How to Make Your Real Estate Email Marketing Go Viral

I am always helping my clients with their newsletters – what content, how often, how long.  Most of you don’t want to send it out more than once a month, and I get that, I really do.  I don’t send mine out like clockwork either (I’m working on it!) but this post below by Jeff is so true.  Once a week, every week, same day, same time.  Like clockwork.  I will be implementing this strategy for every agent that is brave enough to put themselves out there like this every week.

Post by Jeff Logue of Retechulous, LLC

Discover the secrets to real estate email marketingDo you want to know the single greatest strategy for generating more sales? Well, unless you learn how to effectively implement real estate email marketing for your business, you will be missing out on an enormous goldmine of opportunity.

However, in order to fully take advantage of this tactic, you need to know exactly how to interact with your audience. Too many professionals miss this very important point by either sending very sporadic emails or simply providing content that is less than desirable.

Thankfully, we have discovered a system that works regardless of where you live or who you are marketing to…

Secret Real Estate Email Marketing Formula That Produces Results

We refer to this as the laziest but most powerful method for staying in touch with your list. Therefore, we no longer accept the terrible excuses that agents don’t have enough time. Or that people don’t respond to this medium anymore.

That’s complete horse manure. In fact, our own business has basically been built around this one single strategy. So now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s dive into how you can start to implement this idea right now.

  1. Step 1 – Schedule 2 specific days each week: Before we get into any mechanics, you must first tattoo this behemoth truth into your mind…without consistency, your real estate email marketing efforts will be completely wasted.

    Consequently, it is vital to your list’s lifeblood that you make a point to send out your messages like clockwork each and every week. Make this just as important as presenting your next listing presentation or hosting the next open house. 

    In fact, many case studies show that people are much more likely to interact and remain signed up for your content if you email more regularly than if you only touch base once or twice per month. So pick a morning early in the week and another one a few days later in the week to blast out the following…

  2. Step 2 – Updated free weekly list of (insert your niche):Regardless of whether you focus your real estate email marketing on foreclosures, luxury properties, town homes, ranches, distressed properties, etc. the same principles apply.

    Simply sign into your MLS or IDX system and paste the updated link into the body of your email. This can be entitled, “Your Free Weekly List of INSERT NICHE is Here!” Include any other necessary details as well such as their name or your contact information.

  3. Step 3 – Best buy deal of the week: Please do not neglect to follow through with this step. We have heard countless reports of people receiving viral responses on these messages alone. Thus, take the initiative to find something that offers great incentive and then tell people about it.

    This real estate email marketing strategy can be done via text or video. If you choose to use the latter (which can tend to generate better response), do a brief live tour of the property or a screen capture utilizing Screenr.com to briefly review the details.

  4. Step 4 – One call to action (CTA) per email: Finally, keep your messages simple with this tip. Otherwise, your emails will tend to be crowded and cluttered and could hurt your response rates. Something that has worked for us personally time and time again is a “private open house.”

    This offers a nonthreatening and effective way for people to view each property without feeling pressured. Plus, you can leverage your own time even better! Be sure to give people the option to either call, text or email to RSVP.

Twitter Tips for Better Social Media Marketing

We can all use a reminder from time to time on how to effectively use Twitter in our daily marketing (yes, I said daily!)  Guaranteed SEO gives us 7 really useful tips and reminders when tweeting about your business.  I admit that twitter is a hard one for me sometimes, as I feel like there is already this big conversation going on, but I’m not sure where to jump in.  I try to send out relevant tips and information to be Real Estate Agents who need help, and to other VA’s who may be looking for guidance from someone who has been doing this for a while.

