Premier Agent Advantagetm
2010
Personal Marketing Strategy
It’s time to step up your game! The Premier Agent Advantagetm 2010 Personal Marketing Strategy is the Agent personal marketing system that brings your business in to the 21st century! Every part of your business is automated –
· A Listing strategy that, with your discipline, enables you to schedule listing appointments AT WILL.
· A personal Website with MLS access along with a sophisticated Internet Marketing system to drive traffic to your site that acts as your own personal lead generation system.
· A long range prospecting program that handles all of your farming, sphere and past client contact systematically, consistently, and as frequently as you desire!
· STATE-OF-THE-ART Marketing and Sales tools that make you more professional and more effective!
Whether you are an experienced agent or new to the business, The Premier Agent Advantagetm Personal Marketing System frees up your time, makes you more productive, and makes you more money!
Why The Premier Agent Advantagetm Personal Marketing Strategy Works:
All agent personal marketing plans essentially acquire leads from two sources:
1. Potential clients already “in the market” who will either buy or sell property in the next 60 days.
2. Potential clients termed “long range audiences” who are not currently active but could be in the future, and who could possibly refer you to someone who is “in the market’ right now.
The problem with Agent personal marketing plans in the past is that almost all of the activities required for those plans are either labor intensive (only happening when the agent is working) or, like direct mail, are so time consuming and expensive to produce that performing those steps more often than once a month was unlikely. Additionally capitalized tactics like print media advertising have become more expensive and less effective virtually every year for the past ten years.
Gallop polls conducted by the National Association of Realtors show that today over 97% of all home buyers augment their home search activities with their realtor by looking online for new listings every day. If the web is where all of the buyers are, then why wouldn’t an agent want to take a well thought out presence on the web to meet these potential clients?
Additionally, most of the prime demographic groups dominating the real estate market today have used email since they were children. It is as natural to them as direct postage mail (sometimes more so) and subsequently, the qualities of personalized direct email as a marketing tool has emerged as a perfect replacement for the time consuming and over expensive direct “snail mail”.
The Premier Agent Advantagetm Personal Marketing Strategy addresses the agent’s need to capture leads and potential “in the market” clients and the means of consistently and frequently communicating with their “long range audiences” so they can capitalize on those clients’ activities when they are ready and generate referrals from them.
The Components:
FIRST! Obtain Listing Appointments AT WILL
You MUST have at least 4 well priced active listings at any moment.
Because of the Prudential Preferred Properties marketing strategy applied to each property, all of your listings are featured with enhanced SHOWCASE status on YAHOO, TRIBUNE.COM, REALTOR.COM, PRUDENTIAL .COM and PRUPREF.COM. Your photo, and contact information will be featured along with stunning high resolution property photos on these sites and all print ads feature your listings exclusive URL help create more interest on the part of motivated buyers. Subsequently, your listings act as an active part of your lead generation strategy and draw more buyer prospects to you, and better leverage your time.
The key resources for you to call are the Cancelled or Expired Listings of our competititon and FSBOs. About 10 connected calls result in one new listing appointment. Always call the Cancelled-Expireds – do not mail to them. They will have listed with someone else by the time your mail arrives. The Office provides pre-prepared daily calling lists of today’s FSBO’s and Cancelled-Expired listings already run through a cross reference directory and the DO-NOT-CALL registry.
The Premier Agent Advantagetm Internet Marketing System:
Countless hours, remarkable expense, and years of field-testing have been done to define the real needs of agents in personal Internet marketing. Subsequently, our findings reveal that:
1. Essentially all Buyers today continue to search the web for listings throughout the duration of their home search.
2. The only reason that consumers visit Real Estate websites is to search the MLS for new listings.
3. Websites for agents MUST transcend being an “online business card” and offer real value, rich content, and, of course, MLS access for their visitors.
4. The agent’s website must have certain “E-Commerce” points for capturing the identity and contact information of visitors, thereby creating a “lead” for a potential client for the agent.
