More and more frequently, real estate agents are using email marketing as a tool for promoting their businesses. A real estate assistant (or a real estate VA) who is familiar with electronic newsletter design and programming can make sure that you use it to its maximum benefit.

For example. your real estate assistant can make sure that you are using the right program for delivering your message – Constant Contact, Rainmaker; each program has its own advantages and disadvantages. Your assistant can fill you in and help you choose.

Likewise, when designing the template for your electronic newsletter, your real estate assistant can keep the look similar to that of your website or blog so that your brand remains constant regardless of the medium through which it’s sent. Likewise, she can ensure that a text based message is also available for subscribers who would prefer a leaner version of the message.

She can ensure that the first message that goes out is clear and welcoming and really lets subscribers know what to expect, and can make sure that – in order to comply with privacy standards – there is a way that they can unsubscribe if they wish to.

Your real estate assistant can make sure that every message you send out is targeted, that you’re sending relevant information to those who really want to receive – and the best part is that when that message goes out, it won’t overtake your other marketing efforts by consuming all of your time and attention.

When the real estate market isn’t exactly thriving, your real estate assistant becomes more valuable than ever – especially when it comes to promoting the confidence that sellers have in your services. Part of the issue is simple: when you’re out in the field, your real estate assistant can make sure that their calls are answered, which is going to show them that they are as important as the rest of your clients.

But seller confidence is about far more than just whether or not their calls are answered. One element is making sure that they understand the competition. Your real estate assistant can help to prepare a tip sheet that focuses on how long most homes in their area are on the market, that provides tips for showing their homes, and even for looking at their own home through the eyes of prospective buyers: each of these elements can make them more comfortable with the process.

Similarly, if your real estate assistant is a certified home stager, you can be sure that your sellers will feel more confident about getting their home ready for photos that can be used in the MLS and online as marketing materials and for having prospective buyers tour the property.

Home staging, great photos, comfort with showing a home and just knowing that you’re there when sellers need you is going to do a tremendous amount to improve morale and keep your clients feeling good about working with you. When you are able – with the help of your real estate assistant – to keep your sellers confident, you’ll find that you get more referrals, sell properties faster and make the selling process more smooth for everyone involved.

Rather than focus on what a real estate assistant can do, let’s look at what a real estate assistant should be able to do.

When you’re working in real estate, you should have an assistant who can:

1. Help you to focus on your marketing strategy and help you to improve it.
2. Create professional listing presentations that set you apart from your competitors.
3. Provide buyers and sellers alike with the information that they need to keep the process of buying or selling a home as simple as possible.
4. Inspire confidence in the buyers and sellers you’re working with.
5. Pick up the slack at the office when you’re going to be in the field all day – even if he or she works virtually: keeping emails triaged and making sure calls are answered.
6. Make sure that your schedule is manageable.
7. Focus on the tasks that you’re just not as good at – say, internet marketing, writing a blog or articles or press releases, staging the homes that you’re selling, etc.

If your real estate assistant – or your real estate virtual assistant, depending on whether you’re working with someone who is in your office or who is helping you from afar – isn’t able to fulfill those tasks, you may want to consider making getting a new assistant a priority. And, as always, if you don’t already have a real estate assistant it just might be time to look into getting one.

When you have a real estate assistant who is familiar with photo editing software like Photoshop, you can be sure that all of your listings look great.

When you add photos to an MLS listing, you need to be sure that those photos show the home in it’s best light. Poor lighting, camera shake, excessive shadows: all of these things can affect the way prospective buyers see the property: with photo editing software and a real estate assistant who knows how to use it, personal effects can be cloned out of the picture, lighting can be enhanced.

The same is true when it comes to the listing photos that you use to market a listed property on your own website or in your blog: it’s possible for your real estate assistant to resize photos so that they are faster loading and don’t bog down site.

Likewise, well edited photos can be used for print marketing materials – newspaper ads, flyers for the info tubes for prospects who are driving by and even marketing materials that you distribute during an open house.

Great listing photos make a big impact – make sure yours are top notch: your real estate assistant can help.

First time buyers have a lot of questions. As a real estate agent, it’s your job to provide answers. If you have your real estate assistant design a guide for first time buyers, you’ll be able to spend less time providing the answers that they need.

For example, your real estate assistant can create a glossary of common terms that can be confusing. As a result, you’d have fewer questions to answer about what private mortgage insurance is and why lenders require it. You wouldn’t have to explain the differences between adjustable and fixed rate mortgages: the information would already be there for them.

Similarly, your real estate assistant could focus on creating a worksheet that would help your first time buyers determine how much they really could afford, and to help them figure out how much the interest rate they are getting on their loan will cost them over time. A worksheet that helps them identify what they need and want their home to have can also help you to find the right home for them.

