Are You Ready for 2008?

We've worked with several top-producing teams that do understand the value of monitoring their success and setting goals by constantly raising the bar.  Each have their own way of doing this, but generally each team met weekly to discuss where they were in their forecast and what leads they had in the pipeline.  This is a great start, but you can't take your business to the next level by checking off tasks on a list and not having a strategic plan to consistently open NEW doors.

 

Ask yourself the following questions:

1) Who are you marketing to?  Has your target demographic changed?  Most likely, it has - and it requires an adjustment in your marketing strategy.  What changes are you going to make in 2008 to meet the needs of your audience?

2) What is your competition doing?  The key to beating your competition is to know what they are doing and compare it to what you aren't doing.  A quick way to stay abreast of what your competition is doing is to set up an RSS feed of recent news about them and the keywords that you both share.  Conduct a keyword search (perhaps your competitions name and the name of your farm) on Google Blog Search , then click the text  link that says "Blogs Alerts" on the left sidebar and enter your e-mail address.

3) What is your Unique Selling Proposition? You would be shocked at how many top producers can't answer the question: What differentiates me from my competition?  Being able to answer this question, in 15 words or less is the key to taking your business to the NEXT LEVEL.

4) Where will my money go? Identifying how you want to spend your marketing dollars and strategically determining which tactics will offer the greatest ROI is one of the most difficult tasks for real estate agents.  Remove yourself from the strategy-making and HIRE US to do it for you!

5) What am I being paid to do? Are you spending your time doing administrative tasks and NOT SELLING?  Don't pay yourself $100/hr to add e-mails to your database and design listing flyers!

To start developing your 2008 plan (it's not too late) and GET OVER THAT HUMP ... complete our Needs Analysis and schedule your FREE consultation!

ABOUT THE REAL ESTATE GEEKS
Real Estate Geeks is a team of LICENSED real estate agents that educate and support our clients so that they can do what they do best - SELL!

We offer a variety of real estate marketing and virtual assistance services on a one-time, packaged, or retainer basis to include:

• Listing Coordination & Property Marketing
• Blog & Podcast Development
• Social Media Marketing
• Drip/Automated & General E-Mail Marketing
• Digital Media & FIle Management

This is just a small sampling of our services. Download our FLYER here

END OF THE YEAR DEALS:

Submit it to Digg, InmanWiki and StumbleUpon.  Many of us have those great posts once in a while (some more often than others) that get views in the thousands and comments in the hundreds...

I know we all have heard of these sites and constantly recommend them to others, but are WE taking our own advice - I know I haven't been... 

Take advantage of the online news submission sites - they boost your links to your site, blog, etc. and are FREE PR!!!

Mia Orantes


Real Estate Geeks
Virtual Assistance & Real Estate Marketing

Toll Free (866) 239-2999

Company Website: <http://www.realestategeeksonline.com>

Read our BLOG for marketing tips & tech articles! <http://realestategeeks.blogspot.com>

GET STARTED: <http://www.realestategeeksonline.com/needs-analysis.html>

Listing Cards

 An associate mentioned to me that I should begin designing listing cards, which would be the size of a business card but a tad bit taller.  You could basically make a flyer like the one below and and use a resizing program (ask me if you would like a recommendation of one on your platform - I use a mac for my designs) to resize the flyer to the desired listing card size. The agents contact info would be on the back...

If you are interested in having me design one for you... give me a ring ----->

Mia Orantes


Real Estate Geeks
Virtual Assistance & Real Estate 2.0 Marketing

Toll Free (866) 239-2999

Company Website: http://www.realestategeeksonline.com

Read our BLOG for marketing tips & tech articles!
http://realestategeeks.blogspot.com

GET STARTED: http://www.realestategeeksonline.com/needs-analysis.html

I spend hours writing content and finding that perfect image to go in my regular e-mail to clients and prospects.  What sucks is that many of my beautifully done e-mails to which I dedicated my precious time go into the virtual circular file - the Spam folder, that is.

Here are some essential tips to increase your e-mail open rates and ensure fewer bouncebacks...

DO's

Analyze your e-mail statistics.  This means that you must send your e-mails through an on-line platform, such as Constant Contact or iContact.
Get added to the whitelist.  Double opt-ins are a great way to make sure that your e-mail reaches people's inbox.
Be consistent.  Use the same template to send your e-mails.
Be descriptive.  Use your From line and Subject line with care - accurately name your e-mails so that receivers know what they are opening.
Include required information.  Your physical address and website address should be clearly visible on your e-mail.  This is required by law.

DONT's

Avoid spam-trigger words and phrases
FREE
HIDDEN
STOP
COMPARE
COLLECT
CASH BONUS
PROMISE YOU
ACT NOW
AMAZING
APPLY ONLINE
BULK EMAIL
CALL NOW
CALL FREE
DO IT TODAY
DON'T DELETE
FANTASTIC DEAL
FREE CONSULTATION
"ADULT CONTENT OR PHRASES"
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
PLEASE READ
ORDER NOW
GREAT OFFER
LIMITED TIME ONLY
NIGERIAN
OFF-SHORE

Avoid Red Text. Red is not-only hard to read, but it also may trip a spam filter.

