I’ve noticed that not everyone sees the concept of “real estate newsletter” the same way, and that can cause some confusion.
Some agents see real estate newsletters as hard-copy, old-fashioned printed newsletters. Others see them as email marketing content sent to a list of internet leads. Still others see them as email “blasts” of new listings or solds. All these things can be called real estate newsletters, as long as the purpose for your “newsletter” is clear to you, and you design your marketing strategy accordingly. The important guiding factor should be who your audience is.
There are ultimately two different audiences for real estate newsletters:
- Lead-conversion newsletters: One audience consists of active leads. Their newsletters should contain timely real estate information of value to them as they prepare to buy or sell.
Whether they came from Adwords campaigns, blogging, open houses, or responses to “What’s my house worth?” postcards, these leads are actively interested in buying or selling.
They need frequent email newsletters (sometimes two or three per week, depending on the urgency of the lead), each with a single-point of information that can be acted upon immediately, including links where they can interact with listings, calculators, and neighborhood news sources, all threading back to the agent sending the newsletters. These types of newsletters are collectively called email marketing, and the purpose is to get someone to take an action. You can have many different target markets within this audience, so the spin of your message can vary, depending on the target.
There is an additional category of newsletter here, and that’s newsletters designed to generate leads (not simply convert them). These contain a plethora of content intended to capture the interest of potential buyers, often relocation buyers. Some people call these newsletters, but they’re really a type of content marketing that looks more like a traditional print magazine or online blog than a newsletter.
- Retention & Referral newsletters: The other real estate newsletter audience consists of past clients & contacts. Their newsletters should help you keep a foot in the door so you can retain their business and generate referrals from them long-term.
These types of newsletters are focused on entertainment. They should have several short articles of broad appeal, as well as a little real estate content designed to pique someone’s interest if they’re starting to think about buying or selling again. The goal of these newsletters is to help keep a relationship going over many years.
Agents who use retention newsletters should reach out in person periodically to keep their readers engaged, even if it’s just to say, “Hi, are you still getting my newsletters? Great! Is there anything I can help you with right now?” Your goal in sending these newsletters is to lay a foundation for creating future business. By using long-term retention newsletters, you’ll never be embarrassed to call them, or wonder if they still have your number.
These types of newsletters work well in either email or print, depending on your typical clients. For instance, if your past clients are mainly in the senior sector, or they’re an active group of business referral sources, you may want to send a printed newsletter. You can also send printed retention-type newsletters to a geographic farm to create a relationship by proxy.
Ideally agents will mix the two types of content: Send a little warm and friendly relationship content to active leads, and a little active real estate information to past clients. Here at Fast Newsletters, we write retention newsletters designed to keep your clients’ attention long-term. We also include calls to action to engage past clients who are becoming interested in buying or selling again. You can customize our real estate newsletters to make them exactly fit your purpose and market.