Thinking About Newsletters As Part Of Your Marketing Strategy

 August 7, 2015

A newsletter can, and probably should be an integral part of your real estate marketing strategy for several reasons, including:

It puts your name out there

A newsletter puts your name in the hands of clients and potential clients over and over again. Using a newsletter service like MailChimp means the people who get your newsletter have actually asked for it by subscribing. In other words, they’ve invited you into their email box which means they are at least mildly warm leads.

Excellent content builds loyalty in your community

When you regularly feature a business or an amenity in your newsletter you also build loyalty for yourself in your community. When your newsletter recipients perceive value in your newsletter, even if you only send it out quarterly, you start to build a reputation as a go-to person for all things real estate – and in your own style too. When a email newsletter is liked, it’s awfully easy for someone to forward it to someone else – a word-of-mouth system that’s hard to beat.

It drives traffic to your website

Your newsletter should be aimed at buyers, sellers, and your community in general. When you succeed in this, you’ll have at least three links back to your website and will be giving folks a reason to click. For buyers you’ll have links to each of your listings, including any listings that have stand-alone pages. You’ll also link to details about open houses.

Sellers will click the same links becasue they want to know what the competition in the neighborhood is. Not only are you giving them that information, you’re also demonstrating your excellence as a listing agent. It’s a subtle and effective way to show off your expertise.

Featuring at least one community event or point of interest in your newsletter and linking it to a community calendar or a flyer, on your site will also drive traffic.

It gives you a ‘freebie’ offer on your website

Everyone loves something they get for free and newsletters are an ideal offering on your website. Create a highly visible sign up box (MailChimp let’s you do this pretty easily), tell people about how often they will receive the news, and you’ll start collecting subscribers. It’s almost magic.

What about printed newsletters?

We still see printed newsletters from real estate agents from time-to-time. They are either mailed or hand delivered, usually to everyone in the target area.

The pros include:

  • It puts something tangible in the hands of homeowners and businesses.
  • It lets people who don’t have computers or hate email get the newsletters.
  • They are harder to miss than a newsletter in a crowded email inbox.

The cons include:

  • In most cases, people don’t ask for them. They are distributed to everyone in a selected area which, most likely, will offend some.
  • Maintaining a snail-mail list for a printed newsletter is more complex and expensive than you might suspect.
  • Printed newsletters often end up as street trash which isn’t the image you want.
  • They are more expensive than emailed newsletters. If you’re printing address labels you’re adding to the cost.
  • Most of them get thrown away or recycled – but printed paper isn’t good for the environment even if its recycled.

Okay, you know my bias now, and it’s probably no surprise. I really think a well done email newsletter that’s requested via your website is the way to go.

Have you got questions about newsletters? Feel free to ask them here.

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Anne Wayman

By Anne Wayman

Before Anne Wayman became a writer she sold real estate in Southern California. She worked with her father who learned the business from his father. Not surprisingly she learned a few things along the way. Since then, she has been freelance writing for over 30 years – she is a grandmother, loves cats and writes about a wide variety of topics including real estate.