Posts Tagged ‘agents’
The Top 7 Marketing Trends for 2011!
Friday, March 11th, 2011
I think we all sensed it. It seemed that the beginning of 2011 established the fact that real estate marketing had officially changed. The last few years have been a whirlwind of crash courses in social media, blogging, videos and other creative online tools. Many agents remained on the fence as to whether or not jump on board to this seemingly passing phase, while we, as Real Estate Virtual Assistants, quickly came up with processes for the most effective way to market for our agents using these mediums.
During the slower holiday season, many agents took the time to evaluate the last year, wrestle through their stance regarding their online presence, and determine their steps for the future. As the real estate community wrapped their minds around the changes, shuffled through their options and planned for the coming year; it seemed there emerged a renewed attitude, balance and self confidence with the beginning of 2011.
We’ve seen the change as agents are coming to us with a sense of calm and fortitude knowing what they want out of their social media and online branding. The whirlwind is settling, along with the debris of the past few years, and we’re clearly seeing our way along this new path.
Here are the 7 marketing trends that are at the forefront of marketing for 2011.
1. Niche Marketing- We’ve noted this in the past that the most effective agents are those that hone in on a niche market. Rather than being a “jack of all trades, master of none;” find that place in which you excel and focus your energy. Whether you’re great at helping first time home buyers, can sell a waterfront property in no time, can relate with empty nesters or work best with high end buyers; there’s a market out there for your specific skill set. Find it and go for it.
2. Quality Content- In a world of texting, Facebook, Tweeting and key word greedy blogs; we can tend to push quality to the background, and focus more on quantity and quickly climbing the crowded SEO ladder. The bottom line: it’s still business and you’re still representing your brand. While these mediums can be more casual; they still require professionalism and virtue. Make sure that what you’re saying online is valuable to the reader in order to stand out from the online noise.
3. Leaning towards Social Media- Agents are spending less money on print marketing and moving their funds to their social media and other online branding. It’s the idea of meeting your market on their terms, and we can’t deny that it’s an online world. Marketing money is being used to enhance and maintain social media sites as well as custom websites and other online initiatives.
4. Multiple Branding Experiences- You’ve probably experienced the feeling that suddenly keeping up with your Facebook and Twitter isn’t enough anymore. Flickr, YouTube, Yelp and other marketing means are also coming to the forefront. It’s a matter of providing a variety of options for people to interact with your brand.
5. Getting Local- Narrowing down your online presence through geotargeting allows agents to market to their direct market. There are a variety of ways to hone in to your area of service through Facebook ads, Yelp, Google and many others.
6. Co-Marketing- This form of marketing is quickly emerging in our current economic state. From teaming up with non-profits, local stores, restaurants and more; agents are finding creative ways to cut marketing costs and build local relationships. (View our recent blog on Co-Marketing.)
7. Mobile Marketing- While still in the works; mobile marketing is beginning to take off beginning with QR Codes, Foursquare and other applications. Creating a mobile marketing presence will most likely be one of the top growing marketing strategies this year.
As you can see; these top seven approaches to marketing are significantly different that a year or two ago. It’s no longer a matter of if you want to jump on board; it’s necessary for staying in the game!
If you want to take this year to get up to speed, but aren’t sure where to start; find a Real Estate Virtual Assistant! Your VA can walk you through determining your needs, finding a plan that works for your target market and budget, and can handle it all for you! If you just need guidance in the beginning and want to learn along the way to be able to take the marketing on for yourself; your Virtual Assistant can help with that too.
It’s not too late to start, and a renewed marketing plan can be just the thing to rejuvenate your spirits for the spring season and carry you through the rest of the year!
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Turning An Objection Into a Reason to Buy
Saturday, August 28th, 2010
The most powerful form of objection handling I ever learned (thanks to Cavett Roberts) was to take the very reason for objecting and have it as the reason why the prospects are excited to buy. Here is a very clever example of this approach applied to an otherwise difficult to sell listing.
Music Travels Uphill Too
Long time Online Dominance students (and eTEAM members) Marie Sue Parsons and her daughter / partner Stephanie Young had a listing in the very exclusive “Riviera” section of Santa Barbara. The only problem was (and it was a big one), it directly overlooked the famous outdoor Santa Barbara Bowl. This is where some of the biggest musical acts in the entertainment industry come to our fair city and play under the stars. However, as everyone knows, sound travels quite effectively uphill. Anyone looking for a nice quiet neighborhood wouldn’t ever consider this property, despite its breathtaking views.
