Real estate marketing’s emperor has no clothes
April 1, 1999.
After signing up to “receive my newsletter” on countless agent Websites throughout March, my inbox was filled to the brim on April 1st.
Each email contained a Realty Times Newsletter.
Each included the same exact content.
The content was irrelevant. Not location-specific. And completely impersonal. All the things great marketing isn’t.
But the agents who bought this newsletter product weren’t told this. They were sold on the idea that…
Touching people with anything is better than nothing
You won’t find that verse in any marketing bible. Yet it rolls off the tongues of people pitching agents as if it were inarguably true.
Marketing isn’t just the act of communicating. Marketing is research that precedes the message. It’s the act of discerning what is relevant to a specific audience or person.
Marketing divines needs. Unearths desires. Aligns interests. And stimulates action.
Facebook tickles our need for self-expression. Google responds to our intent. Amazon matches the desires of others with our own. These companies are mind-bogglingly smart about how and what they present to us.
But in real estate, smart is rare. Easy is preferred. Blast the newsletter, drop the postcard, tweet your lunch.
This is nuts.
The result: before, during and after a most sacred transaction, people are carpet-bombed with crazy shit that pertains to nothing.
90% of consumers say they love their agent at the close of the transaction.
Only 11% use the same agent again.
Ever wonder if maybe agents “market” themselves right out of their next transaction?
I do.
Marketing stink bombs
Had any one of those agents from whom I received a newsletter on April 1, 1999 followed up after dropping their stink bomb, they would have learned a few things about brand perception.
But no one followed up.
If an agent can’t take a few minutes out of their entire month to write something personal, something demonstrative of expertise, something useful to me, how much do they really want my business?
Amidst the grand menagerie of real estate marketing products, this question is seldom asked.
That wasn’t OK with me when I entered this industry in 1998. And it’s not OK with me now. Agents deserve better. And so do their customers.
Real estate’s marketing emperor has “new” clothes?
Read this sample email from a “new generation” real estate marketing product built for agents.
The pitch for this product describes it as an “easy and effective way to stay top-of-mind with clients, grow your referral business – and more important – get results,” because “old clichéd marketing messages fail with today’s tech-savvy, information overloaded clientele.”
Those are some bold claims.
And while they might be true, can messages containing bizarro factoids written by people you don’t know, for people they don’t know (your clients and prospects) be better?
It’s not.
It’s just here. In real estate. Preying off agent vanity and laziness.
Imagine receiving messages like the one above from your Obstetrician. Or your Pastor. Or your Lawyer.
If you can’t, then why are they OK coming from you?
He’s wearing nothing at all
The Emperor cringes.
Suspecting the assertion is true.
But he holds himself up proudly and continues the procession.
You need not follow.
About Marc Davison
Marc co-founded 1000watt in 2007 with Brian Boero. He brings more than 25 years of experience in advertising, marketing and entrepreneurship to 1000watt.
Very interesting article…someone finally stated the truth.
As a Remax Real Estate Agent I too struggle with new and innovative ways to keep in touch with my clients.
I completely agree that as Agents we should be delivering content that will educate and inspire…rather than disappoint and confuse.
Ashlee
The reason these canned marketing companies continue to thrive by selling pre-written material to real estate agents is because the majority of real estate agents do not want to spend the time writing….because
The majority may not be writers by nature
Good, event decent writing takes time and patience and real estate is commission only. They are told over and over again to spend their time on tasks that will result in immediate f2f leads such as open houses
Their real estate franchise is selling the canned stuff and probably is making a behind-the-scenes profit from selling it, so it gets pushed to the agents
Many real estate agents are part timers with other jobs, other lives and no time to devote to a task like content creation which takes time!
I would guess that the average level of education of your basic real estate agent is a high school diploma….a long time ago. And the average age is probably over 50. Perfect storm for selling these folks canned marketing solutions.
The emperor has no clothes.
We need some thread music from Sinead O’Connor. Love that song.
What a terrifying statistic!
“90% of consumers say they love their agent at the close of the transaction. Only 11% use the same agent again.”
I am trying to explain Storytelling Marketing to all who will listen. Video helps to close the TRUST GAP that exists prior to meeting and being face to face. I’ve had the Kool Aide to demonstrate my creative skills http://youtu.be/-0koyA30hYs
David Pylyp
Living in Toronto
With you on this one. Probably more effective to just send “hey you ready to buy yet? ” a few times a week.
Touching is good, until it’s not.
