Even with all the attention that social media marketing has been receiving over the last few years, email marketing campaigns are still considered to be among the best promotional tools for real estate agents. There are three factors working in favor of email marketing that real estate professionals should keep in mind:
1 - Marketing automation is best accomplished with email campaigns.
2 - The amount of personalization that can be applied to email marketing is virtually endless. In fact, the right message delivered via email can be more intimate than social media updates, which tend to be too casual. The only other digital marketing tool that can be considered to be more intimate than email would be podcasts.
3 - Email marketing campaigns are extremely cost effective when compared to other methods of internet promotion.
Another factor to consider in relation to email marketing is that this is a medium that people tend to take seriously. While it is true that members of the Millennial Generation prefer social networks and mobile apps to communicate and perform various tasks, they tend to use email for businesses matters such as looking for jobs, sending important documents and making major purchases.
There is also the issue of intent among Millennials: following a brand on Facebook is a matter of clicking or tapping on the thumbs-up icon to indicate that they "Like" something, this has largely become a trivial action. Signing up for an email newsletter or sending a message to make an inquiry denotes more than just a passing interest; it suggests that there is actual intent behind the digital interaction.
How Email Marketing Helps Real Estate Professionals Today
Just a couple of decades ago, real estate professionals were still sending out manual emails and tracking them on spreadsheets for the purpose of gauging reactions from leads. These days, real estate agents have very advanced tools at their disposal; we are talking about analytics, segmentation, drip campaigns, remarketing, and others.
Consistent marketing can be accomplished with the right email campaigns. The most sophisticated email marketing strategy combines the use of a business intelligence platform and content creation to deliver results. One of the most traditional uses of email marketing, the monthly email newsletter, has been augmented significantly with modern marketing tools and the right content.
Newsletters have always been effective across many industries, but only when they have been properly crafted in terms of content and lead targeting. One of the most successful newsletters of all time was published by Infocom, a software developer of computer text adventure games in the 1980s. Initially, the newsletter was titled The New Zork Times but was later changed to The Status Line after the New York Times sent a cease-and-desist letter. This amazing newsletter was distributed to game players, distributors and computer shop owners alike; the content was as engaging as the adventure games Infocom developed, and the company even followed an editorial calendar that crafted the content along current events.
Readers loved The New Zork Times because the content was top notch and spoke to their interests. Finding one of these newsletters in the mailbox was an enjoyment because readers knew what to expect from their beloved brand. This is exactly what real estate professionals must keep in mind when creating their newsletters; the content must truly speak to prospective homebuyers or homeowners who may wish to list their properties.
These days, real estate agents can take advantage of drip campaigns, which consist of sending out specific emails based on their actions. As its name suggests, this campaigns drips slowly for the purpose of turning leads into conversions.
In the end, branding is the ultimate factor to understand in relation to real estate and email marketing. If a brokerage wants to position itself as the most reliable in a certain region, it must strive to create campaigns that promote the brand instead of pushing specific listings that they wish to sell immediately.