This is when Marie Sue and Stephanie started thinking out of the box, way out. Understanding that if sound travels well uphill music will too, they decided to host an exclusive invitation-only open house during the evening that the Steve Miller Band and Stevie Nicks were performing. They headlined it as the property that offered a free birds-eye view of every Bowl concert (which typically charges big $$ to attend). Well, the response was incredible and the sellers thought Marie Sue and Stephanie were geniuses for coming up with the idea.
What’s so cool here is that they took the very reason why the average consumer might shun this house and turned it into a unique benefit that a certain segment would kill to have. This is really smart marketing. Kudos to Marie Sue (who I’ve known for over 30 years) and Stephanie! CLICK HERE to see the write up they received in the local Santa Barbara press = great PR…
How to Avoid Being a Top Producer “Biggest Loser”
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
What good is it being a “top producer” if you are working 80 hours (or more) a week and haven’t had a vacation in five years? Sounds more like a prison to me. It doesn’t matter how much money you make if you are always exhausted or miserable.
I remember meeting the #2 producer for an entire state during one of my speeches. When the audience was asked “Who here is having an extraordinary career?” she raised her hand and said: “I maintain 75 – 90 listings at any one time, get 2 – 3 hours of sleep a night and I hate my life!” She was as serious as the heart attack that was heading her way.
So why is it that so many of us work ourselves to death this way (whether or not we are making a ton of money)? Largely it is due to fear. Fear of being out of control, fear of uncertainty, fear of scarcity and the big “gotcha”, fear of who would we be if we were not doing what we do. That last particular fear is a result of becoming a “Human Doing” instead of living as a human being…
Strive to turn your business into a faithful servant that always serves you, instead of you being a slave to it.
Mr. Internet
I remember a couple of elderly lady Realtors during a speech in Texas. During the break we started chatting and they shared how they just returned from a trip to New Zealand where they did (among many other things) bungee jumping! As I was recovering from my shock of that mental image they went on to say how they were looking forward to visiting Antarctica! When asked why they were going there they said it was the only continent they hadn’t visited.
These two ladies were clearly enjoying themselves (unlike most of the rest of the audience) so I asked them how is it they were able to balance their work with such an active lifestyle. Their answer will stay with me forever: “We learned long ago that we work to live, not live to work.” Out of the mouths of very seasoned babes…
Heart and Sold —Diary of a Winner
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
I’m very excited to tell you about the new book from my friend Valerie Fitzgerald. It’s called Heart and Sold: How to Survive and Build a Recession-Proof Business. Endorsements and advance reviews sound fabulous. Larry King calls it, “A great read” and Vanna White says, “After reading this book, you will feel that you too can accomplish anything your heart desires.” Valerier is a long time friend and student of mine whose personal story is the classic rags to riches with a great deal of warmth and wit thrown in to boot.
Heart and Sold recounts Valerie’s personal journey from unemployed single parent to entrepreneur, philanthropist and renowned corporate executive. The book is a must-read for anyone in business looking to take their game to the next level. It’s a practical and illuminating guide with tips and strategies that are remarkably easy to implement. Leeza Gibbons says, “Heart and Sold is inspirational for any woman–or anyone–struggling to build a business of their own. Valerie’s personal triumph will make you feel like you can do anything.”
To order the book, simply go to: http://www.valeriefitzgerald.gesprojects.com/promo
A Special Gift From Valerie to You
In celebration of the book launch on May 19th, Valerie is providing a free Heart & Sold reflective workbook to anyone who buys the book. This workbook is a compilation of summaries and reflective questions for each chapter in Heart & Sold. To order, click here: http://www.valeriefitzgerald.gesprojects.com/promo.
Please forward to anyone you believe may benefit from hearing about Valerie’s amazing story of re-invention and her guidance on how to attain lasting fulfillment and success.
Are You a Player or a Spectator?
Friday, April 24th, 2009
I’m not talking about whether you like to watch the Wimbledon Open or spend the evening at your local baseball stadium. Are you a “player” in life and in your business, or do you prefer to watch others have all the fun?
