We understand that agents lead very busy lives, so having a system that allows them to stay connected and organized is crucial to their success. Agent LifeCycle was developed to do just this through features like contact management, lead development, sales tracking and marketing that can be personalized to each agent and their individual needs.

It was key that this new product be beneficial to all agents regardless of their technology proficiency level, so when developing the interface we took both personalization and ease of use into account. For ease of access, the Agent LifeCycle program will be launched already fully integrated within the Enterprise Network Admin Dashboard.

Agent LifeCycle is currently in live beta testing and phased releases will start in early 2012. Additional features of this new product include:

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• Conference Highlight: Building Community Relationships
• Conference Highlight: Search, Mobile and Social Trends
• Conference Highlight: Your Brand is More Than Your Logo

The Inc. 500|5000 Conference & Awards Ceremony is a three day event that brings the nation’s brightest, most innovative business minds together to celebrate the remarkable achievements of the companies that appear on the 2011 Inc. 5000 list.  In true Active Website style, there were great parties, great people and most importantly, great information.

The people that attended the conference, as well as the keynote speakers, were inspirational. What I found most interesting, was that the conference’s materials and the other attendees seemed to have a lot in common with Active Website and what we believe sums up our keys to success. In fact, it almost mirrored Active’s official response to making the Inc. 5000 list.

Gary Vaynerchuck, author of The Thank You Economy, spoke about how the rise of the internet has given way to a shift in power to the consumer and the humanization of business. The empowered consumer now has options on where to go to spend their money, and it they don’t like your services, they will take their money somewhere else. Not only that, but through the power of social media, they can now tell hundreds of people what they think about your services.  This makes a high level of customer service crucial to your success.

As an employee of Active Website, I can attest to the fact that Active Website prides itself on treating its clients like family and, in turn, instilling that into the way they treat us, their employees. With so many competitors out there, a new focus has emerged to develop brand loyalty from the ground up. From the beginning, Active Website has been focused on providing a high quality product while providing a very personal level of service as well.

Another key message I left with, was that this new model of the empowered consumer has also transformed the way we need to market to them; they now can choose what they listen to.  Gone are the days of pushing your brand or message onto consumers; the new consumer chooses what brands and what information they want to bring into their worlds.

With that said, we need to be more mindful of how we communicate to our customers.  Brands need to become more human in order to effectively communicate to our consumers.  A tweet about how great your services are can be annoying, but if you interact with your potential customers and create a relationship with them, they are more likely to reach out to you when they are in need of your services.

Like Ze Frank emphasized at our annual conference this year,  it’s become less about selling and more about building relationships, humanizing your brand and creating ENGAGING content.

In today’s information age, new strategies and technologies are constantly emerging, so it’s our responsibility to ensure we remain ahead of the curve in order to adapt. Having the opportunity to attend the Inc. event and be recognized alongside other innovative companies served as affirmation that our company is aligned for future success. When looking towards the future, I see nothing but opportunity as we continue to exceed customer expectations and develop the most user-friendly websites available in the Real Estate Industry.

By doing this, they have seen substantial success when it comes to brand recognition. Ebby has maximized their community relationships through a variety of different events and marketing campaigns that reach their local audience. A few of these campaigns were discussed in length at this year’s event including Ebby’s charity powder-puff football game, their sponsorship of the 2010 Super Bowl and video contests.

Today, we’d like to focus on one important aspect of Ebby’s campaign efforts for the Blondes vs. Brunettes charity powder-puff game. In addition to print and online advertising, social media outreach and more, all advertisements were aimed to promote and attract customers to their website to continue their home search through the recently released proximity search.

Proximity search allows customers to find properties within a certain radius to a desired location. Because buyers care about where they live, you often hear people say: “I wish I lived closer to work so I could save on gas,” or “If I lived closer to the gym, I would go more often.” Customers can remodel their home or add an addition, but they cannot move it, which is why location has always been an important factor in the home buying process.

Knowing this, Ebby tied their powder-puff campaign efforts back to their proximity search campaign. Here are a few examples of the advertisements created for the event: