Real estate coach Marki Lemons-Ryhal says agents can remain visible to clients through the holiday season by sending useful, well-planned emails instead of relying on paid advertising. Her approach combines a steady schedule, practical resources and audience-specific follow-up, with compliance checks before every message goes out.
Key takeaways
- Plan a holiday email calendar rather than sending messages only when a listing becomes available.
- Lead with useful information shaped by clients’ needs, such as seasonal home-maintenance guidance.
- Repurpose video into audio, transcripts and written content, then tailor follow-up using CRM tags.
- Review AI-generated material for accuracy and compliance before sending.
Lemons-Ryhal’s central point is that an agent’s email list is a direct channel for staying in touch. Consistent, relevant communication, she argues, can help agents stand out when competitors are quieter.
Build a consistent holiday schedule
Lemons-Ryhal recommends sending at least three emails a month, or 36 annually, rather than contacting clients only to promote a new listing. For the holiday period, her suggested sequence is one email in late October, two in November, two in December and one in January. Each message should offer something useful, not just a sales pitch.
She also describes a campaign in which she sent eight emails over nine days to 13,000 contacts and says it generated $128,635, including more than $40,000 on the final day. About 1% of the list unsubscribed. She presents the experience as an example of prioritizing results over the concern that frequent emails may prompt some subscribers to leave—not as a guarantee of similar returns.
Start with what clients need
To shape her holiday content, Lemons-Ryhal suggests asking subscribers what home-related task is highest on their winter list and what they want to learn about in January. Responses can provide topics for subsequent messages and reduce the guesswork involved in planning a campaign.
Potential resources include a winterizing checklist, a year-end home-maintenance guide or a list of documents to prepare for a tax professional. She advises keeping community-event information broad and open to everyone to help avoid Fair Housing concerns.
Repurpose content and personalize follow-up
A single video can be reused in several formats: video, audio and a written transcript. Lemons-Ryhal says agents can use the transcript with AI tools to draft an email, landing page or blog post, while emphasizing that the copy should be reviewed before publication. She also recommends accessible design, including large, bold text and audio guidance.
CRM tags can help agents match follow-up to a reader’s interests. Someone who downloads a winterizing checklist may need different information from someone seeking down-payment resources. Lemons-Ryhal says her son Skyler uses faceless Instagram videos connected to ManyChat to add more than 1,700 contacts a year, illustrating one way to build an audience without appearing on camera.
Keep compliance in human hands
Lemons-Ryhal cautions that AI cannot take responsibility for real estate rules. Agents should check every message for accuracy and compliance with Fair Housing requirements, state licensing laws and the REALTORS® Code of Ethics.
Her recommended starting point is to choose one seasonal client problem, create a concise resource, explain it in a short video, and use the transcript to draft an email. Agents can then deliver the resource through a CRM landing page and schedule the holiday campaign in advance.