Not too long ago, I put my house upon the market. I wanted to move to a different school district and closer to the rest of my family. Rather than go through the standard call a bunch of realtors for an interview and see what they could do to sell my home, I decided to leverage the internet to create demand.

I took a lot of pictures and created online curb appeal. The blog was full of information, as was Flickr, and also a few good You Tube clips that showed the house – inside & outside, the neighborhood, useful stores, and the close by schools. I had pictures across seasons as well as lots of information that I felt would be beneficial to a prospective buyer.

Next I started advertising my home to real estate agents. I called and emailed a group of them and as I spoke to each one I followed up with an email giving them a preview into my online repository – I didn’t publish all of my pictures yet. I told them some of the story leaving room for intrigue and my final launch. I ended up having many agents visit and propose taking my business. They also gave me a number of ideas that I kept implementing. I was successful in creating a buzz in the real estate community having many of them pre-selling my home.

I finally chose one, put the home on the market, and they brought someone home that evening. The visiting couple made an offer – the deal was done. So what are the lessons for an email marketer?

Grow your list, but grow it correctly – my target market included select real estate professional and not just randomly growing my list. If you run contests ask questions before you add people else your list will remain non-responsive.

Send the first message immediately – right after each conversation, I was able to send a message to the real estate agent. I was still relevant and they were anticipating my message.

Leverage user generated content – I used real pictures, you should do the same – ask your customers to provide you with images of how they have used your products / services. This is good / real content that is appreciated.

Create intrigue & excitement – I was building my list and giving previews to what was about to come. You should use bonding programs to build up towards the big announcement.

Set a deadline – I had promised the agents that I would be making the announcement on a particular date. That helped and I also know that many of the agents were also telling their customers about a home that was about to come on the market.

Email marketing is about creating interactive conversations. Do it right, and you can yield good results.