by Brian Brady
Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL
Hilary Shantz, a real estate agent from Oakville, ON asks:
Hi Brian,
You are on the cutting edge of marketing/blogging. Do you think that it is sufficient to have a business blog and forgo having a newsletter, just send people a reminder every time you post a blog which they can go to if they want or if it interests them? I am trying to decide. I have neither and have been in business 2 years.
Signed,
Hilary from Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
Thanks for the kind words, Hilary. I notice from your website that you have a MBA and a background in banking. I’ll speak somewhat academically here and then give you some practical suggestions.
Blogging is a marketing communication. Think of it like writing an article for your hometown paper, Oakville Today. The first time you had an article published, you’d probably call all of your friends, past clients, and family and tell them to run out to the newsstands; that would be fine. If you wrote a weekly column, however, that serial self promotion would become tired quickly.
I said that blogging is a marketing communication but it is a subtle one. It’s call pull marketing as opposed to push marketing. Pull marketing entices the consumer to call you. Think of the movie Glen Garry Glen Ross when you think of push marketing. Be careful to understand that the permission-based e-mail system I use is, indeed, permission-based. Abuse that permission and the consumer takes it away. I think an e-mail every three weeks is often enough to keep you in the consumer’s eye without abusing that permission.
Again, blogging is a marketing communication. Remember the principles of promotion class you had to pass in business school? Blogging falls somewhere between public relations and advertising in the promotional mix. You’ll notice that there are two more very important factors in the promotional mix: personal selling and sales promotion. You want to be certain that you weave those components into your blogging message without sounding like an overt advertisement.
Finally, effective promotion is a multi-media approach. The more “senses” you can use, the more effective your marketing communication will be. Try a snail-mail postcard with your weblog URL address only each month as opposed to a paper newsletter. Consider listings’ business cards with your weblog URL . Greg Swann has had good results with those. Can you offer to write an online article for Oakville Today with links to your weblog? Better yet, can you offer to host the Oakville Today real estate weblog and build a group site like Bloodhound?
I could ramble on forever, Hilary. The conclusion would be to to position yourself as the expert on Oakville real estate in every media source imaginable. So far your doing pretty well; my money’s on you.
Kate Bourland says:
Since she has nothing, I think that having an online newsletter/blog is far superior to the snail mail. She can train her customers to subscribe to it from the start, it gives her an opportunity to “snail mail” or call all his clients from two years ago to notify them of it and possibly generate some new business. In addition electronic delivery allows her to send more frequent individual reminders to his clients regarding their particular situation. Basically electronic is more flexible.
I say go electronic and supplement with occasional snail mail, but not both.
by Kate Bourland – New Key Home Lending (comment posted on Active Rain)
June 27, 2007 — 8:57 am
Lenn Harley says:
Why limit the exposure??? If they are both on line, they can feed each other.
The Interent is all about synergy.
by Lenn Harlet (from Active Rain comments)
June 27, 2007 — 8:58 am
Chrsitina Ethridge says:
Exactly what Lenn said. We will never do away with our monthly snail mail newsletter. We get too much business from it. Yes, we dedicate an entire page to highlighting what our blog has said over the past month and people go to our blog from the newsletter. But, the fact is that people read our newsletter and call us directly from it. Other people read our blog and call us directly from it.
For what it’s worth – they should definitely have both.
by Christina Ethridge (from Active Rain comment)
June 27, 2007 — 8:59 am
Todd Carpenter says:
Blogs are just one more thing. Keep them both, and cross promote them. “My latest newsletter is on the way. This month, I have some important tips on blah blah blah. If you would like to be on the mailing list, email me at…” Then feature a good post from your blog in part of the newsletter.
June 27, 2007 — 12:04 pm
Christina Ethridge says:
I’m going to expand on my AR post above. I have a couple of thoughts and these are specifically directed to Hilary and her situation.
1) A blog is essentially free. It takes your time of course, but the cost is essentially free. A blog will reach a portion of your clientelle and that clientelle must search for you and find your blog in a sea of other options.
2) A blog is not a target push. A target push would be sending out a mailing to home owners in your own market. A newsletter does this beautifully.
You would not believe the number of our clients that do not do read blogs – heck, they don’t even know what a blog is! They love receiving the newsletters giving them information and I get calls every month from the newsletter.
June 27, 2007 — 12:13 pm
Kermit Johnson says:
Brian,
Don’t give up the snail-mail just yet.
I have been in this business for over 15 years, and have tried just about every kind of newsletter, seasonal card, football schedules, e-mail campaigns, everything. I am getting my feet wet with blogging, so I am not making a judgement yet. I am skeptical. Why would anyone want to read a REALTOR’S blog regularly? Realtors already suffer from an inflated sense of self importance, but to think that everyone is going to want to read your blog is delusional. I am not sure that potential clients have time to wade through the random mixtures of personal musings, photos, self-promotion, and random market information that make up Realtor blogs. However, the blogs help search engine ranking, so people who are looking for homes right now are more likely to find you. Keep in mind that most Realtors think that the latest and newest thing is going to be the best. Remember when we thought those e-mail drip campaigns were going to be the “silver bullet?’
However, they still go to their mailbox (snail mail box.) I have found that the best thing that they can find there is a color postcard with a photo of a “just listed” or “just sold” with a message like “Know any buyers?” or “Know any sellers?”
I don’t think people read those newsletters. I don’t have any empirical data to back that up. However, I bet that many don’t even open the envelope, which is what makes the postcard superior (and cheaper.) I get calls every time I send them out. It also reminds people that I actually sell real estate.
It might be presumptuous to think that people are going to want to go to their computer to look up your blog, and, better still, to subscribe to it. I bet most of your readers will be other Realtors.
Sure, writing a blog is “free,” but how many valuable hours will you spend writing? How many years will it take to accumulate a large audience of readers?
Best of luck to you.
June 27, 2007 — 3:06 pm
Brian Brady says:
Thanks for the comments. I hope Hilary has a chance to digest these and ask a follow up question or two
June 27, 2007 — 4:29 pm
Rhonda Porter says:
I have quarterly snail-mail newsletter and it’s pretty well received. I think it’s important to stay in touch in many levels. Some clients may not be computer savvy or they may throw away mail quickly. What I’m contemplating is getting rid of my email newsletter (LTB). Brian, I know you do you your own email newsletter, do you feel it’s as important as your blog(s)?
June 27, 2007 — 4:57 pm
Brian Brady says:
I think the e-mail newsletter is as important as the blog because it (1) drives traffic to it (2) lets me keep track of who reads it.
I think a multi-media approach is imperative. Electronic, hard copy, and telephone.
June 27, 2007 — 6:36 pm
Geno Petro says:
Hey BB…Ricky Roma couldn’t have said it better. G
June 28, 2007 — 8:42 am
Jim Kimmons says:
Being a bit busy, but mostly lazy, I’ve opted for an email/online newsletter that is composed of posts from my blog. It’s kind of a “write it once, use it twice” strategy.
It is a free service at Zookoda.com, and it serves mostly those who don’t understand RSS or blogs and want my information. I chose monthly distribution to a list of 1100 or so, and get reports of delivery, opens, etc.
June 28, 2007 — 2:46 pm
Tom Burris says:
I think you should sling a little glossy paper out there sometimes. But I can see this format reducing the need to do so….. a little bit.
June 29, 2007 — 6:26 am
Hilary Shantz says:
Thanks everyone for very varied and useful comments. I am putting together a blogsite with realestatetomato called http://www.theoakvillebuzz.com. It’s going to be fun! Hilary
July 10, 2007 — 7:37 pm