It’s similar to how Gmail looks when you view it through the web app on an iPad, and how the iPad’s mail app looks. In fact, it looks a lot like desktop email clients.  (If you haven’t tried to hook up your iPhone, iPod or iPad to Gmail yet, it’s actually pretty easy!)This means you can alter the panes between vertical and horizontal orientations!  Just go to the Mail Settings in Gmail (top right corner, next to your profile Avitar, looks like a flower <kinda>) and click on LABS. All you have to do is click on Preview Pane in the list!

In addition, as you go through the list of gmail apps, you should also check these out:

• Add Images to your Gmail – you upload and insert into the email!
• Canned Responses!  This totally changes the way you do some of your auto responding emails, lead generation and drip campaigns!
• Insert Invitation to an Event from your Calendar (another Outlook feature many people love)
• PLUS – my favorite – you have an “Oops Option” so if you hit send, and realize you meant to do something different, you can make changes to it!

These are great tools for Real Estate – I’m sure you’ve used other apps with Gmail that you like too!  The way I see it – with Google buying Motorola Mobile, game is ON for Google and Mobile Apps!

If you have questions about your creating leads from your real estate blog, or how to get your Listing seen by more eyeballs – call Josh Harley, Fathom Realty, 214-228-0301.  I”d love to help you, and learn more about what’s working in your market! Are you on Facebook and Twitter?  Let’s Connect!

What Are You Trying To Achieve

Okay, so we are spending time on the Internet, generating Internet Leads, following up with folks in our Database, and working as efficiently as possible to create sales.  Cash.  Contracts between Sellers and Buyers.  I know that is what you are trying to Achieve.  But do you have any more Specific goals than that?  For instance when you create an email campaign for local Buyers, that you’ve never met or spoken to before – you are trying to get them to connect with you.  Give you a call, let you know more about what they are interested in knowing about the local real estate market.

Before sending out any marketing material, you have to have clear goals and objectives, this is especially true with Real Estate Drip Campaigns. Why are you sending out this email? What are you hoping to achieve and how will you measure the results?  What kind of email are you sending?

5 Different Types of Real Estate Emails For Your Drip Campaigns

• Newsletter – A Generic Newsletter that goes out to your complete SOI is what I see most Real Estate Agents using.  But if you’ve taken the time to segment your Internet Leads and Database,  you could do a Newsletter with market reports that goes to past clients, and local buyers.  Is it information that is UNIQUE, Interesting and Relevant – or is it the stuff they can find anywhere?
• An offer or discount email – Are you offering a Home Warranty, why not let people know about that in one of your emails?  Have you seen the Groupon that Dream Town is doing?
• Event invitation – If you are holding an Open House, you might send out an invitation.  What about holding a session in your office about how to create a Business Facebook Fan Page?  That could be a Monthly Event!  You could also regularly invite people to meet you at a Chamber Breakfast, promoting non-profit events is a wonderful way to connect with like-minded customers.
• New product or service announcement – Is there a new subdivision in your area?  Is there an Innovative building product that the folks at Lowe’s or Home Depot are demonstrating?  Help promote others, as you promote yourself!  The message can not be ME, ME, ME, ME!
• Educational/Technical - Maybe you’ve put together a First Time Home Buyer Webinar, or you just did a blog post on ROI of Investment Properties, and what the local rental rates are.  If everybody in your area is printing Absorption rates – do something else!

The idea is that you can’t just blast out the same message to everyone.  Converting more internet leads means that you need to segment your audience and customers – and then take the time to analyze and understand their needs and requirements.  I think it’s a good idea to let folks who are subscribing decide whether they want you to follow up with them on a ‘daily’, ‘weekly’ or ‘monthly’ basis. Sign up forms should be clearly visible on your homepage and include links to previous issues so that prospects can get a taste of what content you produce and decide whether it’s appropriate for them or not.  Go ahead and ask them directly about their expectations. What information would they like to receive from you? Current marketing information, studies, industry news or tips for the use of existing products are often more exciting than the latest products, new customers or press releases.