5. Merely having a website online is akin to “locating one star in the Milky Way”. There must be a means of driving an adequate number of visitors to the site to allow for the desired number of identity captures.
The Prudential Online Advantagetm, with it’s exclusive Platformtm contact management system is the most logical and remarkably cost efficient way to establish your Online Advantage web presence. This program includes not only an appropriately equipped personalized website complete with MLS access from which you capture all of the leads for yourself, it also provides you with an online contact management software system that tracks a prospect’s activities on all of the Prudential / Yahoo websites. This program also allows you to participate in the company’s steady stream of “e-leads” from the Prudential National site, Yahoo Real Estate, and PruPref.com.
The Prudential Online Advantagetm website has terrific features:
Ø Their sites are content intensive, featuring many pages of Real Estate related information that is automatically updated on a continuous basis.
Ø Their MLS access is comprehensive, and extends across the nation allowing visitors to search for Real Estate ANYWHERE IN NORTH AMERICA.
Ø Their “E-Commerce” features are sophisticated, subtle, and offer many services driven opportunities to capture identity and contact information and verifying e-mail addresses.
Ø After initial setup, the ongoing operation of their sites are relatively “hands off” from the agents point of view- it is not necessary that the agent have a working knowledge of websites to benefit from having a site!
* THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF YOUR INTERNET STRATEGY:
To address the need to drive visitors to the site after its’ completion, The Premier Agent Advantagetm Personal Marketing System offers an optional Search Engine Submission Marketing strategy custom tailored specifically for the individual agent’s geographic area(s) and the kind of business that the agent may specialize in. The system’s ongoing monthly expense is analogous to advertising costs, but with substantially less expense and substantially larger results! The system’s effectiveness has been field tested for over four years and is the real “engine” driving the success of your Online Marketing strategy.
The
80% of all agents admit to the lack of consistent and frequent ongoing contact with their sphere of influence and past client database as being the biggest marketing problem in their businesses.
Nationwide, Brokerages have watched the cost and time consumption of direct mail as a marketing device escalate and its’ effectiveness dwindle. Yet, there is no question that long term communication with “audiences” that the agent has relationships with (their sphere of influence, past clients, family, friends, and other contacts not currently “in the market”) is essential to capturing their business when they are ready to buy or sell and generating referrals from those folks to people who are “in the market” right now.
To solve the problem, all Prudential Agents have their own personal “E-CARDS” PUSH MARKETING account at their disposal to conduct all direct mail promotion to their databases through very high quality HTML e-mails pre-prepared in template form. An Agent can program up to 12 months of consistent and frequent contacts to their past clients, sphere of influence and all other long term audiences. Attached are a series of recommended e-mail correspondences for long term marketing to your database.
Additionally, the system provides for a remarkable number of variations for the agents’ marketing plan including but limited to:
Ø Large Scale Marketing Campaigns involving e-mail lists of potential clients acquired through Company approved vendors.
Ø Marketing to specialized target markets like Attorneys, Builders, Trade organizations, etc.
Ø Geographic Farming done in a more consistent and frequent fashion than ever before!
Imagine never having to worry about getting your mailing out on time ever again! Imagine having your communications going out so frequently that your flow of repeat business and referrals literally doubles in just a few months!
Your
Management supported
Social Media Marketing Strategy
Social Media Marketing-WHY?
In less than one-and-a-half decades the web has evolved from browsing to searching to sharing – from Web Sites to Social Media.
Browsing -To surf the web, users typed in the address of the destination they wanted to find, like Realtor.com, or they went to portals with links classified by a subject such as “real estate”. As a result, companies spent big money on banner ads and branding campaigns to lure web surfers to their sites.
Searching -As the web exploded it became harder for users to find what they wanted with any single website. Keywords ruled as web surfers clicked through lists of web results dished up by search engines. Google, with its simple look and super-smart algorithms, refined surfing and online advertising.
Sharing -Today, people are increasingly customizing personal websites, blogs, social media and network pages with little programs known as widgets. The real power of these simple services, created by individuals or large companies, is that they’re shareable and can be distributed widely and easily.
