By Saul D. Klein, John W. Reilly, and Mike Barnett, InternetCrusade

The secret for success in real estate marketing is to repeatedly get your name in front of your clients and prospects. E-mail is a method that you can use to easily and successfully put your name in front of people. Because e-mail is such a popular mode of communication, you need to develop an e-mail marketing strategy so that you can use this tool to your full advantage.

E-mail is a good choice for your business

Communicating regularly with clients and prospective clients is crucial to a successful real estate business. E-mail, when used advantageously, helps ensure a steady return of repeat and referral business. Because most of your clients will need your services an average of only once every five to eight years, you need a way to maintain consistent contact during a long period of time. E-mail is your answer.

You can use e-mail to consistently provide valuable information and to market yourself and your business to clients and prospects. Every e-mail message you send is an opportunity for marketing your business.

E-mail marketing offers several advantages over other marketing methods. E-mail marketing is:

• Effective   You can reach more people more frequently with e-mail than you can by having people visit your Web site. Where is the first place most people go when they are online, and where do people spend most of their online time? Their e-mail inbox.
• Economical   Using e-mail services costs less than using Web site services or traditional mailings and giveaways. E-mail gives everyone the ability to reach more people more often with fewer resources than required by previous methods of communication.
• Nonintrusive   Clients and prospective clients often prefer e-mail to phone calls and mailings because e-mail is nonintrusive. They can look at their e-mail messages when and where they want.

Collect e-mail addresses

To conduct an e-mail marketing campaign, you need to capture e-mail addresses from clients and prospective clients.

• Ask for e-mail addresses at every opportunity   Just asking for someone's e-mail can help you make a positive statement about yourself to your clients who are Internet users, and it also helps distinguish you from your competition.
• Ask your clients for the best way to reach them   Another way to set yourself apart from your competition is by asking your clients for the best way to contact them. Most real estate professionals do not ask for even an e-mail address, let alone the best way to reach a person. Because effective communication is important to you, you need to know the best way to reach your clients. For many clients, that method is not the telephone but e-mail.

Where to collect e-mail addresses

You can easily collect e-mail addresses from several key places.

• Open houses   Create a column for e-mail addresses in your open house guest register. Often, people are reluctant to give you a phone number, but they may be less reluctant to give you an e-mail address. When someone gives you an e-mail address at an open house, that person has, in effect, told you what they are interested in — for example, property type, neighborhood, price range, and architectural style.
• Voice mail   In your voice mail message, ask for a return telephone number, a return e-mail address, and the best way to reach the caller.
• Receptionist   If your office has a receptionist, ask your receptionist to request callers' e-mail addresses.
• E-mail messages you receive   Whenever you receive an e-mail message, add the sender's contact information to your address book.

Take advantage of your e-mail program's features

Little things such as software features can make a big difference in the success of a marketing campaign. It's important to examine the features and functionality available in your e-mail program so that you can use the program to your best advantage. You can implement each of the program's features individually based on your needs and preferences.

Familiarize yourself with the following features of your e-mail software:

• Number of e-mail addresses allowed   Make sure your account offers unlimited e-mail addresses.
• Auto-reply   Use auto-reply to automatically reply to incoming messages. This feature is useful during the times that you aren't available to reply, such as when you are on vacation.
• Auto-signature   Create an auto-signature in your e-mail software. You can use an auto-signature for information you include in messages on a regular basis, such as agency disclosures, Web site addresses, and phone and fax numbers.
• Folder system   Set up an e-mail filing system by creating a folder for every listing, every transaction, and every person you receive e-mail from on a frequent basis.
• Mail merge feature   Send personalized e-mail messages to a large number of people by using the combination of Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and Microsoft Office Word 2003.
• Permanent e-mail address   If you own your own Web site domain, you can create a permanent e-mail address. Set your permanent e-mail address as the return address in your e-mail software.

Conduct an e-mail marketing campaign

Many real estate professionals have built their businesses by using regular communications, such as printed newsletters, to communicate with their clients and prospects. Printed communication can be expensive to produce. E-mail software, on the other hand, makes it easy to produce high-quality newsletters on a regular basis and at little cost.

Consider sending an e-mail communication to your client database once per quarter. Sending messages or newsletters too frequently can make clients tune out your message.

When you conduct an e-mail marketing campaign, consider implementing the following practices:

• Send newsletters only to clients who opt to receive them   The recommended practice is to send newsletters only to people who choose to receive them. You can send an invitation asking clients if they want to receive the newsletter. If a client opts out, don't send any more newsletters or you will be sending unsolicited e-mail — or spam.
• Use a Web-based listserv   You can use Web-based listserv software to send a newsletter to a client list. Because Internet service providers are encourage the use of authentication and other restrictions in order to reduce spam, the listserv is becoming a popular way for real estate professionals to send mass e-mail.
• Combine a Web newsletter format with e-mail delivery   Research companies that offer Web solutions that are customizable for sending out Web newsletters.
• Create a newsletter Web page   You can create your own newsletter Web pages by using Web editor software such as Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003. You can even use Word 2003 to create newsletter Web pages. You can include a link to a Web newsletter in your e-mail messages, print and distribute the newsletter as a flyer, or distribute a disk or CD-ROM on which you saved a newsletter. A Web newsletter filled with images and colors can convey a powerful message.
• Include only valuable information in your e-mail communications   Focus on information that recipients find valuable, such as the increasing median price of homes in their neighborhood. The more valuable the information, the more clients will want to receive the newsletter, and the more you will place your name before them. Homeowners like to be kept up to date on what is taking place in their neighborhood or community, with information such as properties that are for sale or have just sold; businesses moving to or contemplating moving to the area; garage sales; and new or proposed zoning.

Use e-mail to get out your message

Communicating regularly with clients is essential to building a relationship with them and ensuring that they contact you for your services in the future. E-mail provides an easy and cost-effective method to strengthen your relationships with clients and to keep your name in front of them. By marketing yourself and your business using e-mail, you can reach your market and gain the edge on your competition.

About the authors   This article was adapted from the Real Estate Technology Guide, by Saul D. Klein, John W. Reilly, and Mike Barnett. It is used by permission of the publisher, Dearborn Real Estate Education, which provides tools that help real estate professionals build successful careers. You can visit the publisher's Web site at www.dearborn.com/recampus/reechome.asp.