Property Ad Guru » Communicating with Customers

Email Newsletters: How Does Yours Stack Up?

Alice Allan — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:31:40 +0000

In an era when social channels such as Facebook and Twitter are growing at such phenomenal speeds, the humble email newsletter might sound like an outdated concept. But while social media is important, it can’t reach everyone, and tools like email newsletters still have a role to play. That is, as long as they are well executed.

At propertyadguru.com, we receive nearly a hundred email newsletters a month, so we know the range of quality that’s out there. There are some common mistakes that plenty of email marketers make, most of which have easy fixes. To find out how your email newsletters stack up, consider these questions:

1. Does your newsletter make sense, even if pictures are blocked? Many people will choose not to display email images by default, and if you don’t offer something else to grab their attention, chances are they won’t turn on the images to see your whole message.

2. Are you writing too much? Just like a blog post, email newsletters need to be structured with scanning in mind. Long blocks of unbroken text will make readers’ eyes glaze over, so break things up with plenty of headings and links.

3. Are you writing too little? Readers will switch off if shown too much information at once, but they will never engage in the first place if your message isn’t clear. State who you are and what you’re offering within the first few lines to ensure people don’t give up in sheer confusion.

4. Are you going overboard with colour and/or bold text? It’s true that breaking up text with bold and colour will keep people scanning, but use too much of either and your readers won’t know where to look. Keep things consistent, using bold text sparingly and just a few well chosen colours.

5. How are you using subject lines and snippets? A good subject line will obviously help your email stand out in the inbox, but the snippet of text that tells readers what’s inside the email is also key. Make sure you’re telling people enough to get them to open the email in the first place, or it could end up in the trash, unopened.

For more email tips, check out our in-depth look at email newsletter creation, along with our Top 10 Tips for Email Newsletters.

Gist Pitches to Real Estate Agents

Alice Allan — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 22:39:56 +0000

“Know more about who you know” is the tagline of Gist, an online contact management service that has real estate agents in its sights.

Gist, which is currently free to use, links the information contained in emails to the web. So if you’re looking at an email from an important contact, you can also see recent news about their company, along with their blog posts and tweets. Gist updates and prioritises this information as well, promising to give users an “information edge”.

Considering how important client contacts are in real estate, its hardly surprising that Gist is now pitching its services as particularly helpful to agents. In the following video, Gist’s Greg Meyer talks to productivityjunkies.com blogger Darin Persinger about how he sees agents using the service:

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Agent Strategies: Listings Are Not Enough

Alice Allan — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 23:06:39 +0000

This week’s agent strategy comes from Edward Gailey, lettings manager at UK agency Phillips and Stubbs, who says links to listings are not enough to attract the public’s attention.

“We found that simply posting links to properties bored the public silly and had to look at changing that drastically!” Gailey reveals.

“It’s a case of finding something of interest locally, or indeed a well known figure or house, and then using that,” Gailey adds. “We have found it best to think ‘what would we want to receive as a blog item?’”

Gailey explains that Phillips and Stubbs are in a fortunate position in terms of content, because the agency manages National Trust cottages and houses in its area.

“When one of them comes to the market we are able to link these to free features in The Times or Telegraph, for instance, and then post a link to both the property and the article,” he says.

“It seems that the National Trust have an excellent public image, so it is a pleasant thing to be able to do.”

Even if your agency doesn’t have a partner to provide a steady stream of interesting content, there is still plenty you can do. For some ideas, start with our articles on the good, the bad, and the ugly of blogging.

The Positives of Negative Comments

Alice Allan — Thu, 20 May 2010 23:13:55 +0000

While plenty of real estate professionals start a blog with the simple aim of generating more website traffic, many quickly find that the day to day realty of blogging is tougher than they first thought.

Coming up with ideas in the first place can be difficult enough, but what about when your readers decide to take you to task on what you’ve written? How do you confront negative feedback without the conversation degenerating into a mud-slinging match?

