Why now is the Time to start a Newsletter Drip Campaign
Drip marketing for real estate is an excellent way to remain in contact with clients with little effort and money invested. Now is the time to start a drip campaign because you want to become and/or remain the number one real estate resource for all of your contacts past and present in order to have new clients and referrals in the future. Newsletters are written and ready to send making them an ideal tool to use for your drip marketing.
What is Drip Marketing?
Drip marketing or drip campaigns provide consistent contact with clients and prospects in an informative way over time. It offers pre-written, engaging and productive communication designed to help maintain and/or re-establish contact with leads and clients so you remain top of mind. You keep your contacts set in groups and then choose the type of “drip” best suited to be effective in nurturing the relationship.
Why Now & Why Newsletters?
Drip marketing is designed to provide a consistent mode of communication with your clients, and therefore it is important to establish a pace of contact that will be easy to follow. Having a plan in place now will allow you to follow through with every contact you make and continue to remain in contact over time. Using pre-written newsletters allows you to keep up a manageable pace, while providing information people can use, as opposed to bombarding them with sales pitches.
Sorting Contacts
Your plan should be based on different groups you create in your contact list. You can sort your contacts and then send them information that is relevant to their specific needs or your specific goals. Some examples of groups could include:
First time buyers
First time sellers
Leads from your website
Past clients
Referrals
FSBO’s
Expired Listings
Every time you get a new client who is buying or selling, a referral or a lead, you know exactly what group they belong to and what type of drips you want to send to them. Keep in mind that individuals will often migrate to a different group. For example first time buyers and sellers would become past clients after a year or so.
Types of “Drips” and Pace
You can choose the type of “drips” that will suit each group and continue to send them information that would be of interest to them. This is where your plan comes into place. Each group’s needs will change over time and should start with focused information that will help you meet your goals. Your plan will outline what you want to include for each group for a set amount of time and then you can begin to send general updates and information to keep in touch.
You never want to inundate someone with information, yet never remain out of the picture for too long. Here are some examples of how you can set up a plan with the perfect pace and useful information
FSBO: Begin by sending them information that suits each step of the selling process such as pricing strategy in week one, staging tips in week two, open house planning in week three, etc. This will help them see the importance of your role. Also, always include a brief personal note about comps, trends, etc. so they see up to date insights they might not know about.
First Time Sellers: You can follow the same drips as above. Once their home is sold, continue to offer them a bi-weekly general newsletter and then you can begin to send newsletters monthly and finally seasonally. Include private messaging with the newsletters such as their area becoming high demand, local stats and comps, etc. so they can see they can make some money should they consider selling.
First Time Buyers: In week one information about mortgages might be helpful, in week two tips for saving time when house hunting will work and week three it might be some tips about how to get the most out of open houses. Once they find the perfect home send them information on home insurance and then keep in touch with information new home owners need such as maintenance, home energy efficiency, renovation projects, home décor projects, gardening, etc.
After a year, first time buyers and sellers can be moved to the past client group to receive regular updates and seasonal greetings. Make sure you remove anyone from your contact list who requests you to do so to remain Can Spam compliant.
The easiest way to run an affordable drip campaign is using Realtour's pre-written newsletters. Sending a private message with each newsletter allows you to target the group without having to add too much effort into the plan. You can also use printed versions to mail to contacts when you don’t have their email address. For information about how you can set up a drip campaign with our Virtual Assistant service contact amanda@realtour.biz.