Content is STILL King

Our in-boxes are bombarded with emails everyday, so you must  deliver Quality Content that your audience wants to read, and even better, share with their peers. A great Subject line is Critical.   If all of your emails are simply self-promotional, you are going to be in the Spam folder quicker than you can say “Frog Legs!”  You must provide compelling information that is Unique Interesting and Relevant.

“People Do Business With People They Know and Trust.”  You need to be the Local Expert when it comes to Events in your area, your real estate market, jobs, politics… okay, so you don’t really have to talk about politics, necessarily, but you need to know why one school might be ranked higher than another.  You should know if there’s a new coach for the local high school football team this fall – and you should be sharing that information online.  This kind of information let’s people know that they can Trust You to have the information and do the research that they need before they purchase or sell!

Because this IS Content, remember that your newsletters, emails, event invitations, Service and Educational news should include your Keywords.

Here’s some more tips for upping your game when it comes to Email Marketing Campaigns.  If you have questions about building your real estate blog as you build your real estate business, give me a call!   Josh Harley, Fathom Realty, 214-228-0301. I’d love to help you, and learn more about what’s working in your market! Are you on Facebook and Twitter?  Let’s Connect!

In addition, you want to be sure that you are creating a compelling “Call to Action” with the content you are providing in your Newsletters, Emails and Event invitations.  Headlines and Subject Lines are important.  Before sending ANYTHING out, ask yourself if you would be compelled to open it to get more information!

Here are 7 Tips for Improving Your Email Drip Campaigns

• Understand your audience: the ‘one fits all’ approach does not work. Segment your database into groups with similar needs and requirements. Local Buyers and Past Sellers are going to be interested in 2 completely different things! Make sure the message is relevant to the target audience.
• From & Subject lines: what email address do you send your emails from? Will the receiver instantly know who is sending it or will they think it’s spam? With the subject line you get about 40 to 50 characters to explain your “macrocontent”–what your email is about. Subject lines should say something valuable, timely or important. It should say “If you don’t open and read this email, you’ll miss out on something big!”
• Short and sweet: time is short so make your message count. Long emails without clear calls to action will get skimmed and deleted.  Sometimes, a one sentence email, “Do you have to sell to buy?”  with a subject line of “Quick Question.” will get the most responses!
• Don’t oversell: People already get too many sales messages.   You are going to end up in the Spam Box if you send out a message every other day with Buy This House!  Go the educational route and the prospect will contact you when they are ready to buy.   Remember not to send people to the front page of your website.  Create a link to the information you want them to see.
• Shareable: if you want your message to be easily spread then you have to make it shareable. Include ‘forward to a friend’ capabilities and social media links to Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook.
• Measure & Test: this applies to all parts of marketing. Test call to action buttons, test the design of your email, the layout and length of the text and whether you get higher response rates on certain days of the week or times of the day.
• Accessibility by Mobile:  What about those who use mobiles to view emails? What does your email look like on mobile?  Have you then clicked through from your email and viewed what your landing page or website looks like on a mobile?

We have some more information on how often you should be updating your database audience with Email Drip Campaigns, and what segments we think your database should be grouped in.  Do you use Drip Campaigns in an interesting way?  If so, I’d love to know what’s working for you!

Check out how Google Gmail Apps can be helpful with your email campaigns!

It’s sad, but true that many internet leads that are generated through websites are lost, thought to be bad leads or simple thrown out.

Research shows that when a consumer contacts you by email, they want an immediate response. NAR does expensive surveys each year that tell us the first agent to contact the customer has the best chance of becoming their agent.  It’s a Jump Ball!  You need to be sharp to convert that lead!

The problem is the Hurry Up And Wait part of the buying process – because the online consumer, may be INTERESTED in buying… but they may not be ready (due to finances) or they may not be ready to commit right away.

