Make an awesome value-packed newsletter, they say. Cut through the noise, they say. Otherwise, it won’t work.
Easier said than done, because there are only so many topics in the real estate industry, and every one of your competitors, who’s worth anything, is well aware of them. Chances are your subscribers’ inboxes are bursting with listings updates and market statistics with a sprinkle of upcoming events and blog round-ups. Among a hundred other ‘Greetings from…’ and ‘ABC’s Monthly Digest.’
So should you just give up?
Oh no, no way. In 2023, enewsletters are still an important part of any sensible email marketing strategy and the best way to engage with the audience. Newsletters help you build a connection, create a sense of community, and foster relationships that won’t just turn readers into clients—but strengthen your brand and send new leads your way as well.
And if you want to succeed, it’s not only about real estate newsletter ideas, but the overall approach to newsletter publishing that you should think about.
In this article, we’ll discuss the best newsletter practices, topic ideas, and tools you can use to step up your newsletter game.
Real Estate Newsletters 101
It doesn’t matter what’s inside your newsletter if no one opens it. So how can you improve your chances of success?
Make the Newsletters as Personalized as Possible
Just a name and email address simply won’t do. Are they buyers or sellers? Which kind of property and neighborhood are they looking for and why? What’s their budget?
You can discover tons of useful information by sending quizzes or polls. You can do a fun one such as Trulia’s ‘This or that?’, which will give you insights into what your subscribers prefer:
Source: Follow Up Boss
Or do a more formal one like Redfin’s ‘Affordability calculator’.
Source: mailbakery
Once you’ve collected enough data, you can group your subscribers based on the attributes you find most relevant and go from there. This alone can boost your open rates up to 14% and click rates up to whopping 100%.
Keep Your Subject Lines Short and Engaging
This is a tricky piece of advice, because despite numerous statistics it’s not hard science, and you will probably have to learn what works for you through trial and error.
Just remember that people open your emails on mobile devices, and most smartphones display five to six words, so brevity is key. Being personal and informational also pays off, because it shows that you care about your subscribers and their time. Here’s a guide and some good examples if you need inspiration.
Topics and Ideas for Real Estate eNewsletter
Now, what can you put into the content of your real estate newsletter?
#1 Listings update
This one feels like an obvious choice, but it can work wonders if you focus on the relevance and personalization, as we’ve discussed above. It can engage passive leads and help convert them to clients, show off your expertise as a real estate agent, and build trust. In this example from Zillow, you can see how wonderfully they utilize their data, showing the fitting listings while also gently nagging the lead to take action.
#2 Market updates and statistics
Again, market updates may not sound very exciting, because everybody does them. But it’s an excellent way to build trust with sellers and secure more listings. To succeed, your market updates should be educational and friendly—and personal. Use first names, segment the emails based on location, showcase the property you’ve sold. This way people will feel their homes are in good hands.
Source: Venngage
#3 Neighborhood spotlights
A wonderful opportunity for you, as a real estate agent, to keep in touch with your audience. You can turn this kind of newsletter into a light and fun weekly or monthly digest, listing upcoming events and places to visit, suggesting some seasonal activities and the best biking routes. It’ll allow you to keep the balance between promotional and helpful content, and make people feel like they are a part of a community.
#4 How-to guides and selling tips for homeowners
Everybody loves educational content, so this can easily become your real estate newsletter hit. Buyers will enjoy a home buying guide, as the whole process can be extremely confusing. Sellers will benefit from suggestions that will help them improve prices or increase offers.
Source: Fiverr
#5 Home tours, interviews with residents, agent features, and other video content
Including video in your newsletter can increase your click-through rates by up to 300%. So if you already have some video content, be it a drone video of the neighborhood or a personal hello from you or your agents, don’t hesitate to use it in your newsletters. It will pay off in a loyal, engaged audience that will have a personal connection with your brand.
If you feel like investing in a more complex project, you can even create a series of educational videos on buying a home or on finances, for example. The task may be daunting, but as a result, you will get loads of evergreen content you can use across your marketing.
How to Make Your Real Estate Newsletters Stand out from the Competition?
As we’ve already discussed, the number of real estate newsletter topics is limited, so even if you’re producing exceptional content, it may get lost in the subscriber’s inbox.
But if the content is traditional, the newsletter format doesn’t have to be. With FlippingBook, you can turn your email or a PDF into an interactive online newsletter that is bound to attract your audience’s attention.
Create yours
Here’s how FlippingBook gives your newsletters a competitive edge:
Interactivity
Interactive ebooks are listed among the top five most effective types of interactive content according to Content Marketing Institute. The newsletters created with FlippingBook are not only life-like and fun to flip through—with them, you can add videos, popup images, GIFs, and even lead capture forms to grow your subscriber list. So pack your newsletters with house tours, neighborhood spotlights, event previews, and other exciting bits that will help nurture your leads.
Ease of reading on any device
Thanks to cloud hosting, your newsletters are available via online links and can be opened and read on a smartphone or a big screen at any time. This is good news because now you don’t have to worry about the length of the content. Pack your newsletter with listings, recommendations, include blog round-ups, and educational videos—your subscribers won’t have to download anything or skip the email because it’s too long for their mobile screen.
Activity tracking for better marketing and sales results
With FlippingBook newsletter analytics, you’ll be able to see beyond opens and clicks. How many people read your content? How much time did they spend on it? What did they like best? The answers to these questions will help you create even better and more effective content, and as a result—more engaged leads.
Check out a short video to learn how FlippingBook can help you outshine your real estate competitors with your interactive brochures and newsletters:
How Does It Work?
As a busy realtor, you will appreciate how easy it is to create an interactive newsletter with FlippingBook. All you need is a PDF and an Internet connection, FlippingBook will do the rest. It will convert your PDF file into an online flipbook in a matter of minutes. From there you can customize it, grab a link and send it to your subscribers.
You can email it or share it via social media and your website to maximize your online presence. The choice is yours.
Bonus: a Free Real Estate Newsletter Template
You can create your interactive real estate newsletter even faster with our free template for Canva.
If you’re not familiar with Canva, it’s an easy-to-use design tool that lets you create all sorts of marketing materials. You can customize the template we provide with your own images and text and then send your work straight to FlippingBook. There you’ll be able to add all the interactive elements you need, and share the finished newsletter with the world!
Ready to create your interactive real estate newsletter? Try it here now—free for 14 days.
