Branding is defined fuzzily by marketing gurus everywhere, to me, in real estate, it means how do people feel about you as an agent. Are you competent, trustworthy, approachable, etc. I think blogging in all it’s forms will reveal these traits to the viewer/reader/prospect/consumer. Branding is everything; your writing style, your tone, the subjects you talk about, the look and feel of your presence, everything that generates an emotional or intellectual attraction, repulsion or yawn.

Top of Mind Awareness/Recall is created by Repetition, Relevance and Remarkability. Consistent quality blogging in all it forms will create Top of Mind Awareness/Recall.

The X factor to amplifying these two is understanding the Analytics and how to point and shoot your messages.

From what I see, many are skilled at creating branding and TOMA, which is semi-natural for a good communicator and interesting person. The technical stuff is difficult to learn, there aren’t many classes or venues and as pointed out, there are only a few in the country who understand how to do it.

In our market we have some fairly active bloggers/FB/Twitter agents, most aren’t wildly successful yet. We have the usual number of hyper-successful who roll old-school and have barely dipped a toe into the online waters. I know. That’s today, a year of two or more it may be different.

The secret to success, IMHO, is on-purpose, in-person personal contact and conversation. Whether it’s online marketing/branding/promotion, direct mail, Open House or what ever, it’s all the pathway to Face to Face interaction and engagement.

Thanks for the article. Thought provoking stuff.

What everyone has to do now is look ahead and I think that is exactly what David was expressing.

We assume that every single agent is blogging, and now its time to kick it into another gear and utilize all the other opportunities. Social Media is huge all on its own, but those that effectively use it to drive traffic to their blogs, even better.

The problem is that 75% of Realtors (I made up my own percentage, Im sure we could push that up even further!) are still struggling with reading their email on their phones, learning how to text message! Much less start a blog. Yes blogging is saturated, but how many are actually blogging for business? Automatic blogs scraping content from RISMedia dosnt count!

There is a new generation of Realtors on the horizon. Never has there been such a grand opportunity for people who embrace and use technology as part of their lives to grasp a hold of the market. It has nothing to do with age, I have 50-60 year old brokers who will turn circles around the kids on Twitter. It is simply those who are willing to learn how to use something new.

Bring on the future!

Enough of the days of real estate agents who dont answer their phones, dont respond to emails, dont know how to text message… We need a new level of customer service, we need those who embrace technology as a tool.

I look at the future of real estate as a breathe of fresh air.

I think you are off when it comes to SEO.

I am a small time local blogger who works a nice little niche.

Last 30 Days on IcicleCreekRealEstate.com

Search 43% of visitors
Links 28%
Direct 26%

Folks find my blog because it ranks well for search terms like “Leavenworth Real Estate” but also for information about long tail terms like “Ponderosa Estates” or “Kahler glen condos”.

If the big brokers are only getting 5% of their traffic from search I think it just proves what kind of idiots are running the show.

I think a branding opportunity exists with a real estate blog, but I think that lead generation that comes from SEO is the name of the game.

David’s video reminds of the following high school scenario.

Scene: High school basketball gym

Crowd A: We got spirit yes we do, we got spirit yes do, how bout you?
Crowd B:We got spirit yes we do, we got spirit yes do, how bout you?

Crowd A:We got spirit yes we do, we got spirit yes do, how bout you?
Crowd B:We got spirit yes we do, we got spirit yes do, how bout you?

Crowd A:We got spirit yes we do, we got spirit yes do, how bout you?

Crowd B is obviously getting drowned out by the louder fans.

We got more, Check the score! We got more, Check the score! Pointing to the scoreboard.

David – Blogging may be 2008, but check the score.

Other companies are shutting their doors and I’m happily employed. My phone is ringing and I’m selling houses.

Which includes the following (borrowing heavily here):

…It’s hard to create much momentum in any kind of social network without some of those qualities, but true engagement, engagement that leads to customers and partners, is created with content. Or, perhaps more accurately, engagement is created with engaging content.

