Thread: e-newsletters

Does anyone have a e-newsletter provider that they could recommend?

G&S

Have you tried www.realtytimes.com? e-neighborhoods also have something on newsletter but it's not that great.

I use Intellicontact for my newsletter. If your list is small (under 500 names), then it's only about $10 a month.

They're used by a lot of big-name companies, but they also have programs for smaller companies like mine.

I've had a few bugs with my auto-responder, but they're always quick to fix the problem.

Their website is www.intellicontact.com.

I know that I have stated this a thousand times on a thousand forums, but I'll say it again here.

If you want to capture more buyer clients through your web site and newsletter you need to sell your products, services, and communities to your potential buyers. You cannot accomplish this task with generic newsletters.

99% of your potential buyers do not care about generic real estate news and info. They want to know about real estate and living in your market. After all, that's why they visited your web site in the first place.

Developing a newsletter with your own personal insights helps to brand you as a market leader and will increase the probability that these homebuyers will choose your services and not another agent in your market. Developing your own newsletter also gives you the chance to highlight your latest listings as well as showcase your recent sales and accomplishments.

Your newsletter should be quick, to the point, and kept to one page of info. My opinion is that if an agent cannot take 10 minutes to develop 3 or 4 unique paragraphs for a newsletter once a month then they probably don't take sales and marketing very seriously - and they will never be sales leaders in their market.

You're newsletter should be a sales and marketing piece - not a real estate reference guide.

I agree completely. Generic newsletters are no match for a newsletter that's actually written by the author.

I write and design my own newsletter -- www.armingyourfarming.com/newsmain -- and I get a lot of positive feedback as a result (subscriptions, forwards, comments, purchases).

Sometimes I'll link to a press release, but other than that my goal is 100% original content.

I don't think I'd get nearly the response I get now if it was a "stock" newsletter. When you do it yourself, you can tailor and tweak your content based on your reader's preferences. That's the secret ingredient to a long-lived newsletter.

Thanks for the detailed response, Golf Guy. I appreciate your point, and have minded my search accordingly.

To follow up on my own question- I found the Inman newsletter to have quite a bit of quality articles to choose from in addition to being able to submit your own articles, content, new listings, etc...inman newletter

G&S

I have also seen the Inman newsletter, and I agree that they do have some good information that can be incorporated into a newsletter. But any additional info like this should not be the primary focus of the newsletter.

Every piece of collateral material - including a web site - must have the same primary focus - selling a property in your market - either your own listings or an MLS listing.

Too many times I see individual agents and all types of business outside of real estate get sidetracked by eye candy, gadgets, and extras instead of focusing on the primary goal - increasing top line revenues.

What are distractions on your web site? I see a ton of RE web sites where the main page is dominated by info for first time homebuyers, choosing a lending company, avoiding mistakes, etc. The home page tries to be a "catch all" for every possible scenario. In the meantime, it dilutes the theme of your web site (i.e. "my city real estate"). This can be devastating to your SEO efforts.

But what if you're in a market where Community A was had a large percentage of first time home buyers, Community B had a great potential as rental properties, etc?

The way that I would design my linking strategy would be to have links to info for first time homebuyers on the pages for Community A, links for historical rental comparisons on pages for Community B, etc. The internal linking strategy within the site in this scenario can get rather complex, but you get the idea - the links to other sources of information are based upon the target demographic for that community.

You can employ the same strategy with your newsletter. For example, all potential homebuyers that expressed an interest in rental properties would receive one newletter, subscribers interested in upscale properties would receive a different newsletter, etc.

Yes, it does take some time to set up a database to accomplish this task. But it also allows you to better target each demographic and appeal directly to their needs. That's a lot better than taking the "one-size-fits-all" method and hoping that you hit upon the right homebuyer at the right time.

Running an ad is easy - demographic marketing can be very complex.

Again, the wise words are appreciated. It is really a lot easier to find out what marketing strategies have worked for people when they aren't trying to sell you a product!

I affirm your sentiments on the linking strategy. I'll have to find best way to accomplish this with a newsletter.

To touch on the demographic marketing of leads that come from, I assume, your website: to get the desired demographic profile of the lead, again with my assumptions, you have them register for info they inquire about...correct? Do you feel registration process creates a motivation filter, or do you think you are losing out on leads because of a persons' reluctance to give away personal information? I have heard arguments supporting and against...

Originally Posted by G&S

To touch on the demographic marketing of leads that come from, I assume, your website: to get the desired demographic profile of the lead, again with my assumptions, you have them register for info they inquire about...correct? Do you feel registration process creates a motivation filter, or do you think you are losing out on leads because of a persons' reluctance to give away personal information? I have heard arguments supporting and against...

Ahhhh - that's the trick (and that's where a real estate web marketing expert can help set up your site). You need to figure out which information is important enough for your targeted demographic(s) to register for using valid contact information.

(Sorry for the shameless plug, but I could not resist the opportunity build some anchor text for me site )