by HomeActions | Email Marketing, Lead Management, Marketing Tips, Uncategorized
In order to get leads flowing in through your digital marketing, you must first make sure you have set automated lead alerts on key content. You should also check your click-through reporting to monitor prospect click activity.
“Great! I have a lead… Now what?”
Once you start generating leads through your email marketing, implement a strategy for converting click-through activity and lead alerts into new clients. Lead tracking is a key component to your success. Lay out a basic and intuitive process for monitoring and responding to leads.
STEP 1: Look at What Generated the Lead Alert or Click Activity
Check which article or banner piqued your readers’ interest, and make a note of the topic that generated the lead.
STEP 2: See Who Responded to Your Lead
Look at the individual’s contact record in your database. See if they have also been clicking on other content in the past. If you notice a trend, you definitely have a warm lead in-hand. If this is the first click, you may still have an opportunity to convert your lead into a client.
STEP 3: Follow Up on Your Leads
Send a personal email with a follow up message to your prospect. Say something like, “I noticed you recently read an article in our newsletter about [topic here]. Is this something you’re thinking of exploring? Feel free to email me at contact@mybusiness.com if I can help.”
After one or two passive emails like that, take the next step and call your warm lead with a friendly approach to feel them out on their level of interest. Even if they don’t access your services at that time, you have successfully reminded them that you’re available if their needs change in the future.
STEP 4: Track Your Leads
Creating accurate and comprehensive records of your lead follow-up is a vital aspect of successful lead conversion. Make a record of your phone calls and follow-up emails either in your email marketing platform, CRM tool or tracking system of your choice.
STEP 5: Act or Release
If your prospect shows interest, schedule an appointment for a consultation or take appropriate next steps. Be sure your team is aware that you will be connecting them with new prospects generated by your email marketing.
If the lead does not show any interest after a couple emails and phone calls, step back and wait for future interactions. Review your follow-up records to make sure your team is not saturating the prospect with sales calls. As long as your prospect is subscribed to your email newsletter program, there will always be another opportunity to connect.
by HomeActions | Best Practices, Email Marketing, Marketing Tips, Social Media Marketing
Do you have a great email article that is just begging to be shared on your social media business pages? You may be able to easily share your email articles directly from your marketing newsletter. Many email platforms allow you to post your email newsletter articles with just a few simple clicks.
Quick Tip: Create a Guest Record First
In order to produce links from your email articles to be used in social media marketing efforts, consider creating a “Guest” contact record. Use the first name “Guest” and the last name “Contact” (or something similar) and your info@ or contact@ email distribution to set this record up. Additionally, you may complete the record with your business address, phone number and any additional contact information you would like to share to route interested prospects to your company. This way, any links or articles you use from your email marketing on social media can be tied back to your guest database record and your business contact information. Another benefit of this practice is that any personalization you may have used in your email will simply display as “Hello, Guest!” or a similar generic greeting. This will add a universal appeal to your emails when you forward your newsletter to interested parties, post the latest edition to your website or share articles with your social fans and followers.
Next Step: Start Sharing
The social sharing function of an email article varies between platforms but is usually a straightforward process. To give you an idea how an article can be shared, here are the steps you would take if you posted an article from this newsletter to Facebook.
1. Click through to the full article. At the top of the article you will see a “Share” option. Click to share.
2. Choose which social network you prefer. At the bottom of the social sharing tool window, you will see an option to share the article to one of the four major social networks. Click the icon of your preferred social network.
3. Choose whether you’d like to share to your personal or business page. In the Facebook example we’re showing here, you’ll have the option to share to your own timeline or to a page you manage.
4. If you manage multiple business pages, choose a business page. Pick from a possible list of business pages you manage, and then click the “Post to Facebook” button.
Success! Your post will now be on your social media site for all your fans and followers to read.
Using a social media management tool? Platforms like Hootsuite and others allow you to post to multiple social networks simultaneously, and also schedule out future posts. If you’re using a social media manager to schedule your posts, simply grab the URL from your full article (once you have clicked through to the full article view) and schedule your article to multiple networks as a link post.
