With more options than ever for today’s homebuyers and sellers, appealing to a diverse clientele with a one-size-fits-all marketing plan just won’t cut it. On day two of RISMedia’s CEO Exchange, the industry’s master marketers revealed the campaigns they used to separate themselves from the pack.
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| RISMedia CEO and President John Featherston engages the panel and audience during the Marketing Tactics session. |
During Stand-out Strategies: Marketing Tactics That Deliver on Differentiation, brokers nationwide discovered how to raise the bar when marketing. Moderated by Ken Baris of Jordan Baris REALTORS®, Inc., panelists demonstrated their most successful marketing endeavors to a full house at New York City’s renowned Yale Club.
Baris opened with an evolution of print advertising, presenting attendees with examples of mailers his New Jersey firm used to attract a variety of audiences. Rather than simply hoping a campaign will influence consumers, Baris advised brokers to market with a ‘ready, aim, fire’ approach designed to target specific groups.
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| Ken Baris of Jordan Baris REALTORS® moderated this year’s Marketing Tactics panel |
Following suit, Thad Wong, co-founder of @properties, the largest independently owned residential real estate brokerage in Illinois, also relies heavily on print marketing. Dubbing some strategies ‘old school marketing,’ @properties advertises by honing in on individual neighborhoods, appealing to consumer emotions with familial imagery, and partnering with local establishments to foster a sense of community.
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| Thad Wong, co-founder of @properties, the largest independently owned residential real estate brokerage in Illinois, references ‘Old School’ and ‘New School’ marketing. |
Wong placed equal importance on ‘new school marketing,’ including technology such as PointDrive, a method of communication that distinguishes brokers from others in the area, and Kahoot, a referral-generating consumer app set to launch this fall.
Keeping within the theme of tailored marketing, Jennifer Marchetti shared the challenges she faces as Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate. “Our task is to balance marketing that grows with marketing that sustains,” she said, reconciling national campaigns with the hyper-local markets so vital to the industry.
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| Jennifer Marchetti shared the challenges she faces as Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate. |
To tackle the problem, Marchetti outlined a three-step plan encompassing the brand’s core infrastructure, marketing campaigns and consumer content. Fundamentally important is the infrastructure, which supports successful tier marketing of the brand’s lifestyle off-shoots. In addition, all marketing must have a dual purpose—the “Be Better” industry campaign, for example, tells a first-person story that can be leveraged across multiple channels.
In a timely illustration, Charlie Young, President and CEO of ERA Real Estate, discussed a recent campaign to overhaul the ERA brand. The company was experiencing a lagging perception among brokers and agents, struggling to remain relevant in an ever-evolving industry. It became apparent that a rebrand was necessary—a rebrand that would honor ERA’s roots and effectively engage stakeholders.
“We did not change the identity of the brand—we fixed the engine behind it,” Young said. To rebrand successfully, the ERA team introduced a new logo, yard signage and advertisements.
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| Alon Chaver, Vice President of Industry Services at Trulia discusses how broker and online listing portal collaboration benefits both clients and agents. |
Sharing an alternative solution, Alon Chaver, Vice President of Industry Services at Trulia, pointed to the agent profile as an untapped marketing tool. Highlighting a case study with RE/MAX, Chaver demonstrated that collaboration between brokers and online listing portals benefits both client and agent. Trulia, for instance, gives priority to completed agent profiles, securing 20 times more views than incomplete counterparts.
Additionally, the heart of Trulia’s advantage for agents is its ability to process data in near real-time—a feature, Chaver noted, that helps brands reinforce their online presence. Careful and deliberate digital brand management creates more opportunities for ‘touch points,’ or interactions with users. Ideally, those interactions would result in leads and an overall increase in sales volume.
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| A packed room gathers to hear the industry’s marketing masters reveal their winning tactics during RISMedia’s 2014 CEO Exchange in New York last week. |
Given current economic conditions, this distinct ‘show, don’t tell’ panel gave brokers invaluable perspective on viable marketing tactics that will resonate with prospects and clients. Listening in on narratives from four of real estate’s finest, attendees at this invitation-only event gained exclusive insight directly from the innovative minds behind stand-out marketing strategies.
Suzanne De Vita is the Online Associate Editor for RISMedia.
Stay tuned tuned to RISMedia for continuing coverage of this year’s CEO Exchange.
