Bulk Marketing – What You Need to Know

Have you considered how to optimize bulk marketing for your multifamily business? First, let’s address what bulk marketing is. Bulk marketing allows you to send individual email campaigns to large audiences on a recurring basis. In multifamily, there are several tools that allow properties to engage in bulk marketing. While these tools have different capabilities, the primary goal is to create emails (and for some SMS) to send to prospects in order to promote your property.

A Bit About hyMail Blasts

hyMail Blasts is Hyly.AI’s bulk marketing communications tool. With hyMail Blasts, you can send branded eBlasts that promote your multifamily business to 1,000s of prospects, residents, and brokers in minutes.

While hyMail Blasts gives you the tools, it’s up to you to optimize performance.

This guide will cover several tips on how to maximize eBlast performance, including:

• The kinds of eBlasts and their uses – All About eBlasts
• Small but crucial details of eBlast construction – Grammar, Syntax, Punctuation…Oh My!
• What a meaningful eBlast should include – The Perfect eBlast

Continue to the next section where you will learn about the different kinds of eBlasts and their uses.

All About eBlasts

Part of improving eBlast performance is sending the right eBlast for your message. eBlasts come in several formats and there are numerous templates you can choose from.

Here is the eBlast breakdown:

• Announcements
• Events
• Offers

Announcements

Announcements are intended for residents and are perfect for updating them on any community changes:

• Pool opening/closing
• Office closing early
• Changes to trash pick up

You can easily tailor Announcement templates for whatever message you wish to send and swap out the images as you see fit.

Events

Events can be sent to prospects, residents, and brokers; however, they are primarily sent to residents as these are often property Events.
Here are just 3 possible Event eBlasts:

• Valentine’s Day Singles Mixer
• Community Happy Hour
• Neighborhood Cookout

Much like Announcements, you can tailor Event templates for any multifamily purpose.

Offer

Finally, you can send Offers to prospects. Offers inform prospects about your property and nudge prospects to tour your property:

• First month 1/2 off rent
• Live two months rent-free
• Refer a friend, get one month rent-free

Tailor your Offer templates to serve the prospects’ needs.

How To Customize

When customizing your templates, there are some important features to consider changing/adding:

• Floor plans
• Images
• Scheduling

Aside from selecting the appropriate template, you should ensure your fields align with your message (additional fields will be discussed in section 3.). For example, if you are going to send an Offer for your property, consider selecting a template that includes a floor plan field. Here, you can add a floor plan image of a unit you are leasing.

Second, consider your image field. The image should reflect the eBlast type and overall message of the eBlast. For example, if you are sending an Announcement eBlast about the pool opening, your image should not reference a holiday party.

Third, take advantage of scheduling. It takes minutes to create eBlasts and you can schedule them days, weeks, and months in advance. This means you can create several eBlasts at one time and schedule them for future dates.

In the next section, we will cover the importance of grammar, punctuation, and embracing your eBlast creativity.

Grammar, Syntax, Punctuation…Oh My!

Grammar

Due u notise anything wrong with this sintince?

Poor grammar is a quick and easy way to keep people from engaging with your content. If your goal is to improve your eBlast performance, it’s important to check your work no matter how short:

• Try browser extensions like Grammarly
• Read your eBlasts aloud
• Test it by sending it to colleagues or your manager

Punctuation

Wowww!!!! (OMG!) Exciting Offer, just, for, you!!!!

Too much of anything, even a good thing, is still too much. Punctuation is necessary; however, there is a clear line between effective and ineffective punctuation. A good rule to follow with unique punctuation (bolding, underlining, italics, etc.) is less is more.

• Keep bolding to a minimum
• Refrain from using multiple exclamation points, especially right in a row
• Try to avoid parentheses and underlining
• Learn the rules of commas so you’re using them appropriately

Embrace Your Creativity

There’s nothing wrong with walking on the creative side. Creative content is far more engaging and generally performs better. eBlasts are a great way to embrace your creativity. This starts with:

• Subject lines
• Send frequency
• Images

Subject lines are a great place to embrace your creative side. Subject lines are one of the first fields of your message users will see. Make it your goal to create unique subject lines that you would want to open. Check out the graphic below for some quick tips.

For more information on writing great subject lines check out our guide on improving email performance.

Send frequency is about sending eBlasts at an appropriate duration. In other words, you shouldn’t send eBlasts daily because you have the tools to do so. Send emails when you have something to say.

Images are a great way to brighten up your eBlasts and showcase your text. For each unique thing, you showcase, provide an image reflecting that. For example, if you have a property by the beach, show off the sand and surf.

These three eBlast components encourage you to think creatively and compose content that your audience will find engaging.

Read about the perfect eBlast message in the next section.

K.I.S.S. – Keeping It Short and Simple

So you’re aiming to improve performance and write create the perfect eBlast; start by considering the eBlast length. eBlasts do not have to be long to be effective. In fact, shorter eBlast messages are often more effective.

eBlasts are meant to emphasize crucial information while relating to the eBlast type you are sending.

Your goal should be to:

• Highlight the purpose of your eBlast
• Relate it to your property
• Ensure your CTA reinforces the goal of the eBlast

With a few simple lines.

To break this down, observe the images below. The ‘Good Example’ is short but on point. It references the offer, promotes the property, and prompts the prospect to schedule a tour. The ‘Bad Example’ has too much text. It detracts from the central message and the CTA reads Join Us, which does not reinforce the goal of the eBlast.

Less Selling, More Connecting

A second aspect of creating a great eBlast message is refraining from being too ‘salesy.’ It’s crucial to market your property, but people get tired of a sales pitch. People want content that resonates with them.

Many of us are familiar with the ‘used car’ sales pitch or the infomercial: ‘Call Now!,’ ‘This offer won’t last long!,’ ‘But wait…there’s more!’

Rather than being vague and exaggerated, provide specific and genuine information:

‘From a rooftop terrace overlooking the city to the resident concierge and on-site dry cleaning services, Avenue at York is designed to meet your needs.’

This is simple, informative, and approachable.

Quality of the Message

Finally, you want to focus on the quality of the overall message. This speaks to a greater issue of message cohesiveness. There are three crucial sections of your eBlast that should align:

• Subject Line – The purpose of the subject line is to get people to open the email
• Body – Informative content that gives your audience 3 solid reasons to click on the CTA
• CTA (if applicable) – This is where you close the sale

It’s crucial the subject line, body, and CTA aligns for optimal performance.

Wrap Up

The perfect eBlast message relies on:

• Choosing the right eBlast
• Using proper grammar and punctuation
• Switching up subject lines, send frequency, and images
• Keeping messages short and on point
• Ensuring the most important fields align

Follow these tips if you want to create effective eBlasts, improve eBlast performance, and optimize your bulk marketing strategy. Now get sending!

Learn More

To learn more about hyMail Blasts and how it can optimize your bulk marketing, give us a call: 516-HYLY-INC or submit a ticket.

Artie says, ‘Thanks for reading!’