Posting a Newsletter Article to Your Blog
Posting an article from your email newsletter to your blog can be as simple as copying and pasting the text from your article into your blog. You will need to take some additional steps to format the article to look appealing on your blog. You will also need to make sure you have the right to distribute any purchased content you may have bought for your email marketing on your blog and social media sites. HomeActions does allow our users unrestricted use of content on social media and blog sites, but each marketing provider differs in that respect.
Additionally, you can make your newsletter articles more SEO-friendly by changing 100 words of the article to be unique to your company’s blog. Google and other search engines will look at your content as original if you change a portion of it and put your own stamp on the article.
You should also add keywords to your blog post. In the first article of this newsletter, Is This Your Situation? “I Need To Get The Word Out About My Ancillary Services…”, we list four ways you can add relevant keywords to your blog posts to help get found in organic search results:
- Do some keyword research
- Add keywords to your blog’s title, URL and subheadings
- When using images, add keywords in the image file name and alt and title tags
- Also use links to outside resources in your posts to increase your likelihood of receiving backlinks in return
Don’t forget to connect blog readers with your email newsletter. Once your newsletter article is posted to your blog, add a closing call to action that says something to this effect: “Do you like what you see here? SIGN UP to receive more tips from us every two weeks. SUBSCRIBE NOW!” This will give organic blog visitors a chance to opt in to your email marketing program.
This marketing best practices strategy is an excellent way to repurpose content across multiple channels to maximize the value and life of your marketing articles. Stay consistent in your efforts. Set up a social media and blog schedule that follows your email launch schedule. With these simple steps, you will be well on your way to increasing the exposure of your email marketing content by sharing it to your blog and social media sites on a regular basis.
by HomeActions | Email Marketing, Press Releases, Prospecting
HomeActions has enhanced its powerful e-prospecting platform to give you 200+ new articles targeting the most common real estate niches as well as automatic article trigger alerts that tell you when a client is poised to enter the real estate market.
Agents can set article triggers so they’re automatically alerted in real time when a viewer clicks on featured listings, virtual tours, open houses or one of the content library articles created by HomeActions.
“These new additions to the professionally written HomeActions content provided in every edition will bring users more listings, buyers and sales,” said CEO Barry Friedman. HomeActions professionally written content has some of the highest open rates in the industry along with low unsubscribe rates.
The new Content Library articles can appear in any order and you can add your own local content to feature their open houses, listings, video tours, blog posts and commentaries.
Trigger and Target article topics include:
- Home Buying
- Home Selling
- Vacation Home Buying
- Vacation Home Selling
- Investment Real Estate
- Luxury
- First-time Home-buyers
- Condos and Co-ops
- Shore Homes
- Urban
- 55+ Communities
- Investment Property Management
Additional Enhancements Include:
- Redesigned User Interface to work across more devices including iPads and Android tablets.
- Added search menu to article list page to make content easier to find.
- New dashboard layout with detailed summary graphs and faster access to data.
- Simplified scheduling of articles – now schedule on same page.
- Ability to quickly filter and sort member list.
- Improved sorting when reviewing your uploaded members in spreadsheets.
- Improved layout of images makes it easy to find that perfect image.
- Completely redesigned images and banners modules to make additions easy.
- More filtering options for images and banners to make easier to find the image you want.
- Simplified the navigation by combining like items into singular menus.
- Redesigned the Newsletter Settings module to make it more user friendly.
by HomeActions | Email Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Uncategorized
Were you able to get a new listing or sale as a result of using your HomeActions newsletter? Has HomeActions helped to move your business forward?
Share your success with us and we’ll enter you in a drawing to win a $ 50 VISA gift card.
