Published August 9, 2019. Updated September 30, 2023.
Email marketing has the potential to boost your inbound traffic "bread and butter." It's said to be significantly more effective in generating sales than social media. However, the trick is to build quality relationships with your customers through relevant content that's targeted at your audience.
As a HubSpot Diamond Agency Partner, Geekly Media knows that the email component is a critical piece of any property management marketing campaign plan. Emails need to be specific, and they can be personalized even when created with the goal of boosting sales in mind.
So, how can property managers incorporate effective emails into their campaigns to close more deals? That's the focus of our blog today!
You might be thinking that you don't like "marketing" (or "spam") emails at all. However, we're willing to bet that you are subscribed to at least a few email lists from your favorite clothing brand, property management marketing information website (like the Geekly Media blog), or shopping site.
When thinking about the ideal strategy for your marketing emails, the best way to do this is to think about how you would want to be treated as a prospective customer — or why you subscribed to the lists you're on.
You, along with everyone else, receive dozens, if not hundreds, of emails a day. So, which emails do you look at and why?
You read emails and click through when:
You see a solution to a problem you are having.
You see something that you need to see more of.
You are alerted to a fact that you did not know previously.
You have a reason to connect with the person on the other end.
You like and believe in the brand.
Similar to how keywords are the answer to a client's search query, an email can be the solution or answer for an unvoiced need. So, when approaching your strategy for sending emails to your contacts (or to acquire new contacts), make sure it serves one of the purposes above to resonate with your audience.
You're looking to attract new property owners, so it's time to determine your audience.
Start asking yourself some questions, including:
What region of the state are you looking at?
Do you only service apartment complexes of a specific size or single-family properties?
Are you specially set up to work with certain types of tenants or landlords?
Have you been interacting with your social media pages? What types of customers do you attract there?
What kinds of customers read your blogs (i.e., what do your customers seem to want?) Make a list and check it twice.
Once you have aligned your potential customers along a "purchase readiness gradient," decide where to make cut-offs and group them into two or three categories. Your categories will probably range from customers who are ready to hire you to clients who might need a gentle nudge to buy.
Your gradient will likely be based on the time you have been in contact with a particular lead and the level of interaction you have had — though it could get more complicated if your company deals with larger corporations.
For this blog, we assume you're working with a group of individual property owners as your ideal client base.
As part of your content marketing plan, your emails need to offer a ready-made solution or a click-through to a blog that explains a more extensive one — or to information your customer cannot go without.
For example, you could send out an email to people in a section of the city where you manage properties that there is a festival on a specific day and that parking will be restricted throughout your neighborhood to accommodate the route.
This leads into the pitch, where you say something to the effect of, "We know you're busy as a landlord! Let us take care of the small details of building good relationships with tenants. Our property management services alert tenants to restricted parking days (etc.), and happy tenants mean on-time rent."
Regardless of the particular solution you are offering, addressing a need with your email content is a powerful tool for client retention.
A crucial aspect of inbound marketing best practices is personalization.
Think about what interests your clients may have; go through your social media interactions and assess which blogs have gotten the most attention. You can even create a list of the most common questions asked by people calling for the first time.
Think of as many reasons as possible that people contact your company: what problems do they want you to solve for them?
Once you have identified the main reasons people search you out, your inbound marketing strategy should address questions they didn't even know they had. It's also a nice touch to use a client's name or other unique information when you can — although it's wise to stay shy of "too much" specific information that could appear . . . creeper-ish.
For example, if part of the email references a specific area of the city, make it relevant to that person by including their area. You can even reference the last time you spoke or interacted with that specific client. People notice small details like this, and you only have to input the information once — the rest will be automated.
Automation is an excellent tool, especially if you want to send hundreds of emails a day! Plus, the right automation software and workflows still allow you to apply thoughtful personalization to emails.
An auto-responder will allow you to write and attach emails to email lists and scheduled times. Personal identifiers will be associated with each contact you have. Using automation will make your life significantly easier when adding email marketing efforts to your content and inbound strategy!
Don't forget about the reasons that people sign up for a newsletter or download your ebook! When it comes to your clients, you need to follow CAN-SPAM rules.
These rules ultimately protect your clients — and you! To maintain CAN-SPAM compliance, utilize:
Relevant subject lines
Real email addresses in "to" and "from" fields
Present (and visible) company name and address
A fully functional unsubscribe link
As long as you have these simple elements and your email list has been generated from inbound marketing techniques, you will be compliant worldwide!
With each email campaign, you want to strive for growth. A lack of growth may indicate that you need to change or tailor your campaigns a bit more to reach your target audience.
It's also crucial to remember that email best practices change frequently! From the best subject line structure to including emojis in the subject and the ideal length for the body text to keep readers engaged, staying updated on current email marketing trends is crucial to building a successful strategy and campaign.
Analyzing your current inbound marketing strategies and plans and creating new goals can make a healthy campaign even stronger! If you feel like you need additional support in this arena, as a HubSpot Platinum Agency, Geekly Media has you covered.
Email marketing isn't rocket science — but communicating with people's needs in mind can often be more challenging than estimating how much fuel you'll burn during insertion into polar orbit!
With that in mind, we've put together a blog series to help you not only up your property management marketing game but improve your interpersonal communication skills with clients as well. Start your journey from the beginning with part one:
"Crucial Elements for Crafting Property Management Marketing Campaigns!"
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