Real Estate Marketing Drips: June 2009

Inspirational Stories~Is Your Independence Coming Before Your Business Fall?

Do you pride yourself on accomplishing everything on your own?  Do you take pride in your independence and your ability to grow your business and "manage" on your own?

It's a funny thing.  This independence creeps into the spirit of an entrepreneur like the ivy of a poison plant.  Its vines weave themselves through the mind and body and once the onset of itchy bumps start to manifest the entrepreneur is itching and scratching and longing for the calamine.....

Why wait?

Why wait for relief when you can open your eyes, look around, and engage in a partnership, affiliation, a coach or consultant who can prevent this occurrence... this uncomfortable unease from happening?  Do you know you are truly one person, running one business, trying to manage many things at the same time. 

Multi-tasking can diffuse the effort of being effective.  No one has the ability to step back from their business and look at it through a different view.  No matter your age- 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, or 70's you have the same eyes.  Your view will always be obscured ever so slightly by what is has been trained to see and by what you yourself cannot see.

Entrepreneurs do not have completely objectivity in their business.  Nor do they have a road map they must adhere to- there is no boss telling them what they must do.  Entrepreneurs take the wheel and steer through the course of marketing and selling among many conditions.  Sometimes the course is rough and the road is unpaved.  Sometimes the road is smooth and the tires glide upon the asphalt. 

Sometimes the directions seem clear and then they are redirected by a neon sign that they must detour.....

And for many entrepreneurs this is the where the fall occurs.  They do not call to ask directions from a trusted voice.  They head toward the most convenient shop on the side of the road, they head toward the shop with the biggest sign, or they do not ask for help at all.  They turn their vehicle around and meander this way and that, they may get lucky, they may find their way eventually....

Eventually costs time and money.  Eventually loses opportunities.  Eventually is not a solid plan for the future.  Eventually is just now.

Is your independence coming before your business fall?

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Rebecca Levinson is an independent real estate marketing consultant who helps real estate professionals see through the blind spots in their real estate marketing.  Call today #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@realestateskillz.com

View Through A Macro Lens: The Great Eight- A Sample Marketing Strategy That Integrates Offline and Online Marketing

How do you take your blog and make it the focal point of your marketing efforts?  A good marketing strategy will involve the integration of your online and offline marketing efforts. 

In other words you need to take your social marketing efforts, email campaigns, local advertising and farming and setup calls to action that point towards one bulls eye....this is looking at your blogging efforts on a macro level and doesn't take into account a more defined marketing plan, say one for a home buyer seminar or a niche market.  These are critical strategies as well and in a future post I will humbly attempt to diagram a sample niche marketing strategy, but first things first.....

View Through A Macro Lens:  The Great Eight- A Sample Marketing Strategy that Integrates Offline and Online Marketing

1.  Create A Blog

Think carefully about what platform you want to blog on and where you can gain the most exposure from your target market (where do they hang out?; Where's the Google Juice?).  Do you have creative control and control of the content on your blog with the platform you will be using?  Can you make changes to the design, layout, and structure of your blog on your own or will you need to hire or get approval from others to make those changes? 

Think about your Usability-How comfortable are you with writing on the platform you have chosen?

2.  Throw A Blog Launch Party

Don't make your blog a dirty little secret.  All creative efforts have a great launch- new music, a new book, a magazine, a new hotel....see where I might be going here?  Your blog is a creative work even if the writing is real estate focused so shout it out. 

Introduce your blog to your current sphere of influence and your farm area (we are talking offline push to online) by using more traditional methods of marketing- post cards, letters, local print advertising (if your local print venues- newspapers, magazines- have a viable readership in your area).

Give your readers a taste of what you can offer so give them tips in your online marketing on something newsworthy- say the $8000 tax credit, and then give them a call to action offer that pushes them to your blog.

Dig?

I am not done...remember that you want to be a soap box for a blog because your blog is where the inside out of your brand is....the meat and potatoes of who you are, what you know, and how you can help.  Put your blog's URL(website address) on your email signature, your email newsletters.  

Oh, and I know we are talking about Facebook Vanity Plates now, but I would like to see some cars pimped out with vanity stickers advertising YOUR BLOG and YOUR BRAND.

Now we are talking online push to one marketing hub, one bulls eye, your blog.

3.  Appreciate and Syndicate Your Blog

Appreciate all of the FREE advertising online that is available for your blog.  One of the best is syndication.  You can syndicate your blog by creating an RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed and submitting your blog to online blog directories. 

4.  Network

Join social networking communities and participate like ActiveRain, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. These are social networks you should start with before engaging in others BECAUSE you will find users and participation to be high and you will find both real estate professionals and consumers.

Expand your social reach by reaching offline and inviting your prospects and past clients to join you in your social networks.  Talk with them on these networks and participate and meet their friends, associates, and family. 

Most importantly, JOIN the conversations, don't talk at people but talk WITH them.  Reach out to make connections with your target audience, not just with your own peers.

Now point your social networks toward your blog by syndicating your blog posts on ALL of your social networks.  Concentrate on working on strong headlines that will setup your arrow for a bulls eye.