Tried & True Twitter Tips for Better Social Media Marketing

  1. Optimize your Tweets. Your tweets are another reflection of your brand.  That means that each one should be carefully created to match your branding while offering a good representation of who you are as a company. Just because Twitter is a more casual medium doesn’t mean that you can let your branding fall to the wayside.
  2. Use keywords and hashtags in your tweets. Keywords are important for all web content, whether that’s a blog post, page copy, a webinar or a tweet. Having your keywords helps establish a good SEO structure, and also helps your customers associate those words with your brand. Using hashtags (which help categorize your tweets and organize conversations) can also help to emphasize your keywords within your Twitter content.
  3. Always use links. Try to always include a relevant link within each of your tweets (preferably to your website or blog) that encourages Twitters users to continue their engagement with you outside of Twitter’s platform, driving traffic to your website.
  4. Use Twitter as a networking tool. Talk to people! That’s what Twitter is all about. Using Twitter to just broadcast information, rather than starting conversations with other users is the same as going to a networking event, sitting in the corner and muttering to yourself.
  5. Build Relationships. Once you’ve initiated those conversations, keep them going. Don’t talk to a follower once and then forget they exist. Build strong brand relationships that turn regular Twitter users into brand fans and word of mouth marketers for your company.
  6. Be informative not sales-oriented. Just posting about sales information, offers and freebies, isn’t a good way to build relevant relationships. Sure, you will probably get more followers initially, but are any of them going to turn into strong advocates for your brand? Probably not.
  7. Connect your Twitter account to both your Facebook & LinkedIn accounts. This is an easy and quick way to help spread your content to a wider audience. By linking all of your accounts you make sure that you have the greatest reach and can connect with your target customers more readily.

April here:  Regarding #7, push out from Facebook to Twitter – never EVER the other way around!  You don’t want your tweets clogging up your Facebook feed, and neither do your friends.  That’s the quickest way to get blocked or unfriended.  #thatisall

Realtors, Use an Editorial Calendar to Blog More Often

“He who fails to plan, plans to fail”

I speak with a lot of Realtors® in my business, and one thing that runs true with most (not all) of you is that you don’t like to blog.  You tell me things like

  • I don’t have time to blog!
  • I’m not a very good writer.
  • I don’t know what to write about.
  • Can’t you just do it for me?
I get it because I’m not much of a blogger myself.  I do it because when I don’t, I c an see it in my analytics – big time.  So let’s dissect your most common responses when I ask you about blogging.

I Don’t Have Time to Blog!

Um, yes you do.  It takes 15 minutes if you plan ahead for it, which you should be doing for everything.  You know how you just sat on Facebook for 15 minutes?  Whether you were “working” on Facebook or not, you could have written a blog post about that great little restaurant you ate at last night that’s in your farm area.  Set aside 15 minutes per blog post and JUST DO IT.  You and your analytics will thank me later.

I’m Not a Very Good Writer.

Neither am I.  Next?  Seriously though, a little advanced planning will help you overcome your fear of poor writing skills.  Determine your audience and write as though you are speaking with them one on one.

One of my first clients was a Southern California Realtor® whose native language was not English, and you could tell that in his writing.  It bothered him because he felt as though people would view him as less intelligent than other agents and he’d lose business AND be embarrassed.  Instead of giving up, I began editing his posts before putting them up on Active Rain and his website.  3 blog posts per week and his site climbed up the ranks and earned him a new client eventually.

I Don’t Know What to Write About.

We’re all plagued by this issue and none of us are immune to it.  Even the most prolific bloggers will be hit with the dreaded writer’s block at one point or another (and if they tell you otherwise, they’re lying).  This brings us to the real reason of this post:  Plan Ahead!

I use a simple WordPress Plugin called WordPress Editorial Calendar.  If you and I work together, you’ll see that it’s installed in the Posts section of your website.  Here’s a picture:

Editorial Calendar Plug-in for WordPress

With this cool little feature you can plan your posts in advance and also see at a glance everything that you’ve published so far.  Plan it out a week, month, or even a year ahead of time.  Put in ideas for your holiday posts, link to other posts, reminders for your clients, WHATEVER.  Just start planning ahead.  Once you’ve done that, put a recurring appointment in your calendar that reminds you to blog.

