Online Real Estate Technology

Ian Grace Mr Real Estate Advertising

I thought it was time I opened up this blog to a few of my friends and colleagues in the real estate industry and one that I’ve had the pleasure to work with over the years is probably the leading expert on real estate advertising worldwide, Ian Grace.

Ian has presented his training course all over the world and is one of the very few Australians to have spoken at the NAR conference in the US, there is not much that Ian does not know about creating great real estate advertising, so as part of this series, I’ve asked Ian to put together his top 10 tips for writing great real estate ads, I hope you get benefit from Ian’s advice.

The Top Ten Tips for Writing Great Real Estate Ads

HOODOO – a great word to help you to remember the two things that make advertising effective:- WHO – is the person who will see the most value in the property and therefore pay the highest price [that's target marketing]. DO – now show them and tell them, what they will be able to DO as a direct result of their purchase.

2. HEADLINES – remember the WHO when you write your headline, then qualify it quickly, so the reader knows you’re both on the same wavelength. Then ideally, reinforce or remind about the headline at the end of the ad. The headline must include one or more of the following:- 1. A benefit or implied benefit 2. Something that is new, news or topical 3. A curiosity element without gimmicks for gimmicks sake.

3. PHOTOS – make sure your main photo matches and works together with your headline [not the other way around] and that the other photos also match the body text.

4. PEOPLE – put people and/or pets in your photos – it’s a great way to show people what they will be able to DO when they live there.

5. NAMES – use names in your ads to personalise them – yours [in full] and even the sellers’.

6. DIFFERENT ADS – the use of different ads for different markets, enables you to talk to each prospect group about what is relevant to them only e.g. one ad aimed at first home buyers and one ad aimed specifically at investors.

7. MEDIA MATCH – make sure your press ads match with other media and vice versa, with particular reference to the main photo and headline.

8. KEEP THE SAME AD RUNNING – once you’ve written a great ad, run it at least four times if not more, as research shows people need to see the same ad or message three times or more, on average, before they will respond

9. PRICE, LOCATION, NUMBER OF BEDROOMS – if all the research done shows conclusively that these are the top three pieces of information potential buyers require, then common sense says – give it to them!

10.   OBTAIN SELLER ADVERTISING DOLLARS – research proves that the higher the seller paid advertising percentage, the higher the listing to selling success rate.

11. BONUS TIP – TEST YOUR ADS – Firstly, sellers must see the ads before they run, but most importantly, ensure at least one of your colleagues checks your ads to confirm every word and phrase will make sense to the market it is written for. Secondly, when buyers who have responded to the ads view the property, ask them if the property has matched their expectations from your ads – the feedback will be terrific and will keep your advertising right on track.

If you’d like to contact Ian you can visit his web site Ian Grace Marketing

Effective Blog posts ahead

Every day I can guarantee that you will be impacted in some way by social media, there will be experts telling you, you need a profile on social networks like Facebook, and that Twitter is the best thing since sliced bread was invented, so you create a profile and you start to tell everyone and anyone who will listen about your latest listings and open homes, but is that really the way to approach social media, doing the same thing you do every day on more traditional mediums?

Taking this approach to your social media strategy will do nothing more than waste your precious time, time that could be spent prospecting for new listings and working with your clients face to face.

I know some younger agents who think that social media and the Internet will replace face to face contact, the reality is it won’t, however the very same principles you use face to face, apply to social media, the only difference being the method of delivery.

I know of some real estate groups who have launched their social strategy with profiles on this site and that network, yet  their sites are full of their member offices congratulating themselves on such forward progress, but where is the consumer?, where is the engagement factor?, where is the interaction with the people that count the most, your customers. This should be the reason you create your social media strategy in the first place, to create the local expert, the trusted advisor role, create and engage your community and to provide information and advice for the long term.

One question to ask yourself is, why do people interact within social network sites in the first place? Is it to get your latest listing, or to find out about your open homes, or to get an appraisal? No, No, No, they are there to connect, to engage and interact with other like minded people, to share experiences, to share activities and create a sense of community and to stay in touch with family and friends.