5.  Engage Blog Readers and Blog Contributors

Engage your local businesses in your blogging efforts.  Investigate online and see what kind of presence your local business have online.  Invite your local businesses to contribute to your blog.  If the contribution is on a regular basis, ask for a cross promotion where your marketing materials would be available to their consumers in their physical storefronts. 

Now we are talking offline push to online at a "hyper-local level".

Do yourself a favor and make this a priority.  Do not dismiss the power of endorsement from local businesses.

6.  Create Conversation On Your Blog

Ask questions of your readers on your posts by asking for their feedback or to share their experiences.  Take your belly to belly social skills and move them into the blogosphere.

Once you have established credibility and a consistent dialog pick up the phone.  Reach out and talk to your Internet prospects.  Tell them you liked their last comment and ask them if they could elaborate.  Let them know about an upcoming seminar you are holding on a post topic they may have commented on, say first time homeownership...in other words- contact, converse, connect...get closer to a close.

Of course, this is taking your online efforts offline.

7.  Work the Power of Referrals On Your Blog

Don't forget the power of referrals.  Put a refer a friend button on your offline collateral pointing toward your blog.  Put one on your e-newsletters pointing toward your blog.  How about your business cards? 

It doesn't have to be an online or offline push- It is both.

Referrals work for business and they work for building your blog's presence+ readership+visibility= Business.

8.  Write Consistently On Your Blog

Consistency is key and comes with practice.  The more you blog, vlog (video blog), or create podcasts the better you become at writing good content that is consistent.

Good ideas can manifest anywhere so bring a recording device or a small notebook to jot them down.  Schedule post series so that your readers can return on set days of the week for specific blog topics. 

In other words become a reliable local real estate blogger so that everyone will know your blogging name.

If you create AND execute an integrated blog marketing strategy you will cultivate great leads: B2B leads, readership leads, neighborhood leads, out of town leads, and leads from referrals...sometimes you will even receive global leads/referrals from your multi-pronged efforts.

• One hub= blog
• Many portals= online AND offline advertising
• Secret Sauce= Content and Consistency
• And always promotion of YOUR NAME and YOUR BRAND.

Remember, you are not blogging to build a mystery.  You are building a blog to create a tapestry of business for the present and the future.

View Through A Macro Lens:  The Great Eight- A Sample Marketing Strategy That Integrates Offline and Online Marketing

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Ten Ways to Analyze and Measure Your Online Marketing To Ensure Your Efforts Aren't Half-Baked

Today I was putting together a new email marketing campaign and I realized that as I was putting together some very routine components that they might not be routine to others. 

Reading coupon magazines,newspaper advertisements, and online marketing it drives me a bit bonkers how much work goes into an actual marketing push/pull campaign and how, because of the lack of a few important details, that work can just drizzle down the drain. 

Here are ten ways to analyze and measure your online marketing to ensure your efforts aren't half baked:

1. Advertise a simple URL that is spelled correctly and works in your offline advertising venues (newspapers, magazines, real estate books, etc.).  You may want to advertise separate landing pages for special ads.
2. Try a single property website.  High End property deserves its own URL. 
3. Keep flyer boxes filled at properties or don't use them.  Advertising a catchy, memorable web address on a sign rider is MUCH more effective.
4. Use a service like Bud URL to track links in your blog posts, links to your blog and website in your email signature, your newsletter copy, and all email marketing that contains inbound/outbound hyperlinks.  Each unique link you create using this service allows you the ability to track specific campaigns. 
5. Change your customized links in each marketing campaign you run so you know which campaigns have been the most effective for your business.
6. Employ a simple service look Google Analytics or MyBlogLog to monitor activity on your blog or website.
7. Create a handy document library for real estate checklists, archived newsletters, etc. that you can insert into the footers of your blog, your newsletters and email campaigns.  Consumers can go to your website and after a simple registration download and track the activity. 
8. Create microsites using a service like Blinkweb, Hubpages, or Weebly to market any specific programs or services you have for your real estate niches.  Market those microsites in your blog posts and in your other market specific campaigns so you can track your results closely.
9. Start each marketing campaign with a cohesive strategy.  If you are going to advertise in the paper, will there be a specific landing page on your website?  Will there be a reason for consumers to register and give their contact information on that landing page? Can you provide a valuable offer to consumers as a way to keep in touch with them regularly by customized drip email? Will there be an opportunity in your marketing strategy for consumers to refer friends, family, associates to your information?
10. Think about what contact information you want to leave the audience you are facing.  Do you want people from Twitter to visit your blog or your website?  You may provide different contact information on different contact points (i.e. your blog, your website, your email campaigns, your newsletters, etc.) but rest assured they won't need 25 contact points/networks.

Before you begin a marketing campaign think about your target audience, where the campaign will appear, what hub the campaign will send prospects to, and what the potential is for follow-up.  Then

Adding the right tracking techniques will then become second nature because your marketing campaign will have a purpose, an outline, a goal, and a follow-up plan of action. 

It's like a great tasting confection.  You will look forward to tasting the results because the baker followed a well crafted recipe.

Make sure to use the ten ways to analyze and measure your online marketing to ensure your efforts aren't half baked.

If you enjoyed posts on blogging, then make sure you read:

• I'm New To Blogging Can You Help Me Out?
  
• Spin Timeless Classics and Rock Your Blog Archives
• I'm New To Blogging.  Can You Help Me Out?

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