So the agent gives up, loses interest or doesn’t have systems in place to keep track of that “Maybe” customer to convert them. When they enter the actually buying stage, that is when they need you… And that may be more than a year off!  The A.D.D. agent just doesn’t have the patience!

There’s a Solution

1.  You need to concentrate your efforts, your responses, and your campaigns on getting the appointment!  Stop worrying about anything else. Concentrate on getting the appointment and the rest will follow.

2.  To get that lead to want to talk to you, you must create an amazing experience. What would make someone want to work with you?

• Detailed information on your site for their situation – so when they go online at 9 p.m. they can find everything they need so they don’t go somewhere else.
• Customize the Auto-responder email sent to them. This in depth information should include information on you and the community they inquired about.  Should you have a Splash Page and Video set up?  Absolutely!
• Instant response to their inquiries should include a follow up phone call, and / or a text message.  Don’t make them wait… and don’t just send a “Blanket” email and expect to have a loyal customer.

Assign each lead a category, you know, A, B, C or hot, warm cold. Spend most of your time on the hot leads of course but set up some type of system that sends helpful emails to the warm and cold leads every two weeks or so.

Every email you send can be automated in a drip email campaign, and should include any updated listings that match their inquiry. There are 3 rules to remember. You need to be able to show value to the client, follow up right away and be able to work with an activity plan that lets the system do the work.

Again, it takes some effort to come up with an “interesting” message for someone every few weeks for a year… but it can be done!  And don’t just rely on email messages… connect with them on other networks.  Are they on LinkedIn?  How about Twitter?  If so, you can schedule out messages and include those messages in your campaign!

If you have questions about your creating leads from your real estate blog, or how to get your Listing seen by more eyeballs – call Josh Harley, Fathom Realty,  214-228-0301.  I”d love to help you, and learn more about what’s working in your market! Are you on Facebook and Twitter?  Let’s Connect!

As you read this, millions of people and potential clients are “tweeting”. They are tweeting about everything.

The overstressed single mother is tweeting about needing a massage, new homeowners are tweeting about searching for a new home and the newlyweds are tweeting about their upcoming wedding.

You might be asking yourself, why do I care about strangers tweeting?

Well, as a Real Estate Agent potential first time home buyers are great leads! Just like a spa Owner would be thankful to find people in your local area in need or some rest and relaxation!

Monitoring, and joining the conversations is another way of farming!

Create a Drip Campaign that complements your target audience and the work you are doing on Facebook.  Remember that just like an email campaign – you will not see immediate results, but consistency will be critical.

With this Drip Marketing Campaign remember that people will connect to you because you let them know you are with clients, at a Chamber meeting, taking notes at the Chamber meeting and sharing them.  Plan your tweets, and schedule out what you are going to say.  Include links to Market Reports and Blog Posts that you write.

Look for Tweetups!  Meeting people that you are connecting with online is a great way to generate leads!  There are Tweetups (where you meet in Real Life often Spontaneously) and Twestivals all over the world!  Several areas have annual Scavenger Hunts where people collectively give and receive clues through Twitter!  Organize one of these events and connect with more people!

Remember that under your signature on all emails you should have your Twitter handle, and the words TXT or Call next to your phone number. You need to have your Twitter Handle “Public” in your profiles so that it can be SEEN on Facebook, on your Website, on your Blog Posts and your business cards.  Bottom line… Wherever you have your phone number, add your Twitter handle!

Tip: A quick, easy, no pain way to grow followers is by setting up a paper.li Account for Twitter. Paper.li will create a newspaper based upon the LINKS posted by the folks you are following on Twitter each day.  If you are following many people who are writing about Golf (for instance) then a major feed for your newspaper will be Golf and Golf Courses.  If you are following news and business in your area – then that will also be a focus.  It’s a great way to develop a Twitter strategy, as you consider what types of news you want to share and who are targeting!  This is done every 24 hours, and there’s nothing you need to do beside set it up!

