Nurturing your Contacts with Intentional Email Marketing

When you hear the words "email marketing", what type of content comes to mind? In real estate, agents tend to think of promoting listings through emails, which is in fact how email marketing is widely used in the industry. However, agents tend to abuse this type of marketing which can cause contacts in their sphere to become annoyed and potentially unsubscribe. Sound familiar? Now before pumping the brakes on marketing your listings through email, consider a more intentional approach to communicating with your sphere and staying top of mind.

As a real estate agent, you should know your sphere of influence and as a result, be segmenting your contacts into appropriate buckets to better target them with content they are interested in; that's step one. Step two is coming up with the content to share with them. Although this may seem like a daunting task, in reality, you just need to take a step back and put yourself in their shoes. As homebuyers, what are they interested in? Do they understand the process of buying a home? What should they be doing? What community are they apart of or looking to join? Think about the bigger picture for your contacts and send them engaging content that makes you look like the expert.

To help jumpstart the process, below are a few different types of content to consider when engaging with your sphere.

• Local News (e.g., community events, new restaurant/business openings, etc.)
• Keeping your sphere up to date on local happenings not only aids in you staying connected and top of mind to your sphere but also can drive email sharing. (If you're already using rezora, use the Dynamic Article options when creating a piece in Zephyr to automatically pull in local, national and custom RSS feeds!)
• Tips on Home Maintenance (e.g., keeping energy costs low, upkeep of wood floors, backyard maintenance, etc.)
• Sharing useful tips on home maintenance can help to build trust with your clients and again, drive email sharing.
• Tips on Financing Home Improvements (e.g., credit, refinancing, loans, etc.)
• Let's be real, everyone could use some tips on financing. That said, this topic is a great way to not only stay connected to clients but also build trust and of course, drive email sharing.
• Market Trends (e.g., median home prices, homes sales, mortgage rates, etc.)
• Sharing market trends with your sphere is a subtle way to help promote new business as it gets your sphere thinking about what particular situation they might be in.
• Referral Incentive (e.g., gift card giveaway, entry into a raffle, interior design consultation, etc.)
• Announcing an incentive when clients provide a referral is an easy way to get the attention of your sphere but also promote yourself, begin to build a testimonial base, and get new clients.
• Resources List (e.g., a list of your favorite home buyer or seller resources, etc.)
• This list could range from your own blog post about buying a new home to a checklist on what to look out for when buying a new home.
• Lifestyle/How To (e.g., home decorating tips, cleaning & organizing, staging, etc.)
• Lifestyle or "industry-adjacent" content is not only relevant and interesting to your sphere, but something you're already well-versed in. This makes it easy to whip up a lifestyle piece or how-to guide that your contacts will enjoy reading.

Whatever the segmented audience, remember that it takes more than a few promotional listing emails to get attention and gain the trust of your contacts. Work some targeted content in to your marketing plan and you'll find yourself turning contacts into clients with ease.