You can also determine what you’re going to write about on a weekly basis.  Monday is about market stats, Tuesday is for local events, Wednesday is a picture submitted by you or a reader, Thursdays you can add in local politics.  You get the picture.

Also setting up your categories in advance will push you in the right direction.  My advice is to have 5 to 10 categories and that’s it.  It will keep you focused.  Anything beyond those categories can be covered by tags.

Can You Just Do It For Me?

Yes and no.  Yes we can help you install and set up your editorial calendar.  Yes we can help you come up with a kick-ass plan to get the ball rolling.  Need good categories?  We can help you set those up as well and some tag ideas to go along with it.  And yes, we’ll even write some blog posts for you, but they’re going to be generic in nature and aren’t going to be from YOU.  Well-researched information that your clients will want, but the real meat needs to come from you.  Put yourself out there and let your clients get to know you.  Blogging is just another form of social networking and should be treated as such.

If you need help getting off the fence about blogging, let us know how we can help.  Leave a comment below or have a free consult with us to find out how we can help you.  I can even schedule a strategy session with you and get you moving forward in no time.

 

 

 

 

Rich Real Estate Agent, Poor Real Estate Agent

Data provided by ActiveRain.com. Join 215,590 Real Estate Agents on the world’s largest Real Estate Social Network.

Thank you to Doug Wathen, my awesome client and owner of Wathen Realty Group for sharing!

Sharing: 7 Reasons to Start Blogging More Now

Read it on Jimmy Mackin’s site, TheMLSApp.com to read his comments.

Hubspot’s 100 Awesome Marketing Stats, Charts, & Graphs highlights statistics on why every business should be blogging early and often.

Here are my favorites

#1. More Traffic

#2.  More Leads

#3 – Frequency Matters

 

#4.  Volume Matters

 

#5. Get Found on Google

 

#6.  More Indexed Pages = More Leads

 

#7.  Save Money!

 

 

This guide was packed full of AWESOME statistics on Blogging, Social Media, and SEO.  I highly recommend downloading it.

 

 

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Are You Ready to Delegate?

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Break Through Your Fear & Get a WordPress Website

You know you need one, but you don’t know where or how to start.

(This post was lost in our transfer to a new hosting company.)

 

Are You Social Enough Online?

There is a Right Way and a Wrong Way for Realtors to use Social Media.  How are you doing?

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Using Social Media to Attract Clients

Social media and networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are receiving lots of attention as tools for Client Attraction – and it’s easy to spend a lot of (wasted) time there. To attract ideal high paying clients from social media, it’s important to remember that that the same rules apply for social media as they do for traditional marketing: giving value, building relationships!

At the core, Client Attraction is about PULLING clients in with a compelling message and creating such high-content information that adds value to your audience that it motivates them to take further action into working with you. And the same applies with social media.

So, when using social media, you want to be clear on how you can tap into this new marketing strategy and still remain “Client Attractive.” Here are some strategies for doing so:

