To create an effective real estate newsletter, you must put your audiences' needs and expectations first. So first, consider using a visually appealing template branded with your logo and corporate colors. Then, sit down with your creative writing team to define a content marketing strategy that will include texts and imagery. And always bring the marketing team on board to advise the writers about your marketing goals.  

Creating Effective Real Estate Newsletters That Drive Leads

Define Your Marketing Goals

The primary purpose of a newsletter is to inform and keep your customers engaged. But you could also use newsletters to entertain and establish yourself as an authority in your field. So, before starting the design and content process, sit down with your marketing team, and set your marketing goals.  

• Do you want to drive more traffic to your website? 
• Do you want to showcase new listings? 
• Do you want to keep old customers engaged? 
• Do you want to demonstrate your expertise? 
• Is branding your purpose? 
• Do you want to establish better relationships with local businesses by promoting them in your newsletter? 
• Do you want to entertain your readers? 

These are just a few goals to keep in mind when planning a newsletter strategy. Defining your goals will help you set clear guidelines for the type of content you will include. 

Choose a Template, and Design Your Newsletter  

Most newsletter software providers have rich template galleries with templates available to customize with easy drag-and-drop tools.  

The template you select must show well on desktop and mobile devices. In addition, you should be able to include your logo - and, for a professional finish, remove the logo of the software provider. So, avoid free plans and choose a premium subscription that will give you branding freedom.  

Customize your template with your brand colors - include them in call-to-action buttons, headlines, and links.  

Alternatively, have your design team create an exclusive newsletter layout and upload it to your email software library.  

Whether you choose a premade template or a custom one, brand consistency is imperative. Therefore, you must include your logo, brand colors, and a familiar typeset you use on your stationery and website.  

A good design will have enough white space to make it easy for the readers to see your message, clear links, and eye-catching graphics.  
 

Define Your Content Strategy 

Once you know your marketing goals and have a template to work with, it's time to define a content strategy to align with your goals.  

If you want to promote new listings: 

1. Create content that aligns with your intent. 
2. Write catchy headlines to motivate your newsletter readers to click and view the listings. 
3. Write compelling descriptions too.   

Regardless of your purpose for writing a newsletter, address the right audience and personalize it. 

First, define your target audiences: people interested in buying in the neighborhood you want to promote, former buyers who need DIY home improving or decorating tips, and customers interested in renting, to give you a few examples.  

Your newsletter should only land into the inbox of the persons interested in its subject. Everything else might misfire: you may experience lower newsletter opening rates, and a high percent of unsubscribes, while some other readers may mark your newsletter as spam. These are not the outcomes you desire with your email outreach. So, segment your audience to reach the right readers. 

To personalize your newsletter:  

• Include dynamic content - personalize name fields, location, and use the browsing history on your real estate site to include listings the readers are following. 
• Use personalization in the subject line and email body.  
• Try to write in a conversational tone to give the readers the impression that you are addressing them directly.
• Use calls to action in your subject lines: make them exciting and relevant to your readers. Pay attention to grammar and typos. Subject lines are like a first impression: you want them to build trust, persuade, inform, and provide value to the reader. 

Plan on Delivery

Plan the newsletter delivery time to reach your readers when they are more likely to open it. Optimize for deliverability to avoid unsubscribes and low opening rates. You also don't want your newsletters to land in the spam folder.  

• Have a clear email schedule: your readers will know when to expect your next newsletter.  
• Care for the health of your list of subscribers. Periodically check and remove inactive email accounts. These people are likely no longer interested in what you have to offer.  
• Newsletter blasts are acceptable, but you should always target only those interested in the subject line if you want to achieve good results. Segment your audiences based on their interest. Alternatively, you could use quizzes or other methods to define your audiences. 
• Newsletters, and email marketing in general, are permission-based. Don't buy email lists from third parties, and do not send emails to people who did not agree to receive digital correspondence from you. In other words: DO NOT SPAM. 
• Always add an unsubscribe link or button to your newsletters and other emails. It is a GDPR requirement. You can land in hot water if you don't offer your subscribers the option to remove themselves from your email list.  
• Consider sending your newsletters when your readers are most likely to open them, eventually segmenting the audiences based on time zones and work habits. For example, Wednesday mornings may be OK for some people, while other readers prefer to open newsletters on Friday evenings. Test and see what works best for your subscribers. 

Other Tips to Boost Your Results 

Branding is essential: always include your logo and company colors in every newsletter you send out. Try to be consistent with the layouts you choose, and the typography should be the same too. Your writing style is another critical factor across your only properties: reflect your corporate values and core message on your website, social media, and email communication.  

Include your contact information in all newsletters: physical address, phone numbers, email contacts, chatbot, and links to social media profiles. Make it easy for clients to find you, wherever they are and however they prefer.  

Ideally, every newsletter should have one goal: do not overwhelm your readers with too many options. For example, if you want to invite them to an open house, one call-to-action will suffice. On the other hand, if your purpose is to show them a few new listings or sold-out houses, only feature up to four in your newsletter.  

Include a video in your newsletter to boost reader engagement: video in a newsletter may lead to a 200-300% increase in click-through rates, according to a Forrester study from 2009. 

Always check your email marketing statistics to learn how well your campaign performed and what underperformed. Then, adjust your future campaigns accordingly. Here are the things you should be looking at: 

• subscriber opt-outs; 
• spam reports;  
• opening rates;  
• click-through rates: how many people click on the links included in your newsletter, and which links performed best; 

Last but not least, have a newsletter variant accessible online and make your newsletter shareable via email forward, embed, or on social media sites. Another helpful feature is a press-to-print button to allow readers to make a paper copy or a *pdf copy of your newsletter.  

To Conclude: 

• Use software to collect subscriber email addresses and to create and deliver professional newsletters. 
• Personalize your newsletters based on user name, location, interests, and other criteria helpful for your real estate business.  
• Keep a consistent newsletter marketing schedule: once a week, on Fridays, to allow readers to go over your message at ease during the weekend is ideal, but your business may find other weekdays more profitable.  
• Branding is essential: be consistent and use your logo, company colors, and writing style (including typography) across all your company's marketing channels (website, social media, emails, offline).  
• Allow your newsletter readers to contact you quickly via email, phone, or social media channels. Include this information in your real estate newsletters.  
• Be creative: emulate what successful competitors do, but find your voice and trigger more customer interest with unique subject lines and content that provides value.  

Email newsletters will continue to be valuable marketing tools in the following years. Follow the rules mentioned above, add your personality and creativity, and you will manage to deliver irresistible newsletters to hundreds of opt-in subscribers. 

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Mihaela Lica Butler

Mihaela Lica Butler is senior partner at Pamil Visions PR. She is a widely cited authority on public relations issues, with an experience of over 25 years in online PR, marketing, and SEO.She covers startups, online marketing, social media, SEO, and other topics of interest for Realty Biz News.

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