Then keep reading because in this article I’ll show you one of the highest-return, lowest-cost marketing strategies you’ll ever use in your real estate practice. I’m dead serious. This is working today to get more exposure and contracts for your listings. As a side benefit it also demonstrates your unique value to sellers and helps you get more listings.

Here’s how this 2-step marketing strategy works:

STEP #1: Get a quality list of people to EMAIL

STEP #2: Send them a “valuable update” at least once a month

The best way to explain how this strategy can help you sell more homes is by answering a few common questions about email marketing…

QUESTION #1: “Is email effective?”

• Emails are quick and easy to create and send, and they cost you nothing…
• They are welcomed when they’re part of a “valuable update” (as long as you’re sending something people want to read and not all real estate info, more on that in a moment)…
• Emails are seen more than Facebook posts or Twitter updates because they arrive in someone’s in-box rather than on a website someone has to go and check…
• They are the most reliable way to get visitors to your website anytime you have an updated listing (no more running ads, printing flyers, or paying for traffic to get potential buyers to see listings on your website)…

Are emails opened by everyone?  No.  Email open rates depend on many factors including:  1) your relationship with the people you’re emailing, 2) the nature of your previous emails, and 3) how often you email your contacts.

If your contacts know you personally, you can expect 25% to 40% to open your emails within the FIRST DAY of you sending an email, spending $0.00.  That’s why email marketing is the best way to promote your listings — it’s the highest-leverage tool you can use for free to get exposure for your listings.

QUESTION #2: “What if I don’t have email addresses of my contacts?“

The most valuable business asset you’ll ever own is your “Power List” — some agents call this your sphere of influence. It’s your past clients, quality leads, friends, family, or acquaintances who know of you from a common organization or group. These are people most likely to welcome and respond to your emails.

Many of these contacts are already in your current email program. You can easily export these contacts and put them in an email marketing system. Then you’ll be able to send a “broadcast email” where you message all your contacts at the same time (instead of one-by-one). The email can still be personal by having the email system merge in the FIRST NAME of each contact.

But what if you still don’t have ALL the email addresses of your contacts, or you want more? I’ve created a quick reference guide with 15 easy ways to get more email addresses, organized into the following FOUR categories:

1. FREE (7 strategies to collect emails for no cost)
2. CHEAP (3 inexpensive and effective strategies to get more emails)
3. BIG BANG (2 strategies that cost money, but can help you build a huge email list quickly)
4. LEVERAGE (3 strategies to get emails from high-quality contacts that other people know)

I’ve numbered each of the strategies so it’s quick to scan the list, pick the ones you want to use, and start building your email list. To download this guide, click the image below…

* One agent I know was averaging at least 2 new people every day added to her database, and in her first year alone made over $122,000 in commissions from this group.  And she keeps making a $6-Figure income each year from them, even in this economy.  This is worth it.  Follow the reference guide and keep at it.  You’ll be glad you did.

QUESTION #3: “What do I email so it’s welcomed, opened, read, and acted-upon?”

OK, so you’ve got your “Power List” with email addresses. What do you send them?

If you blast off a “pitch” email promoting your listings to these folks, many of them will be upset or wonder why you’re spamming them. Instead, you want to send them something that will be welcomed and valued. It needs to be something radically different than the “email flyers” you see used to promote listings to other agents.

How do you send something that sets you APART from other agents, brings great VALUE, bonds a deeper RELATIONSHIP, while ALSO promoting your listings and giving specific REASONS to contact you?

The answer is to send a “valuable update.” That’s a little vague. Let me explain it using the Service For Life!^® real estate newsletter as an example.

Each issue of Service For Life!^® is engineered with:

1) Articles people want to read (not all about real estate) to make your email welcomed and valued…
2) Teasers, trivia, odd facts and helpful resources to get people involved (the longer they spend with your emails the more they’re bonded to you and the more they’ll see offers to contact you)…
3) 14 specific OFFERS to convert leads, generate referrals, word of mouth and repeat business (including multiple places to promote your listings in each email)…

You can see a sample of the email version here.

The bottom line: sending the “right” kind of email allows you to notify all your contacts about your listings at least once a month… where they THANK YOU for emailing them. Now that’s powerful. Thousands of agents are using this strategy today to get more listings sold, for no cost, while also deepening their relationship with each person for more referrals.  This also demonstrates a marketing system you have to promote listing, which will bring you more seller clients.

There’s a lot more I could say to describe this strategy, but you can learn all the specifics on this webinar training.

What you need to know right now is: produce a “valuable update” email, once a month, that has all the right elements to get opened, read, engaged-with, and that motivates response.  More specifically, you’ll need to…

• Spend 15 to 20 hours a month researching, writing, editing, rewriting, etc. the articles on your own,
• Layout the entire email in HTML (or pay a graphic designer to do it),
• And find an email marketing system to send broadcast emails.

Or, you could become a Service For Life!^® member and have it 95% done for you each month…

• Your contact info and photo are already loaded into your email issue…
• It takes 5-minutes to add a personal message so it looks like you created it (this personal touch is very important)…
• Adding links or listing information directly to the email template through a simple editor that looks and works just like a word processor…
• All articles are also modifiable through the email editor and there’s an article library with dozens of new articles available each month, ready to cut and paste in about 30-seconds…
• Press SEND, and it’s done.

All the right elements are already engineered into the Service For Life!^® email template, plus there are videos and guides to export and upload your contacts into an email sending system, pre-written email openers that bonds people to you for life, and information for getting more emails opened with the right subject lines, along with the best times of day and days of the week to send emails.

Your time is really better spent working with clients and closing deals. The choice is yours: create your own “valuable update” email each month, or have it done for you.

Either way, putting in place this cheap, and amazingly effective marketing strategy could be the ONE thing you need to prosper in today’s new economy.