Online marketing takes many forms. From paid search advertising to social media marketing and beyond, there are dozens of different techniques you can use to lead prospects through your sales funnels and convert them into buyers. One of the most effective methods is by leveraging email. Here’s what you should know about what strategies you need to employ to get buyers through email marketing.

What Type of Marketing is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is as unique as it is powerful. Not only is it considered digital marketing - a type of marketing that is already highly effective in today’s connected world - it’s also a form of direct marketing in which you’re contacting prospects directly, right in their email inboxes.

Email marketing has a high level of versatility, as you can use it to promote any number of products or services - and that includes, for example, the services you offer as a real estate professional. Using email marketing makes it easy to keep those on your email list aware of the latest developments in the real estate market, inform them of new opportunities, and build long-lasting relationships.

How Do I Get Contacts from Email Marketing?

In order for email marketing to be effective, you do need one highly important thing: lots of email addresses to send your marketing to. This means that getting contacts to ensure your email marketing efforts bear fruit is crucial. There are a number of different ways to build a list of contacts to be used for email marketing. These include asking friends, family, and colleagues; directly asking prospects and clients; capturing emails from closings; and sign-up forms on your website, to name just a few.

Another option includes purchasing an existing email list from a reputable source. This increases the cost of your email marketing campaign, of course, but it does save you the time and effort of building an organic list. Whether you choose to do it the old-fashioned way or to invest in a pre-built list is up to your marketing budget and your own personal tastes. Thankfully, the return on investment in email marketing is massive at about $42 returned for every $1 spent.

What Kind of Email Marketing Content Works?

There are a number of different types of email marketing content that is effective in building positive relationships between yourself and the people on your mailing list. Each type has distinct advantages and disadvantages, however, so it’s often beneficial to use a combination of different types of email content to strike a good balance.

An example of this is the way a periodic email newsletter works. While newsletters are excellent for building brand awareness and for showcasing diverse types of content, including content you may have published already on your website, newsletters can be less than ideal when it comes to having clear calls to action. Additionally, creating a pleasing format for a newsletter in an email is likewise challenging.

How Has Mobile Devices Made Email Marketing More Effective?

A final note - and perhaps a most important one - about crafting effective email marketing content is to ensure that your emails are mobile-friendly. Crafting emails that can be read easily on mobile devices like phones and tablets is crucial for maximizing the effectiveness of your email marketing because most consumers use these mobile devices before they use a desktop. 
In fact, some people even use their mobile devices exclusively or nearly so and clearly prefer being communicated with in this way. In this case, ensuring your content is attractive and readable on a mobile device ensures your message will be read loud and clear, increasing the chances that your marketing efforts will bear fruit.