| Wednesday, 14 March 2007 | |
So, with opportunity knocking, I had to figure out a way to compete with the big boys without the name recognition, the money, the connections and the glam. One of my ideas was simple yet elegant -- don't go after the whole giant market, buy up neighborhood domain names and make neighborhood real estate sites specific to those listings. That's how sites like BexleyRealty, and ClintonvilleRealEstate were born. Now, three and a half years later, Coldwell Banker King Thompson, my brokerage, has done the same thing. They've created a whole new campaign around Columbus Neighborhoods. Brilliant. Sooner or later, everyone gets it, Real Estate is local.The Hurry Home campaign has a site for each neighborhood or suburb around town. It's a lot easier to compete when you're zeroing in on those communities than if you're up against every National Lender, Real Estate Franchise, Realtor.com, Zillow, etc. etc. When the big brokerages are beginning to "get it" I get nervous for little guys like me. Yes, I work for them and No, it's not good for me. It's good for me only in the way it's good for the other 600 Realtors working for the same brokerage. What if someone goes to the Hurry Home Bexley.com site and finds another Realtor?? Then again, I just did a couple searches and couldn't find it and if you actually visit the site, well--it's not much at the moment. I just hate competing against my own company. But that's the game isn't it? |
As many of you know, my background is in Marketing. I have a Masters Degree in Marketing and I love Marketing, selling, coming up with fresh ideas. One reason why I became a Realtor in the first place was that I saw so many Realtors who couldn't market themselves out of a paper bag--let alone their client's home.
Independent Real Estate Agent - Moncton, NB
100% representation means NEVER DUAL AGENCY !
Hi Joe.
You know the solution. Strike out on your own.
Get your Brokers License and market yourself and your services.
Real estate is not just local, its personal!
And small is the new big!
Larry
Mar 14, 2007 09:34 AM
RE/MAX Stars Realty - Howard, OH
Knox County Ohio Real Estate Specialist
I feel your pain and frustration. Agents in my community have been copying my marketing for over 10 years. This is good and bad. The bad is it is frustrating but it is good because it forces me to stay 2 steps ahead of them.
Mar 16, 2007 03:59 PM
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Beverly, MA
North Shore of Boston
Joe , I didn't know you were into marketing. I am completely neutral reading your post. Based upon my reading of your post I would say you need to at least learn to use spell check software or proof read your material. What is a moring? Do you mean a mooring? I make this comment because you come across as some type of know it all. A very angry person. Your boasting of a Master Degree is fine however they are a dime a dozen in today's society. It is a basic requirement, part of a minimum skill set for your top tier producers in most aspects of real estate development.
If you really think self marketing is so central to the business then you have really missed the boat. This is a people business based on relationships. Actually it is more about referrals. Think about it. You might want to read a book How to win friends and influence people. It was written by Dale Carniege. It will help you tremendously.
Lastly, bashing the Coldwell Banker brand name in your post proves beyond a reasonable doubt to me your pathetic.
Mar 17, 2007 01:21 PM
Delicious Real Estate - Columbus, OH
Columbus Homes Blog
Wow, Michael Ross, that is easily the most mean-spirited comment I've seen posted here on Active Rain. Maybe even in the greater real estate blogosphere. I've never met or talked to you and cannot understand why you'd be so peculiarly upset by my (I think) tongue-in-cheek post.
The idea was to try to get a conversation going about how agents compete not only against others from different brokerages, but with agents from our own brokerage too and how difficult it can be to stand out from the crowd. Do you market your broker's name or do you market your own? Certainly our Coldwell Banker franchise has much more panache tied up in their brand than I do in my mine. How and when do you separate the two? When prospective clients visit their sites instead of mine, I no longer have a chance to introduce myself to them, except amid 600 fellow associates.
I love the Hurry Home campaign. I think it's a really smart, fresh approach and I'm thrilled that I'm associated with a local brokerage that has the ability to be this smart and creative. I've had the same conversation with the VP of Marketing that came up with the campaign and told him as much.
I do want potential clients who stumble across my posts to know that I have been and continue to be on the cutting edge, at least locally, when it comes to selling their homes. I get along wonderfully with my clients and reap the rewards of referrals all the time but I don't sit on my laurels.
I don't blog for Realtors in New England, I blog to share my voice with a national real estate community and to hear their voices and I blog for my clients and potential clients here in Central Ohio. I don't see anything resembling the word you said I misspelled in my post and I won't be lectured about spell checking my posts by someone who used 'your' instead of 'you're' when telling me how pathetic I am. I noticed you currently don't have a blog on which I could post a nasty comment but that you do misspell the state in which you practice real estate in your profile.
Mar 19, 2007 04:13 AM
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Beverly, MA
North Shore of Boston
Joe, What is a moring? Still waiting for an explanation! It is in the title of your post! Your post reflects anger. You need to use spell check as part of your "cutting edge" marketing. Have a good one!
Mar 21, 2007 02:52 PM
Rainer
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Joe Peffer
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