As real estate sales professionals -- I find that too many REALTORS just aren't spending enough time marketing themselves. Many do not know how. When I consult with new prospects -- I'm told that they're going to fix that next week. Or next month. "I'm gonna bull doze my website and do this." Or do that. It's the same statement all the time. They will make the *big marketing change* AFTER they come back from RainCamp. Or Inman Connect. Then when I catch up to them (often a year later) I ask how well they used the information … (5 comments)
Living the 4-Hour Work Week is going to be a breeze if you do this in steps as I am doing them. I will be reporting my rise in productivity and chronicling my success here and much more in the new group: four hour work week
If you are going to get work done, if you want to spend more time in the ZONE -- then you have to minimize the interruptions that swallow up the time in your day. Email is the biggest time robber of anyone today. Bing. You got Spam. Two minutes later. Bing, you … (11 comments)
marketing: Benefits of an Advertising Agency
- 10/17/09 08:06 AM
A week ago, the four A's (American Association of Advertising Agencies) created a bit of a big stink. They suggested that smaller advertising agencies and marketing firms are a bargain -- claiming billing rates are half or one third of their larger colleagues. Which means if your brokerage was using J Walter Thompson (a New York ad agency) as opposed to say a firm like ours, Voyager International. Shopping for anything on price or FREE can be a big mistake. When you go out shopping for creative talent, you need to focus on finding a firm that's a good fit for … (0 comments)
marketing: Forget the Short Sales. Try This: FREE Seminars for FSBOs
- 08/02/09 02:54 PM
Every damn place you turn around, some marketing whiz seems to have all the answers to solving your cash flow problems by buying their book or report on how to make money with Short Sales. There's even a few 125 X 125 ads posted over here on the right --- > There's just one small problem with every Short Sale book, report or seminar this boy has ever seen: Short Sales take friggin forever to close. Two to three months to get the bank to approve everything, then the poor buyer who just couldn't wait anymore drops out of the picture and … (5 comments)
marketing: Press Releases Build Traffic and LEADS.
- 07/19/09 04:30 AM
No matter how things change, some things just remain the same, like good old fashioned customer service. Meeting someone in person and being greeted with a warm handshake and a sincere smile, instead of WebEx computer to computer. Picking up the phone and calling a prospect or a client instead of email. Mailing out a nice, hand written letter instead of the email or the phone call. This BLOG is about Press Releases. The old fashioned PR was crafted on a computer by a PR agency. Then it was mailed out and faxed to a select group of TV stations, newspapers … (11 comments)
marketing: Secrets of Getting Higher Google PageRank
- 07/18/09 04:27 AM
As promised, here are the REAL steps you can take to get higher PageRank on Google. Step One: Find a half dozen other Websites, like ActiveRain.com, Curbed.com and others that you can organically type text with the key words for your local market. For example, if you are in Colorado Springs, then you want to use a sentence like this in the blog with a highlighted text (bold or bold italics) link to your website. Here's is how this gets done for Jamie Mades, of Keller Williams.
"....and for those military service personnel needing assistance with military relocation to the … (4 comments)
marketing: Martha Stewart. Convicted Felon gives DMA Keynote?
- 07/13/09 05:33 AM
Only in America can this kind of thing happen. Martha Stweart, was convicted on all four (4) felony charges against her on March 5th, 2004. The jury, as did many Americans who tuned in, REJECTED the notion that she had no inside involvement or direct knowledge in the ImClone stock fiasco. We all know she lied. REALTORS are sales and marketing professionals. Or at least, we should ALL try to become better at doing our jobs. The DMA is the Direct Marketing Association and they too, have a large national trade show much like we do for REALTOR Expo, or Inman … (0 comments)
marketing: Blogging with Nothing to Say. Why Waste Our Time?
- 07/12/09 09:48 PM
As I end my week, I try to end it on a positive note, but the fact is... I probably can't on this one. I am fortunate to be alive. 15 years ago, I was on a motorcycle and I remember nothing about the crash. I just remember waking up in the hospital, foggy. And I remember tubes stuck out of my arms and my family was at my bedside. I crushed my skull, and a chunk of my kneecap was gone. Somebody up there liked me and gave me a 2nd chance to do something with my life. Today, aside … (43 comments)
marketing: Using SEXY Postcards to Sell Luxury Estate?
- 07/12/09 06:59 AM
Now I can say I've seen everything when it comes to marketing real estate. I can die now. There is nothing more to invent or for anyone to see. Trulia, Cyberhomes, Realtor.com. Glenn at Redfin. Dave Liniger at RE/MAX, even the guys at CENDANT. It's over. Go home now. You can shut your business down. Someone figured out how to use SEX to sell luxury homes. This kind of advertising is better than "BUY THIS HOUSE -- GET FREE Gas for a year or FREE Pizza for a year." "FREE closing costs," or those neighborhood heat maps on Trulia's website. I've … (19 comments)
marketing: Beware of the FaceBook Time Suckers
- 07/11/09 09:38 AM
Even once useful products and online services have a dark or stupid side to them. They seem so innocent at first, but then you find yourself mindlessly clicking on links, sending hearts to friends, poking people, and sending photoshop colored flip flops to people and prospects you don't even know. My email box is getting filled with these things and I originally wanted FaceBook for marketing my services. Now it's only good for generating 90% of my SPAM, maybe more. As I find myself being pulled (suckered) into this world of "Gotta do these things because your friend, colleague or … (5 comments)
marketing: BROKERS: Time to Wake Up Now. Go Independent.
- 06/03/09 05:40 AM
The glamour shot photos of REALTORS with big hair and white teeth are no longer an important part of your business today. In fact, this kind of glamour photo marketing of pretty agents is completely insignificant today as your customers are no longer opening your drip marketing emails. Nor are they reading the local real estate guide ads or newspapers. REOLOGY Corp (C21, Coldwell Banker, ERA and Sotheby's) has upped their ad spend on social media networking. They have increased their ad spend on Internet advertising and have reduced their ad spend on newspapers and stupid real estate guide advertising by … (8 comments)
marketing: Lead Management Systems Need NOT Be EXPENSIVE!
- 06/03/09 04:42 AM
Lead management. Lead creation. It's getting to be too complex. What REALTOR doesn't cringe when they get the dreaded phone call from a lead shark? "Hi Bart, this is your friend Lester at LEADCO. I've got a solid prospect for that house you have listed on 14 Altura Road. Good FICO scores, pre-qualified. Let me fax over this commission agreement to your fax number... we're only needing 25% of your.... OW! No. This kind of predatory lead management sucks and is just too painful yet there's a lot of us that have caved in and said yes to this kind … (4 comments)
I'm almost wishing I could go back to real estate sales. At least then, dumb questions and self defeating situations only came from next time home buyers when they asked WHY they couldn't put in for a new car before we closed on their new home. A lot of REALTORS are needing a similar wake up call, because if 90% of you don't wake up soon, the top ten percent and top 1 percent of the top producers are … (13 comments)
marketing: Chirp Tweet. The Value of Twitter. Watch This.
- 04/20/09 11:02 AM
Okay the big thing I posted about Kutcher cheating by using Lamar billboards pro-bono to get the word out created a lot of interesting comments. Several agents asked about the value of Twitter. There is a single value word that sums up Twitter.com. micro-blogging Just as many of you have discovered the value of seeing your dull and boring website spring to life and jump up a page or two on Google a few days after you linked some text here on Active Rain and pointed it to your website. Twitter is going to do the same thing.Here's some of the … (10 comments)
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