If you’re considering publishing a real estate newsletter for your business, then put aside the old clichés of what that might look like. Today’s commercial real estate newsletters are designed to be relationship builders that educate readership about the industry, your company and new opportunities. Email marketing powerhouse MailChimp recently published some benchmarks of email readership by industry and found that real estate email marketing had a 21% open rate.  That means that more than 1 in 5 people are likely to be interested in gaining company or industry insights from newsletter or similar instrument.

Newsletters work by appealing to readers on a number of different levels.  While each article you publish may not necessarily hold something for everyone, they should each be skimmable, informative and provide enough facts and information that the reader walks away feeling like their time spent reading the article was worth it. When you think of your real estate newsletter, think along the lines of these five themes: 

1. Staying in touch – Nothing says that you’re interested in your customers more than finding reasons to stay in touch. A newsletter is great way to do that.  Let them know in your cover letter that you put the current issue together with them in mind.
   
   
2. Complement other commercial real estate marketing activities – The reality is that newsletters, like any other marketing tactic, relies on the combined effects of the full marketing plan to be successful. Use a newsletter to promote your blog, build on search engine optimization (real estate SEO) efforts, drive attendance at events, recap your twitter feeds as well as coordinate with other real estate email marketing campaigns.
   
   
3. Highlight the voice of your customers – Don’t hesitate to incorporate an interview with customers that you’ve recently helped by sharing case studies. Potential customers are more likely to believe their peers, more than any other source, about the services you provide. Be sure to emphasize the problem identified and the solution you provided.
   
   
4. Show your available properties – By regularly highlighting properties that you have available, some people will be sure to read just for that reason – particularly, if you’re able to promote little known gems, or particularly unique spaces.
5. Establish your business as an industry leader – If you’ve recently solved a particularly unique problem, helped out local government or found a creative way to make finances work, make sure you include that in your real estate newsletter. Prospective customers want to know that you’re able to think outside the box in order to get the deal done.