How is Online Changing Traditional Real Estate Marketing?
Posted in Real Estate Trends By Stefan Swanepoel, Monday, June 30, 2008.I think real estate marketing will never be the same again. During the last decade it has unequivocally changed and is still shaping itself as the indutry is introduce to new technologies.
The MLS, long the crucial center of a healthy, functioning real estate brokerage industry, now finds itself in the center of controversy and a fight for survival in turbulent times. More than just data warehouses, MLS systems are marketplaces for inventory and a proving ground for consumer access to the MLS. In the competitive climate of Internet service providers and increasing regulatory scrutiny, some type of reform is a certainty.
So the time has come for agents to widen their net, meaning how and where you promote your clients’ listings. The MLS is no longer enough. The Internet offers so much more. More importantly establish your credentials on the Internet as a real estate professional by actively building a virtual trail of bread crumbs. When consumers go looking for properties or real estate information online – be it on Zillow , Realtor.com, Real Estate Wiki or any of the increasing number of consumer real estate websites – make sure that they will also stumble upon your online postings, bio, comments and articles (your virtual bread crumbs).
And, by the way, it's well worth mentioning. When consumers read your posts, comments and articles, make sure they don’t see a “smart ass” or “raging lunatic”. Remember, when laying your trail of crumbs, most posts and comments on the Internet are archived for the entire world to see (for a long, long time). So make sure that when you are adding an article or posting a comment, you do so professionally.
So lets discuss some of the innovative ways to market real estate.
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Submitted by Bruce Hahn on June 30, 2008 - 3:11pm.
American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance
Good points. The MLS has expanded to become a B2C medium, and increasingly savy homeowner Internetizens and becoming more adept at using technology and the growing number of sources for listings and other info related to home buying and selling.
This trend is good for everybody and will continue to expand even if some don't like it.
Submitted by Daniel Rothamel, Inman Community Manager on June 30, 2008 - 5:32pm.
Stefan,
Glad to see you start this thread. I would expect nothing less from you, and I hope the comments are as insightful as I think they will be.
Here's my two cents:
The Internet changes real estate, and it doesn't. On the one hand, the business is still the same because it remains a relationship-based business. Building relationships with clients and potential clients will always be the name of the game.
What HAS changed is that the Internet has made relationship building a much faster, efficient, and scalable process.
The marginalization of the MLS will result in the marginalization of the listing agent was we know it. Once data becomes widely available, it will be less important to control all the listing data. The balance of power will be affected.
If this is, in fact, what happens, the emphasis should shift from "who has the most data?" to, "who has the most insight, expertise?" The value will be put on the intangible things that aren't widely available-- insight into the data, expertise, local knowledge, etc.
Advertising of listings will be too easy. There will be plenty of places to advertise. The emphasis is going to have to be on real marketing. Agents and brokers will have to take into consideration how every listing is marketed and how it fits into their overall brand and business.
It won't necessarily be about coming up with some ground-breaking way of advertising listings. It will be about marketing as a whole. The advantage that Web 2.0 tools give is that they allow the agent or broker to establish and cultivate relationships, to create a customer experience that is positive before that customer even becomes a client.
Maybe an agent blogs about their experiences, or their market knowledge and insight, or even listings in the neighborhood, whatever. Maybe a brokerage uses video to highlight community members who deserve recognition in order to become a valuable resource (something more than just a real estate brokerage).
The methods will vary from agent to agent, broker to broker, but the ones that realize that Web 2.0 is not advertising as usual will be the first who are able to fully take advantage of it and thrive in the years to come.
http://www.RealEstateZebra.com
Submitted by Misty Lackie on June 30, 2008 - 5:54pm.
Great post! Daniel hit it right on with "The emphasis is going to have to be on real marketing. Agents and brokers will have to take into consideration how every listing is marketed and how it fits into their overall brand and business."
Most home sellers do not know how to market their home but Agents and Brokers do. Most homebuyers do not feel comfortable purchasing a home and going through all the legal and closing paperwork without a Realtor. I think the role will be more of a marketer for sellers and guidance for buyers. At least imo.