Send your stories to: success@dev.homeactions.net and tell us how you have benefited from using the power of HomeActions. We’ll announce the winner on Nov. 30 on our client dashboard page as well as notify the winner directly by email.
by HomeActions | Email Marketing, Uncategorized
With nearly 20 years of experience in homeowner advocacy merged with real estate technology, Albert has managed advocacy campaigns and built industry coalitions with organizations such as The National Association of Realtors, The Mortgage Bankers Association, The National Association of Home Builders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
He received a commendation by President Clinton for his involvement in the President’s National Home-ownership Strategy. Albert has always been on the cutting edge of real estate technology. He created the first-ever online portal site for homeowners called the Homeowners Forum on America Online.
As one of the first e-Neighborhoods consultants, Albert was featured on CNBC and helped build the first real estate e-newsletter that pulled dynamic content. He was also intimately involved in the development of the realPING, Click To Talk Now program.
by HomeActions | Best Practices, Email Marketing
What Are Open And Click Rates?
The open rate is a percentage that tells you how many successfully delivered newsletters were opened by subscribers. The click rate is a percentage that tells you how many successfully delivered newsletters registered at least one click.
Why Open And Clicks Are Important
Open and click rates can give you a good idea of how your newsletters are performing with a particular list. If an open rate is strong, it usually means your subject lines resonate with your audience. If your click rates are good, the message content is relevant to subscribers who open the newsletter. So, how do you know if your rates are good?
According to a leading email delivery source, the average open rate for the Real Estate industry is 22%. The average HomeActions subscriber far surpass this rate with an average open rate of 30%. (based on 3 million e-newsletters sent per month). HomeActions knows Content is King.
How To Improve Open Rates
A low open rate generally indicates:
- Your subject line is not relevant or interesting enough.
- Your member list is outdated or contains a wide variety of subscribers unrelated to your target.
- You may be sending too many or too few campaigns.
Test Your Subject Line
The best way to know what resonates with your subscribers is to try different things. An effective subject line clearly describes what’s inside your campaign, but you’ll want to test a few variations to find out what works best for your list.
Draft two subject lines that differ slightly, for example, “News you can Use for {date}” and “Homeowner Tips for {date}”. We recommend only testing one variable at a time, in this case the subject line, so that your report data is clearly linked to just one change. Then send out your newsletter one time using that subject line, then the next launch, choose the other. Then compare what subject line delivered better open rates. Keep testing/modifying to your get the results expected.
How To Improve Click Rates
Your click rate essentially tells you how many of your subscribers find your newsletter content useful. To improve your click rate, you’ll need to create content that’s useful to more subscribers. Try these suggestions:
- Embed more links – your newsletter offers 6 personal + 3 social media links, use them all.
- Insert a Banner from our Library then embed the URL link to take your reader to an interesting site (example-“What’s Your Home Worth?)
- Include articles on your Open Houses and New Listings – then set a Real-Time Alert to get warms leads right to your Inbox.
by HomeActions | Email Marketing, Real Estate Marketing
If Zillow does manage to close its acquisition of Trulia, the combined entity will be spending millions to compete with you for consumer mind-share.
The two real estate websites share a common goal – using your listing and real estate articles to gather consumer leads and then selling those leads back to you.
If you don’t want to buy back your own leads, you have to beat Zillia at its own game.
Agents and brokers already have the tools to win the game. You likely have a sizable sphere of influence because you worked hard to build a customer network. You have clients’ contact information. And you know more about the local real estate market than Zillia’s entire editorial staff.
I know this is true because HomeActions thousands of clients have enrolled 1.4 million of their homeowners and prospects into our database. Every two weeks, we’re sending a relationship-building newsletter that builds a defensible pipeline full of past clients and prospects.
By sending out regular, relevant content, HomeActions clients are nurturing, growing and insulating their most valuable asset: Their database!
The acquisition should be a wake-up call for agents and brokers who aren’t leveraging the contact information they collect — other than storing it on their smart phones and in their email, social media and MLS accounts.
You have to defend your customers by moving that contact information into one spot and then nurturing those relationships. We know a lot of folks have trouble with this task. Many of our clients have us do this for them instead of doing it themselves (although a cynic would argue that they let us do it because we don’t charge for that service).
