Good Afternoon —
From title agents to mortgage lenders to real estate brokers, no matter who you ask, they will tell you that real estate is a relationship-driven business. For title agents, however, this can be tricky.
Title firms do not often engage and market directly to consumers (many of whom are not 100% certain what title insurance is and why they might need it). Instead they focus on fostering relationships with and marketing to real estate agents and brokerages.
When the COVID-19 pandemic prevented most social interaction and face-to-face meetings, Sarah Perkins, the director of strategic accounts at ClearTitle Agency of Arizona, decided to launch a newsletter to keep in touch with the firm's past and current clients.
Perkins, like many people, stumbled into the title industry accidentally. ("I was a Kappa Kappa Gamma and when I graduated I moved to Arizona and reached out to all of the Kappa alumni looking for job leads and managed to find someone in title. Eighteen years later and I am still here," she said with a laugh.) She had begun working on a website back in 2018. With the onset of the pandemic, Perkins found herself with a lot of time on her hands and decided to finish building out the site and launched a newsletter.
"I have always loved talking about the market and just what is going on in real estate," Perkins said. "The market in Phoenix is super hot and we have a lot of proptech companies coming out here, so there is a lot to talk about. I had been doing all of that talking in person, but with the pandemic I couldn't, so it kind of morphed into my newsletter."
Although it was never her goal, the newsletter has helped boost ClearTitle's client list.
"When I started it, I was kind of hoping it would be a good way to stay top of mind for existing clients," she said. "But now when I meet with new agents and brokerages that we haven't worked with before, they will reference my newsletters, which is really cool."
As refis drop off, housing inventory remains low and buyer demand shows signs of slowing, building relationships and staying top of mind with real estate agents and brokerages will be even more important for title agents and firms. Do you have any creative marketing strategies to help you maintain and build those relationships? Email me at brooklee@hwmedia.com.
Until next week,
Brooklee Han
Real Estate and Title Industry Reporter
brooklee@hwmedia.com
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