Realtor Becomes Neighborhood Expert via Connecting Neighbors Marketing Program

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The Neighborhood Source: Realtor Becomes Neighborhood Expert via Connecting Neighbors Marketing Program

Wendy Rogan-Carey has been a Realtor with RE/MAX serving Cincinnati and its surrounding area for nine years, but she was a ?walker? way before that.

During the course of her routine exercise jaunts, she got to know her Fairfield, Ohio neighborhood and neighbors inside and out. Rogan-Carey says, ?I met so many people while I was out walking, it led me to sell many homes here.?

So significant was Rogan-Carey?s impromptu networking during her walks that she approached the city about establishing some type of communication system that would allow her to interact with residents in a more structured, informative fashion. The timing could not have been better for Connecting Neighbors, Reply! Inc.?s neighborhood marketing program to step in.

Right at the time when Rogan-Carey was craving a community-wide communication system, Connecting Neighbors came on the scene with its neighborhood marketing program, allowing the Realtor to establish her neighborhood Web site, www.InsideVillageGreen.com, and its accompanying monthly newsletter. She has been utilizing the Web site and newsletter?a useful source of local information?to stay in touch with clients over the past four years. Since the newsletter was launched last spring, Rogan-Carey attributes 12 listings to that facet of the Connecting Neighbors program.

?I built a home in a neighborhood that?s established around a downtown area,? Rogan-Carey explains. ?We have an amphitheater, restaurants and a lot of activities going on.? Her Connecting Neighbors program allows her to broadcast such community information once a month to clients, making her not only a Realtor, but also the Neighborhood Expert.

Rogan-Carey knows that the newsletters are a success because people on the street thank her often. She provides her database with a host of community information, from concert listings to garage sales. The Realtor reports that about 300 clients are receiving the newsletter on a monthly basis. ?If I get somebody?s e-mail, I will automatically send it to them and then they can always choose to unsubscribe,? she explains.

A couple of key factors make the neighborhood newsletter a success for Rogan-Carey. The first is that she ?can put anything in there? that she wants, such as FSBOs (who often become clients), classifieds and Pampered Chef reps. The second is the high level of service she receives from Connecting Neighbors, including the ease with which she is able to manage newsletter content. She spends about 20 minutes a month updating information for the site, and often simply e-mails it to Connecting Neighbors who posts it for her.

?I am a firm believer in service,? says Rogan-Carey. ?Connecting Neighbors has held up their end of the bargain.? ?Maria Patterson

For more information please visit www.connectingneighbors.com/sponsor