The concept of Team Blogging is really interesting.  Because a good blog takes a serious investment of time and effort, and the best ones are updated are almost daily, a lot of agents have been slow to adopt this innovative marketing tool as a way to increase web traffic to their site and, as a direct result, grow their own businesses.  (more…)

Anyone who enjoys a good martini knows that the best ones contain 19/20ths Vodka or Gin, and 1/20th Vermouth.  The same used to be true for the Marketing budgets of independently owned brokerages - spend the majority of the marketing budget on newspaper campaigns, and throw a little bit to online efforts, just to see what happens.

Nowadays, this mix results in a seriously crappy drink.  We’ve all seen the stats - over 90% of homebuyers and sellers start their property and realtor searches online.  So why are brokerages still wasting so much good liquor?!  Why do they continue to invest in print advertising, with unmeasurable and unremarkable results?

In the meantime, qualified leads are flocking to the sites that rank well in Search Engines, registering for Home Search accounts, and contacting the realtors at those few companies who are shaking it up - investing instead in Search Engine Optimization, Blogging, Map-Based Searches, Videos and Community-based efforts like MySpace and FaceBook.  Today’s consumers are looking for an easily navigated experience that provides all of the information they are looking for in one central place.  From community and lifestyle videos to area-specific demographics and statistics, forward-thinking brokerages are capturing the eyes and information of tomorrow’s buyers and sellers, and engaging them in ways that will make them life-long customers.

Further proof?  Check it:

Richard Smith, president of Realogy Corp., the largest residential real estate broker in the U.S., said the portion of his Coldwell Banker and Century 21 branding budget devoted to newspapers will shrink by as much as two-thirds next year from 2006 as spending moves online. Newspapers will receive 70 percent of Realogy’s home-sale advertising by 2010, down from 84 percent this year.
 

The shift, echoed by executives at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s HomeServices of America Inc., the second-largest broker, is a sign that real estate advertising won’t recover fully from its slump this year when the housing market rebounds. Newspaper officials such as McClatchy Co.’s Gary Pruitt are mistaken in predicting a comeback, Smith said.
 

“It’s going to be bloody,” Smith said in an interview. “The newspaper industry is going to have to adjust.” A 14 percent decline in spending on real estate ads in the first quarter accelerated in the second period, estimated media consultants Borrell Associates in Norfolk, Virginia. Sales will drop by more than one-third by 2011, Borrell predicted.

The new mix?  Invest the majority of your marketing time and money online.  It just tastes better.

Where to start?

* Agent Blogs - this is a free and easy way for agents to position and present themselves as both community and industry experts.

*Agent Vanity Videos - What better way for a consumer to connect with you before making contact?  By the time you talk to them, they feel like they are working with a good friend!

*Community and Lifestyle Videos - Giving people a slice of life as they are trying to decide where they would like to live.

*Map-Based Search - Consumers love interacting with the map, and looking at properties within a visual process that includes nearby shopping, recreation, schools, etc.

There has never been a better time to shake it up!  Technology allows for a truly amazing online experience for your prospective customers - and if you aren’t providing it, someone else will.

- Stacie