Buy some blank note cards. By some stamps. Write, send, repeat in a couple of months. Not rocket science.
Excellent article, Marc. Because of my work, I frequently go to prospective clients’ web sites to check out the status of their current SEO, their IDX service, etc. That means I frequently have to register to look at their IDX services, and I always dread doing that because I know I’m going to be bombarded with junk. Worse, sometimes it’s really hard to get unsubscribed from the junk.
I agree with Ryan — a simple one line text-only email (no graphics, please) would be a better approach.
Agreed that filling someones inbox with this junk is a pretty poor way to “stand out from the crowd”. Effective marketing is not hard, it is just not as easy as paying a service to stay “top of mind”.
Effective marketing attracts prospective clients to your strengths – it encourages a match between their needs and your skills.It targets an audience to increase your chances of finding a great match and tries not to waste time – yours or theirs.
It does however require some courage as you need to focus on a specific area, market, demographic and risk missing out on all of the folks that these services carpet bomb.
Wonder why people think agents are commodities, that we are all the same? We tell them we are.
Marc,
I cannot emphasize how much I agree with your post above.
To be completely honest, it all comes down to those who give a crap and those that don’t. I too get multiple emails from agents from East to West that are identical (ok, the template with their pic and contact info is different) and the reaction is “where’s the unsubscribe button” not, “i’m so glad they sent me this….” Top of mind doesn’t necessarily equate to a good vibe!
Suzanne
I agree with you on this one so much. The personal approach is always best. I recently was back East visiting with my mother and asked her about how she would know how to find the best Realtor in her neighborhood if she was interested in selling her home. She mentioned the postcards of data that a local Realtor sends which are interesting to her because they are micro-targeted and feature only sales not just within her gated community in Florida but within her subsection. Now, the postcard itself isn’t personal but the knowledge itself feels personal. Like this agent knows what is going on and what matters which isn’t recipe cards or random facts but data that is relevant to someone in the neighborhood who may be considering selling or buying.
Similarly a colleague blogged about another agent’s approach of sending him an email about a house on the market. http://lockbox.realtor.com/realtor-marketing/how-one-agent-is-using-social-media-email-to-strengthen-real-estate-relationships/ What was interesting about that story was about how the agent combines relevant data with a friendly social media approach. I think both can work together, that social media is for developing the personal connection as well as sharing information while email and direct mail should be more data/information-based and targeted.
A+ Marc. You are absolutely right. The problem as I see it everybody wants a magic silver bullet that solves all their marketing problems.
It’s taken me 18 years and many impulsive lessons to learn that what most clients want is someone to care, be competent and give genuine professional opinions about our niche.
Oddly they don’t seem to care if I am a great writer – just that I keep a fair deal with them. I get my point across and in exchange they get a better understanding of the my market or some other Central Austin Real Estate tidbit.
Those who have learned this lesson will be nudging their clients into referrals and repeat business.
Looking forward to posting my first Nudge later this month BTW.
All the best,
Awesome
with extra sauce
People that do this to their database are burning their list. Open rates will tank quickly.
Crazy, interesting, smart, funny marketing all superseded by relevant marketing.
Two ideas for segmenting your lists, location and price. Send info relevant to where they are located, out of state send relocation package etc. Looking at one million dollar homes don’t send the 300k ones etc.
I agree that just spamming with generic “newsletters” is not good.
I do, however, think because of technology, many jobs have become much more complicated and time consuming than they used to be.
Not only are we expected to be excellent negotiators and accessible at a moment’s notice, but we have to be good copywriters, newsletter designers, ad writers, self marketers, post card designers. . . . it’s a lot to expect from anyone.
My back ground is in advertising design, and even I am not able to create consistent timely newsletter copy and design. It takes a lot of time, and that time is either taken away from servicing my clients and prospecting for new listings, or makes my job consume too many hours a day.
Agree – the spectrum of skills required to be successful in this business can be overwhelming.
I utilize one of these services, and actually find it to be very helpful. Every three weeks I am given three emails to choose from, and I pick the one that most interests me personally. I then edit the letter to sound more like me, and add something even more personal, such as a link to my FB Community Page contest or my latest blog post. The feedback I have received has been great, and I am averaging about a 45% open rate and 20% response rate. So, while I can see how blindly jumping on every bandwagon can hurt an agent, I do believe that tailoring some of these tools to suit one’s particular needs can help streamline and increase the effectiveness of one’s marketing campaigns. I truly like the way it helps me be even more disciplined in my efforts, and the random, lighthearted nature of the messages works with my quiky personality and balances the heavy real estate information that is shared with my other efforts.
