When it comes to growing our businesses, the database is where the magic happens. By adding people consistently to your database and then connecting with those people, you can grow your business. Real estate broker Mary Cheatham King of North Carolina’s coast had $218 million in volume last year and served 327 families by paying close attention to her database.

As Mary Cheatham’s business has evolved over the years, she has moved from being a solo agent to running a team with two buyers agents, 3 full-time listing agents, and a marketing team. Through trial and error, research, and feedback, they’ve identified four main pillars in their marketing strategy: social media, video, a magazine, and weekly emails.

Of each of these methods, the weekly emails are the backbone of what they do. As Mary Cheatham shares, they find the emails to be a low-cost marketing tool with high impact. Emails are sent each and every week on the same day and time – Thursdays at 6pm – to 22,000 people. The timing of their messaging is a result of testing what gets the best response from their database and they are currently getting an open rate of between 27-31 percent.

It's important to hold on to the people that enter your database. You don’t want to lose them due to shoddy content in your weekly emails. Mary Cheatham suggests the following to bring value on a weekly basis:

• Remember the client relationship lifecycle.
  Your goal is to keep people engaged after the transaction. Provide relevant content for people who are not only currently in the sales cycle, but those who aren’t in the sales cycle.
• Identify buckets of content that appeal to everyone.
  Put a unique spin on content that everyone can benefit from. For instance, when sharing what’s going on locally or highlighting small businesses in your area, make unique suggestions, interview community members, and provide information on where to park and what to do.
• Show listings in creative ways to give them a reason to open the email.
  Satisfy the HGTV-philes in your database by showcasing your listings differently. For example, show side-by-side pictures of only the porches or family rooms of three homes and ask your readers to share which home they would most like to drink a margherita on or watch a game in. This gives your database a reason to reply and stay in contact with you.
• Repurpose the content.
  When you create content use it in multiple ways to reach your database. For instance, show a portion of an interview in a weekly email, on a social media reel, or elsewhere.

It’s important to remember that only a small percentage of your database has a need for real estate (or a referral to offer) in any given year. So while you want to reach the current buyers and sellers, it’s just as essential to stay top-of-mind for those that aren’t in the real estate market right now. This is best achieved by delivering value.

To learn more about the marketing methods that have resulted in Mary Cheatham King’s success, join her for the upcoming free class she’ll be teaching to the Pivot: Shift Ahead community. Interact with Mary in the class via Zoom or watch on the Pivot: Shift Ahead page. Get details at events.jamesdshaw.com!