Fishers Mortgage Loans ~ Ebe Cotton's Blog

Co-branding and Why "....I Get Off on Screamin' Guitar....."

Fishers Mortgage Loans ~ Ebe Cotton (1st Signature Lending, LLC) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:45:03 -0800

I have just recentley left the real estate sales field to go back into mortgage banking. I have started co branding with agents and they are shocked that I would be willing to do this with them. I have done it in the past with builders and title companys and the agents are the last ones to embrace it. A curve in the road is not a stop but a different direction to the same end place. We need to look ate many different marketing methods in this new and trying economy

Via ActiveRain Approved Business Builders (ActiveRain - Approved Business Builders):

“I get off on ’57 Chevys…I get off on screamin’ guitar…”

There are just some songs that whenever I hear them will get my attention. This happens to be one of them. I mean, it’s the kind of song where you just have to stop, close your eyes, and give a good sway (yeah, fellas, I said sway) or two. It transports me to summertime barbeques and makes me feel like I should find the nearest convertible and go cruisin’.

So imagine my surprise when, strolling through my living room the other day, it began to play over my TV. I stopped, gave a little sway (just a little one) and watched Eric Clapton, without saying a word, show me what instantly became the most ridiculously cool phone I had ever seen: the Fender edition myTouch 3G being hocked by TMobile. It was the full package—the wood-looking case with the Fender logo, the app that lets you strum (STRUM!) on your phone, Buddy Guy on the other end…Hey—I’m not ashamed to admit that I was pretty much ready to beg, borrow or steal to get out the door and buy that phone.

And that, my friends, is the sheer, unadulterated power of co-branding when it’s done right. Combine a rock ‘n roll classic name (Fender) with an already strong company (TMobile) and you’re headed the right direction. Get a guitar god on board to pitch it, and suddenly you have the ability to take your typical, average, basic cell phone (yawn) and make it into something that makes a grown man want to go to the mall (the mall!) to pick one up.

Co-branding, which is far from a new concept (how many Eddie Bauer editions of the Ford Explorer have there been over the last couple of decades, for heavens sake?), maximizes investment in R&D and/or marketing for companies, optimally giving twice the impact for the same dollar. From time to time, a weaker company (like Nutrasweet back in the day) gets the one-in-a-lifetime chance to co-brand with a power house (Pepsi or Coke), exploding it into the market in a way that anyone would envy. Perhaps more common is when two major players (Nike and Apple) come together to create and promote a product that will go further, faster in the market that either could do alone.

Most companies opt to co-brand to either strengthen their market position or to expand into a new product/service line. While not always successful if one or both brands is at risk (Martha Stewart and Kmart—one went to jail, one declared bankruptcy), co-branding usually brings with it shared risk and exponentially higher financial benefit to both companies—and might even result in a future, formal merger (ebay and PayPal).
Before I sit back, channel my inner Clapton and maybe do a little phone sway, I’m going to ask you to give this some thought: Is there one company (or two or three) that you could partner with in a co-branding effort? What would you bring to the table and what would you need them to bring? How much faster or more effectively could you get your message and service offerings out if you used their advertising channels, and how could helping them get their message out in turn benefit you? Oh yeah—and what are you waiting for?

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got little swaying to do.
“...I’ve got a rock ‘n roll, I’ve got a rock ‘n roll heart…”

This post was written by Mark Warner (ActivRain Profile) of RateWindow.com. Get a hold of Mark for information on how you can take your branding to the next level by incorporating your loan officers into your marketing efforts.

Shutting out small companies

Fishers Mortgage Loans ~ Ebe Cotton (1st Signature Lending, LLC) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:14:35 -0700

The local Newspaper -The Indianapolis Star (a Gannet Paper) has for the past several years included all the MLS listings on their on-line site. Recently they have changed to HOMESCAPE and made each office pay a fee for your listings to be displayed. The fee is $360.00 a year per office. The fee does not matter if you have 1 agent or 800 agents. This is just another way the large companies are holding the small offices down.

Inflated Listing Price

Fishers Mortgage Loans ~ Ebe Cotton (1st Signature Lending, LLC) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:16:09 -0700

I am amazed at agents that list homes 10-20% above the market just to get the listing. The Fishers, Indiana real estate market has been very hot for the past 10 years. The population has increased 25% in the past 5 years to 65,000. In the past week three homes in a neighborhood have been listed at 12% above the average sales price for the past 90 days. The trac subdivision had 7 sales with an average of $340,000 of which I sold 2 of them. In six months when these homes are still on the market the homeowners will be mad at all realtors because their home has only three showings and no offers.

Builder Solicitation

Fishers Mortgage Loans ~ Ebe Cotton (1st Signature Lending, LLC) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:18:34 -0700

Two of my clients, whom I have their house listed have received letters from builders saying they will sell my clients home for free with another Realtor if the client buy one of the builders homes. They said they have made a deal with a group of agents to do this. This is just a backhanded way around the CODE of ETHICS by some Realtors-in my opinion. The builders said they would not disclosure the agents names but told me the homes would be listed on the local MLS and Realtor.com. The agent would then represent my Sellers as Buyers agents . My clients ask if I could represent them and they said no. Why do you think about these agents and builders.

Showing Feedback

Fishers Mortgage Loans ~ Ebe Cotton (1st Signature Lending, LLC) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:28:14 -0700

How many of you have called or emailed an agent that showed your listing and the agent will not respond or act like it a bother to tell you waht the feedback is? I had an agent just tell me he way too busy to give feedback on every home he shows. He said if they are interested in the property he will let us know otherwise do not call or email him. Our clients need the feedback because the best realtor I have ever know once told me "your dream home is not my dream home" She is right and the feedback is important to not only our sellers but to us as agents.

MIBOR Software

Fishers Mortgage Loans ~ Ebe Cotton (1st Signature Lending, LLC) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:15:32 -0700

What do all the members of MIBOR think about the new software system? They have deleted my Listings. Blocked access from Realtor.com and deleted pictures. The software is a good upgrade but if we put no basement , why do we have to answer basement questions. The picture section does not have alot of room descriptions and the branded /non branded picture slideshow is a joke. Why would we as agents want ot see a branded one and not allow the consumers ? If the market is worse in twenty years then we should be giving the consumers everything they need to see the homes we have for sale.