Your Friends at ClassifiedFlyerAds.com - Online Advertising That Works!
Submitted by Paul Eastwood on June 30, 2008 - 11:06pm.
Not only does the Internet provide a great way of marketing real estate listings, but it's a great tool for the Agent to market themselves as well. We just wrote a post on Craigslist real estate marketing on our blog over at Single Property Sites...the gist of the post is that while Agents shouldn't expect to sell a home via Craigslist, it is a great tool to get exposure for the Agent themselves. Each listing is a really great attractant for home buyers and thus an opportunity to generate click-traffic back to your main site. Agents need to think about Real Estate marketing online in this light...as a way to generate exposure not only for their properties, but for themselves as well.
Paul
Single Property Sites - Real Estate Marketing
Submitted by Kay Baker on July 1, 2008 - 2:44pm.
Yes, you are so right. The internet sure has changed the way that I have done business over my 30 year real estate life. But, I have embraced it and love every minute of it. Agents that are not submitting their listings to the super giants such as craigs list, front door, backpage, google,trulia, zillow, clr search etc are going to left in a blaze, not to mention blogging.
Kay Baker Wilmington NC real estate
www.cbbaker.com
Submitted by Allen Wright on July 1, 2008 - 3:40pm.
There are plenty of examples of the MLS being the local area favorite tool for searching real estate listings ... the best example being Houston Association of Realtors (HAR.com)
On a listing appointment potential sellers will want to be sure that there home is on HAR.com ... when discussing with potential buyers they often refer to the fact that the home they want they saw on HAR.com
MLS's need to serve their agents by seeking ways to promote their agents listings, since most associations do not have the technology nor the marketing skills they should engage those that do.
Submitted by Mel Aclaro on July 1, 2008 - 9:57pm.
Good thread with some insightful comments... I also expounded a bit more about it in a blog article here.
In a nutshell, I wonder if it's really about online (technologies) changing traditional real estate marketing? Or can we just as well say technology, in its broader context, changes traditional real estate periodically. I mean, to the extent that the proverbial "MLS book" of old, though not an online technology was, in its own right, a technology innovation nonetheless; couldn't that be said to have changed "traditional real estate" as it was defined back then?
The more I think about it, the more inclined I am to believe that a unique aspect of online technologies (web sites, blogs, social networks, etc.) isn't so much the automation it affords, but rather in its enabling aspects.
It enables users to be at once authors AND readers, consumers AND service providers, mentors AND mentees. It also enables the quantity and speed in which individuals touch other individuals.
Mel
RealtyU.com
RealBlogging.com
Submitted by M J Branham on July 6, 2008 - 1:21pm.
Another new trend in marketing properties is managing the online image of the listing. With most of the home buyers now doing a major part of their shopping online, how your property listing image looks against another property listing image may ultimately be the only impression a potential buyer will have of your listing and the deciding factor between them requesting a showing of your listing or another on the webpage.
Gone are the days where simple photos that might be dark, crooked or off-color showing the basic shape of the home or commercial property will be enough to peak a buyer's interest. The larger Real Estate agencies are already taking advantage of this by marketing their listings with pristine images that may have begun as your average photo take by a seller or seller's representive.
These are not "faked" images that have elements added to or subtracted to the image that a on property inspection would not bear accuracy but rather images where the best features of that property are brought out and make to look its best to help peak the potential buyers interest. Enhanced images have become intrenched in the marketing of products in America and soon it will be as automatic in Real Estate as making sure the yard is mowed.
Submitted by Allen Wright on July 7, 2008 - 10:48am.
MJ,
If an agent wants to be relevant in the transaction of tomorrow than they will need to rethink how they market and expose their listings. Luxury agents have done this for years, making sure that the home is in perfect shape before photographing etc. I am not sure why those agents selling the average home think they cannot do the same to the homes they are listing.