Sharon:
I agree with you. My clients love the emails every 3 weeks and it always solicits engagement and true dialogue. In fact, it is very similar to how I already engage with them on Facebook and our referrals are out of this world.
Lisa,
For edification purposes, can you expand on what you mean by your clients loving getting your emails. How are you measuring that response? How many do you send? What is the metric by which you are measuring? What are they doing that translates to love?
You know, basic marketing questions.
Thanks.
We are testing with past clients only using one of the email services. We are sending emails every 3 weeks to 150 people. Our open rate is consistently over 35% and of those we are getting responses to our question or fun story from a minimum of 20 of them. Some of them send me private fb messages and interaction with them is much higher than before we started using this. When you get to a point in your business where you have a lot of past clients and/or web leads you have to keep in contact with them as much as possible. We have a very successful referral rate. Over 60% of our business was repeat and referral in 2011. That number is down to 50% this year but that is due to the fact that our other marketing has increased so dramatically.
I don’t think that using these services is the only thing that an agent should use to stay in touch with their sphere. We also call them at least twice a year, do move in parties, drop by with seasonal gifts (cookies at Christmas, pumpkins in the Fall, seeds in the spring and personalized cards on their birthday) plus if we are friends on Facebook I touch them very regularly.
Love this. Real stats.
Great open rate Lisa.
We get that on Spotlight and that’s a very targeted newsletter with a very specific level of content.
You should know that what you are experiencing is somewhat of an anomaly but that’s totally fine. My guess is you have a very engaged audience which would explain it. Would what you are doing work for an agent sending those emails out to a farm of non clients who aren’t engaged? That’s the group we typically focus – the average consumer who would receive something like from an agent or a past client who gets these from their agent without any further engagement (facebook, etc).
Would you mind posting a sample of the email you send to people and feel free to promote the firm who helps you do it.
Also, how much of a hand do you have in the composition of the copy?
Thanks very much for contributing this.
I’m with you, Lisa. I use Happy Grasshopper to send just over 300 emails every 3 weeks. The open rate and response rate is phenomenal. I absolutely customize each email to be more of “my voice”, and by no means is this the only marketing i do. I have a very active personal and community prescence on both FB and Twitter, as well as my blog, and send about 1500 traditional mailings each month. I also do videos of local businesses for my youtube channel and website. The problem I see here is the dismissive attitude of people towards tools they choose to see as one dimensional. Think outside of the box and perhaps try to understand tht when used creatively, these tools can be another way to set yourself apart. And BTW, what other people see as cheesy and unprofessional, I see as just another tool to communicate with my people. And it’s working…
I don’t mind it when other agents use cheesy emails like these. Separates the wannabe’s from the real professionals.
I agree…… What value does this have to anyone much less someone that you want and NEED to send business your way. I have taken a different approach to this….. I get people connected in the community that they live in or want to live in. I let them know about community events, new businesses that open in our area, and things to try in the community. This has had successful results, it lets them know you are in touch with the community and gives them an item of value. Great article !!
I agree with your point except for one thing… It probably IS better than nothing at all which is what many agents would produce. Faced with a lack of time/energy/will to do the kinds of personal-touch marketing that would be ideal, most have to settle for something canned or nothing.
More than many other industries there is definitely a “just happened to be there at the right time” dynamic to real estate sales. The types of ongoing relationships with doctors, dentists, and even lawyers just aren’t the same dynamic as with real estate agents. Perhaps it shouldn’t be that way but it is. The closest most real estate agents get to having that kind of ongoing client relationship are the ones that combine it with property management and have a consultative connection with their investors/owners. (You can’t count family/friends as examples. Those are “guilt” clients and important but not the same!)
Your point about how low the “reuse” level of agents is makes sense but I wonder what percentage of agents are still in real estate 5 years from any particular date. Anybody know what the average 5 year turnover is?
The “cheesy” factor in real estate marketing is dreadfully high but seems to be connected to a “quantity not quality” approach that does work.
Whats up Marc,
I agree with your assessment of pre-made canned content. How would you advise agents that have less than steller writing ability? If my abilities are less than what I believe my audience expects, I might choose professionally written content. I wouldn’t want to lose clients because I cannot compose my thoughts well on paper. So should they ditch the newsletter? What about their blog (not sure why they would have one, just saying)?
