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When it comes to real estate marketing, there’s always something new to try: sending home listings to clients on Snapchat, designing QR codes to direct business card recipients to a targeted website, creating “dream home” boards on Pinterest to funnel prospects to your mailing list. There’s always a new approach, a new technology, a new customer to reach.

We would never suggest you shy away from innovation. But at the start of the new year, when you’re getting excited about new ideas and creating a plan for the new year, it’s worth while to ask yourself, what about something old?

There are two very important elements of an “old” – or, shall we say, “classic” – marketing focus. The first is taking a look at tried-and-true customer contact methods to make sure they don’t fall by the wayside in favor of something new and shiny (but as yet unproven). The second, and most important, element is maintaining contact with old clients.

It’s easy to make assumptions about tried-and-true marketing strategies that might have fallen out of use, but what matters isn’t what works for the real estate market as a whole. It’s all about what matters for your market, and your business. Whether that’s sending out real estate postcards or attending networking meetings, if it’s been a big source of business in the past, you don’t want to lose focus on your best strategies when you start looking at new approaches.

Make it easy to maintain your commitment to tried-and true strategies by planing them all out ahead of time. If you’ve gotten big business in the past from networking referrals, schedule out bi-weekly networking meetings for the year in your calendar now. If real estate postcards have always been a great source of leads for you, look into postcard mailing services to keep the results without investing as much time into the project.

Finally, don’t forget about your old clients. And we mean really old. Given the long timelines of the typical real estate buyer, and the incredible value of a strong referral, you should still be in contact with every single client and significant prospect you’ve ever worked with.

Far too often, real estate agents keep in touch for the first year or so, but lose contact with past clients eventually. Don’t let that happen to you! There are a thousand reasons why people buy or sell a home, from job changes to growing families to improving markets to lifestyle adjustments. And those reasons can apply not just to your past clients, but to their friends and family as well. If you want to develop a strong, stable source of business for the years to come, make 2017 your year to commit to keeping in touch.