Social Media is NOT a fad – it is a game changer!
Some say it may even be the biggest shift in technology since the Industrial Revolution. By 2010, Generation Y will outnumber Baby Boomers and 96% of them have already joined a social network.
Why Social Media?
Because Everyone is there!
Total Users as of
26,481,200
Total Users as of
42,089,200
58% Growth in 6 MONTHS!!
In 2009, I coached agents just to use marketing e-mail as a direct replacement product for postage mail. Although it's great to automate frequent emails and "set it and forget it", you are still talking AT your audiences, not talking TO them.
It's time to get a larger return on your marketing effort by building stronger relationships with your database by interacting with them in addition to the other fine things you do to stay in front of them,
Social Media Marketing- How to Begin!
Ok, assuming that you already have a Facebook account, the first thing we need to do is to make it a PROFESSIONAL GROWN UP PROFILE.
All of the cutesy stuff you wrote before in your profile might get you a new date, but probably not a new client. Focus on your accomplishments, degrees, service work, and your success in the business. Remember- Your audience does not relate to your total sales volume other that it may mean that you have lots of satisfied past clients. Experience or experiences (there's a difference!) will be more likely to establish you as a credible expert.
Make sure that the photo you use on your profile reflect on who you wish to be. That charming pic of you slumped in a chair at a party after 9 beers will probably not create the persona you wish to portray!
Stefan Swanepoel (an expert on new trends in real estate) talks about "Positioning yourself and finding your SPOT":
"When participating in Social Media you will have various opportunities to create a persona. Before doing so you should clearly decide how you want the world to view you. To achieve this, ask yourself the following questions:
-Are you someone who is using Social Media for personal or professional use?
-If you’re using Social Media for professional use, what information are you presenting?
-Are you an individual that offers quotes or frivolous information or do you provide real and relevant content?
-Do you respond to people or ignore people?
-Who are you connecting with?
-What do you want your online experience to be like?
-How do others view you?
It’s important that you know what your motivation is for joining (business, social, networking, etc.) and whether you will want to create a professional or a personal profile."
"After you have decided what your positioning is, the next step is to decide what brand you will be building online. Consistency is important and attaching the desired identifying image helps in placing and posturing yourself. For example, you can be an expert in anything—a topic, an area, etc.—or you don’t have to be an expert at all, just be everyone’s friend. Regardless of what you choose for your goal, building your brand will require you to standardize and unite the message behind your brand; photo. Your logo, content, website--all these elements must portray a unified message."
Remember that your profile will be how someone will decide if they wish to connect with you as apart of your network. Make sure that it reflects WHO YOU WISH TO BE SEEN AS, The fabulous credible real estate expert that you are (or will be!)
Social Media Marketing- Building your Audience
I am really starting to love 20something - 30something real estate agents!
They all come equipped with 400 plus friends in their Facebook network, all of which are potential first time home buyers and sellers!
And all they need to do is to stop postings things like "just showered and Now I'm going to eat a sandwich" and start posting cool relevant content that's about their audience and not themselves!
For the rest of us, we will need to build our audience of "friends".
In the cold cruel world of the 21st Century, relationships may have changed a bit. The mere hint of having something or someone in common may endear you to a lot more people than you imagine because we're a busy busy people and personal interactions are slim. A facebook friend that interacts with you (as you must) is a small "feel good" interaction that feeds (albeit in a small way) an emotional need in an otherwise lonely existence and most importantly makes lasting impression on their mind (the stuff good marketing is made of).
So start connecting with new friends;
1. Start looking for past clients, members of your sphere of influence, friends, and relatives on Facebook by searching their name or (even better) their email address. Ask them to connect.
2. Those raving fans who have always giving you referrals should be asked as well- They will end up a bigger, better Raving Fans as they interact with you and continually digest the relevant content you share on you page.
