Part of the Email Marketing for Real Estate Series.

If your idea of email branding consists solely of HTML header graphics and colors then you’re neglecting the more powerful aspects of email marketing.

Branding is more than colors, logos, and slogans. At it’s core, branding is how you position your relationship with others so that you achieve top-of-mind awareness whenever they think of your area of expertise.

Email marketing and autoresponders allow you to automate brand building so that you rule your subscribers inbox and build recognition and expert status.

Branding starts at first contact and with email it’s typically through an autoresponder your visitor was added to when they signed up for access to some specialized content.

That very first email in your autoresponder series is critical for establishing the context for your future email marketing endeavors.

We’re going to do a few things in that first autorespodner email to create top-of mind awareness for you and get your subscriber excited for your next email.

This first branding tactic is an important one. First off, it gets your subscriber to create a “physical” spot in their email client just for you and your emails… it’s like going over to visit your subscriber and they gave you a place to leave your toothbrush

Just as importantly, it gets your subscriber to take action. The sooner they follow your call-to-action the more effective your future marketing will be.

Here it is (feel free to swipe this copy):

Most people don’t like the idea of missing out or losing the type of information you’ll be receiving, so I encourage you to create a new email folder titled:

!Mark Eckenrode!

No matter which email program you use (Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo, etc.), it makes sense to create this new email folder so you can conveniently file these emails and refer back to them.

Title the folder just like above. In case you’re wondering about the exclamation points, they help you quickly find the folder in your email client

What just happened? Your subscriber just branded their email client with your name. Now, they’ll see your name every time they’re checking their email. Cool, eh?

Okay, on to the next branding tactic…

Provide a unique identifier to your email’s From or Subject lines. The reason for this is to help your email stand out in your subscriber’s busy inbox.

Here are a few examples for your From line:

- Mark Eckenrode -
==> think Mark

and for your Subject line:

[HomeStomper] Your subject
HomeStomper >> Your subject

Your final goal with this initial email is to really “sell” your subscriber on what’s coming in future emails. I prefer to do this by offering “blind benefits.”

Basically, a blind benefit is a hint or tease. Something along the lines of…

Watch for an upcoming email because I want to make sure you know why some buyers are given favored status by sellers… almost preferred treatment. This little known information could save you money, time and stress.

What client of yours wouldn’t want to know that?

What you’ve done with that tease is establish that you know some “insider info” that you’ll be sharing. You’re also provoking their curiosity - they’ll open your next email

As you’ve just learned, your emails are powerful branding tools. If you been relying on HTML graphics and colors up to this point then it’s time to shake it up and really make those emails work for you and convert subscribers to clients.

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Mark Eckenrode is known as the "King of Click, Buy & Beg." A Master Guerrilla Marketing Coach, he helps his UltraStomper Coaching members get more people to Click, Buy & Beg for their real estate services.