Avoid SHOUTING. Over-punctuation and use of capital letters makes it hard to read and dramatically increase blacklisting.

Avoid "click here" links.  External click-through links should be described in detail.  Readers want to know what they are clicking.

Avoid excessive use of symbols, such as multiple dollar signs ($$) in a row.  Use just the necessary amount of dollar signs.

As we all know, e-mail marketing is a necessary evil to maintain our sphere of influence and top-of-mind marketing.  Let me know how things go!  Oh yeah, if I missed anything...post it! 

I just received an e-mail from Inman Wiki (the Wiki site division of Inman News) that my blog article "10 Great Content Ideas for Your Real Estate Website" is this week's featured article on the Inman Wiki site!

To view my article, check out: Inman Wiki Main Page

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!

Mia Orantes

Real Estate Geeks

Virtual Assistance & Web 2.0 Real Estate Marketing

Real Estate Geeks Website 

I hope you all have heard about Real Estate 2.0 and the importance of incorporating the latest technologies into your business during a slow market  - if it's slow for you ;) ... Below I have listed 10 essential to do's to put your marketing into high gear and enhance your web presence for the new year!

1) Start a Blog

2) Add an IDX Feed to your website

3) Get a drip marketing account

4) Add a lead capture form to your website

5) Sign up on Active Rain

6) Get an RSS Reader

7) Automate your showing feedback requests

8) Create a marketing plan for the year

9) Create a MySpace profile and Facebook Page for your company

10) Hire a Virtual Assistant to do non-income-producing tasks so that you can focus on SELLING!

What are your top goals? 

To start implementing these goals and more ... complete our Needs Analysis and schedule your FREE consultation! 

The key to Real Estate 2.0 is to connect with your past, current and future clients in ways and with the frequency that they prefer - e-mail, VOIP/phone, chat, instant messaging, podcasting, blogging/RSS feeds and of course, face-to-face.  It's important to remember that new technology will NEVER replace good old-fashioned touchy-feely interaction, but the consumers of today want to know that you are available on their terms.  Keep in mind that each segment of your customer base is different and requires different interaction.  

Podcasting is just another way to connect with your audience/target consumer base.  This is the second part of a three-part series on podcasting.  This post will cover producing your podcast and a few considerations in terms of planning that should take place BEFORE you record your first segment.

To read Part 1 of 3 in this series, click here: Essential Tools for Podcasting

Planning Your Show

1. Goal Setting for Your Podcast

  Just like any TV show or other type of production, podcasts should be narrowly focused and niched.  Determine before your first show production:

• What is the purpose of your podcast? Advertising listings, providing market information, discussing neighborhood/community issues and events, or marketing yourself as an expert of a particular topic...
• What outcome would you like to achieve?

2. Identifying Your Audience

  Understanding the demographics, needs, and interests of your audience is imperative to your podcasts success.  Who you are speaking to will determine your content, voice, tone, and layout and more...

• Is your audience local, regional or national?
• How old are they? Are they family-focused, professionals, military, etc.?
• What do they want to hear about?  Would they want to hear from multiple experts or just you?
• What tone and voice would they be drawn to?

3. Strategy & Content

   Determining the frequency of production, the content flow, and how you will market and increase the consumption the podcast are considerations that should be thoroughly considered as they will determine whether your podcast will sink or swim.

• Audio or Video podcast?
• Search engine positioning
• Dedicated URL for your podcast
• Distribution - just iTunes or syndicate via multiple channels
• How will you make your call-to-action clear for listeners and achieve the goals that you set in Step 1 above?

Producing Your Show

You will probably want to design a production timeline for your show (also know as Production Notes) that will outline the flow of content for your show.  A sample timeline is below:

Production Notes 

1. Roll show intro music
2. General introduction (name of show and introduction of host)
3. Topics overview (what is covered in this particular show)
4. Upcoming podcast events (could be upcoming open houses and community events that you will attend)
5. New items
6. Opinion piece
7. Wrap-up
8. Outro

Creating Your Podcast

There are some essential steps that are involved in producing a podcast and syndicating it so that others can find it:

1. Record your audio/video
2. Edit your audio/video
3.  Conversion/Compression (file types)
   
• MOV
• AVI
• M4V
• MPEG
4. Upload content (test your URL link before posting)
• YAHOO! Video
• YouTube
• Google Video
• iTunes
• Zune
5. Take a screenshot of a good video frame and paste into photo editing software and crop to (320x240 px)
• This will be a link to your video (embed the video and use the screenshot as the link)
6. Link to yor podcast on your website and wherever else you would like

For professional podcast production and more tips visit the Real Estate Geeks website.

