The Real Estate Tomato: The Virtual Farm, Email Marketing Secrets

So you bought the website, you have the lead generation forms, you got the traffic, and now you have a a bunch of names and email addresses with no clue of what to do next.

Jason Benesch is a Personal Marketing Coach for Z57 Inc. Working one-on-one with dozens of website toting Realtors is his daily grind. I asked him to contribute to the Tomato this week with an article based on his experience with a common stigma among novice online Realtors: Email Marketing.

"Internet leads are useless, I have no idea who's coming by, what they're looking for, and they never respond to my efforts to contact them."

"I have called every number in my lead database, and those with whom I spoken weren't exactly serious about buying a home."

"I have emailed everyone in my lead database and most have not responded."

"I just assumed they would contact me if they wanted some more information."

If you find yourself thinking these thoughts, you are not alone. I get these responses from agents all day long.

The closing process a Realtor runs a buyer through is efficient and clockwork: Meet with buyer, get them prequalified, drive around looking at homes, build trust and then get an offer in... But when that first step doesn't happen, then what?

Your website is pulling names, emails and numbers from the traffic you have driven to it. You make an effort to contact every lead. When you get no response, or the brush off that they are just poking around online do you simply move on to the next lead? You shouldn't... you are throwing away your future's quality leads.

I find it amazing when speaking with a client who feels that they've exhausted all 50 of their inbound web leads in just two days or even two weeks! These clients not only need to change their approach to handling their leads, but also their understanding of the online audience.

An online lead is not the same as someone who has just called on a sign, walked in the office, or referred to you. The internet has made us more independent and avid self educators. When was your last flight booked by a travel agent? Your next car...how many hours will you log online researching it? Vacations, medical issues, career development it's all being researched passionately online. The home buying and home selling process is no different. instead of the 6-18 week development of a traditional lead, Realtors need to understand that an online lead is a 6 to 18 month incubation period. Buyers go online to research every element of the home buying process and along the way will leave a clue or two as to who they are. This clue is day one of a long incubation period that needs to be executed effectively to develop into a serious lead.

Old way: Spend $500 monthly on postcards, fliers, newspaper ads, etc. then wait for a handful of phone calls and work the leads.

New Way: Effectively market your website, get hundreds of people visiting your site a month, convert the traffic into leads, incubate those leads through an effective email campaign, engage developed leads, and then find them their home.

In other words, the process has changed, the competition has changed, and if you are not looking for the audience that will be ready to buy a home six, nine, eighteen months down the road, you're going to be out of the game.

Here are eight important keys to remember when running an effective email marketing campaign...

1. Subject Line: 2 objectives

1. A good headline. 75% of all articles are read because of the power of the headline.
2. Back it with your name and company.
EX: 10 steps to getting your offer accepted - Jason Benesch, Coldwell Banker.

2. Provide Information That Is Current and Pertinent -
Given the current market conditions, today's news is big news to both buyer and seller. Bringing the news to them builds trust and awareness. The faster your audience feels that you are the best source of knowledge and news the faster they will be willing to be engaged by you. I believe this may be the most important point I can make.

3. Include Specific Information -
Avoid the ramble. No one cares. Specific information about a listing, or about a loan, will keep interested buyers reading your emails, which is half the battle. Get to the point.

4. Send Them Out On A Regular Basis -
Whether that be once a week, or once a month, by continually dropping a line, the email will spark residual interest and better your chance at developing a lead. Don't rely on canned drip email programs to do all the work for you. They can suffice as a crutch, but as I mentioned in tip 2, it is the current and pertinent that builds trust.

5. Brand Yourself -
Make sure they not only know who the email is coming from, but that they remember what images represent your brand (website, logo etc). Branding yourself through an email marketing campaign is not only cost effective, but a very efficient way to build mind share. When your potential clients think of searching for homes online, they should be thinking of you.

6. Come Up With Effective Call To Actions -
Before you send out any advertising, make sure you always ask yourself "why would I go to my website if I saw this ad?" If you can't answer this question, don't send out the ad. Develop your incentive and drive home the message. If your email addresses the last three years of home appreciation rates, then your call to action would be, "Come see how much your home is worth at www.yourdomain.com."

7. Make It Personal -
Make sure the email is not dull, unoriginal, and overall junk email. We all receive junk email and know exactly what it looks like. Make sure you plan your email to be personal. By following rules 1-6, you should have no problem with this but one more little trick is to make sure you have a program that will address each client individually in the title. ex: "Good morning Jason, have you seen that the national mortgage rate dropped a quarter point last night?"

8. Let Them Go.
Finally, adding an 'unsubscribe' option at the bottom of every email will not only help you avoid spam traps, but also assure your database that they are free to leave at any time.

------

Thanks Jason.