Are you using email to market? If you are (and you should be) how are you using it?
In the real estate space, I’ve seen a lot of people use email ‘marketing’ as a way to BLAST their deals to their list.
This couldn’t be more invasive in my opinion.
Sorry if that’s you, but the good news is you can take the dollar sign off your forehead after reading this and start building the trust you deserve.
Start by taking the corporate language out.
“As a professional real estate investor I…”
“As a homeowner, you already know….”
Come on people…
Write in the REAL way you would talk to someone.
Think about this…
In all your communication with your friends via email, is it ALWAYS and constantly about the great deal you have?
I’m gonna guess that answer is ‘no’. If it is, you have some serious thinking to do…
I’ve been ‘marketing’ my real estate ‘opportunities’ to a small list (about 150 people) for about 5 years. First, I’ve selectively chosen this small number and second, continue to trim & refine it to make sure it holds only people that relate to me and my message.
Throughout that whole time, I can’t think of any one newsletter where the entire message was about a deal I had.
In fact, I can probably count on one hand how many of those newsletters actually had ‘numbers’ in them.
Make no mistake, email is a way for you to communicate with your potential customers. It allows you to have open communication –
Read that last line again: ALLOWS you to have open communication.
Communication that matters to people. Something they can relate to.
Based on the newsletters and emails I’ve received over the last several years, there’s a VERY small percentage (I’m gonna say it’s less than 1 percent but I’m no mathematician) that actually tell me something about their lives.
The rest are all about selling me a deal or telling me why I should hire them…FAST.
When they’re not selling me, they’re cramming canned ‘education’ down my throat. EEEk.
I’m No Saint
Truth is, I was doing the same thing when I first started out. I thought I should prove to my list how smart I was about real estate and why they should give me their money.
No harm in teaching them, but it was the WAY I delivered the info that’s problematic.
The best way to describe it is “professor mode”.
Have you ever been blessed to sit and listen to a professor deliver a talk? They kinda know it all don’t they? How do you feel in that situation?
It finally hit me (yea sometimes I’m stubborn) that getting zero responses probably means something right?
When I started piecing together the reasons why attracting joint venture partners was NOT working for me, “pushing” and “presenting” deals was at the top of my list.
That’s just MY data. And if you’re like many of the people I’ve spoken with, it’s probably close to the same for you.
So what do you do?
Educate and help your list. But do it gently. The easiest and best way to educate them is by telling YOUR story. You don’t have to ‘memorize’ anything. You just be you.
Tell them how you struggled and persevered – tell them what’s going on now – you and I both know it’s NOT always roses and sunshine…so let your list into your world.
Don’t just use someone else’s info because it ‘sounds’ professional…
Is that how you would talk to your friends through email?
Hell no.
You’d say stuff like “you won’t believe what happened when I tried to close my house last week…”
Imagine getting an email that started like that. Would you be interested in reading it?
Damn straight you would.
What follows could be a short story about your adventure and some “pro-tips” about how you got it all fixed!
THAT’S edumacation my friend! (yes I purposely misspelled education)
So my advice to you is start being human in your communication with your email list. It’s the ONLY true asset you have!
Like this? Have something to say? Let’s keep it going below!
Shoot me a comment or question you have about email marketing…
– Joey