and-greet, and the occasional update update of new listings.

Which Real Estate agent do you think is more likely to get this buyer’s business? Both agents have only met this buyer once, or maybe twice. But other than that there hasn’t been much face-to-face contact. So it’s far more likely that the second agent, the one who’s been maintaining the digital relationship, will get the business and the first agent will likely have been forgotten about.

Yes, this is harsh to hear, but wouldn’t you feel the same if you were in the buyer’s shoes? Unless a buyer or seller already has a close connection with a friend or relative who is a Realtor, they don’t have much else to go one when it comes to choosing a professional they know they can trust to represent them well in such a large and important transaction. So it’s easy to imagine that if you were to share consistently and authentically with your email list in a way that is primarily helpful and only sometimes sales-oriented, you’re likely to be the Realtor who is both top of mind and a trusted resource when the day comes for a reader to make their next house move.

3. It’s cost effective

Email marketing is far less expensive than direct marketing. With mass mailers, it can be really difficult (or sometimes impossible) to market to only your target market and ideal customer bass and this leads to needing to send out far more postcards or flyers than you need to in order get a decent response rate. However, if you add email marketing into your content marketing plan, you’ll get a much more reasonable return on investment.

How to master email marketing in your real estate business

1. Choose a platform

There are two primary routes to take when considering which email type of email marketing platform to choose when it comes to email marketing software. The using the email feature of your IDX website. Real Estate website builders like My Real Page and Placester have a built-in email add-on that allows you to automatically send new listings to your email list. Based the parameters you enter for a particular contact, they’ll automatically be sent an email with active listing that match their criteria. I don’t recommend this as your primary email marketing strategy and if budget is of concern, then I wouldn’t worry about paying for a software like this at all. They can be quite expensive. More on this in a future post. With the rise in popularity of third-party websites like Zillow and Redfin, it’s becoming easier than ever for home buyers to look at listings themselves, so I wouldn’t be overly concerned about investing in an email marketing software that includes the ability to automatically send out MLS listings in your emails.

The second option is look outside the scope of real-estate-specific software. Email marketing has been used by content creators for decades and so there are now dozens (if not hundreds) of options available. Some of the most well-known email marketing software are Mailchimp and Constant Contact, however I find both of these options to be more cumbersome to use than they need to be and anytime I’ve tried to use them, got too frustrated too quickly and gave up. Additionally, once your list starts to grow, both Mailchimp and Constant contact charge based on how many subscribers are on your mailing list so they can get fairly expensive.

There are two options that I do recommend. The first is Flodesk. The new kid on the block and that is making waves. A quickly growing cult favorite among content creators and influencers in all niches, Flodesk is currently offering an introductory price of $19 a month and this includes an unlimited number of subscribers on your mailing list and sent emails. Plus, if you sign up at this rate, your subscription cost won’t increase as long as you maintain your subscription making this software extremely affordable for Real Estate Agents at any stage of their business growth journey.

What I love about Flodesk that you don’t get from other email marketing platforms is easy of use and amazing designs. Flodesk is what I use for my email marketing software and as a designer, I feel that their email templates are so well designed that I don’t make significant changes to them. 98% of the time I just add in my own images and copy and they’re ready to send out to my list. Additionally, there is almost no learning curve to get started sending emails with Flodesk. It’s simple enough to use, yet collects enough data to be an effective marketing tool. If images and a well-designed layout and landing pages are important to you, I would definitely consider looking at Flodesk.

The second option that I recommend is SendFox by AppSumo. If including images in your emails and design-y layouts aren’t part of your brand and instead you like to just focus on text-based content, then SendFox is the way to go. The email-writing portion is set up to be nearly identical to sending a regular email so again, almost no learning curve here. The data collection is really in-depth, allowing you to dig deep into your numbers and understand your audience. And last but not least, this is by far the most affordable email marketing software for professionals available. At $49 once (yes, a one-time payment of $49 for a lifetime of sending emails), you’ll quickly make your investment back and then never need to consider this expense again. 

There are of course so many options to consider. These are just two of my favorites. Ultimately, the best email marketing software is the one you use. I recommend trying just 3 or 4 and then make a commitment.

2. Come up with 5 content “buckets”

If you’ve ever been intimidated by the thought of sending out an email newsletter on a regular basis and not having enough quality content to write about, you’re not alone. The key to coming up with great content that builds both connection and trust with your subscribers is to come up with 3-5 “content buckets” or content themes. Each week, your task will be to write content that fits into one of the content buckets. What this does is limit your scope a bit and provides some direction for your writing.

When deciding on your content buckets, you’ll want to keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to keep your audience engaged, keep them interested enough to stay subscribed to your list, and to establish yourself as a trustworthy and knowledgeable Realtor who works hard to serve their clients well. Sound heavy? Not to worry. Here is an example of a set of five content buckets that together, will meet this goal: 

Bucket 1: Share something personal

Keeping in mind that your email newsletter is not to be confused with a 2005-style blog where you write about what you made for dinner and that you’re considering getting a dog. You want to walk the fine line between humanizing yourself to your audience and cultivating a sense of community and loyalty with them, all the while not burdening them with the minutia of your personal life.