REMEMBER that Twitter is a Conversation – so go out there and talk #RealEstate and #Baseball and #SummerCamps with folks who can send you Business!

If you have questions about building your real estate blog as you build your real estate business, give me a call!   Josh Harley, Fathom Realty, 214-228-0301. I’d love to help you, and learn more about what’s working in your market! Are you on Facebook and Twitter?  Let’s Connect!

Do you hate it when you are in a situation where you are being SOLD non-stop?

I hate that.  And, I think MOST buyers hate it too.

I’ve written that I think there’s a “Hybrid” way to provide information to the consumer – without requiring that they register immediately.  My research and results prove this fact out.

Here are some additional Lead Conversion tips I think we should all be looking at in 2011… because we are in an era where ONE SIZE definitely doesn’t fit all!1. Do all your homework!
Do you have a way to know if the person who registered for your site has been contacted by you or your team before?  In addition to your database search for the email address – you should consider using XOBNI or Rapportive (for Gmail users) to cross check the email address.

How embarrassing if you sent information to this person 6 months ago and then never followed up!

2. Anticipate the objections.

Is this person interested in a home that’s been listed with you for 7 months without an offer?  You should know that the feedback has been

“The House Needs too many updates”

and have your “script” ready when you talk to them!  Ask them if they’ve ever heard of 203K loans (for instance) and mention that the home qualifies for them to update in their own fashion!

Customize the materials that educate and prepare the buyer to BUY by overcoming anticipated objections.  Don’t be ill-prepared!  If 59 people saw the home, you know what the major obstacles are!  Be prepared to immediately send UPDATED market reports and details on that property when you are contacted.

3. Curb the strong arm tactics.

There’s no doubt that getting a “decision-maker” on the phone is as difficult as it is critical to the sale.   Even if someone is anticipating your call, other priorities and events of the day may prohibit them from contacting you immediately.  It’s difficult to endear yourself to a prospect that feels unnecessarily interrupted, or worse, stalked or SPAMMED.  Accept the occasional need to simply leave a cheery voicemail.

4. Offer Complete Transparency

“You must respect the fact that everyone talks…”

If your company offers discounted services for Sellers, but there’s some drawbacks to that service you need to address this upfront. When a brand is in the marketplace, even if it’s for a relatively short amount of time, secrets do not remain secret. You have to face the music head-on. You must be willing to disclose and overcome shortcomings in order to earn a prospect’s most guarded asset, their trust. Once that’s gone, so is the sale.

5. Don’t leave your message out in the cold.

Turns out, selling or buying a home is an all-too-human experience, driven by emotion at every turn. And truly, this is marketing’s raison d’etre!

Value proposition and messaging development, relevant and timely updates, telemarketing script refinements, engaging emails and materials ALL help reinforce why this person is working with YOU!  One email, one telephone call is not likely to convince someone that you are the right person to represent them… and remember that often times you need to help that person speak more intelligently to other decision makers… like their partners and all too often their PARENTS!

You can’t view marketing to a lead as a support function to sales, and relegate it to a mere administrative role that is exactly the same no matter who the prospect is, and what they are looking for. When this happens, sales are compromised. I truly believe that systems, including canned email and Drip Campaigns will help bridge the time between a prospect showing interest and raising their hand to say READY TO BUY!  But truly successful agents understand the importance of integrating a campaign that is TAILORED to that type of lead, is honest and FRESH!

In 2011, Leads Must Turn Into  Customers

Maybe you are one of those folks who is like Fathom Real Estate Agents, and you are getting leads.  Figuring out how to take the consumer from “browsing” to buying can be a challenge!!   No matter “where” your business is conducted (online or offline), here are some pointers on turning LEADS into SALES$$

• Your inquiry response time stinks

You need to contact your sales leads as soon as possible (really – ASAP) after receiving an inquiry. The longer they wait to hear from you, the more likely they are to go elsewhere. I cannot stress this enough. You will be amazed at how much sales leads appreciate an exceptionally fast response.  This means you need to set up an automated response, a dedicated email account for the inquiries and you need to CALL people back.  Just sending someone who is looking on the Internet an email is NOT going to give you a high conversion rate!

