Why Salesy Real Estate Marketing Fails with Today’s Sellers

Quick: take a look at these two headlines. Each appears on the front cover of a real estate agent’s local newsletter or publication.

1. “Peter Pumpkin-eater named #1 Producer at Joker Broker Inc!” (by Peter Pumpkin-eater)
2. “Record High Prices for Sunnytown Homes this Season!” (by Berta Experta)

Which article would appeal to you, a homeowner in Sunnytown? How much would you care about Peter Pumpkin-eater’s awards, even if you happened to know him? After getting a newsletter with a cover story like Peter’s, month after month, you’d probably start throwing it right in the recycle bin without so much as a glance.

But what about receiving a newsletter – or publication – with cover stories like Berta’s, month after month? You might begin to anticipate some useful market information when it appears in your mailbox. Instead of pitching it, you might toss it on the counter, and read it the next morning while your coffee brews. This all seems obvious, but yet we see it every day: agents who wouldn’t give two hoots about, for example, their insurance agent “hitting goal” turn around and build huge expensive campaigns about their personal awesomeness.

You’ve probably already made massive changes to your business in the wake of Coronavirus, so what better time to take a good hard look at your marketing messages!

Fact: buying patterns have changed dramatically in the last 10 years.

As more advertising mediums become available, the more consumers are becoming conditioned to tune out to anything that seems “promotional.” Content Plus found that 70% of consumers prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than ads, and a TMG Custom Media study revealed that 78% of consumers believe that organizations that offer custom content are interested in building good relationships with them. While it’s important to communicate the value you offer – and to share real-life success stories about who you’ve helped – building a trust-based connection is the foundation for generating listings and referrals.

Trust is built in the emotional part of the brain, deep in the subconscious.

We don’t decide to trust a person; rather, we one day realize that we trust someone. Add to that the the fact that big decisions – including most major purchase decisions – happen in the part of the brain where emotions are processed. Trust is an emotion. To put it very simply: trust = purchase.

A brain scan study by Mart Lindstrom in 2015 backed up claims that 90% of purchasing decisions are not made consciously, and that brands that are intentional about evoking our emotions always win. Decision-making may be wired to our emotions for very good reasons. For one, it is impossible to consciously tally, process, score, and react to the hundreds of facts and other non-overt pieces of information coming at us. Our emotional subconscious does this for us and outputs a “gut feeling,” without our awareness.

The beautiful thing is that this “gut” is very efficient at making the right call. It’s in no way a shortcut. In fact, relying on a well-honed instinct is indeed more efficient than manually – consciously – wading through a million variables. We’re built to rely on it – in extreme cases, our very survival depends on trusting our gut rather than a painstaking conscious calculation. For most people, the emotional brain is a well-oiled super-computer so it’s no surprise that decision making occurs there.

What does this mean for real estate agents?

The key take-away for real estate agents is this: if two agents are competing for a listing, the one who has taken time to embed themselves in the emotional brain of the homeowner will get the listing, even if they’re younger or less successful.

“Embed themselves in the emotional brain” means marketing and prospecting in a way that resonates at a human level, garners an emotional response, and leaves the prospect feeling that the agent knows and cares about the market, gets great results, and can be trusted.

In order to develop these emotions about the agent, the homeowner needs to repeatedly experience these emotions while at the same time learning about or engaging with the agent’s brand. For this to happen, the agent must truly be trustworthy, get good results, and care – because those are the things he or she need to impart through their marketing. Otherwise, no amount of “messaging” will seed legitimate emotional headspace in prospects.

So, how can you do this?

How to implant yourself as the Real Estate Agent of Choice
in the emotional brain of homeowners in your farm

First, you must show (not just tell) your prospects that you care about them, the community, and ultimately, their home sale. Marketing with information they personally care about accomplishes this much faster than sending information they don’t care about. Against our best advice, we’ve worked with agents over the years who’ve insisted on publishing self-promoting articles on the front covers of their publications. After investing thousands of dollars, they either learn the hard way and begin publishing community-related content, or they quit publishing altogether in frustration (and to be blunt, arrogance). We encourage agents to keep their custom content focused on the community; for example, during the pandemic, we published articles for agents about how Coronavirus was impacting the local housing market. Similarly, we take care to ensure the general articles (the syndicated stories we publish inside each client’s paper) hit home and resonate with homeowners. Whether you publish with us or do your own newsletter, these principals apply.

And here’s the key: make sure your picture and branding is on the header and all throughout your marketing, so that when the reader is engaged with an article or feature, they implant you in their emotional brain as they read and react to it.

Branding remains paramount

When you regularly supply your prospects with interesting, valuable information (such as with your newsletter, publication, emails, social posts, webinars, etc.), you need to be front and center. This doesn’t mean how great you are, but your branding must be prominent. Otherwise, you’ll be cultivating meaningful emotional responses, but the connection to you will be lost.