I know you’re likely sick of me talking about the need to create lots of education rich content, but there’s just very few ways around it as a typical small business. Some exceptions, marry into lots of money and buy super bowl ads, get Miley Cyrus to wear your product on stage, or get Michael Arrington and Robert Scoble to argue publicly about the merits of your feature set – baring these, think content creation.

When it comes to effective social media use, I personally push towards using a great deal of energy and activity to create awareness for your content. So, of course if you’re to take this advice, you’ve got to have lots of content. Many people do little more than create small talk on social networks and then wonder why they can’t get an ROI for time spent. Most small businesses will be far better off if they look at their status updates on LinkedIn, Facebook and twitter, not as a way to tell the world about what they are doing (unless it’s creating content), but as a way to shed light on valuable content housed either within the particular social network or elsewhere online.

—

I think its rather good advice. One of the sessions that I wanted to run at REBCOC was a session on social media workflow and how you fit this into your day as part of your overall marketing efforts vs. doing it as a hobby and because it is fun.

One way to think of it, I suppose, is to look at how you’d measure it. Under your definition, where everything is lead generation, I suppose CB’s TV commercial that ran on a TV show with a 5 million audience should report that CB now has 5 million leads?

I don’t know anyone who would accept such a definition of a “lead”.

-rsh

What form of marketing targets ONLY those in the market for a house? Even POST cards cant do that. Door Knocking cant. What can?

Do Realtors do any Lead Gen?

Jays blog turned you into a Jay prospect. But even if you NEVER move to Phoenix.. Jays blog, because of its wide net SEO, has turned 10,000 you’s into Jays prospects. Some of them don’t know it but later this year, or next they WILL be moving to PHX.. and guess what… some of them started LOOKING to move to Phoenix and found Jay.

Dude, this is not semantics. This is lead generation.

(PS: Rob, Thanks for another fun debate! Dig rapping with ya. Peace out)

You’ll just have to trust me that I did not look away from this page.

In my mind, Jay Thompson stands for integrity above all. Why do I say that? One of the first posts I’ve read on his site was about the bubble in real estate back when every Tom, Dick and Harry was claiming that real estate prices are gonna keep on truckin’ The supply-and-demand cycle was in balance, these defenders of the Bubble claimed. Jay was one of the only working realtors going, “Whoa there, wait one minute… this shit don’t make no sense.”

I have since read posts from his talking about the tax credit, about the local PHX market, and a dozen other topics that convinced me that the man knows his stuff. Do I know that he’s the BEST realtor in PHX? I don’t. But I know enough, and without him once tooting his own horn about how great he is. He didn’t tell me he’s great; he showed me.

That’s the power of social media branding. Maybe I’m completely fooled, and Jay is actually a lying son of a bitch snake oil salesman who’s about to be convicted for multiple counts of fraud. I really doubt it though.

And why do you think “branding” has to be less than genuine, or less than transparent? Most branding experts would tell you that a brand built on lies will fall apart with the first experience of it. BMW isn’t making shit up when they brand their cars for the “sports driving enthusiast”. Their cars actually do perform as advertised/branded. Apple isn’t bullshitting us with their brand promise of innovation, clean design, and user-friendliness. Apple’s stuff works exactly as branded.

Maybe that’s where the first confusion arises from — that you think of branding as fakery. Real brands are not built on lies; they are built on truths. They are built on authenticity and transparency.

-rsh

Do me a favor, without looking away from this page…no…no..dont.

Right now type in what it is that Jay stands for, what is his promise. What is his brand. (DON’T LOOK AWAY)

Next, write down how you found him. How do you come to know Jay?

Lastly, explain why you would use him. Is it his brand? or your relationship with him….

