Episode 3: “Eminem Headlines! Is It The Real Slim Shady?”

It’s Party Time! In this installment of “War Stories” we meet a big-time agent who SHOWS big-time  customer appreciation. This successful agent throws an elaborate party to thank all of the clients who helped get him to the top. This agent has a trick up his sleeve to make the event quite memorable indeed.

The takeaway here is simple: you cannot be a successful real estate agent without clients who want to buy and sell homes. You can never go wrong showing appreciation to those people who have helped you achieve success.Enjoy our latest video, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and Facebook page for the latest news, content, and updates. Happy marketing!

It’s here! We know through our own marketing efforts how important it is to stay up on your digital channels. It’s likely you need lots of fresh digital content for your blog, Facebook, Twitter, marketing/content emails, and LinkedIn – perhaps you need content to post to even more places.

Successful agents consistently post content across multiple digital channels. We have many clients with staff dedicated to this very task. A strong, active web presence helps agents stay fresh in their networks and drive up their SEO. The information tends to be: new listings, recently sold homes, events they are attending or hosting, positive client feedback, and helpful info for homeowners (which is usually purchased through a service or shared from another website).

We’d like to assist with this effort. One of the reasons you might be mailing a 12-page Discover publication is because it breaks through the clutter, setting you apart. The content inside your paper can work for you in the same way on your digital and social channels. We are already producing custom, stand-out content for you – two stories about your neighborhood, a featured listing, and call-to-action imagery – so we are now breaking out and packaging these items together in multiple formats for you. You will receive several pieces per issue plus additional pieces with your first mailing, and we will show you exactly how to use them optimally.

This service, included with every publication at no additional charge, includes everything on the list below. Images will be provided in one format: low resolution, which is the ideal resolution for online channels.

• Modified title bar (“header”) in a social-media-friendly shape
• Home Value Report call-out box (if you have one)
• One each of all your additional call-out boxes
• Flip-book URL of entire paper for web use (with working links)
• Thumbnail of the top of your paper where the headline is visible, or of the full front page if you prefer
• Word doc of each article
• Image of Featured Listing
• Image of Sold Stats or “Market Update” box

We’ll help you use these items effectively. Our friendly Discover staff will spend as much time as it takes  to ensure you are getting the most out of your digital content package. These are our suggestions:

• Use on your blog or website (5 posts per month):
  • Articles – post full articles
  • E-Edition – post the modified header image and underlay the flip-book link, which will take them to your whole 12-page publication. Include a paragraph about how you publish a community paper and what to check out this month
  • Featured Listing – post the featured listing spread, discuss the listing, and include a link to the listing itself
  • Sold Stats image – post this diagram and talk briefly about what that data means for the community
• Use on marketing emails (4 emails per month):
  • Articles – use these as stand-alone content emails (2 per month). TIP: include the community name in the subject line so recipients don’t think it’s generic content, and be sure to include a link to the corresponding blog post to help SEO
  • E-Edition – use this in your e-newsletter (with the title bar image as what to click to get to it) or as part of an existing email. We advise not sending this as stand-alone email due to the redundancy with other content
  • Featured Listing – use this as stand-alone email. Include the Featured Listing picture and link it to the blog post about the listing
  • Sold Stats – use this as a stand-alone email with the image, brief market update, and a link to the blog post you created
  • We advise a maximum of 6 emails per month, so keep this in mind when considering other emails you plan to send out
• Use on social media (5+ posts per month):
  • Each item – post all of the above on all platforms by using the image, writing a short description, and linking to corresponding blog posts, other webpage, online form
  • Call-out boxes – use these images, especially the Home Value Report, as images for Facebook advertising or posting. Because it’s pretty promotional, we recommend restrained use of these as organic posts; they are better suited as paid ads. Use your home value report URL, online form, or other URL as the link for the image
  • We recommend at least one Facebook and at least three Tweets post per day. In general, more is better, as long as your content doesn’t suffer too much. Don’t be afraid to post the same article and market update a few times in a month, and be sure to continue to your regular posting

We hope you’re as excited about your digital package as we are! As the season slows, now is the time learn how to take full advantage of all these wonderful digital resources. Yes, there is a learning curve, but we promise it is worth the investment, and that it will soon take little time and become second nature. Please let us know your feedback, and… Happy Marketing!

Here it is, our top marketing memes of the month, chosen by the team at Discover Pubs.

Memes generate a good laugh, but they can also allow us to walk a day in each other’s shoes and experience the good and bad of our daily professions. As for marketing professionals, from the moment we sit down to our computers to the point that we think it’s time to leave, but can’t see the time through our strained eyes – we are creating and sending content through emails, social media, blogs and everything-in-between.

