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A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Monthly Newsletter

By
Real Estate Agent with (512) 786-8300

I'd be remiss if I didn't admit to not writing a monthly newsletter. As real estate professionals we get clients, become part of their family for a bit, develop a good, if not great repor, then fail to stay in touch with them. We get it drilled into our head, that's it much easier to market to current and past clients, than go out of our way to attract new ones. But I don't write one, and quite frankly, it's pretty stupid.

Newsletters have never been easier to send. Although some agents choose to use old fashioned mail to get the word out, the world of electronic communication makes monthly contact very easy and cost effective. There was never a good excuse to neglecting this communication, now there really isn't one.  The question seems to be, what to include in a newsletter.

Most of the old real estate newsletters I read , seemingly contained things not related to, well; real estate. I'm not sure recipes are the best use of a real estate professionals communication. On the flip side, I wonder if any of you include current listings in your newsletter to your past clients- or do you prefer to do so on a list targeting to a certain portion of your database?

When I went to write an August newsletter, something funny happened. I included an article about our local sales numbers. I also decided to address the activity of our city council. As I went to grab my third topic, I realized that consistent blogging makes writing a newsletter pretty easy. After all, I was just grabbing some recent blog posts to complete this thing. Custom newsletter services charge $40 dollars a month to provide content to agents- some cost quite a bit more than that. For those of us who blog regularly, we really have no excuse to send out a monthly newsletter. This arduous task that I avoided in the past, was completed in less than 20 minutes. 

Now that I've decided to join the world of better communication, this newsletter writing should be pretty easy. All of our blog posts are archived, and we have plenty of contributing authors at our disposal. My clients might read a newsletter, or might just ignore it, but at least it will be sent.

Posted by

Scott Hayes

Austin Real Estate Agency

Extraordinary Service, For Extraordinary People

Direct: 512-786-8300

www.austinrealestateagency.com

Kristal Wilson
KB Home - Fontana, CA
Cause We Like 'Em New ~ New Home Specialist!

Scott ~ here's another excuse for not sending a monthly newsletter - I did not like using the same generic, impersonal newsletter being sent by many other agents in my area (I know it's a silly excuse.) Now with your suggestion I can personalize my newsletter and remain in touch with my SOI.

Aug 21, 2011 07:08 AM
Dick Greenberg
New Paradigm Partners LLC - Fort Collins, CO
Northern Colorado Residential Real Estate

Hi Scott - We've been regularly keeping in touch with our client base for 12 years now, and until a couple of years ago, our newsletter was printed and mailed. Then we switched to e-mail and have enjoyed the ease with which we get it out every month now, as well as the huge savings. And we totally agree with your point about recipes - as well as household cleaning tips, etc. It's always been a basic principle with us to present ourselves as the experts on real estate to our clients, so that pretty much defines our content.

Aug 21, 2011 07:49 AM
Debbie Gartner
The Flooring Girl - White Plains, NY
The Flooring Girl & Blog Stylist -Dynamo Marketers

Good for you...and yet another reminder that I need to get my Aug one done. I usually have intro paragraph, 3 examples of work done and links to 5 past blog posts.  I need to carve out an hour to do this.

Aug 21, 2011 08:40 AM
Vickie Nagy
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate - Palm Springs, CA
Vickie Jean the Palm Springs Condo Queen

Scott, we have links to all our city and neighborhood monthly market udpates in our blog following the intro.

Aug 21, 2011 10:00 AM
Karen Winters, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Koenig Rubloff Realty Group - Chicago, IL - Chicago, IL
Chicago, IL

Like Kristal, I didn't like the generic ones that several agents from the same company would send.  Recently my company also began using this same newsletter  vendor.  I changed the header and title to my Chicagoland Condos and Homes brand.  I also include 2-4 articles each month to the pre-loaded articles so I can separate my version from all the others.  There's a very small number of the agents in my company who are editing this newsletter before it goes out.  I can see where it makes a difference.  My sellers send email responses to the articles I post and several recipients have passed it along to their friends.  One person who received it from a friend added themselves to my mailing list and one of my SOI emailed me to add his colleague to my mailing list.   

Aug 21, 2011 10:32 AM
Liz and Bill Spear
Transaction Alliance 513.520.5305 www.LizTour.com - Mason, OH
Transaction Alliance Cincinnati & Dayton suburbs

Scott, We do use one of the content providers for the start of our newsletter, but then personalize about five of the 10 pages, including market stats, a personal letter page and a few other things.  Some clients love the feel good/useful tip info that comes from the template site, and we have used info from our blogs to augment.  It's still snail mail since we don't have emails for most of our target list since they're mostly expireds.  It seems to work for us :)

Aug 21, 2011 12:15 PM
Brenda Mullen
RE/MAX Associates - San Antonio, TX
Your San Antonio TX Real Estate Agent!!

Wow...I don't have a newsletter either.  I just thought they were kind of silly.  Apparently reading other folks comments here, they aren't.  Perhaps I will consider it again.  Let us know how your newsletter goes :)!

Aug 21, 2011 12:22 PM
Jill Sackler
Charles Rutenberg Realty Inc. 516-575-7500 - Long Beach, NY
LI South Shore Real Estate - Broker Associate

Scott, not a bad idea. I've never sent one out, but really, you make a great point. We've already written our best content. It shouldn't be much more work to share it.

Aug 21, 2011 12:49 PM
Tammy Pearce
Haute Realty 214-994-6474 - Dallas, TX
Tammy Pearce

I like your idea of using the info we've already written for a newsletter.  I hadn't thought of that and have avoided creating newsletters for that reason.  Thanks!

Aug 21, 2011 02:37 PM
Lindsey Hasford
Edina Realty - Elk River, MN
Bringing you home...

I used to write my own newsletter about community events and real estate... but haven't done so in some time. Maybe it's time to start again. :) Thanks for the push in that direction.

 

Aug 21, 2011 04:44 PM
Ginny Gorman
RI Real Estate Services ~ 401-529-7849~ RI Waterfront Real Estate - North Kingstown, RI
Homes for Sale in Southern RI and beyond

Scott, content newsletters are a waste of time and clients don't like them (i've surveyed my clients on what they read)...they love the helpful maintenance items, insurance coverage tidbits, energy items, etc.  be unique and you will see a difference!

Aug 22, 2011 12:24 AM