Seattle King County Association of Realtors and Real Estate Base Camp sponsored another great panel, featuring Matt Heinz (Pres. of Heinz Marketing), Rhonda Porter (CMPS and top producer for Mortgage Master) and David Gibbons (Dir, of Community Relations for Zillow). They each shared their areas of expertise- Matt on Marketing, Rhonda on blogging, and David on technology. The panel took questions from the audience. The panel advice wasn't limited to their areas of expertise. They were all so versatile and shared ideas on how to use technology, social media and marketing ideas to grow your business. They were all so generous, smart and very witty!

The biggest take-away from each panelist was:

Matt- know your customer. Social Media isn't effective if your customers aren't online. Know what they want and how to deliver the information in the way they'd like to receive it.

Rhonda- provide relevant information that will help your customers, potential customers and client be well informed and comfortable making decisions about real estate.  If you provide value, consumers  will get in contact with you to do business .

David- while everyone is excited about the newest technology and social media trends, it is important to remember that technology is just a tool to build relationships. It is vital to build the relationship. Technology merely makes it easier to build relationships with more people than ever before.

It was so valuable to hear from experts who are affiliated with our industry, so they understand it - yet  who also bring their perspective.  Often, we in real estate, tend to get myopic and lose focus on what is happening around us.