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Hit On All Cylinders To Win Today's Real Estate Marketing Game

By
Real Estate Agent with LIV Sotheby's International Realty 100003154

This is my first ActiveRain post. I've been blogging for 3 years on my personal website (http://www.crestedbuttebroker.com) using the Moveable Type blog platform. While my blog and web site are number 1 ranked on Google, Yahoo, MSN and various other niche search engines for our local real estate market (Crested Butte Colorado) I soon realized the "requirement" of adding ActiveRain blog posts to the mix to create maximum market online exposure, specifically for outlets like Google News alerts.

The point I am trying to make here? To be the best you must continue to evolve as a real estate broker and you must strive to hit on all cylinders when it comes to real estate promotions - specifically electronic sales and marketing. As soon as you think you've got the Internet thing figured out a new standard, a better technology, a new industry network or more clever competitors show up to force you to jump a little higher.

When I first got into real estate in Crested Butte (2006) I quickly determined our local industry was stuck in the proverbial dark ages of marketing and advertising. I couldn't find any local virtual tour providers or even web development companies that specialized in real estate sites. There weren't any agents around here with decent web sites, blogs, e-newsletters, virtual tours or even decent photography of their million dollar listings. 

The only advertising outlet (it seemed) was a print ad in the local Crested Butte News - which meant EVERY broker that had any money placed ads - one on top of each other - throughout the weekly edition of this newspaper. Needless to say, a horribly ineffective method of creating exposure for brokers and their listings.

So, the first thing I did (even before I was licensed) was to begin work on a dedicated web site that promoted my listings, promoted my market/community and of course, me. As soon as I was licensed to sell I went live with my site and within 2 weeks I had my first two deals - representing out of state buyers on local purchases. These buyers found me online. It was then I knew I was on to something.

The next step? I started my blog (http://www.crested-butte-real-estate.com/blog) and began my Crested Butte Real Estate Insider e-newsletter. Basically, I took my best blogs and repurposed them in my monthly opt-in/opt-out newsletter adding in my listing promotions. If you weren't on my site reading it at my blog then it ended up in your email inbox.

Then I got into virtual tours. We are a destination resort market, so most real estate shopping occurs virtually before anyone is actually in town looking at the real thing. As painful as it was for a full time real estate broker, I jumped in and spent HOURS/DAYS researching technologies. I selected a program (Real Tour Vision), trained and then started my own virtual tour company. I wanted ALL of my listings to have a dedicated virtual tour. To pay for the camera, equipment and software I offered to do virtual tours for other brokers and before I thought about it I had produced over 150 tours for other agents. I have become these agent's "best friends" and I have toured more local real estate listings than anyone. (Helpful when you represent buyers or you are trying to determine value for a new listing)

The bottom line for today's real estate professional? Don't sit back. Once you put your stuff out there like I did EVERYONE you compete with begins to figure out your formula.  ActiveRain is a powerful network for real estate pros and another "requirement" if you want to compete.

Thanks for reading,

Channing Boucher
Benson Sotheby's International Realty
Crested Butte Colorado
http://www.crested-butte-real-estate.com

 

Show All Comments
Matthew and Sandy Jagmin
Brick Road Visuals: marketing, virtual tours, photography - Bentonville, AR
Marketing, Virtual Tours, Photography

HI Channing,  this is great advice,  thanks for sharing.

Dec 15, 2008 02:13 AM
Channing Boucher
LIV Sotheby's International Realty - Crested Butte, CO
Crested Butte's Trusted Real Estate Advisor

Hi Matthew and Sandy,

Thx for the comment. I visited your web site. It appears you are RTV dealers too?

I like how you embedded a RTV tour on your home page. Is that the Flash version of the tour stripped of its branding etc?


Channing:)

Dec 15, 2008 03:00 AM
Lon Jett
Texas - Boerne, TX
JPC Virtual Tours

Hello Channing, I'm just starting a virtual tour business in San Antonio/Boerne, Texas. I did the reasearch, thinking I was going to bust the tour business wide open. I found  RTV always came up as the number one tour provider so I signed up. Now I'm trying move up from 4 cylinders to 8.

Lon Jett

Jan 21, 2009 01:58 PM
Anonymous
Channing

Hi Lon,

Your website looks good. You have a "backstop" for any marketing and advertising efforts which is a big step. Time to "localize" your website for your target market and your local "on the ground" business presence/marketing so you can indeed bust the San Antonio VT market wide open.

Whats your focus? Real estate tours or tours for hotels, attractions, golf courses etc? Short of writing a business plan, stick with the 4 Ps of marketing: Product, Price, Place (distribution) and Promotion. You've got the Product (RTV is perfect for most 360 tour customer's needs) so you need to nail down the other three P's.

For my business (real estate tours): 

1. Pricing, I've always kept my per tour prices low and without pushing it, realtors naturally hired me to do a series of virtual tours for their listings in one shot. I don't offer bulk rate pricing because as you know you still have to put in the hours. Basically, you want your realtor clients to consider a 360 Tour for as many of their listings as possible. Try like mad to get a FULL day of shooting booked - once you are in your car with the gear you might as well bang out as many as you can. Do the production work at night when you can focus on it i.e. no phone ringing etc. Essentially, my approach is the "best product at the best price".

2. Place or Distribution. Before your web site is at the top of Google, before your Active Rain blogs give you some electronic street cred, before all else, you need to figure out your market opportunities and how you will reach them, pitch them and service them. Focus on a vertical segment of the market (real estate agents or golf courses or hotels etc) and create a plan of attack. That plan of attack may very well include "traditional" sales including cold-calling (on the phone, in person or if their email addresses are on their web sites pitch 'em electronically).  Your plan may have to include a goal of getting to your first 30 tours ASAP even if you take a bath in the process you simply have to get the work product out there and functioning for your clients.

3. Promotion. You may have to offer a compelling incentive to get your first clients to trust you, pick you up and use you for ALL their virtual tour and photography needs. ALL of my business is referral and word of mouth. I spend nothing on advertising now. It didn't take long for everyone to see what I did and request the same. To get rolling, do a 50% off your first tour deal or even produce a tour for a real estate agent with a no strings attached offer. "They don't like it then they don't have to buy it". If you follow the RTV formula for a professional tour then your tour will rock, the agent will love it because they are actually doing something helpful and proactive to sell their listing and you priced it low enough that they will order more tours for all of their listings creating a big footprint of your work that you can hang your hat on and promote yourself to the next (bigger) round of customers.

Sorry, not too much detail here - but as I stated earlier, the main goal should be "the best product at the best price". I suck it up and take less for my high quality tours in order to keep the barriers to entry for my local market high, the order volume from current customers high and new customers popping up all the time.

Good Luck Lon, feel free to ask me questions.

Channing

 

Jan 21, 2009 04:05 PM
#4
Trish Giassa, Crested Butte, Colorado. RSPS
Homes In Crested Butte - Crested Butte, CO

Channing,

I think a public forum is the best place to say this - as I am the newest member of the Benson Sotheby's Team in Crested Butte, I have found you to be knowledgeable and sharing beyond the expected.  You are awesome and I am proud to be on the same team with you!  Thank you for all your sharing and may we all have a happily successful 2009!

Trish Giassa

Mar 19, 2009 08:27 AM
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