11 Email Marketing Strategies To Drive Results

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Email marketing is STILL a critical component of your marketing toolbox. There are many reasons why email still outperforms practically all other marketing avenues. In fact, research has shown that email returns on average $36 for every $1 spent. That ROI is hard to beat by any other marketing platform. Some of the most compelling reasons you want to use email marketing:

Reason Number One: You Own Your List!

Unlike marketing that you do on platforms such as Facebook, Google, or other networks where you essentially rent space, your email list is yours to keep. No matter what happens, your list is your list. You are free to use as you wish, within the bounds of law and good practices of course.

Reason Number Two: It Allows You To Deliver Personalized Content

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How Real Estate Agents Can Use Their Personal Profile To Market Their Business

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Yes, I realize that this may be a bit controversial since Facebook guidelines are clear that your personal profile should not be used as a business page. I agree it should not be used as a business page but that does not mean that you can’t “friend” your customers. Many industries lend themselves to that type of relationship. I will present examples and ideas in two industries that I am intimately familiar with: Real Estate and Mortgages.

Selling homes and doing loans is a business that allows you to know your customer at a deeper level than say, selling people a new TV set. We get to know a lot about them personally so we can serve them better.

Real Estate agents get to know the client’s lifestyle so we can help them find the right home in the neighborhood that is just ideal for them. As we get to know them, we often find common interests. When two people find something they share in common, it deepens that working relationship, there is a sense of affinity.

For Real Estate agents, it is important to cement a relationship with a potential buyer or seller, and there is no better way than connecting on Social Media. It is a way to get closer, but not too close. Read more

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3 key elements of your marketing plan that you are probably neglecting right now!

You are probably not getting the results that you expected from your marketing. There is an 80% chance that is true based on the Pareto principle. In fact, even that 20% that is actually giving you results… you may have no clue which 20% it is!!

In our business, there is a well-known joke that is actually no joke: One Real Estate agent says to his co-worker; I know that 20% of my marketing is working, problem is – I have no idea which 20%!!

Most salespeople- Real Estate, Mortgage, Insurance, etc. ignore at least 3 fundamental elements of their marketing and sales process that costs them plenty every month, every year. Here are those 3 things that you really need to have in place to make the most of your sales and marketing efforts;

  1. A well-laid-out marketing plan. Yes, you must be strategic about what you are doing. You’ve heard the old adage, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
  2. A way to follow up with your leads. It’s been said that most sales are made after at least 6 or more contacts, yet most of us follow up once and if we are at the top of the food chain, 2 or 3 times. That’s it!
  3. A tracking system so that, yes, you can have clear data showing you where you are having success in marketing. Most of us have no clue what’s working and what’s not. We spend thousands of dollars a year (some of us every month!) and we track nothing except the bank account.

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Online marketing for small businesses on a budget

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We are at an age in marketing in which small businesses can compete with the big boys without having to spend like the big boys.

If you are a small business owner wanting to promote your business online, you have unprecedented access to consumers you can reach with speeds that even the big guns could not achieve ten years ago.

While the choice of online marketing channels and strategies may seem confusing, here are some tips that can help you set course so you can market your product or service online without breaking the bank.

Let’s take a look at some of the most effective and proven methods of connecting with your current and future customers. Remember, there are no “Past Customers”. Read more

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4 Trends that will shape Social Media in 2021

As we come into 2021 change is palpable in the air. A new president will be sworn in shortly, financial markets around the world are reeling for what is to come, and the ever evolving landscape of Social Media is changing at break neck speeds.

What can we expect in 2022 in Social Media? Let’s take a look at 4 trends that are sure to have transformational impact in this area. Read more

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Great examples of ‘Welcome’ emails you can use to inspire your strategy

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We’ve all heard how important it is to make a good first impression. Show up late for a job interview? That’s a bad first impression. Eat a ton of garlic and forget to brush your teeth right before a first date? Also a bad first impression. Go to meet your significant others’ parents for the first time dressed in Crocs and sweatpants? That might also result in a bad first impression (depending on prevailing fashion sensibilities).

It turns out that the “make a good first impression” principle holds true not only in face-to-face encounters, but in email interactions as well.

When you send off a welcome email to a new blog or newsletter subscriber, or to a new customer, you’re making a first impression on behalf of your brand.

To help ensure you’re making the best first impression possible, we’ve rounded up some examples of standout welcome emails from brands big and small. As you’ll soon discover, each example showcases different tactics and strategies for engaging new email subscribers. Let’s dive in …

7 Examples of Standout Welcome Emails

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Promoting your business online with a shoestring budget – 21 tips

I often hear from business owners who feel they’re too busy running their business to spend time on marketing. This is valid — and to be honest, sometimes marketing is best left to the professionals.

But a problem arises when you simply don’t have the budget to hire a full-time consultant or marketing person. The following will cover 21 ways you can market your business yourself, even on a tight budget.

Online Review Sites

Having your business listed on online review sites is important not just for driving traffic and sales, but for protecting your online reputation. The following sites are some of the most influential, as well as the most cost-effective (free!). Read more

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Social psychology’s most powerful insights – how you can benefit from them.

Lee Ross is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and co-founder of the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiations. He is the author of The Wisest One in the Room, The Person and the Situation, and Human Inference. Lee RossProfessor of Psychology at Stanford University.

This slideshare presentation gives us a high level overview on insights we can use on our daily lives. Understanding the human psyche is a key element of successful relationships, personal and business. Read more

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7 key points to effective on-page SEO for your blog posts.

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Setting the right on-page SEO strategy before you write your blog post is key to helping your overall website ranking. Getting your website/blog to show up on page 1 of Google is achieved in part by properly structuring each of your posts to contribute to the rest of your website’s SEO plan.

Here are seven key elements you want to have well thought out before you hit that “publish” button on your post:

  1. Keyword Research- Without a doubt, one of your first considerations as you sketch out your content if you are writing with the intent to have your post be found online. Optimizing your keywords (Very different approach than keyword stuffing which is a NO-NO)
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How to plan you 2015 online marketing using an editorial calendar

 

An editorial calendar is a concept that has only recently emerged on mainstream marketing circles. Disciplined publishers have used editorial calendars as a way to maintain a consistent flow of content for years. The practice has been mostly a domain of big publishers since they, by the nature of their business, have to produce quantities of content that has to be delivered with predictability and consistency.

For most of us small to medium business owners and consultants, and especially for us in the Real Estate and Mortgage Industries, we are still grappling with trying to put together a cohesive business plan. And I would lay money, most of us have not heard of the “editorial calendar”.

So why is this something we need to now pay attention to? Only if you want to create an effective online presence without having to stress about coming up with content ideas every time you decide to publish content for your audience. If you are like most of us, you probably have anxiety attacks when you even think of publishing a new blog post, an article, newsletter piece, etc. Which is probably the reason your blog/social media properties are… well, ghost towns!

Writing and publishing content is just not something most of us have a natural ability or inclination to do. That is where an editorial calendar can come in very handy. By setting out time to plan your Read more

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