For a few tips, let’s take a look at a recent example of negative blog feedback from New Zealand. Market leading portal realestate.co.nz recently unveiled a complete redesign, prompting a swift backlash on the portal’s blog.

realestate.co.nz CEO Alistair Helm did a couple of things right in responding to the criticism in the blog comments:

To begin with, he responded personally to as many commenters as possible, addressing many by name.

Helm also kept his answers polite and comprehensible, even though the situation was, he admitted, “personally disappointing.”

Finally, he thanked each commenter for their contribution, despite that fact that most were critical of the new-look website.

Helm has a major real estate portal’s reputation to consider, so there’s little chance his responses were going to be anything different. That said, there’s no reason real estate agents shouldn’t take the same approach when negative comments pop up on their blogs.

When you think about it, there’s a lot more at stake than winning an argument with a commenter. If you can respond to a negative comment with some forethought and poise, you’re also presenting yourself, and therefore your business, in the best possible light. And that has to be a positive.

[Image: thesituationist.wordpress.com]

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Post-Sale Communications: Customers for Life

Alice Allan — Tue, 11 May 2010 23:07:58 +0000

You’ve done the deal – sold the house, signed the papers, collected the cash and shaken hands. So what’s next? Goodbye and thanks for coming?

Not so fast. It’s now time to switch into post-sale mode and begin communications that will keep your name present in the minds of both buyers and sellers.

To begin with, you’ll need a good contact management system that allows you to find, sort and manage every person you’ve worked with. This doesn’t need to be overly complex. As long as your system is easy to use and accessible – preferably from your mobile phone or PDA as well as from your office – you’re on the right track.

To create this system, you should record as much information about every potential customer as possible. Name, phone number, address, and email are a given, and as you work more closely with people and find out more about them, notes on birthdays and spouse’s/children’s details are great to have as well.

Ideally, you should get into the habit of filling your contact management system with this information as soon as you have it. If it stays scribbled on the back of a business card, that potentially vital information won’t be useful to anyone.

Once you’ve got as much information on past customers as possible, you’ll have a better chance of sending out your communications at the right time. For example, sending out a Christmas email to every contact in your database is fine, but wouldn’t it be even better to send a modified email to those contacts who don’t celebrate Christmas?

Email newsletters including local news or new listings are similar. If you can target those contacts that are most likely to be interested, i.e those that live in or near the area you’re writing about, or who you think might be looking for the kind of property you’re advertising, you’ll be less likely to lose contacts to the “unsubscribe” button.

Of course, most people who give out their email address are aware that not every email they receive will be written for them. But the power of a well-maintained customer database is that you don’t have to rely on people’s patience for the one email out of ten that’s relevant. In other words, with targeted post-sale communications, you can keep in touch with past customers further into the future.

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Vendor Reports: Why Are They Important?

Alice Allan — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:05:41 +0000

Do you let your vendors know what’s happening with their advertising every step of the way throughout their campaign? Or do you avoid showing them statistics until the end, filtering the results so you only deliver the positive news?

Good or bad, you should be providing your vendors with weekly updates on what’s happening with their advertising campaign so you can better manage their expectations and, ultimately, the result of the campaign. An easy way to do this is by distributing a weekly vendor report.

If you are a busy agent with lots of clients, the thought of gathering statistics for all of your properties might seem daunting. You’d need to find out how many people visited each property and what number of enquiry emails you had, then look at comparable properties and combine it all to make a meaningful report.

This could take some time and may seem tedious, however each of your clients deserves the individual attention and feedback, particularly if they are paying for the advertising. But for the sake of your sanity, it’s best to look to an automated system to do the work for you.

One easy way to gather this information is through your advertising portal. Most of the large players will provide you with the raw statistics on each of the properties you have listed. Some of the more advanced portals will even package this information in a useful report that you can then forward on to your vendors.

If your portal does not provide such a service, you may need to do the grunt work yourself. No doubt you receive reports of some sort from all the different portals you advertise on as well as your own website. You should collate as much of this information as possible so you can provide your customers with a well-rounded picture of how their marketing is tracking.

Vendor reports are also a fantastic tool for you to compare properties and see which portals are producing better results than others, along with which properties are performing better and why. This knowledge is great for advising customers on how to achieve better results from their advertising.