• Your followup “campaign” is non-existent

You need a database that is easy to use, and easy to track. If you are getting 25 inquiries a month, and it takes some of them 9 to 14 months to purchase… then you could have 350 people that you are trying to keep up with!  VERY few people are going to talk to you one time, or get an email from you and then buy.  You MUST have a follow up system that is automated and formed into a “Drip Campaign.”

• Ask For The Sale

If you have a website, many “gurus” suggest that you LEAVE OFF any sort of sales message. Their logic flows that the consumer doesn’t want to be “Sold.”  It might be true, but many sites do not ask for the SALE regularly throughout the sales process.  People (site visitors) should not have to dig around your site to find out how to contact you to buy a house, or get their home listed.  Have you looked at your website from a mobile device?  Can you click on the telephone number and reach you?

If you have questions about building your real estate blog as you build your real estate business, give me a call!   Josh Harley, Fathom Realty, 214-228-0301. I’d love to help you, and learn more about what’s working in your market! Are you on Facebook and Twitter?  Let’s Connect!

If an effective campaign is supposed to speak to the recipient’s needs and every person has different needs then how can one campaign speak to everyone? That was more of a statement and less of a question. I would like to challenge you this month to devote time to creating a campaign for each of the following:

• Local Buyer Campaign (never met/spoken)
  the only way to know if they are local is to require the phone number field during registration. Even if the phone number is fake, the first 3 digits are usually accurate. If the number gives you no clues then assume they are local for email purposes.
• Relocation Buyer Campaign (never met/spoken)
  must require phone number field to know. Offer incentives like city and neighborhood information or a special relocation packet.
• Buyer Campaign (spoken with, buying in 2+ months)
  touching base type emails in addition to emails of “just-listed” properties matching their criteria.

• Seller Campaign (spoken with)
  not every seller will be ready to sell immediately. Emails touching base in addition to a fresh CMA every 2 or 3 weeks.
• CMA/Seller Campaign
  leads from CMA form on site, can be same campaign as above with additional emails in the beginning regarding their requested CMA)
• Past Buyer Clients – 60 months (ouch, how long?)
  ask how they are, ask for referrals and offer a CMA every few months. Make sure you are the listing agent when they are ready to sell or when their neighbor sells!
• Past Seller Clients
  see above if they also bought from you, otherwise, ask how they are and ask for referrals! A newsletter can be used after 12 months.
• Newsletter – 12 months repeating FOREVER or until the world ends, whichever comes first
  pre-written, month/season specific info with a blank spot left for current events. This goes to EVERYONE, past clients, future clients, friends, family and inmates… okay, I know what you’re thinking, family might be a stretch.

TIP: To make this a more attainable goal with immediate results, do not pick one campaign at a time. Write out the first week for each campaign and then move on to the second week for each and so on. Yes, that’s what I said. It goes against all that is natural but you will find this tip will help you implement each campaign faster while keeping you fresh with ideas for writing. Buyer campaigns can feed you ideas for seller campaigns and vise versa. If you pick one campaign and attempt to write out a whole year’s worth of emails then you will discover first hand what writer’s block means. Plus, if it takes you a week to get through writing out one campaign then it will be months before you finally write out the last campaign missing out an opportunity to reach more people.

TIP 2: Services like Constant Contact, Mail Chimp and iContact are great ways to implement your campaigns and help ensure they arrive in the intended inboxes. They also give you the ability to monitor the open and click-thru rates for improved lead conversion tracking.

Did I forget anything? Are there any other campaign types you can think of? Campaigns for Investor maybe? Please share your list or ideas below. *Disclaimer- drip campaigns should NOT be the only source of long-term communication! They have a greater probability for getting caught in email filters of an unspeakably horrific nature. It should be used to supplement your communications, not replace it.