You as a business person need to understand this motivation and work with it to really maximise the return on your investment of time in creating a social media strategy for you and your business

So what is the best way to approach a social media strategy, firstly you need to work out why you want to have a presence on social networks, is it because everyone else is doing it? Is it because your competitor down the road is doing it so you should as well right? Well wrong actually, do it because it gives you another advertising medium to capture the attention of prospective customers, do it because it is a huge billboard of opportunity to take your message to the masses, do it for you and the exposure it can bring you and your brand, do it because you are an expert in your field and do it because people are looking for an expert to advise, coach and motivate them.

Start by doing a business and digital media strategy and look at ways in which you’ll start to build an audience, do you start a blog first, do you jump on Facebook and MySpace or do you start using Twitter and on what network sites do you create a profile.

How do you declare your brand identity? Remember, you should be focused on how you and your team help other people, being the agent to call when listing a property and raising the profile of you and your office on the web.

The first Step, is create accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and YouTube. Check in and see where you fit in to the community, upload or add all of your contacts into Facebook and start a routine of regularly adding “friends” to your page, the goal is to get your personal contacts engaged and to start to follow and engaging with other local businesses, build a schedule so that you can allocate time each week to this, otherwise you will find yourself becoming overwhelmed with trying to keep up with all the conversations that happen.

As you become more familiar with the sites you learn that Linkedin or Twitter may not be for you, that’s fine, at least you are now more informed than you where when you started. You are learning, next you can start to build your blog, your blog web site is your central hub with all roads leading to it, and everything you do should be designed to get people to your blog and interacting with you on your territory.

It’s great to have a Facebook page but even better when you have both working for you; you are in a win win situation.

Remember, with your blog comes responsibility, you’ll need to add content to it regularly and this takes time, so you should allocate at least 2+ hours a week.

Use the same strategy for all the social network sites you use, allocate time each week in your plan to update your sites and remember it’s about engaging your community not only about promoting your latest listing.

We can help you save time and money in building your social media business plan and setting up your pages and blog, we provide weekly coaching clinics that provide information and advice on content and tactics for social media. If you’d like to find out more about our social media integration plans and coaching clinics contact me at Mike Andrew Consulting and we’ll design and set up a coaching plan for you.

I’m going to share some information with you all now, regarding my attempts to find out about property last Sunday 5th April, and this is the first chance I’ve had to write this post, so here goes. 

I’ve been interested in looking for a new home because of the interest rates being so low, so Sunday, I was motivated to search some suburbs very near to my local area on the Gold Coast, as I’m an Internet user, my first point of call was, of course the Internet. Just like 9 out of 10 other people in this country, well let me now share with you the frustrations that I encountered in just trying to get the information I was after.

I encountered out of date headlines, in fact one listing had “Must sell before Xmas” as the headline, and this mind you in the month of April, no open for inspection times, so I gather not one agent worked on the weekend, because none of the homes I looked at indicated any open times. Oh, i did find one listing that had an inspection time in the heading, but it was for March 31st!!!. No prices on a lot of the listings, in fact, when I did a price search between $700,000 and $1,000,000 in the area I was really interested in, I did find a fantastic home, so, given there was no price at all on this property, my wife got me to ring the agent, who then told me the property was for sale at a price of $1,300,000. $300,000 over the price search criteria, when I mentioned to him that his property was in the above price search, he coughed and spluttered and said he didn’t know that it was coming up in that price range on the net. 

 He should have taken the time to check it, and I should have called the OFT, because that was just downright annoying.

Of course a lot of the listings also had no addresses, which meant we couldn’t go and check it out, so we had to guess where the property was, and then, I couldn’t send an email from the site I was on due to an internal error, and they wonder why email enquiry is low. Then when I actually got out and found some properties by driving around, cos I really had no other option, Upon trying  to ring one agent to check the price on a block of land, she had no message bank, just a recorded message saying a text message will be sent on your behalf if you hang up now, which I naturally did. 

I then rang their office number, proudly marketed on their for sale sign, only to find it rang out engaged, which it did all day. I then rang the agents mobile again and got the recorded massage again,in fact that happened all day, when she finally rang me back the next day, she left a message on my voice mail saying she’d been in a meeting with clients, What all day?, so all in all a very frustrating exercise. 