See, I would also use Jay without a shadow of a doubt. I have NO IDEA what his brand is. I haven’t read a ton of his posts (note to self: subscribe to Jays Blog)

But he reached out to me one night on twitter. We had some conversation.. I met him, and after MAYBE a whopping hour or two of total communication? I trust him.

Jay never told me he was a great agent. Jay never told me he was trustworthy. Jay never told me much about Jay. Because if he did, I would have been LESS inclined to trust him.

I just don’t believe that Realtors can brand themselves.

If I meet you at a party and immediate start telling you how rich I am, what kind of car I drive, etc.. WHAT AM I REALLY TELLING YOU…

Stop trying to brand. Be genuine. Be transparent. Be Caring. Be Honest. These things are not brands… They are the traits of a Realtor I want to hire…

Fascinating debate, Jim. As I expected.

I guess at issue is the notion of “branding” for a Realtor — as you’ve asked multiple times. I hope this isn’t just a semantic difference, where I call something “branding” and you call it “slow burning lead-gen”.

But let’s take Jay Thompson as an example of effective realtor branding.

I do not intend to move to PHX. Ever. I like visiting the desert, but I don’t want to live there. So the fact that I follow Jay on Twitter, that I read his blog, that I see his FB updates, etc. is completely irrelevant from a “lead-gen” standpoint,”slow-burn” or not. That Jay’s SM efforts drive me to his blog, to his website, etc. does not convert me into a “lead” by any definition of the word. I am not in the market for PHX real estate, period.

But he has done a remarkable job of branding himself as a capable, knowledgeable local real estate professional in the PHX market, to me. His blog, his tweets, his SM efforts all have convinced me that Jay knows his stuff, that he’s a friendly, likable guy, and that I could trust him. We have, in your words, built a relationship. But I’m still not a lead, because I’m not in the market.

If for some unforeseen reason, I am forced to move to PHX, then yes, I would absolutely call Jay first. At a minimum, he would be on my short list of realtors to call. Now that I am in the market, I suppose I am a “lead” — but I’m going to make his phone ring without any further effort on his part. That, to me, is the power of branding.

And professionals absolutely brand themselves — I’ve laid out how companies like McKinsey does it. I can do more to show how some of the top lawyers in the country do it. I can talk about investment bankers and how they do it. All of them selling without selling, and doing it before the target customer even realizes that he has a need.

My point is that blogging is the BASIS of this branding effort. Without it, the rest of social media falls apart. And because social media is not so great for lead-gen (slow burn or otherwise), whereas Web 1.0 is rather effective, I am disputing David’s proposition that blogging is so 2008.

If your interest as a realtor is reaching people already in the market, then social media is not an effective use of your time, IMHO. You’re probably better off putting more listings on your site, and working on your SEO, as well as making phone calls. But if your interest is in building a brand as an expert (and whatever other brand promise you want to make), then blogging (in whatever form: photo, video, audio, written) absolutely has to be at the heart of that strategy.

-rsh

Now, what’s interesting is that IF I ever decide to move to Phoenix area, there’s very little doubt in my mind that I would call you. Why is that? Because you, Jay Thompson, have effectively branded yourself as a good agent. Are you the best realtor in Phoenix? I have no idea. Maybe other PHX agents would claim they are “better” than you are. But you’re branded in my mind, and I’m not in the market. Well, not your market.

That’s sort of my point.

Blogging and social media, to me, are powerful brand tools that can get you top of mind to a consumer who is not in the market. Once we start talking about Google and SERPS and such, we’re now talking about consumers who are in the market. They have a need. They seek solutions to fill that need. They go do Google searches, and typically, they do searches for “houses in LOCATION” or “LOCATION real estate” or some such.

Branding plays a role there, to be sure, and things like blogs help with your SEO efforts, but those are not the reasons (IMHO) to do blogs and social media.

Brand effectively, and you won’t need to mail postcards to Canada or anywhere. They’ll come to you. Because you have an effective brand.

-rsh