RE/MAX Partners with Imprev to Provide Marketing Platform to 90,000 Agents

Imprev's design-rich, easy-to-use multimedia marketing platform provides RE/MAX agents the differentiation needed in today's shifting market

By Beth McGuire

The speed at which technology has revolutionized the real estate business during the same period of unprecedented market conditions and historically low interest rates, has resulted in some revolutionary changes in the industry in what seems like the time it takes to text off an offering price.

But now, as the market returns to a healthier pace and the real estate industry breathes a collective sigh of relief, some important trends have emerged on the technology front, not the least of which has been a shift at the large brokerage level from building huge, in-house IT staffs to outsourcing technology initiatives to the few companies that have emerged as proven leaders in the space.

One company in this technology sea change is real estate giant, RE/MAX International. With 120,000 agents worldwide and 90,000 agents in the United States, RE/MAX is well-equipped with some of the best known services, programs and technology for agents in the national real estate sector as we know it today, including a nationwide listing database, a proprietary television network and marketing tools that have built a company known the world over as "one of the most recognizable brands in the world."
Where has a real estate institution of this magnitude reached out for technology help? To the Seattle-based online direct marketing leader, Imprev, which is now providing their entire 90,000-member United States agent base (and plans soon to go worldwide) with its Online Marketing Center (called the RE/MAX Design Center by RE/MAX), a customized, multi-media-based platform of elegant, design-rich, slide shows, virtual tours, Web-based commercials, eCards, flyers, brochures, postcards, and more.
"I think the development of the RE/MAX Design Center is reflective of an interesting trend happening in the real estate industry right now," says Renwick Congdon, CEO of Imprev. "Where large brokerages were building their own IT staffs and developing their own technology five years ago, we are now seeing them outsource these initiatives to the few proven leaders that have emerged in the space-leveraging the investments of these companies to deliver technology that would be far too expensive to develop in-house. We're providing services to large companies for less than the cost of one employee-in some cases much less-that if developed and maintained in-house would require a staff of engineers and designers."

Internet marketing for real estate agents has changed dramatically over the last couple of years. No longer can agents throw together a Web site and hope people find them. Today, an agent's online marketing portfolio has to be complex and aggressive, in addition to property listings, factoring in branding elements, lead generation tools, SEO functionality, not to mention, be easy and fast to use, look great and differentiate them in today's market.

As RE/MAX executives planned to upgrade the quality and consistency of its online direct marketing offering, it was a natural choice to select Imprev for the job. Imprev was already supplying its marketing platform to about 30% of RE/MAX agents either individually or through multiple offices or regions. Nonetheless, Congdon was thrilled to be able to expand and customize Imprev's offering to all 90,000 U.S. agents with plans to branch out worldwide.

"RE/MAX was initially interested in our product in 2001, but at the time, we were too new and cutting edge for them to form a national partnership," says Congdon. "However we did work with RE/MAX of California and Hawaii and other regional companies and by this past summer, we were working with over 30 percent of the RE/MAX network from independent agents to offices to full regions. So it was a natural for RE/MAX to approach us with a national partnership initiative. They new we could scale to their enterprise, that their agents loved the service, and that we would be here for years to come. The risk was taken out of the equation. "

Congdon adds that once the agreement was in place this past April, implementation moved quickly. Imprev supplied over 1,200 customized designs they created to the RE/MAX Design Center, and RE/MAX added another 200 of their own designs. The result for agents is a complete marketing toolkit of easy to use, high quality, customized flyers, postcards, brochures, Web commercials and virtual tours that can be e-mailed, printed or set up on a Web site, such as a local MLS site, Realtor.com or Remax.com. The product launched in beta the first week of October and is now fully available to all agents at no additional cost than their annual affiliation fees, through RE/MAX's intranet.
Kristi Graning, RE/MAX International's senior vice president of IT and eBusiness, who oversaw RE/MAX's side of the project implementation, commented on the Design Center's ease of use.