AC Nielsen’s research on Internet usage in Australia late last year, found that 9 out 10 buyers,9 out of 10 renters and 8 out of 10 sellers now conduct research on the net and as I found last Sunday, it can be such a frustrating exercise for the consumer, yet all it takes is for you the agents to take a little more care in what you do. I’ll guarantee that if you take the time to make sure your information is correct, that you update your listings regularly, and don’t leave it to your admin staff, you’ll get more leads and property views, also remember, the more frustrated I got, the more I blamed you the agent.

It’s not good for your brand and it’s not good for your reputation.

And please, please, take care in what photos you use, because some of them that I saw were totally useless, but that’s another story for another day.

Just a reminder that my real estate technology seminar series continues next week in NSW. The location and timing for the seminar is as follows:

Maximising Your On Line Marketing for Real Estate Professionals, Tuesday 17th March at Parkside Ballroom A – Sydney Convention Centre NSW.

If you would like to attend, please contact me here, we already have close to a full house but some seats are still available.

Look forward to speaking with you on the day.

The first of the Emerging Trends in On Line Real Estate Marketing Seminar series kicks off next week on the Gold Coast in Qld. The seminar series features the following topics:

The location for the first seminar is as follows:

Tuesday 17th February

Radisson Resort Gold Coast  Carrara Qld

9:00am for 9:30am start

Thursday & Friday 19th & 20th February

Victoria Park Golf Complex, Herston Road, Herston

9:00am for a 9:30am start

Please contact Ben Tankey, Domain.com.au
Telephone: 07 3031 6226
Email: BTankey@fairfaxdigital.com.au
(if RSVP by email please include your name, agency and contact number)

The final Future of Real Estate marketing seminars will kick off next week and I would invite you to join us if you have not already done so. These seminars are a look at what and how technology will affect you and your agency in the future, as well as a look at social media and it’s impact on the real estate consumer.

There are 2 new venues for you next week and those agents in NSW who would like to attend the location is as follows: Monday 1st December, Sydney Marriott Hotel 38 College Street Sydney 10:00am for 10:30am start.

On Wednesday 3rd December I’ll travel with the domain.com.au team to Cairns and we’ll kick off at Cazalys Function Centre 344 Mulgrave Rd Westcourt Cairns commencing at 9:00am.

I’ll look forwrd to chatting with you on both days.

I’ve heard Grant Thorpe, Business and Life coach talk about Dreamkillers during his seminars and over the past week I’ve encountered Dreamkillers in my day to day activities with agents and the company I work for. Last week I presented my seminar on the Future of Real Estate Marketing and It’s a look at how you, the real estate professional, will be doing business in 5 to 10 years time. What new technology will you have to contend with, how will the real estate customer change in that period and probably more importantly, have you a plan to evolve your business so that you stay ahead of the trend? and right there is where the Dreamkiller strikes.

In some offices, and I use Warren Tate,Franchise manager of the Hodges group in Victoria, he’s so far ahead of the game, by evolving and instilling into the group, a futuristic vision of how they will adapt and utilise new technology and communication channels that will see them continually evolve as a business far past 2015. Then take Bianca and Neil Brown and Craig Marshall from Century 21, all these business owners have a vision of what they want their business to be in the future and how they can adapt and evolve into the future, and they aggressively seek out people who can help them take and shape that vision .  This is the future, but what of the dreamkiller? that’s the person within your business that won’t take the chance, won’t evolve the business, won’t look at new technology and this attitude has an effect on everyone in your business, sometimes it is not always recognisable, but it is always there. I found this out last week, when I suggested the company I work for start leading from the front and implement new technology for a better consumer experience, the response was,”it’s a gimmick” and “Our competitor hasn’t done it, so if they don’t we shouldn’t either” WHAT!!!!

Lets decide here if we are a leader or a follower, our business needs to be at the forefront of technology for real estate professionals and consumers and if we apply a very traditional view on what should or shouldn’t be implemented then we will be doomed to failure. I think the big issue here is the “traditional” way of thinking, that’s what holds most businesses back, and unfortunately the dreamkiller is often in a position of influence in the business. If you don’t evolve you won’t survive in the future, that’s a no brainer.

So seek out the dreamkillers and remove them, don’t let them influence you or your business, look to people who can help you with a future plan, those who can help build your business for the future and who can help you adopt new technology and prepare your business for the changing consumer and/or vendor. 

Just imagine if Wilbur and Orville Wright had mentioned their idea of flight to the Dreamkillers?