Seasoned real estate agents know that holding an open house is generally not the procuring cause of the sale. However, open houses can generate new leads and make a good impression on your seller.  The short list below offers a few tips to make your open house memorable and generate as many leads as possible.

1. Feature all of your listings (not just the New ones) in your weekly agent Just Listed e-mail; mention any open house information under each featured listing

2. Feature all Open House information on your branded e-mail stationery

3. Bake bread or some other sweet-smelling treat

4. Compile a list of 10 nearby listings and attach your business card to distribute to open house visitors

5. Create a neighborhood fact sheet with school information, local restaurants, local map, and overview of community amenities

6. Require guest registration by signing Open House Sign-In sheet; if they don't sign-in they can't enter the property

7. Offer some kind of sign-up for your mailing list or e-mail newsletter list and provide an overview of what information they will get and how often - make the value clear!

8. Play relaxing music

9. Have takeaway articles about the neighborhood printed for visitors (these can sometimes be found in the local newspaper or magazine)

TIP: If you see an article about a neighborhood that you farm in the newspaper, save it for future uses such as this...

10. Follow-up with registered guests by sending a "thank you for coming" note or e-mail and add them to your drip campaign

For more great ideas and help preparing some of marketing materials mentioned above, give the Real Estate Geeks a call at (866) 239-2999 OR visit us on the web, click here.

Several clients have asked us "What extra value-added services can we offer in our Listing/Buyer Presentations to seal the deal?"

Here are some ideas:

1. Automated Showing Feedback

Homefeedback.com offers agents automated feedback requests from showing agents and emails the responses to both you and your seller...

2. Single Property Websites

Costs anywhere between $5 and $12 each month to host plus domain registration, if you don't use a provider like Agency Logic.

A FREE way to set up a Single Property Website is to use a subdomain on your existing website such as 123MainStreet.yourdomain.com

IDEA: You could have a template designed for your Luxury properties and a separate one for your non-Luxury properties and just plug in the photos and property information.

3. Syndication of their listing on the top 10 online classified websites (like Craigslist.org)

4. Professional Property Photography and Multiple MLS Photos

The number one thing that Internet home searchers look for during their search is photos. Let your prospective client know that you will give their home an edge in the home search process/

5. FREE Home Warranty (Costs around $400 for Single Family Residences)

6. 1-800/Toll-Free Property Voicemail Ad

7. A featured spot of the listing on your weekly/monthly print and e-mail newsletters

8. Enhanced Realtor.com Listing

9. YouTube Listing Video featured on your website

This also will increase the search engine rankings for the property and be sure to have a link to your website or the property website in the video

10. Bring goodies to the listing presentation.

Leave brownies or a pie with the Sellers to ensure that they think of you while making their decision!

To get a custom listing presentation designed for you with all of the bells and whistles, give the Real Estate Geeks a call at (866) 239-2999.

It seems that many agents are slowly, but surely, becoming painfully aware of the rapidly-evolving technology that is at their fingertips to improve their efficiency, offer better customer service, and enhance their Internet presence.  One of the new technologies that exist to keep you in-front of your prospects/customers and create more sticky content to your site is informative podcasts.

 Although, the overall work required is far less than you would expect for the impressive end result, it may be more prudent to outsource such work to a professional virtual assistant or some other provider.

However, if you decide to go it alone (as I often like to do...so I can say that I gave it a try )... Here are the tools that you will need to get started.  This is a 3-part series post that will include:

• Tools for Podcasting
  
• Podcasting Production
• Advanced Postcasting - Getting Your Content to the Masses

Essential Tools for Podcasting

 1. Powerful Computer

I won't delve into much technical detail about this, but most likely if your computer is less than 2 years old and free from memory-hogging software and viruses... you should be fine.

 2. A/V Editing Software

 PC: Windows Movie Maker for Video Editing; Audacity for Audio Editing (both are FREE)

Mac: iMovie for Video Editing; Garageband or Audacity for Audio Editing (both are FREE)

 3. A/V Hardware 

• Built-in Mic
• Wireless Mic (I recommend a Sennheiser Lavalier)
• Studio-Monitor Headphones (not your Bose ones for your iPOD)
• Speakers
• Interview Kit - if you plan on conducting over the phone interviews, etc. (Purchase a telephone-recording adapter from Radio Shack)
• Tripod
  
• Video Camera (I've listed some minimum spec requirements below that you should consider when purchasing)
  
• Digital DV
• Mic Input
• Handheld (not too bulky)
• Firewire/iLink port
• Manual White Balance
• Image stabilization

       Most store salesmen can point you in the right direction...

Check back soon for Part 2: Podcasting Production (to include a step-by-step how to and common timelines for podcasts...

Have a question...  Ask the Real Estate Geeks  and we'll e-mail you an answer in addition to featuring your question in our next blog post!