    1. Have a clear objective and develop a strategy. Due to the popularity of sites like Facebook and Twitter – it’s easy to get sucked into the “bright shiny object syndrome” and immediately jump in 100% by using these tools as a way to market your business and attract clients. But, you can’t just dive right in because “everyone else is doing it.” You need to have an objective. Is it to build your list? Attract more clients? Position yourself in the marketplace with more prospects and potential joint venture partners? What call-to-action or response do you want to achieve with each interaction with social media? Get clear on your end result first – then develop the plan.
    2. Focus on the long-term relationship. Client Attraction is not at all about the “churn and burn” approach to building relationships – and it’s no different with social media. It takes time to cultivate relationships with prospects before they become clients. Prospects through social media still want to know you and like you and ultimately trust you before they decide to work with you or buy your product. Through the power of social media you can deepen that connection and build the bond with the person you’re relating with. You can accelerate that relationship or expand your reach with the amazing “connectivity” that social media provides – but you must remain focused on that relationship and connection you build over time in order to remain client attractive.
    3. It’s not about you, it’s about them. Because literally anyone can tap into connections through social media – you need to be extra client attractive and stand out from the crowd. To “cut through the clutter” and ensure your message and your connection remains on the top of the radar with your potential clients, it’s important to focus on giving before you expect to get anything in return. Deliver the same ‘high-value’ and ‘high-content’ information that you do in your articles, emails and on your website. Social media is no different. Show your connections you add even MORE value and your prospects will be attracted to you.
    4. Be authentic, real and transparent. In case you haven’t noticed a theme here, it’s this: Social media is all about connection. People want to connect with you in so many ways like they would in real-life. Be who you are on Facebook and Twitter as you would be face-to-face. Even though it’s online, people can still see through the “fake” of social media just like they could if they meet someone in person. The more you “show up” as the real you in social media – the more people will want to connect with you and be interested in building that relationship even further. Have integrity with everything you do with social media. Remember this: Never post anything through social media that you wouldn’t want blasted on a highway billboard or the front page of the New York Times for the entire world to see.
    5. Social media is all about the conversation – happening online. If you’re not showing up and contributing to the conversation that is taking place – you’ll never leverage the true power of social media and build a client attractive business. It’s not a one-sided conversation where you just continually promote yourself and not engage with anyone in your network. Social media and networking is no different than in-person networking. It’s a two-way conversation for you AND the other person – that’s what creates the value. When you contribute and collaborate with your audience, they will respect you and be more attracted to you.
    6. Be consistent and plan your time. Social media could suck you in and drain all your time very easily and quickly. Before you know it – you’ve spent half the day on Facebook and Twitter and you’ve not added one person to your list or engaged any new potential prospects, let alone gotten any “real” work done. Develop a daily and weekly plan where you identify how much time you will spend on the platforms and what result you want to achieve. It’s like any other slice in the Client Attraction Marketing Pie – you can’t just put in half the effort and expect the full result. Show up consistently and contribute consistently to realize the long-term benefit.

 

Remember this: You don’t attract clients FROM social media. You attract clients THROUGH social media. It’s from the connections you establish and the long-term value you provide those individuals that cultivate the relationship and as a result, they see you as Client Attractive. Focus on that and you’ll never be without clients, again.

 

YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

The first step in developing social media as part of your Client Attraction marketing strategy is identify your overall objective and then work backwards with the detailed plan. What is your desired end result? For example, if it’s to build your list – then you want to develop a step-by-step strategy that allows you to engage your network with the intent to attract people back to your website where they can get your irresistible free offer and join your list.

The second step is to identify the tools and platforms that work best for you. Twitter might be extremely popular out there, but does your market actually exist in big numbers on Twitter? Perhaps they are more gathered in a social networking site like LinkedIn. Spend some time on these various platforms and determine which works best for you and your niche.

The last step is to show up and do the work. Social media as a client attraction strategy does take some personal time and effort. You can’t just setup a profile and update your status and then ask, “Where are the clients?” You need to step up and contribute to the conversation with valuable content on a consistent basis to attract the clients you want through social media.

If you’re anxious to attract clients online and build your list, you’ll want to follow the “Authentic List Building Program”, a program we created to walk you through the same methods we use daily to add over 1,000 highly targeted and qualified leads to our list each month for the last 12 months (yes, that many!) It’s all step by step and laid out for you in a logical way, with video webinars on exactly what you need to be doing and how, examples, scripts, screenshots, as well as video and downloadable recordings and transcripts of each coaching class. So easy! To see a presentation on the authentic list building principles and get your copy, go to http://www.ClientAttractionListBuilding.com

© 2011 Client Attraction LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Derek Fredrickson, The Authentic Internet Marketing Specialist, is CEO and head Online Marketing Coach for clients of Client Attraction. To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive weekly marketing & success mindset articles on attracting more high-paying clients and dramatically increasing your income, visit www.clientattraction.com.