Keep this section light, upbeat and interesting. Adding in a quick note about a recipe that was a total hit with your family or the rescue dog you ended up falling in love with is totally fine to sprinkle in, but it shouldn’t be the main point of the email.

Bucket 2: A market update/insight

This section is fairly self explanatory. This is your opportunity to flex your professional skills and showcase your industry experience. Are you noticing a trend that can be backed up either by your years of experience (share anecdotes here!) or by reputable data? Yes yes yes! Share these insights with your list. Is now a good time to buy or sell? Why? What signs or facts lead you to this conclusion? The more detailed information you can share with your list the better.

Just telling them point blank: “Now is a good time to buy” without any substantiating evidence tends to come across as just being sales-y. Whereas backing up your statement with a study, stats from the banks, a recent change in local zoning regulations, or anecdotes from the last time you saw this Real Estate environment won’t come across as pushy or sales-y but instead helpful, insightful and professional.

Bucket 3: A local/neighborhood update/event/special discount

This section should be a fun one, and an excellent way to make sure that you reduce the number of people that hit the dreaded “unsubscribe” button on your emails. Emails that fit within this theme will be a great tool for keeping your subscribers on your list and also show them that you’re highly invested in your community.

Stay on top of local news, new businesses that are opening, public events going on in the area and share these dates with your email audience via this content bucket. Want to take your strategy to the next level? Of course you do! Why not approach local businesses you love and negotiate a deal, just for your audience. Head to a independently owned coffee shop you frequent and ask them if they’ll consider offering your readers a promotion on a coffee and a muffin for the next month. Maybe the local mechanic will throw in free tire balancing with an oil change. Or perhaps that cute little clothing boutique will consider hosting a “friends and family” open house the night before they out all their new season inventory out.

The beauty of putting together small local specials like this and sharing them with your audience is that you’ll be supporting small businesses in your area, your audience gets a perk for staying connected with you and you can continue to grow a hyper engaged email subscriber list.

Bucket 4: Share a business win/update 

This content bucket is pretty self-explanatory. This is your opportunity to wrap up your recent business wins and updates. This could be anything from highlighting your recent sales, your new listings, an upcoming open house, an award you’ve won or hitting a career milestone such as “100 houses sold!). I recommend sharing these wins only via this content bucket so that your audience doesn’t feel as though you’re constantly trying to sell to them with every email.

Bucket 5: Share an update from a colleague

The fifth bucket example is a kind of a bonus one in that it shows your audience that you’re able to think beyond your own sphere, that you’re invested in building connections with your professional network, and that you’re not intimidated by a healthy dose of competition. And a bonus on top of a bonus, you can ask this same colleague for the same favor and have them introduce you to their audience. Best to choose a colleague who isn’t in direct competition with you. Perhaps another Realtor who specializes in another neighborhood or type of property. 

Feel free to use these bucket ideas as a template, or just go ahead and use them if they work for you!

Final tip:

If you’re concerned about running out of ideas to write about, don’t! The key is to just get started. Once you’ve picked your content buckets (or just go ahead and copy the ones I recommend), just think of two ideas for each bucket. You’ll see in the next step that that comes out to equal over two months worth of ideas. Then, over the next two months, keep a running list on your phone of ideas that pop into your head. Trust me, you’ll start finding ideas for an email in the strangest of places. If you’re good about writing down your ideas, soon you’ll have a list of ideas longer than you could ever finish.

I like to use Evernote on my phone for making and organizing lists on the go. It syncs wonderfully with your desktop so that you don’t have multiple versions of the same list.

3. Create a content calendar and schedule

Now that you know what you’re going to write about in your emails to your subscribers, it’s time to create a schedule. Creating a content calendar will not only help you space out your content evenly, it will also help you to create your emails ahead of time and schedule them to send automatically if you like. I highly recommend taking this extra step. It will remove a lot of the anxiety out of creating email marketing content. Writing emails ahead of time will also produce better content as you’ll be more relaxed than if you were to write your email knowing that there is a nearby looking deadline to hit that Send button.

Creating a content calendar doesn’t need to be a complicated process. Use your favorite paper planner or a digital one if that’s more your style. I’ve created a 2021 content calendar in Google Sheets that you can use as a template.

Pick a day of the week

It’s often recommended that you send your emails on the same day of the week. This way, you audience will come to expect and appreciate your routine. Choose a day of the week that you think your audience is most likely going to be at their computer and reading emails. As a tip, Friday is generally not a great day to send out an email newsletter as most people are pretty tired from the week and their minds are already looking forward to their weekend plans. Try Monday-Thursday for better conversion rates.

Choose a frequency 

Once you have your weekday chosen, you need to decide on a frequency. If you’ve ever subscribed to a clothing brand, or a grocery store, you’ll be painfully aware that they send out multiple email campaigns each week. This is definitely not necessary for a Real Estate brand. Remember that the goal of your email marketing efforts is simply to build trust and stay top of mind with your audience. Buying or selling a house is not an event that happens terribly often for most people and so they don’t need to be constantly reminded of your services.