Playing full out means you are fully engaged with whatever you are doing. Whether things are going your way for the moment or not, you play on. Whether you get hit hard or score a victory, you play on. You are totally in the moment and results are not as important as the engagement itself. And ironically, you are more likely to achieve your objectives as a result.
Most people unfortunately have chosen to be spectators. It appears to be safer because there is no risk of defeat or getting hurt. Yet how safe is it to never taste the full richness that life has to offer…
Playing safe is probably the most unsafe thing in the world. You cannot stand still. You must go forward.
Robert Collier
You gain nothing by retreating to the spectator stands of life and business. Just remember who’s paying to watch and who’s getting paid to play. Telling yourself that you don’t have the talent or the time to play full out simply means you are not yet willing to commit. This is just a choice, one that every person has the power to make.
Nothing, absolutely nothing can hold you back from playing full out —except you.
A Wing and a Prayer
Thursday, December 18th, 2008These days it can often feel like our business is moving forward on a wing and a prayer. But what about when the unthinkable happens and one of your wings falls off?! Click here to see what does: wing-prayer
Just when you think things can’t get much tougher, they sometimes do. If you panic, well… you’re dead.
On the other hand, if you keep your head about you and apply basic success principles, you’ll land in one piece. (your heart may be racing a bit -but that’s part of the fun 
)
There’s no disaster that can’t become a blessing, and no blessing that can’t become a disaster. — Richard Bach
Always expect the unexpected and anticipate the unforeseeable. And the best way to do this is to practice, practice, practice those things that consistently work for you. So when the unexpected happens, you won’t even have to think about it, you will just do what it takes to handle it. And that is what being a true professional is all about…
All A-Twitter About Nothing
Friday, August 15th, 2008The latest and greatest is not always the best and most useful. This can be especially true of some of the more recent social networking innovations like Twitter (www.twitter.com). This minimalist texting / mini-blogging medium ideal for quick and easy connection with your friends and colleagues has caused quite a 
stir lately. From a business enhancement perspective however, it appears to be one more “cool tool” looking for a problem to solve.
Twitter is a free service that enables you to send short text messages (maximum of 140 characters) to your “followers” -other people who use Twitter that have specifically chosen to receive your messages. Think of this as a one-to-many (or in some cases, one-TOO-many!) instant text message. You can send updates or messages (“Tweets” in Twitter parlance) via the Twitter Website, email, your mobile phone, IM or a special free program on your computer called Twhirl (www.twhirl.org). As a follower of someone else’s Twitter messages you can receive them on all or any of these devices (i.e. mobile phone, IM, email, Twitter Website, etc.) as well as in the form of an RSS feed. Twitter is also like a mini-blog since it aggregates all your updates which you can put on your Website or within your regular blog.
So, why bother Twittering?
Well, from a purely social networking perspective it is easy, fast and very convenient given all the means to send and receive your short Tweets. It’s also very addictive and completely free, not counting text messaging fees if you use Twitter to send or receive on your mobile phone. As a serious business communications or marketing tool, I still have doubts. First of all, the 140 character message limitation puts a severe constraint on any kind of meaningful communication in a business context. You also have to build your base of “followers” in order for them to receive your Tweets. At this time one would be hard pressed to say that any sizable base of potential real estate customers are currently using Twitter. And while one-to-one private messaging is possible, Twitter was really designed for one-to-many communications which makes private discussions about properties or offers somewhat problematic.
Real Estate Twitter Not So Tweet…
In various blog discussions about the business uses of Twitter, some suggest that it is a great way to keep agents within a brokerage or members of a team up to date. I can see how this might work if you personally help each person set up their mobile phone to receive your Twitter messages, otherwise forget about it. Agents have a hard enough time just following their email consistently. For the purposes of this article I interviewed Andy Kaufman of Williams Realty in Berkeley, CA (www.myeastbayagent.com), who is arguably the Twitter “Guru” of real estate agents. Over the past year and a half he has amassed nearly 2,100 followers (what he refers to as his “online village”) and really loves the social networking aspects of Twitter. When asked if he has actually seen any new business from it during this period he said he is currently working with one prospect he met thanks to Twitter. However, he feels the biggest business benefit is meeting other REALTORS® who use Twitter and developing referral relationships as a result.
While Twitter may be the next great Web 2.0 application that is out of this world (NASA recently used Twitter to keep fans of the new Mars Lander up to date on its adventures), its use as an effective earth-bound business tool has yet to be proven.