Above all, remember to keep your vendor reports simple and only include the facts. Ultimately, vendor reports should provide a springboard for considered conversation between you and your vendor about what’s best for their listing.

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Email Marketing Tips from campaigner.com

Alice Allan — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:37:19 +0000

Interested in starting an email marketing campaign? Not quite sure how to go about it? Then the latest free ebook from campaigner.com might be the place to start.

The free ebook covers topics including creating an email marketing strategy, what to say, how to present it, how to build a subscriber list, and how to evaluate your campaign’s effectiveness. Of course, campaigner.com is promoting its own service via the ebook, but there is still plenty of information useful to those who aren’t interested in signing up.

And if you’re looking for more on how to use email in your business, check out these Property Ad Guru articles:

Email Newsletters: Awareness, Loyalty, Leads

Top 10 Tips for Email Etiquette

Top 10 Tips for Email Newsletters

What Makes Customers Choose You?

Alice Allan — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:41:05 +0000

As a real estate agent, you’re probably all too aware that you’re one of many people offering a similar service. Chances are, there are a number of agents working in or near your area with whom you need to compete. So how do you make sure you stand out?

In any marketplace, the idea of the “unique value proposition“, or UVP, is key. UVP might sound like a hazy marketing term, but all it refers to is the thing you do differently to your competitors. Identifying your UVP can help you focus your business and ensure you don’t waste too much energy covering the same bases as everyone else.

In terms of online marketing, your UVP could be the fact that:

- Your website gives people the best information about a certain area;
- Your website is somewhere people can find trustworthy advice about the buying and selling process;
- You’re an active, helpful member of an online social network who strives to help home hunters;
- Your portal listings are the most detailed of any agent in your market, complete with good photos and great copy;
- You send out a well-written, informative email newsletter once a week that people really want to read.

In defining your UVP, infomarketerszone.com points out that you don’t need to limit your thinking to your own industry. “Study successful companies of all types,” they advise. “Seek to understand their unique value proposition. How are they different in the market?”

One last tip: your UVP should be based on something you’re good at, and ideally enjoy doing. You could aim to be your market’s best real estate photographer, but if that’s not where your strength lies, you’re much better off emphasising areas where you know you can deliver.

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Why Content Matters

Alice Allan — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:14:06 +0000

The word “content” is used so often these days that it’s easy to let it wash over you without thinking about it what it really means. But the fact is, quality content is central to any successful online marketing strategy. In other words, good content can transform your message from general advertising noise into something people really want to find out more about.

So what exactly do we mean by “content”? The short answer is: everything you create. Everything from your company’s “about us” page to the snippets of information you publish on Twitter contributes to the way you are perceived online. Over time, the content you create builds up your brand’s individual personality, which in turn creates understanding and expectation in your audience.

The question is, does that personality engage people? Are you offering potential customers something that will entice them back again and again?

One example of a company that has content production down to a fine art is computer giant Apple. While not everyone is a convert, Apple has such a devoted fan-base that they even have their own consumer-run forum. Their content is clear, simple, and friendly without becoming too informal. It’s also seemingly endless. Everything from how-to video tutorials for their software to information on how their products impact on the environment is available to their customers.

Another aspect of Apple’s marketing strategy to consider is that the company doesn’t currently have a presence on social media. Many would argue that this is because Apple simply doesn’t need to drum up more support, but we would add that the brand often benefits from consumers not knowing what’s happening – its secrecy drives the buzz for upcoming releases to fever pitch.

As we all know, any real estate agency that tried to operate using that strategy would soon have to shut its doors. Agents benefit from being as visible as possible. But don’t make the mistake of thinking anything that puts your brand in front of potential clients is worthwhile. If the content isn’t up to scratch, you could easily be sending leads straight to your competitors.

Think about it: you might have a killer business model, a dedicated team of staff, and all the latest tech tools meant to make your everyday tasks streamlined and simple. But what is it that you’re offering people when they find you online? Is it clear? Does it offer something worthwhile? Is it part of an overall marketing plan? Ask yourself these questions before you publish something online, and you’ll be on your way to establishing a brand that’s recognised, respected, and maybe even enjoyed.