Strange title you may think for me to use in my blog, however it’s a term that I have used so many times in my past management career and a tactic that I have employed in the past 4 months with domain.com.au.

Over the past few months I have been working with lots of real estate professionals across all states and my theme in the presentations has been built around dominating the web in your local area of operation. This doesn’t always mean you spending substantial marketing dollars on the portals, what it means is taking a holistic view of the web and making sure that you have an all round strategy in promoting and marketing you or your agency. Profile is really what I mean in all of this. The use of new technology and communication tools such as blogs or podcasting and social media. Using SEO and SEM tactics to dominate the Google search in your area.

The general feedback I receive is the market is tough, sales are slow and agencies need to cutback on expenses. One area that is being cutback is on line, as I have mentioned before in this blog and in my presentations, do not cut back on your on line marketing, searches are up, UB’s have not dropped back so why cut on line?, yes make sure that what you spend is working effectively for you, and in that arena if you need help then email me or call me or ask for help, that’s what I’m here to do. If you are going to cutback on any area, cut your print, it’s expensive, reduce your add size if necessary.

As an example, take what I’m doing with Domain.com.au, I’ve upped my activity level in each state so that I get to see as many agents and clients as I can, we have introduced our seminar series, designed to provide you the agent with good information and education that will help you use the web more effectively, and at a time when most businesses are cutting back, I’ve convinced the powers to be at Domain to actually increase what we do and up our activity level where it really counts. There’s the announcement of the ninemsn joint deal, to replace realestate.com.au as the provider of real estate to all ninemsn customers, and we recently annonced the joint distribution deal with ebay. That’s because right now for me, it’s important to act, as Warren Buffet said just recently,”When the market is greedy, be fearful, but when the market is fearful, be greedy” that’s not an exact quote but hopefully you’ll get my meaning with this. 

However I think the biggest challenge for most real estate businesses is how do I ride this market economy to survive until it picks up again. It’s a cycle that comes around, it appears to me, every 10 years or so. Being able to face that market change and ride it through requires a mindset change or repostioning of your current thinking and work place practice, and that’s where a business coach can be helpful to you. I’ve done  seminars with Grant Thorpe in the past on this subject and I’ve covered articles from him as well, here’s a reminder of one of those posts for you,When the Times are Tough, the Tough Get Going  and after spending the last week on the road in WA, and having a great time with all the professional real estate agents there, I thought it time to share with you a very timely article from Grant.

The article is called “Now is the Time to Strike” and I hope you enjoy what Grant is talking about with this very positive look at how you can effectively change your direction or mind set.

Here’s the link to the article, please enjoy: 

http://ezinearticles.com/?id=1675681

I’ve long been a believer in the power of positive thinking and in my business career,taking positive action when it seemed that the odds were against me succeeding. That is why, today, I’m very positive about real estate agents maintaining their advertising spend on the on line space and not cutting subscriptions to the main real estate portals. If you are wanting to cut expenses, look at how much you spend in press for an add in the real estate section each week, and I’ll bet that you spend as much, or probably more, on that add than you do on your on line subscription. 

The other area that will help you is training, seeing how other people can overcome the hard times or even to succeed when the market is tough, is inspiring to us. I know that I get inspired by the power of positive thought and positive actions by those around me. The Domain breakfast series that we have been running is part of that positive approach and it never seems to amaze me that some of you out there, yes, real estate agents, can’t see the big picture, and can’t be bothered attending a 2 hour breakfast to learn, or to discover new ideas and concepts that will actually help you and your business. To those that do attend, and are always willing to push the boundaries or look at how they can improve in the current economic slowdown, i hope you get what you deserve, and that is success!!    

To that end, I spent some time in September on a seminar series with Grant Thorpe, Life Coach and Business Mentor, and Grants approach to life and assisting his clients build success stories around them is a positive experience that in tough times can help you weather the storm.  

Grant recently wrote an article on his blog about surviving the tough times and shared his strategies for gaining on and beating your competitors in tough times. I thought I would share this article with you, I hope it inspires you, I hope it gives you strategies to power forward in what you do in your life and your business.

Heres the link to that story, please enjoy: http://grantthorpe.typepad.com/life_coach_and_business_m/2008/10/index.html