Additionally, I don’t want you to get overwhelmed with creating email content and then be tempted to quit. Consistency is key here. Choose a frequency that you feel very comfortable to stick to. Once a month is perfectly fine and I wouldn’t send more than 2 emails a month at the absolute most. My recommendation would be to start with once a month and keep an eye on the data of your campaigns, your open rates and feedback from your subscribers. Increase the frequency of your emails only if you’re getting a lot of direct positive feedback that they’re absolutely loving what you’re sending and they want more.

If you’re only sending one email a month, that means that you’re only connecting with your email subscribers 12 times a year. We need to make these points of contact count. Mix and match your content buckets and lay them out on your content calendar for the year. Choose 2 buckets to be included in each email.

4. Pre-write your content and schedule it

I recommend working one month ahead. So in March, you’ll write your April email newsletter for example. This will keep your content as fresh as possible while giving you plenty of breathing room to create the content. If you get pulled away from your desk a few times while trying to write your email, it’s totally fine if it takes you a few days longer to get it done than you originally thought.

Once you’ve written your email for the next month, add it into the email marketing software you chose and schedule it to send out automatically. Doing it this way will guarantee that you stick to your schedule.

As you’re writing your email content, if any new ideas pop into your head, make sure to add them to your running ideas list!

5. End each email with a call to action (and answer them!) 

Make sure you end each email with a call to action. This will show your mailing list that you value their feedback and that you’re there to serve them. Finish each email with a question, or an action you want them to take. And if you get these questions, make sure you answer them! (and keep track of those questions. They’ll be fantastic content for your social media posts, listing presentations and future emails). 

There is a lot of opportunity to develop a string relationship with your future clients through your email engagement. According to Social Sprout, only 11% of real estate businesses respond to their incoming social messages. Although this statistic is for social media messages, it’s also very likely that there is a significant amount of real estate businesses that treat their email marketing campaigns the same way. 

By inviting your audience to ask their questions or follow through with a call to action and responding to each one, you’ll quickly differentiate yourself as a Realtor who makes time to care for their clients.

6. Stay commited to your calendar

As best you can, stay committed to your content calendar and don’t miss an email. If you start with just planning to send one email per month, that’s only 12 emails per year. Write out your emails one month ahead of time and you’ll be less likely to miss sending one. If you stick to your schedule, your audience will come to expect to hear from you. Isn’t this the best thing a Realtor could ask for! #happyleads

7. Ways to add subscribers to your list

A: Networking 

Now that you know the how, the what and the when, it’s time to find the who. You need to keep a steady flow of adding new subscribers to your list. It’s inevitable that each month you’ll get a few people that unsubscribe from your email list. And that’s totally fine. You actually want this to be the case. If someone unsubscribes from receiving your monthly email newsletters, that means that they were likely not going to be a good fit as a client anyway.

When you network and meet new people, instead of simply giving them your business card and hope that they file it away and remember you when they list their house (yikes!), why not change up your approach. Instead, let them know that you send out a monthly newsletter and ask them if they’d like to be on the list to receive it. Make sure to highlight the fact that you actively find special local deals and that your emails are the way to take advantage of them. Tell them that you keep track of what’s happening in their community and that you send out these events in your monthly newsletter. 

This approach will indicate that you’re offering much more value than just blasting them with automated listings that they could just as easily find themselves online using a tool like Realtor.com or Zillow. You’re letting this new contact (and potential client) know that your monthly email newsletter is a great way to stay on top of what’s happening in the community and score some neat deals at the same time.

If they say “yes” and want to join your monthly newsletter, make sure that you get their email address and let them know what day to expect your next email. Manually add this new subscriber to your software. If you just tell them that they can sign up to the newsletter on your website, they’ll likely never do it.

B: Your website

Make sure that visitors to your website can join your list by adding a sign up form on your website. Add this into your website somwhere underneath the header, and still high up on the page so that it’s really prominent. Also add it into the footer if possible so that it appears on every page that a visitor might view.

Whichever email marketing software your chose, they should have detailed instructions on how to add the code into your website.

C: Social Media

Once a month, dedicate one social media post to letting your social audience know about your amazing resource: your newsletter and let them know now they can join. If you’re able to, go ahead and create a fantastic freebie to share with new subscribers to help make it even more of a no-brainer choice to join your email list. You can design this freebie in an online design tool like Canva.

An example of this would be a guide they can download when they join your list. Make it as helpful as you possibly can. Something like:

– How to prepare to sell your home

– First-time homebuyers: what to expect when you’re expecting to buy your first home

– The local’s guide to [your neighborhood]

– Home improvement tips when you’re getting ready to sell

Your email marketing software should have an option to create a single-page optin form or a landing page that will automatically deliver the guide once someone has subscribed to your list. This optin form will come with it’s own unique url link that you can include in your social media posts introducing the guide you’ve created. Sharing these helpful tools to your Facebook and Instagram audiences is a fantastic form of lead generation.

If you want to know more about email marketing strategy for Real Estate Agents, designing freebies and landing pages to attract new subscribers, or creating email newsletter content, give me a shout at hello@nectur.co and I’ll happily answer all your questions (see what I just did there? That’s my call to action for you!)