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Email Newsletters: Awareness, Loyalty, Leads

John Hart — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:36:47 +0000

Many estate agencies and individual brokers only dabble in publishing newsletters while others view it as a vital tool in the marketing and advertising mix.

Online newsletters can be an extremely cost effective and successful marketing tool which allow you to:

Keep your brand in front of the market continuously
Create and build relationships with prospective customers
Maintain relationships with current and past customers
Establish yourself as an authority in property matters
Entrench yourself and/or your company as part of the local community

Keeping in contact with and engaging all your contacts – (including tenants who become purchasers, who become sellers, who become investors, who provide referrals and repeat business) - is obviously an important activity.

From a prospective customer point of view, newsletters are a great channel for positioning you and your company as a leader in the market. But that doesn’t mean the newsletter should be all about you. The “leadership” position comes from focusing on the needs of customers/prospects and providing information for them that focuses on your particular area of expertise.

Effective newsletters provide relevant information to the target market whether they are sellers, buyers or investors. It’s a good idea to have specific links to hosted articles on your site that allow readers to tune into more information that is most relevant to them.

So what should you include in your newsletters?

Market update
Movement on sale prices
Number of listings on the market
Governmental issues affecting property

Rental properties available

Featured properties of the month

Helpful hints
Things to do when moving house
Preparing your home for sale

Renovation tips

Quick online surveys about your area (with results to be published in next newsletter)
Survey of confidence in the market
Favourite restaurant in town

Community notice board
Highlight any sponsorships/community organisations you are associated with
Community activities

And yes you should beat your own drum a little
Testimonials
Staff profiles
Recent sales/successes
Awards

Building subscribers

You should look at every opportunity to sign people up for the newsletter. Everyone in your area is part of the community and most want to know what is going on – especially when it comes to property.

Take print-outs of your online newsletter to open homes and inspections and offer the opportunity to everyone you meet to sign up to receive it.

Advertise it in your windows, on mail drops and in community advertising/promotions.

Make your “free online newsletter” subscription stand-out on the home page of your website.

Put a link or URL to the subscription page on your online listings and in your general advertising.

Sign up request forms for attendees at any of your investor seminars, tenant or landlord information evenings, and any other functions you may be sponsoring.

If you have banner advertising on any portals, you should allocate one of them to highlighting your newsletter.

Lead generation

Ensure you include the ability to “send to a friend” on your newsletter. Referrals are key.

Look at discussing issues around selling your home and provide the opportunity for people to request further information. It may be a printed booklet such as a “Home Sellers Guide” or a Free Valuation.

Keep including the opportunity to link back to different areas on your website.

How to design and send an online newsletter

Many of the back office or CRM systems now have inbuilt tools to help you design and send html emails. If not, there are a myriad of email marketing programs that can assist at all different levels of sophistication. Your web designer should also be able to assist.

Helpful hints

Ensure there are articles or links to articles in each edition that relate to each of your subscriber segments so they will find at least one article of interest.

Avoid jargon or buzz words – make the content as approachable as possible.

Ensure there are some images or graphs to break up the text – the layout needs to be pleasing to the eye and easily scannable.

Keep each article relatively short and concise and perhaps have a summary in the newsletter with a link to the full article.

Quick idea to generate seller leads

Given that many people look to get rid of unwanted goods in the lead up to selling their property, it might be fruitful to advertise a free “Garage Sale Kit” in your newsletter. It could include signs (with your logo) that sellers can put their address on, a Garage Sale Hints brochure, and balloons. Perhaps you could even have a section on your website advertising garage sales coming up each week.

And finally…

Whatever the specific content, your newsletter should accurately reflect your business’ views and position in the community and be professionally presented and marketed. You should also have some way of measuring the results or effectiveness of your newsletter, otherwise, what’s the point? You should know how many times it is opened, passed on and which articles are read most of all. Over time, these statistics will give you a feel for what sort of content works best for your audience and you will be better able to target your future newsletters.