3. Be creative- Alumni associations, churches, clubs and service organizations that you a re member of are all on Facebook with an page for those organizations, and simply going down the list of the organization's "Fans" produces more connections. Anyone that you have a commonality with is a candidate to join your group.
4. Be bold- seek out those potential clients you always wanted (like that prominent developer, or that well connected investor) and ask them to connect. I have several interesting friends on Facebook and Plaxo that are reading my stuff and interacting with me only because I asked!
Folks, It's in the bible- "seek and ye shall find - ask and ye shall receive" (never new residential real estate could be a religious experience, now did you?)
After all, everyone is interested in talking about Real Estate!
My experience has been that once you've have your base of "friends" that you have a direct commonality with, you can expand your audience by adding THEIR FRIENDS as YOUR Friends! Your "friend request will always include your mutual friend and 90% of your requests will be confirmed. Think about it- that's how a lot of you ended up connected with me!
My experience has been that you can triple the numbers of people in your group with about 4 hours of labor at your computer. Small investment for what will be a grand return!
Social Media Marketing- What's the MESSAGE?
So now it's time to kick off your Social Media Marketing strategy!
How Social Media and all other Long Range Marketing works is based on a precept all advertising pros know- I call the it the MADISON AVENUE RULE – You must achieve a 70% BRAND AWARENESS with your audience before you will start getting the results you want! In our business that's 70% of your audience able to vividly recall
WHO YOU ARE
WHAT YOU ARE
WHAT YOU DO and
HOW TO FIND YOU
It takes 7 to 10 HIGH QUALITY EXPOSURES of the above mentioned items to get you to 70% BRAND AWARENESS, all delivered in a consistent and frequent enough fashion that each exposure builds on the last. We are going to be delivering a consistent message of you as the Real Estate Expert that you are, but it will take a few weeks of exposure of this expertise to get you up to the required 70% awareness with your audience.
When participating in Social Media you will have various opportunities to create a persona and the content that you will post daily (YES DAILY!) is going to establish you as an EXPERT! But postings that exhibit expertise do not include
"YIPPEE I just sold a house!"
"I'm on my way to another closing!"
"I'm going out to show property!"
People love to talk about and read about real estate- they do not like to hear about the activities of real estate people nor do they remotely care about your activities. They care about THEMSELVES and so the content that you post to establish you as an expert must be about THEM, relevant to THEM, useful to THEM, and NOT about YOU.
What Will I say????
1.Use an RSS Reader to gather info from all news sources in the web, and post the real estate related articles that are consumer oriented and driven. The Reader makes it a faster process so that you do not get bogged down coming up with new content daily.
2.Get in the habit of sharing the news you read online daily (On Yahoo News there is always a SHARE button that will post the article to your facebook page automatically).
3. Subscribe to various real estate related email newsletters- Real Trends, Broker Social, Realty Times.
4. Keep you eye on various important consumer events and processes- for example, the First Time Buyer Tax Credit deadline is coming up on 12/1. Consumers need to know that they or a loved one are about to miss out on a huge opportunity to utilize the $8000 tax credit as their sole down payment. There have been loads of great articles that reinforce the urgency of this particular matter.
Frankly, I wasn't going to share this next idea with ALL of you, but I have instructed our agents to get a PLAXO Account (where I blog twice a day), connect to me, and then every morning, open their PLAXO window, copy my postings, and then paste them into their Facebook notes and then publish. I do all of the work, they get all of the glory for about 3 minutes per day. After all, WHO has time for doing all of this???
Points to remember:
Content is key!
Make it about them, not YOU!
No posting of listings, but real relevant stuff about Real Estate
E-Clips
Real Trends
Realtor association E-mail newsletters
Mortgage Company updates
Offer free products and offerings - market research, market conditions, market updates
Steal from your Managing Broker’s content!
Final Thought: It’s all about the conversation, the sharing and the value you bring to the other members of the discussion. The more selfless your actions the better your following and ultimate return will be.
is a registered service mark of The Prudential Insurance Company of America. Equal Housing Opportunity. Midwest Realty Ventures LLC. All Rights Reserved.