My quest continues to reconfigure your point #9 Marc with a heaping truck load of #8. Courage and trust in one’s ability to deliver when sitting with a potential client is ultimately where the rubber meets the road. The message of “We care about you…do you care about us?” is what I want to plaster across the universe because last time I checked, we are human too and deserve the same consideration from our clients that they pray we will provide them.

Transparency, like truth is simply if you stick to it and are willing to blow up the machine you’ve just built if you find the actions are inconsistent with the message. Scary and yet, it’s good to be and feel alive.

Thanks Marc for enhancing the blue print for us all.

I’m impacted especially by your insight on the need to be agile in moving from “external” and “internal.” One of the (welcomed) surprises for me, is how instrumental a marketing director can be in developing Company Culture and how important Company Culture really is.

I’m glad you put “sponge-like” as number one. It’s challenging, but essential, for me to regularly ask myself “how much of what I’m doing have I thought about objectively?” Sometimes it seems the culture is changing at the speed of light, and so it seems important to keep looking at all of our marketing with fresh eyes. This is easier said than done!

It's hard to read the label when your inside the bottle.

To counter balance the insider mindset, I consume advice, tips, techniques, strategies, perspective, tactics, triumphs and folly from people engaged in other business and industries.

Cheers.

Ken – great reply.

The only thing I will add to Ken’s is that if the client is relocating and doesn’t know people in the target city, then it all comes down to what they see on the web, and the initial phone call.

I’m in a big relo area (Atlanta) and last year, ALL of my clients were relo clients and every one of them came to me off my web site.

That said, I don’t twitter or facebook, so on those points, I’m more towards Ken’s message.

I don’t want to read too much into these poests, but I will just say that the referral-trusted-agent scenario does not really apply for relo clients and in an area like mine, your entire business can be relo.

There are a few brokerages, very few, speaking locally here, that realize the need for a change or a need for a Roy. A few of the ones that do – don’t have a clue as where to start.

I may be wrong, but personally, I don’t care how clever the social media campaign for a corporation is, I don’t think the general public is going to bond with a company/office/brokerage.

Experience and survey after survey, (NAR/HAR) show that over 60% call on 1 or 2 agents and the agent was either known or referred by a friend. I understand that 80% of people begin their search on the internet, but, when it’s time to go shopping or sell, most call someone they know, like and trust. They don’t call a real estate company because their ads look cool or their FB Fan Page is jazzy…they don’t call and ask to work with a total stranger…that’s a rare, rare thing.

Individual agents or brokers who use SM wisely, will develop relationships and attract opportunities.

I don’t feel people are moved much by interacting with a logo and generalized conversation and information.

Social Media, when used correctly, IMHO, is social and semi-intimate. Sure, we want to know that the company behind the product or service we’re buying is trustworthy, but in residential real estate, most choose the individual agent and the corporate trust supports their decision.

To me, it’s most important to teach your agent-army how to point, shoot, hug, beam, engage, interact, embrace and effectively use Social Media. It’s no different than how to talk on the phone, or hold Open House or attend social functions.

As for writing skills, CopyBlogger.com is the best source for understanding how On-Line writing should be done.

My 3cents.

@Jeff – Regarding CPB, you are correct. They are known for pushing the envelope and breaking rules. It works for them for 3 very clear reasons:

1. They are extraordinarily gifted, created people.
2. They have mastered all the traditional rules of marketing.
3. Every campaign they work on emanates from teams and is tested before ever hitting the public.

I purposely went in another direction with my advice because IMO many real estate marketers do not posses the qualities found in CBP or any major ad agency. Social Media is not a game as we have been writing about of late. Blogging, Twittering, Facebooking… this stuff is, for better or worse, a distribution device for businesses to market in a new way. But if a company doesn’t have the traditional tenets of traditional marketing nailed down, their SM efforts will be dismal.

I’ve maintained the reason why most real estate brokerages see no value from offline advertising has less to do with its reach and everything to do with the message its creates.

A great marketer’s first objective is create the killer message. Hence my suggestion to get back to basics.

Thanks for all your comments!

-Tyler