While we help with this process, you never relinquish control over your contacts and we promise never to contact them or sell to them. If you have a company help you manage your contacts and marketing communications, be sure you’re not turning over control of your contacts in the process.
Real estate is a relationship business. It always has been and we don’t think that axiom is going anywhere. The brokers and agents we work with agree that 95 percent of everyone they know will not be on their websites this year. Why? So few are engaged in a real estate transaction.
Homeownership, yes. Buying or selling a home, not so much or so often.
Zillia’s potential as an aggregator of consumer allegiance can chip away at your “relationship” capital only if you fail to stay in touch.
Delivering a steady stream of homeownership-related information portrays you as a trusted adviser, (and a live one at that) and regardless of where they see listings, your clients will think of you first when they’re ready to buy or sell a home.
by HomeActions | Email Marketing, Real Estate Marketing
In real estate, you can’t avoid unhappy or dissatisfied customers. Buyers with wish lists twice the size of their budget and sellers who demand you find a buyer willing to pay more than fair market value create stress for even the best agents.
Here are nine ways to stay upbeat in the face of negativity:
1. Always visualize a large $ stamped on your unhappy customer’s forehead.
Your customers pay your bills and feed your family. An unhappy customer may cost you this job and lose you a future referral. A happy customer creates a happy pay day for you.
2. Skip the news before work and listen to music or motivational talks on your way to work.
How you spend the first part of your day influences how the rest of your day unfolds. Don’t watch negative newscasts before work. Listening to music that pumps you up or motivational talks prepares you to tackle problem people or situations.
3. Find something to like about every customer.
Maybe your client has great eyebrows or good taste in ties. During unpleasant encounters, keep your focus on the 5% you like about them and your focus off the 95% you dislike.
4. Use Daily Affirmations to support yourself such as:
“I’m doing the best I can!”
“I am a winner!”
“I trust myself!”
“I can handle any problem!”
“I deserve this job!”
Affirmations keep your mind focused on a future positive outcome rather than the negative situation at hand.
5. Always reward yourself for a job well done.
When you successfully make it through a difficult day, show yourself some appreciation: Spend more time with family, get a massage or go out for a nice dinner.
6. Keep a Glory File of thank you letters and compliments. Review it often to remind yourself how fabulous you are.
When you have to deal with a tough customer, balance your self-esteem with a trip through your Glory File. Reminding yourself of your past successes and how much customers love you can motivate you to keep going.
7. Avoid gossiping about negative customers.
Retelling the tale of your terrible encounter intensifies your anger and negativity. Instead, do your best let go of the negativity as soon as the customer leaves your space. Until you can let go, the customer owns and controls your thoughts.
8. Avoid complainers, criticizers and whiners in your office.
I hope there’s still someone left in your office to talk to when you avoid all the complainers, criticizers and whiners. Their negativity can cause your productivity to falter.
9. Make a list of reasons you must appreciate your customers and thank them.
“I appreciate you giving me the privilege of serving you.”
“I feel lucky, honored and blessed to have a job I love.”
“Thank you for choosing me to do your business with.”
Most of all, never for one minute believe that your broker pays you. Your broker only supplies the check. Your customers fill in the blanks. Be grateful to them.
by HomeActions | Email Marketing, Real Estate Marketing
The original Mona Lisa is priceless, but you can buy a $10 version from any poster shop because mass produced items are always cheaper than their one-of-a-kind inspirations. The same value proposition holds true for your email marketing.
Do the emails you send to stay in touch with clients have unique value or are your competitors sending the same email or robo-blog post to your clients?
In today’s real estate market, much of the “stay in touch” emails used to build relationships with clients and prospects follow a me-too formula.
It’s usually a campaign of drip content set up via the broker’s intranet and shipped out once a month by every agent in the office. If you share a prospect with the agent across the sales floor or across town, your clients may get the same email on the same day from another agent.
The client instantly realizes the content isn’t special and isn’t really from you.
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