For the next few minutes give your eyes some relief, or hop into a set of your marketing friend’s shoes and enjoy our 21 favorite marketing memes of the month.

#1

Or do they?

#2

But, they want to grow their following?

#3

campaign + strategy = results

BOOM.

#4

It looks a little like this.

#5

And, this.

#6

Oh yeah, and this.

#7

The essence of email marketing, and when it finally comes along …

100? More like …

#8

consider us the online version of Oprah. And please, feel free to click through.

#9

And, it wasn’t even incentivized.

#10

After creating the pop-up form for lead information.

#11

What we’d like to happen after sending “please fill out the form below,”

#12

what actually happens.

#13 

When you get those leads, keep ’em clean, aka semi-annual CRM verification.

#14

So, when you send links to your leads – this happens.

#15

Only to be followed up by this.

#16

Then, this – because anything will go viral, right?

#17

We can dream (but, please refer to #1, #2, #3).

#18

Level 10 accuracy (aka: please share this post).

#19

But then, after tomorrow, it finally happens …

#20

time to celebrate.

#21

And, keep it classy.

Follow-up can mean the difference between fleeting and lasting relationships

In business, as with life, building relationships with care, understanding and respect can yield immeasurable benefits. Follow-up is an integral part of relationship building. It’s the shout-out, the “what’s up,” the “I’m here for you” that helps reassure both prospective and current clients that you are thinking of them.

Terry L. Green, president of BizEase Support Solutions, points out: “Follow-up involves all aspects of your business, from following up with prospective new clients, to making sure you are set on a path to success once you land them. That’s why you should make sure you have follow-up procedures in place and that they become part of your routine.”

There are numerous opportunities to follow up, and you should seize them all:

• After a networking event, stay connected with the people who made a difference to you. They likely will make a difference to your business. Use of online social media is a given; it is the most efficient method of sharing your experiences, photos and business tips. However, there is no substitute for a handwritten note to thank an individual for his or her time and attention, and to say that you look forward to meeting again.
• When contacted by potential clients for more information, send it right away. Then call or e-mail to see if they need anything else. Also, send a thank-you-for-contacting-me note … written … by hand.
• After landing a client, send a personalized welcome kit. In addition to information on your business policies and procedures, you might want to include a list of frequently asked questions (for the client who thought he asked everything but realized he hadn’t). The kit also should contain a gift and note … again, handwritten.

Your mother was right to stand over you while you wrote thank-you notes for the gifts you had received. Taking the time to put your appreciation in writing tells your clients that you are willing to put in the extra effort to show them you care.

Remember that follow-up is a process as well as a practice.

• Respond promptly. Your chance of speaking with a decision maker increases if your response time decreases. Common wisdom seems to suggest a standard of responding the same day or hour you receive an inquiry. However, studies show that responding within five minutes of receipt of the inquiry increases ninefold the chance of turning the prospect into a convert. Do it now; later might be way too late.
• Follow up every single lead. Log them as soon as they arrive and assign them for immediate follow-up. Don’t expect the magic to happen with a single email. It can take as many as 13 touches to get from initial contacts and intermediaries to the person who makes the decision to buy.
• Measure your process and track your progress. This is where an automated follow-up platform comes in handy. According to Annuitas, a demand generation strategy firm, businesses that use automated marketing experience a 451 percent increase in qualified leads. Leads can be scored and messaging targeted by providing prospects with customized content based on their behaviors and implied preferences. How many leads do you get in a week? How long does it take to respond? How many of them become qualified prospects or customers? What works well for you? What doesn’t? Modify any aspect of your process that needs it, and then check your progress again in a few months.
• Keep your mailing list updated. Your client information should be current and reflect any major changes, such as a geographical move, job change or marital status. Automation helps here by clearing your database of those who haven’t been responding to emails, as well as duplicates and outdated information. Oh … and you might want to know whether or not that person is still alive. One can only imagine how annoying it must be to keep getting mail for somebody who has been dead for more than a decade.

Follow-up is a valuable tool, not only for tracking the progress of your business, but also for learning more about your clients and increasing their familiarity and comfort with you. Those who enjoy a solid relationship with you are apt to send you referrals, vouch for your credibility and strengthen your reputation.

So before you congratulate yourself on another client qualified or deal closed, you would be well served to remember that these folks are crucial to the survival and growth of your business. Before you order a celebratory cake, send them a thoughtful and diligent follow-up.

Discover Publications can help you make those connections (on which you must follow up). Give us a call at (877) 872-3080.

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