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6 Reasons Video Should be a High Priority When Selling Real Estate

By Laurie Andrews Posted in - Advertising & Media & Networking & Public Relations & Real Estate & Social Media & Uncategorized on January 21st, 2013

Video content is new terminology in the digital marketing age. In years past, creating a video meant a one-time production to acquire and edit a short film to tell the story of your community vision. In today’s content-rich environment, new marketing channels provide outlets where video becomes a constantly evolving tool. Creating compelling video content should rise to the top of your priority list for a variety of reasons: 1. As consumers, we live in a visual world and technology has opened the door to online learning, on-demand movies, and independent entertainment delivered through alternative channels. We look to YouTube for “how to” videos, recipes and research. Why would buying real estate be any different? 2. Making a new home purchase…

Why Social Media Marketing Works for Real Estate

By Angelene Posted in - Advertising & Media & Networking & Public Relations & Real Estate & Social Media & Uncategorized on January 14th, 2013

If you’ve been keeping up then you know that the final choice in the homebuyer’s decision-making process is most highly influenced by emotions. And for this reason, as real estate marketers, we must focus on lifestyle selling. Once you understand how important the lifestyle sell is to real estate, it then becomes increasingly clear why social marketing fits the bill. Here’s how: People love sharing exciting news about their lives on Facebook. This is the most natural place for buyers to showcase their new home purchase to their friends. The simple nature of sharing online and connecting with your closest friends and family falls perfectly in line with referral marketing. Never before was there such an easy way to reach…

Brand Extensions: Do they make sense?

By Angelene Posted in - Advertising & Real Estate on January 2nd, 2013

You’ve already been successful. Built a community. Built a following. Built a reputation. Built a brand. Now you want to build another community; should you use the same brand or create a new one? Building a brand is expensive; it takes money and time. Once you’ve spent all that time, budget and energy creating a great brand, shouldn’t you just use it again, leverage its power and your spend and name your new community with the same branding? It’s a question many real estate marketers are constantly trying to answer because the truth is, it depends. Is your newer product comparable to your older product? Will this new product sell for a lower price, thus lowering the perceived value of…

Data Capture Essential to Build Sales Pipeline

By Laurie Andrews Posted in - Advertising & Media & Networking & Public Relations & Real Estate & Social Media & Uncategorized & Web on December 4th, 2012

As we all know, two-way communication is required to have a meaningful conversation. During the new home buying process, beginning the conversation sooner rather than later should be a primary focus of your website marketing initiatives. Of course, increased website visits are a positive indication of your marketing outreach, but it’s only the first step in the sales funnel that requires bringing the prospect through many steps prior to reaching a closed sale. Website interaction represents a golden opportunity to open a dialog with the prospective homebuyer. Consumers are busy people, and they are often researching their options late in the evening, long after your sales center is closed. They aren’t looking for direct person-to-person contact, but they are doing their homework to…

What is the ROI of Social Media?

By Angelene Posted in - Advertising & Media & Networking & Public Relations & Real Estate & Social Media & Uncategorized & Web on October 31st, 2012

It’s a question we’ve frequently received. And the issue with answering it, is that it doesn’t totally make sense. ROI is a financial measurement. Marketing channels can be measured in goals and benchmarks, but ROI? Not really. You see, how can you possibly measure the ROI of having email versus not having email? Or the ROI of having a phone line? What about the ROI of the customer service representative actually answering that phone line? Can you measure the satisfaction of your prospect after that well-received customer service phone call? What about the ROI of that satisfied customer telling her friends about her positive experience? The answer is no. Which is why social marketing cannot be measured in ROI. However,…

Networking with Businesses

By Angelene Posted in - Media & Networking & Public Relations & Social Media on April 17th, 2012

When networking in social media as a business there are a few constant rules you can never forget if you’re looking to effectively leverage the space. Social media networking is about people and building relationships. If you’re business wants to enter this platform, you must take into consideration, we know – it’s hard to believe, but – consumers are not here to get excited about your products. They are here to have fun. Understanding this, you can begin to tailor your approach to messaging in the space to more effectively reach your potential consumers in a way that appeals to them in that medium. In other words – be fun and entertaining and don’t be annoying! Our three rules for…

NAPA Know How

By Alexis Posted in - Advertising & Media & Social Media & Uncategorized on September 13th, 2011

Ugh. It’s that damn song again. I can’t get it out of my head. “NAPA know how, Napa know how”If you’re an avid sports fan, odds are you tuned in for some March Madness. And if you did, then you are like millions of others who were introduced to Napa’s “catchy” little jingle. The funny thing is I saw more negative comments about this tune on the Internet and Twitter than I can count. But you know what? It worked. I don’t have numbers to quote, but I think it’s safe to assume, from pure media spend, that Capitol One dominated the commercial rotation during the tournament. And as good as Alec Baldwin may have been, I don’t see too…

Are you engaged with the right “one”?

By Angelene Posted in - Public Relations & Social Media on August 30th, 2011

Social media has been a buzz-topic across all industries for a number of years now. People are discussing its benefits and its handicaps, its global reach, its popularity, how fast it’s growing. Businesses- large and small- are all hopping on the band wagon and developing profiles, pages, handles and groups. Everyone wants to be involved, but before you jump in, make sure you know what you’re getting into. What many people don’t understand is the bigger picture of social media; take the words apart – and social media is just really a type of media. Dictionary.com describes media as a “means of communication…that reaches or influences people” and social as “pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or…

First Thoughts on Google+

By Alexis Posted in - Public Relations & Social Media on July 26th, 2011

Just as I’ve settled into the social media world on Facebook, with my thousands of pictures and conversations preserved, Google+ has to make an appearance and cause me to question my whole social media presence. Google+ confused me even more than Facebook had when I first created my profile, with it’s clean layout and simple color scheme (in comparison to Myspace), I found myself a little overwhelmed just thinking about creating a whole new internet profile. Sharing my concerns with a friend who had made his Google+ account as well, he responded with, “It is Beta right now. Chill out…Send some feedback…” So I did. One aspect I love about the new outlet is that it enables me to take…