Remember the old days when real estate agents just sold real estate? When I say old days I mean 4 or 5 years ago. I am a business development manager for a national title insurance company here in Phoenix Arizona, I help real estate professionals-real estate agents and lenders-get found on the Internet where over 90% of today’s consumers start their home search or research.
As I mentioned, I help real estate professionals get “found” online. Consumer behavior has changed, yours, mine, our behavior has changed. Remember the old days where we would go to our mailbox for a postcard, or receive a flyer on our door? These instances are happening less and less because they are becoming less effective. It’s a trade off really. I help them get “found” online and they choose me/my company for their escrows. Its really not a hard decision, I have great, knowledgeable and professional escrow officers and some of the best escrow and title fees in the valley-who wouldn’t want that? (You would be surprised). There are various ways that I help my clients get found online. They include:
- Blogs
- YouTube
- ActiveRain
There is so much pressure to perform, to succeed in today’s real estate space. There is obviously pressure to make a living, but in addition there is pressure to remain competitive-to keep up with the Jones’ if you will-only in today’s environment, the Jones’ will not only take your lunch money, they will eat your lunch too! Today’s Jones’ are Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, large brokerage sites and of course-other real estate agent websites. Luckily for them, most agents have horrible websites, when I say “horrible” I mean, they look pretty but they do absolutely nothing. I find that there is a breakdown when it comes to real estate agents perception of what a website is, should do and shouldn’t do. 95% of the time, when I ask an agent how many leads they get from their website monthly and more importantly-how many of them have turned into closed transactions the answer is usually ZERO. Not surprising really.
Most agents I talk to feel that their website should be visually appealing. No doubt about it, it should but this one aspect is what 99.9% of agents will gauge their website success on. “Does it look pretty?, “How does my glamor shot look?” In reality, it doesn’t matter what a website or the agent looks like if NO ONE is going to see it. Does it? Nope, most real estate agent websites are more like electronic billboards on the Internet than they are business hubs or storefronts.
Today, real estate agents needs to sell real estate and build a business at the same time. One of the most important aspects of any business is Marketing. Most agents still use outbound marketing tools like Postcards, Flyers, Cold Calls, Trade Shows, Radio, Door to Door etc. This type of marketing is considered Interruption marketing. Originally coined by Seth Godin, Interruption Marketing is any practice that only works if it interrupts you to get your attention. The Cold Call that INTERRUPTS your dinner, the postcard that INTERRUPTS your paying bills, the TV commercial that INTERRUPTS GLEE!, the Print Ad in your morning newspaper that INTERRUPTS the sports section. Not only are these marketing methods annoying and often times expensive, they are becoming less and less effective because we tune them out.
Today its more practical, effective and cost effective to bring your customers to you. It’s called Inbound Marketing. Inbound Marketing methods help you “get found” by people already interested in learning about you, your product/service or your industry. It requires a good-strong website rich in unique content, keywords, pictures, video etc that attracts visitors naturally through search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing, and through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
And that is the problem. When I explain what is necessary to not only survive but thrive in today’s real estate space I get 1 of 4 responses:
- I don’t want to do it
- I don’t know how
- I don’t have the time
- I wont do it
At least they are honest. Most of the agents that say they will do it, wont. Life comes along, a new buyer wants to see a property, a problem on an escrow, a new listing that requires attention and therefor takes away from marketing. And that is where the pressure comes in. There simply is not enough time or sometimes, passion to focus on marketing when business comes along. But-what if? What if there was a company that could and would handle your inbound marketing efforts? What would it look like? What would your career look like if you could focus on your highest and best use-selling real estate while having the peace of mind that your marketing is working in the background, 24/7. It’s called PRO-found Marketing. PRO-found helps PRO-fessionals get “found” online.
PRO-found will build you a ridiculous, and AFFORDABLE website (that works) on the WordPress platform, write unique content for you based on the keywords you want to be “found” for and provide you with ongoing training to help you stay ahead of the Jones’.
Check out PRO-found Marketing
We bring your clients to you.
I help real estate professionals get "found" online