Additionally, it’s important to layer in messages about what you do and how you can really help. Do this in ways that actually resonate; for example, instead of a dry testimonial, run a short feature called “Sunnytown Success Story” with a photo of a happy couple you helped, and tell the story of how they needed to move quickly, how you helped them with fix-ups and staging, and how you marketed it to your broker network for multiple offers. Or instead of an ad about being #1, present an infograph of exactly how you stack up to other agents (Average Sunnydale Agent: Sells 2 homes per year. Berta Experta: Sold 28 homes last year. / Average Sold Price in Sunnydale: $200k. Average Sold Price for Berta’s Clients: $235k). This communicates to the homeowner that you don’t expect them to hire you just because of a fancy award – that you mean business and get tangible results.

The most important message here is that self-promotion fails as the core of any marketing strategy. Think instead of how to show the area you are a caring, knowledgeable, trusted expert. And make sure they know it’s from you.

We’ve talked about content marketing in previous posts and Discover’s mix of traditional and digital in its approach to the concept. We’re going to focus in more today on what makes traditional mediums – specifically our custom community newspapers – work in local markets.

Here are three ways you can use content to create a following (and generate more business) in your community.

1. Localize It!

At the beginning of my career I was a newspaper reporter for a regional daily paper in Ohio. One afternoon, as I mused to a colleague that it was a slow news day and I was already done with assignments from editors, Roy Cross, a “real news man” from the old school, looked up from his work and said, “Localize something!”

Roy knew that in our smallish college town and the several mostly rural counties we served, the difference we made at the Athens Messenger wasn’t in reporting broad, national or state stories – we had the Associated Press for that. Our power was in reporting on local events and public officials – or taking a national subject and finding the local angle. That was in 1992. Roy’s admonition led me to discover that day an Athens, Ohio native, David Wilhelm, was serving as campaign manager for the guy who was about to win the Democratic nomination for president. My ensuing phone interview of Wilhelm became one of my first front page stories at the Messenger.

How Top Agent Dale Ross Localizes his Paper

Discover Publications client, Dale Ross, publishes the Dale Ross Realty Group Real Estate Report in Katy and West Houston, Texas.

Dale’s Discover publication is mailed to over 11,000 homes monthly to targeted zip codes. He localizes content on his front page each month, not by taking on a national subject, but by crunching regional real estate data down to his targeted zips. The charts featured on his front page each month speak directly to market activity where the publication’s readers live. Dale is “hyper-localizing it!”

And, about those charts. Dale knows his community. Katy, Texas is heavily reliant upon and populated by professionals in the oil and gas industry. Many of those homes he’s mailing his paper to are owned by petroleum and other engineers. Dale knows engineers like charts and data – and his paper’s front page will be noticed.

2. Inform

What about offering the sort of local content that used to be in your local daily newspaper or in local broadcast media? Offering what is essentially neighborhood-level information will attract readers and builds your brand as an integral – and trusted part of the community.

How Craig Strong Informs his Community

Craig Strong is a real estate agent serving Toluca Lake and Studio City, California. His approach to his Discover publication is a front page devoted to community events.

For example, this spring he had a feature story highlighting festivals and farmers markets in the area. The article describes what makes things like the Toluca Lake Farmers Market unique and provides the whens and the wheres for this and other markets and events. This edition also included coverage, via photos and captions, of recent local events he participated in, like the annual Neighborhood Garage Sale and Taste of Toluca.

On the inside of Craig’s paper there’s even more local content, and, what I think is the most interesting piece of all – the Toluca Lake Crime Report. With so many local news outlets dying or scaling back operations, this is useful information. And, remember, only households in Toluca Lake are getting this targeted mailing. Craig is providing a community news service at essentially the neighborhood level. Craig’s newspaper is getting attention – and Craig’s brand in the community is burnished.

Craig actually does two publications, the other targeted at Studio City. Of course, Studio City gets its own crime report. Both of his editions also contain recent real estate activity reports, including listings, sales and pending sales by address and transaction/listing value.

3. Give Back

While providing information about the local housing market and local events is indeed engaging (and will get results), other top agents find that publishing articles about good deeds going on is even better. If you or your team participates in any charities, donates money to any causes, or volunteers regularly anywhere in the community, sharing this with homeowners will take their perception of you to another level.

How Victoria Valle Gives Back

Recently, Victoria Valle was passing through Columbus and stopped in at Discover Publications for a visit. In anticipation of meeting her, we pulled together her last ten or so publications. We found that on the cover of each and every one, she talked about all the wonderful charities she supports.

Victoria is passionate about giving back – in fact, she recently received the Jefferson Award for Public Service. This award praised her work with Esperanza and Children’s Development Center in El Salvador, but in addition to this she is also involved in the Maumee Rotary and serves on the boards of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Toledo as well as the D.O.V.E Fund.

When Victoria visited, she brought along a friend from El Salvador who works with Victoria at the ECDC. This emphasized for us that with Victoria, it’s not just about the warm and fuzzies – it’s about doing real work that makes a real impact.

Victoria works in the luxury market in Maumee, Ohio – a group of neighborhoods that are especially blessed and tend to look for ways to give back. They appreciate seeing other professionals doing the same. Not surprisingly, she shared that her publication generates a minimum 200% ROI over the years, underscoring how much her community appreciates reading about the good work she does (even though it’s unrelated to selling homes).

You don’t need to be an internationally recognized charity superstar like Victoria in order to show your community what you do to give back. Anything you do to support the neighborhood can become a front-page story that, depending on your market, will get attention.

Local is a Winner

The fact is, Discover’s clients who spend a little time to find and develop the local niche for their community newspaper get more attention – and more leads. By knowing their audience – and speaking directly to them about things that affect their daily lives – their content marketing pays off by setting them apart in a crowded real estate market. When it’s time for a homeowner or home buyer in Katy, TX, Toluca Lake, CA or Maumee, OH to find an agent, they’ll know where to start. They’ll start with the agent that knows – and is an active, positive part – of their community.

Other Local Content Ideas Used by Discover Clients:

• Real Estate Q & A with agent
• Stories on local youth sports teams
• Coverage of local school district events or accomplishments
• Reporting on local charitable activities
• Photos – snap pictures with that fancy iPhone or Android device in your pocket

Choosing the Right Program in Microsoft Office

With a multitude of programs out there, how do you know which one is right for the task you are working on? One of the most common suite of programs used in business is Microsoft Office. So which programs in office should you use for what? Let’s break down the three most commonly used components of the Microsoft Office suite.

Word (your modern day typewriter)

Word should be used for, well, words. Anything that is in a narrative form, such as letters, memos, outlines, simple signs and fliers, etc. Word also has the capability for mail merges, where word is used for the document portion of your merge and pulls in your information from a database source, such as Excel or Access, to create multiple letters and envelopes or labels.

Excel (a super fancy calculator and simple database program)

Excel should be used for “flat” data or anything that requires computations to be performed. What do I mean by flat data?

Any data that is not related to other data, such as a single table of data, would be flat. So, for example, if you have a list of customers that you need to maintain, excel would be a great option to maintain that data. Additionally, Excel does have many advanced features, including the ability to perform complex computations as well as some simple database functions.

Access (data as far as the eye can see)

Access is used for “relational” data, this is the right option if you are maintaining large quantities of data that needs to have relationships set up. So if you find yourself with a file folder full of excel files containing data tables related to your customers, it might be time to maintain that data in Access. But I don’t just want to store my data, I want to extract useful information from my data, you say. No problem! Access also has the capability to run reports and queries on your data, helping you gather information quickly and easily.

Knowledge is Power

Did you know that Microsoft offers free tutorials online for the office suite of programs? Visit their learning center at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/office-training.aspx

It’s 2016 – the age of technology, and now what many are calling the age of Snapchat marketing. Today there are so many gadgets, techniques, and social media platforms used to connect with your prospective clients, that you’re left wondering which ones are best for your industry. Oh, and how you can “connect” without spending eight hours a day online. Want in on the secret of quick, easy-to-use social media marketing? Snapchat.

By now you’re already actively promoting your business on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. While those are consistent platforms to build your brand, there is a relatively new platform with over 100 million daily users that, as a real estate professional, you should be integrating into your marketing. We call it Snapchat. Using this application to connect with clients and prospects is incredibly easy and fast-paced. It’s time you give it a try. Here’s how:

Snapchat is an extremely simple way of sending photos and videos directly. But here’s the catch – after the recipient has viewed the photo or video, it disappears forever. Not to worry though, Snapchat has a feature called, ‘Stories’ where you can compile an unlimited amount of photos and videos throughout the day. With this feature, your audience can view your posts as a whole, like a slideshow or video compilation. ‘Stories’ are live on your account for 24 hours.

At first, you may wonder how is a platform that erases images valuable to your marketing program? Let’s say you are working with a new millennial client who frequently uses Snapchat. You easily add them to your contact list, and send photos and videos directly of a potential home that you think they might be interested in. The app notifies the user to take a look at the video you’ve sent them, and you will also have a visual indication if they’ve seen what you sent. And, because Snapchat has a fantastic built-in communication system, your client can follow-up with a message, photo, or video as well. Easy, right?