"All the information is pre-populated with the agent's name and address, with the option of adding a photo. It's very easy to use. Agents can choose a design and can quickly save it to a Web site or print it out on their own printer or send it to a professional printer to get high-end glossy materials," she said. "So far we've had great results. The program walks you through the steps and is so simple to use. And because so many of our regional offices were already using Imprev's technology we already knew it was a solid and reliable product."

But in today's advanced world of Web-based marketing, all the elegance and ease of use would be for naught without the ability to track results and your return on investment.

Imprev's full reporting system allows users to track how many hits, where they are coming from (both geographically and from which sites) and how they found you (such as the text string they used in Google or Yahoo!). Knowing where your advertising is most effective helps agents determine where to spend their advertising dollar to maximize results.

"I think it's an invaluable marketing tool," says Karen Hatch, a managing broker with RE/MAX Properties in Nashua, New Hampshire. "We have not had a product or tool that has been able to assist us with personal promotion, marketing a listing or staying in touch with our database. The templates we have now for Web commercials and eCards are so easy to use. I sent one out as a reminder to my clients to change the batteries in their smoke detectors, and within less than an hour, I had five calls from people thanking me."

To see Karen Hatch's marketing piece on smoke detectors visit: http://market-ing.remaxdesigncenter.com/17430/132486/132486.swf

Hatch, whose company has three offices and about 110 agents who cover the southern New Hampshire marketplace, says she also uses the RE/MAX Design Center to create Web commercials for her listings and "eCards" as thank you notes for visiting her open houses.

"No one is doing that here," she says. "It separates me from the crowd. The quality is so good and people are so impressed that I use the Internet to communicate with them in this unique way. I can't stop finding ways to use it. I use it to list and sell, recruit, I'm all over this with everyone I talk to."

Recruiting and retaining new agents is another area of the business that has never been of greater importance as we move into a changing market. RE/MAX is leveraging all the features of the Design Center to attract new agents looking to join a company that provides a full cache of marketing tools to its agents.

"In building the Design Center RE/MAX was very clear that they value each and every agent. They were focused on providing a valuable tool to their current agents and to use in recruiting new agents to the brand," says Congdon. "RE/MAX was looking at what they could do to increase recruiting that was unique and the Design Center was a great solution for them. The more you do for your agents the more they want to stay with you and that attracts new agents. This was a small investment for them to provide something of great value to their agents."

Graning agreed. "RE/MAX's Design Center is an important aspect of the quality communication that we encourage our people to deliver. Our people are entrepreneurial types and we encourage them to promote themselves and we want to give them the tools they need to do that quickly and cost-effectively," she said. "Using the Design Center for recruiting purposes, gives brokers the high end pieces that communicate the value of RE/MAX offering, and once someone does join, they can send out a flyer to announce who has joined their team. Again, saving the agents time and money."
See Karen Hatch's Fall Recruiting piece by visiting: http://marketing.remaxdesigncenter.com/17430/138339/138339.swf

The important point is the control over the end product that the agent has, says Congdon. "That's the one thing that differentiates the agent," he says. "Some companies input levels of control over their marketing materials, but with our system brokers can give the agents permission to download a PDF of their flyer and run to Kinkos on a Sunday just before an open house, if they need materials immediately. That level of control is invaluable."

Currently Imprev's designs are used by more than 125,000 agents worldwide and also by RISMedia to send out its Daily e-News to over 300,000 subscribers to its news service each day.

RE/MAX will be rolling out the Design Center to Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, the Carribean and then Canada and Europe beginning next summer. The Design Center can currently be viewed in several different languages with more being added in the near future.

To view some of the pieces created in the RE/MAX Design Center powered by Imprev, visit:

eCard: http://marketing.remaxdesigncenter.com/34227/138606/138606.swf

Slideshow Tour: http://marketing.remaxdesigncenter.com/3017/13928

Web Commerical: http://marketing.remaxdesigncenter.com/19735/131983/131983.swf

For more information about RE/MAX, visit www.remax.com. For more information about Imprev, visit www.imprev.com. To visit Karen Hatch's Web site, go to www.karenhatch.net.