In other words, when you have your real estate assistant create a guide for first time buyers, you’ll find yourself in a win-win situation: they’ll understand the process of buying a home; you’ll have a better sense of what they’re looking for. That means that, in the end, you’ll have happier clients – and that means more referrals and a growth for your business.

You can make sure that all of the points that need to be addressed are, and then your real estate assistant can make sure that everything is covered and well-designed.

The real estate business has more to do with marketing than it does simply helping others to buy and sell homes. There’s marketing in the MLS, websites, print marketing – not to mention just the need to attract more clients on a regular basis. However, not all real estate agents are marketers: and those who aren’t are able to take advantage of a real estate assistant who can take on many of the marketing responsibilities.

Here are 20 of the many things that a real estate assistant can do to market your business:

1. Create and submit press releases for online distribution when you bring on a new agent or your company makes the choice to offer a new service.
2. Design a website for your business.
3. Create targeted pay per click marketing campaigns so that buyers and sellers in your area who are looking for your services will find links to your site right away.
4. Create and post to a daily blog to add links to your website.
5. Place virtual tours online.
6. Update listings online.
7. Article marketing that can help to increase exposure for your business and website.
8. Design just listed and just sold postcards.
9. Design info sheets for the properties that you’ve listed.
10. Create print ads for the properties that you’ve listed.
11. Create and submit to local newspapers and magazines print advertisements that showcase the services that you offer.
12. Design and send out electronic newsletters.
13. Follow up on your leads.
14. Track your website statistics so that you know how well your site is working or to get a feel for what needs to change.
15. Set up your information on social networking sites as a tool for attracting prospective clients.
16. Research your competition.
17. Design a great business card to market your services.
18. Design buyer and seller guides and create great looking information about what to expect from the closing process.
19. Coordinate direct mail campaigns.
20. Create listing presentations that are sure to set you apart from the competition.

With a real estate assistant assistant on your side, you’ll never have to get frustrated with the process of marketing your business. Instead, you’ll have a partner on your side who can simplify the process and help to make your business more successful.

When you’re working with buyers, you’re likely to find that they have a lot of questions about the mortgage process; your real estate assistant can take the time to create a guide that will smooth the process out.

For example, your real estate assistant can talk with mortgage lenders in your area to get answers to common questions like, “Why do I need a downpayment,” or “Will I need to get private mortgage insurance when I take out a loan and buy my own home?”

Then, your real estate assistant can work with you to add your logo, create a great document that you can have available to buyers in your office or that you can add to your website (depending on your real estate assistant, she can even take care of uploading the files). If you have a mortgage lender that you recommend, you can be sure that their contact information is included.

This can benefit you in a number of different ways. It can help buyers to recognize the importance of pre-approval – and give you a clear picture of how much home they can afford. It can ensure that the buyers you’re working with don’t come to the closing table saying “I need how much for what?” It can also show buyers that you want them to be aware of the full home buying process – which will enhance your relationship and show them that they can trust you.

It’s the little efforts that stand out to the buyers that you work with: helping them out with the mortgage process is one of those little things. And the best part is that, with a real estate assistant, getting it together will take even less effort from you

Every time that you add a listing to the multiple listing service for a client, you’re going to follow a similar pattern. Your real estate assistant can look at that pattern and help you to develop a listing action plan.

Your real estate assistant, for example, can set up templates for the letters that you send to sellers so that firing off notifications – whether in print or by email – is a breeze. You can have letters on hand to let the seller know that their home is in the MLS, listed on the web as well as letters that you can use to keep the sellers informed of what’s been happening with the sale of their property.

Similarly, your real estate assistant can set up a schedule for announcing open houses, for home staging. She can even work with you to develop a plan for marketing the property – whether it’s a matter of creating a checklist of necessary tasks or a matter of creating postcards and other print marketing materials.

When you have a listing action plan, you’re going to be better able to stay on top of the process. Whether you’re representing one seller or 100 sellers – or any other number – you can be sure that everyone is getting the same treatment and respect and that the sales process goes smoothly.

Some people seem to think that a real estate assistant is someone who’s there to welcome buyers and sellers when they walk into the office, to answer incoming calls, check the fax machine and keep track of appointments. While it’s true that a real estate assistant can be all of those things, it’s important to realize that – in many cases – a real estate assistant is far more than just front office staff.

Your real estate assistant can help you to prepare listing presentations that will help you to attract more sellers. She can work with you to update your website, start a blog, answer emails or even create an email marketing program using an autoresponder.

When you’re thinking about working with a real estate assistant keep in mind that you’re going to be working with someone to whom real estate is as important as it is to you. Just like you, a great assistant will understand the importance of marketing a neighborhood and not just a home. A great assistant will be able to answer the questions that buyers and sellers alike are sending your way – even to anticipate these questions and create guides that will help simplify the process of buying or selling a home.

While your real estate assistant may tackle administrative tasks, keep in mind that there’s far more that she can contribute – contributions that will make your business run more smoothly.