Now think about it this way – When you send a “snap” to followers who know that what you’ve shared will only be live for 10 seconds, you will have their undivided attention for the full 10 seconds that your image or video is displayed on their screen. This results in higher retention from your audience when compared to them scrolling through a homepage feed. This also results in a higher response rate due to the urgency stemmed from disappearance.

The ‘Stories’ section of Snapchat can be useful to you as well. You can showcase an open house, any community events, or even create short market updates. With the ‘Stories’ side of Snapchat, you can see who’s watched the entire compilation, and you can even download your entire ‘Story’ as one large pre-edited movie file, and upload it to your other social media platforms. Remember, social media works in collaboration, sharing a video from platform to platform will get more attention towards your posts and your business.

Every client is going to be different, but as time goes on we are seeing that more people want their home buying process to be easier and more accessible. That’s why Snapchat marketing is an easy and fun way to communicate directly with your clients, and all it takes is 10 seconds .

Questions? Give us a call at (614) 785-1111 and in the meantime subscribe to our our youtube channel for more inspiration and real estate marketing videos.

A custom publication creates a lasting impression on your audience, make them remember you

When you’re publishing your custom publication with Discover Publications, we want you to make every page count. To that end, here are 5 ways to grab attention and get your readers to engage with your company.

1. An enticing lead article

Your front page story is your reader’s first impression. An engaging article gets your reader’s involved from the start is important and will peak their interest. An article about the local area and market is always relevant … it speaks to them directly, especially when they are sitting at home. Readers would like to know what’s happening in the market and if their home is rising in value.

2. Featured listings and homes sold and pending

Many of our clients like to use the giant 10” x 16” back page to show off their most prized listings. Use this space to your advantage by keeping your listings moderately-sized with a photo and a brief description. Always have a space where the reader can locate a number or website quickly to contact you if they find their dream home.

Having pending and sold listings shows that you can move homes, and move them quickly, thus creating confidence in your place as a market leader. Plus, the reader can see what home prices are going for in the area.

3. Call to action spaces. 

These spaces, strategically placed within the custom publication, are where you want to really sell yourself and make the phone ring. Use these spaces to search for possible sellers and leads. For example, the house that your reader owns is something your buyers are in need of and they may be looking to sell. Many use the spaces to promote a website with a message: a free home value or market analysis. You may also want to promote a charity event you are involved in, or an event you are sponsoring for the community. You can also use these areas to sell ad space to defer the cost of the paper.

4. Advertisers
   

Selling ad space in your custom publication to friends and acquaintances in the business is a great way to offset your costs. Our clients frequently team up with a staging company, financial company, title company, or insurance provider. We can create the ad if needed and bill the advertiser directly for you.

5. Testimonials

To further cement your place as a market leader in your area, having some testimonials from satisfied clients can show your human side, and highlight things you and your staff have done to create a positive outcome for your clients.

Use these helpful tips to make publishing your custom publication much easier and more successful. 

Have you heard of Visual Content Strategy, or multi-platform content sharing? 

Let us explain this integrative strategy and how to implement it in your marketing next month.   

The point of visual content strategy is to gain as much traction and interaction with one piece of content as possible once it has been published to the web. Not only will you be creating a greater number of opportunities to build consumer relationships and amplifying your online reach, you will be allowing your brand the opportunity to gain followers, build SEO and generate a memorable UI/UX for prospects. Implementing this strategy means taking a well-written, informative article or content that your company has created, and sharing it on several platforms. AKA: your company blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter… you name it.

The first action of this strategy will be optimally (using keywords as the SEO anchor) posting your article on your company blog; this is where the other posts will direct the audience when clicked through from your various social media portals.

Once that has been completed, we’ll move on to the next step of the visual content strategy where the name of the game is brand engagement and awareness. What we want to do here is deliver your information to a greater number of prospects, and enable interaction through shares, “likes,” comments, and hash tags when plausible. Remember that it is important to pre-determine your message so that it correlates correctly with each media platform, but no matter what social media you use, the post should link directly to the hosting page of your article.

Let’s Recap –

You’ve written an excellent content article that is a shareable, likeable success. In order to amplify the reach of this content, it is first published on the company blog, complete with high-quality keywords, images, etc. Your posts on LinkedIn are different from Facebook, and your Facebook posts are different from Twitter, but they all relate to the topic of this specific content strategy, link to the hosting blog page and include a few of the keywords you’ve determined from the original post. What was once a blog-only article has now been integrated on four differing platforms, reaching a greater number of the hundred of millions of worldwide web users. And, because you’ve used keywords and links, the more interaction and shares your post receives the higher the chances of locking in a greater SEO value.

Visual content strategy – Get integrating! 

Shelby Nicholson | shelby.nicholson@discoverpubs.com