Thoughts on Real Estate Marketing…

If you’re like me, your in-box is so filled with information there’s no way to find time to read it all. Right now I see 168 messages that I haven’t even clicked to open, and at least that many that I’ve looked at and plan to go read “later.”

Some of them probably have good advice and information I could use, but who has the time?

You probably also have a system for getting rid of anything that looks like an ad – unless it happens to be something you’re looking for that day. My first task in the morning is scrolling through all the messages that came in over night and deleting the majority of them.

And even then, I know I’m probably missing some good stuff.

At some point during the day I might try to go back and see what I’m missing… and then I delete some more. For instance, any message that gives me a few sentences and says “click here” to read the rest. Nope. I’m on satellite, so I’m not going to take time to click and wait.

Then I delete the ones that offer 6 or 8 inches of promotion before getting down to the message.

How about you? Do you have a method for paring down the messages?

So do your prospective customers! Every one of us, and every one of them, has to pick and choose what we’re going to read. Otherwise, we’d spend 8 or 10 hours a day at our computers, just reading!

That means your message, be it a promotion for your goods and services, or a fund raising appeal, has to grab attention, and then it has to immediately show that it will deliver whatever you promised in your subject line.

If you fake it – promise something and then deliver only an offer to purchase that information – you’ll lose your readership faster than you can blink.

So think hard and long about your subject line – and then make sure you fulfill the promises that it makes.

In spite of the impersonal nature of the internet, it really is all about creating relationships and building trust. When people see your name they’ll react – either by thinking (or feeling) “Good information, I need to read this” or “Oh, another ad.”