You are right and i like your choice of words "Managing the Online Image", it is the footprint of the home and is a starting point that all professional agents must address.
Submitted by Stefan Swanepoel on July 7, 2008 - 11:28am.
Great bunch of good comments for our first Trends discussion. Thanks everyone.
Join me in my next post as we focus on another specific element of the online world and how that is also shaping our industry.
Submitted by Tim O'Keefe on July 12, 2008 - 12:49pm.
Innovative? I think it is called going Back to the Future or Go Where They Ain't, to use a football term.
First off I am not dissing the net. SO don't go there. But the net is noisy and it is fragmented and its users suffer from ADD.
(My mean acid test is that if what was going on right now was so powerful on the net, and what was being taught was so great on the net, then why is there a real estate recession? If the first reaction is that is out of anyones control, then why even bother at all?)
Meanwhile there is a really cool thing called snail mail. It seems we get less and less at my home. Which means I have more and more time to read it. Its pretty cool because I actually get to use senses that I forgot I had. Not only do I get to see it, I get to touch it. I actually can smell the ink and the paper.
Door knocking and the phone.
Here is a big jolt to the Koolaid Krusaders. The phone is the best tool for sales ever invented. And actually, your body is too. Telemarketing and the Door Knocking is probably the highest leveraged activity there is. I know its obnoxious right? But thats what everyone says who do not like salesmen. And there are many self loathing agents. (Mike Ferry is smiling I am sure).
There are order takers and there are closers. The closers get the sides. Especially in a down market. The order takers are coming up with every excuse why the closers are obnoxious and even the word itself is so 1.0. I do not know what .0 it is, but the closers have happier bankers. And happier spouces and take bigger vacations. So you tell me what works and what doesn't.
Take a poll in any MLS across the Country. GO to the top agents. The top 10 %. Ask them where there business comes from. Not their PR response, but their I am getting paid $1,000 to tell you what you need to do to succeed in real estate response. Yah, not much social this, or blog that in that talk is there?
I was reminded of the value of the old school at a bbq a few years back. A Long Beach CA agent was in attendance and I asked him if he had a website of any sort. He said no. So how do you get your business I asked?
Door Knocking.
Yah my first response was not to complimentary either, until he told me his income. More than the vast majority of onliners could claim as much.
I know but this is interruption marketing right? Nothing short of sacrelige and an abomination that all Seth holds holy.
Well if Ed McMahon showed up at your door with $1 million dollars you would be interested in what he had to say. You got interrupted. You won't ask Ed for his website, you will ask him for the check! I want to be interrupted that way too. We all do. But the vast majority of messaging online and off is so mind numbingly vanilla, that showing up with Neopolitan almost always gets you into a conversation.
Point being that I think it is time the salesmen start selling. Or learn how.Its only getting noisier by the minute. The web was not supposed to be an excuse to not sell.
What is changing is the publics tolerance for brain numbing, low quality, no relationship loving salespeople. The need has not changed. The only thing to have changed is the willingness to put up with it. And if I may, I think the other thing to have changed is the publics view of themselves. I think more and more think of themselves smarter and more hep than previous generations.
That in no way precludes you from doing the online thing. But more important than the vehicle is your message.I really think the further down the techno hole we go the more cold the world becomes, and the more important the old values really are. Prospects want to be cared for. That is not 2.0. It is not new. It is called humanity. And there are just as many 2.0'ers screwing over people as there was in 1.0.
I think people need to fall out of love with technolgy as their primary focus, and get into the sales, and the marketing. These are not dirty words. They are acts. The community, the realtionship. These are the most important "get to know yous" that prospects want. Having a blog or a forum or even email servers are not a community. And at most these are only akin to asking the prospect out on a date in a long ride to marriage.
As an example I get a hell of a lot more value out of a mutual date I keep with an old buddy once a year than the consistent jokes by email he sends me.
Finally, choosing who you court and the venue to date them is as important, if not more important in a world of limited ad budgets and time.Leverage is the key.