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Newsletters ... Recipes or Real Estate Stats?

I'm trying to pull together a newsletter for my sphere and not sure what approach to take. On one hand, can I really do a newsletter for my sphere since they live all over the place? Or should I only do newsletters to the neighborhoods I want to work in? What does everybody send as far as newsletters and how often?

Do you make them yourself or use a company???

Just curious ...

Posted by Lisa Bender - Livingston County Realtor (Brighton, Howell, Hartland) on 11/15/2007 07:21 AM

Comments (9)

newsletters

9 Comments on Newsletters ... Recipes or Real Estate Stats?

NOV

2007

Lisa...I think it all epends on how much time you have. One thing that I would sugegst is to be cardeful of the content. Here's what I mean:

- RECIPES--Give the impression that Lisa is a good cook

-STATS & Real Estate info-- Give the impression that Lisa is a good Realtor

Which image do you want to project?

Lisa, recipes mean someone may keep this piece of paper to refer to later, have you ever done that? I have many times. Stats are great information .. until next week then they need to be updated. I would and do include both. :)

Lisa, I have done a newsletter in the past. Just a couple of things I would point out:

1. Fit it to the neighborhood. Are there lots of stay-at-home moms who might actually read a recipe, or is it full of hard-charging business people who want stats and maybe the occasional gourmet idea? Expensive homes or middle-class homes? I did recipe postcards (purchased from a professional postcard company) for a while and actually got a couple of calls from people calling to say how silly and unprofessional they thought it was. Maybe I just had a bunch of curmudgeons in my old hood?

2. In my newsletter, for a basic middle-class neighborhood, I had

monthly stats for the specific neighborhood itself, not just the defined area code from the MLS
a section called Real Estate Savvy where I would explain some real estate term or concept
a miscellaneous article that I would either write myself or edit from Century 21's Life at Home online newsletter. How to have a garage sale, or whatever.
ads from a few local businesses (not chains) on the back, with coupons or offers if I could get them (ads were free to the business).

I also took from Tom Hopkins' book the idea of doing a neighborhood survey. I went around with a clipboard before the first newsletter, did my little survey, and published the results in the first couple of them.

One page, front and back, self published.

If you want one, I'll email it to you. I got good response and was soon the "expert". I've moved since them, not currently doing one.

Hope this helps.

Lisa, Judith has good advice. I send out a recipe during the holidays along with the RE stats. You can combine some fun things and the real things. They are both important in portraying who you are. People, all people want to know something about you and what your are about. Time after time, I see the agent who is a fly fisherman connect up with the client that is a fly fisherman. Distinguish who you are and enjoy doing it. Celebrate who you are and communicate that to your clients. I combine the two. I also work very hard at knowing my market and how to advise people about real estate. I am not fluff. I described myself to my boss who is my coach, broker and friend as the "bunny with a blow torch". Good luck! I think I am going to do a post on the "bunny" thing. Have fun!

I've only done one newsletter last month and I put all real estate related material in it. Summary of what the market is doing, article on investing, summary of a best buy listing, etc. I do think it good to have a mix of both. I write all material my self. I try to just make it material that I've written for other reasons already (blog, website, questions from homeowners, etc) to avoid redundant work. As a new agent, I remember what I do with most pre-canned mailing that don't have anything tailored to the specific market; they go right to the trash.

NOV

2007

Thanks for your input everyone. There are so many things we can do as Realtors to get our names out there. It's so hard to pick and chose what you have time and more importantly what works best. I guess it all takes time.

NOV

2007

Hey Lisa,

The way I see it Lisa, is that anything is better than no-thing. as long as your pic is visible & all of your contact info is posted it's all good. But to get it better, you need to employ some type of reverse marketing, free consumer reports, incentives to call your for free information & free stuff- they refer to it as direct response marketing. Craig Forte, Craig Proctor & Joe Stumpf & others all employ this type of technique which has been proven to be is highly successful.

To your success,

Ron Reed, The Mortgage Doc of Music City

DEC

2007

Hi Lisa,

To answer your question: it might be possible to do both newsletters - one to your sphere, and one to neighborhoods. The bulk of the content can be shared between both.

The important thing is to use your newsletter to build and continue the relationship. To do that, make sure the content is relevant and interesting to your readers. For the neighborhoods, add some relevant market info, for your sphere, include content that is more general in nature. Just make it something they look forward to getting by packing it with useful, entertaining information. You'll get feedback about your newsletter and you can adjust it accordingly.

If you would like more advice, see my blog or contact me directly.

Simon

DEC

2007

Hey Lisa,

i used to do themmyself- had a lot of fun doing it but imho it's not worth it. Pay someone to do it for you. I really like craig "forte's "service for life" & a few others out there. if you're short on cash go ahead and do it yourself but as soon as you're up & running pay someone else to take care of this task. also, make sure you have direct response triggers throughout the newsletter & don't waste your time on recipe cards-imho of course...

To Your Success ~ Ron, the Mortgsge Doc

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