Chad,
Your audience doesn’t have an expectation on your writing skills. They do however, have an expectation on you knowledge skills. Marketing is not about sizzling copy. Copy writing is about that. But not marketing. Marketing is gathering intel on your audience and proving them things that stir them. Sending them a well written piece about star wars to an audience of stay at home moms will not be valued by virtue of how well it’s written but instead, by how ridiculous the subject matter is.
If people have trouble getting thoughts down, well… listen, growing a business is gonna be tough if people can’t get their thoughts across on paper. After all, we live in a content driven world where brands of every kind are finding huge value in communicating with their audience. Doing this may be tough. But it isn’t impossible. Hire a writer. Or outsource your marketing needs to a marketing firm.
This is the part I don’t understand about agents – if they can’t do something, which is ok, why delegate it to a product that does it worse than you do instead of outsourcing to someone who can do it better than you?
But lastly, what I really feel like saying is, it’s ok not to be a great writer. This is the point of my article. What is the most important thing is being really great at perceiving what your audience wants to hear when you do write something. If you can nail that aspect of marketing, the messaging… well dude, trust me, as a writer, that’s the really easy part.
Learning how to write takes practice, practice and more practice.
Your local real estate market presents a cazillion topics to write about…your last 12 closing experiences surely offer the same number of opportunities?
After all is said and done; Clarence Day said it best, “Information is pretty thin stuff unless mixed with experience”.
I agree.
So true! Even the simple act of sending (automated) new listings that are relevant to buyers is more effective than sending the same newsletter junk as everyone else. I couldn’t sleep at night if I spammed like that.
@Kirk: I’ve done the focus group testing on stuff like this. I’m telling ya, nothing is better than this. Consumers on the whole find this stuff insulting and irrelevant. Not a good thing to create from a marketing strategy.
@Sharon: to play devils advocate, the goal of marketing is not to send out things that interest you unless you were marketing to yourself. The goal of marketing is communicate things that are of interest to your sphere.
@Carmen: “Like”.
@Ryan, Suzanne: “Agree”
@Jill: You nailed it. But maybe, the additional spin is not that many agents can’t write, it’s the they can’t tell when they are being sold a turd. And it just doesn’t help when something with John Featherston’s reputation is out there pitching it as the most powerful means of digital marketing when he knows it really isn’t.
@everyone else. Wish I had more time to address each of your comments. I appreciate them all.
I would say that when I send a marketing piece I look at it and ask myself “would this annoy me to receive”,and “would I find this informative, amusing, or interesting?”. So in a way, I am marketing to myself since I treat my sphere in a way that I would like to be treated.
Very true stuff here… Do you feel the same for services such as yourFeed? Curious…
Ryan, I don’t understand your question.
Marc…he’s asking you about NUDGE? I think; at this time, your NUDGE is the most creative service in the marketplace…
Thanks Joe.
I’m not so sure. He’s asking about our “feed”. Doesn’t sound like he’s asking about our app. And thanks for the endorsement.
Well said. I am in favor of staying in touch, but I refuse to do so in a gratuitous manner. When I have something to say, I say it or write it. When I’m intensely busy with clients all of my communication is with them….not to them, with them. My writing drops off, not because I’m “too busy”, because the work is so intense…most of what we do in this business is (or should be) about communicating with everyone involved transactions. When I’m marketing, I’m trying to find ways to communicate with people in ways they find useful and valuable.
In any case, thanks for a good reminder that most of what we say isn’t all that interesting, and we destroy credibility when we say uninteresting things over and over.
Spot on, Marc. If there were a love button, I would click it on this post.
Spot on Marc! Marketing messages like these make me cringe. It’s like the realtor ads on bus benches or the mens urinal cakes. Is that really the image you want to portray to your clients?
Good marketing is about educating, and entertaining your audience. Your client already knows where to go to get data on properties their interested in. Help them understand what that data means.
BTW – have you done any investigating into the coming wave of customized content using the Interest Graph?
I wrote a blog post about it here: http://revongo.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/3-steps-to-build-a-micro-niche-real-estate-listing-business-and-charge-a-premium-for-it/
One of our advisors is CTO of a company here in LA called Gravity. They’re doing some really interesting things in this space, and I think the technology is ripe for the real estate business.
Really gets us excited… Thoughts on this Marc?
Agents who feel they need to resort to canned, conversation marketing products as a means of touching their prospects and clients are terribly disconnected from what real marketing is.
These products are the latest in a long line of drip marketing that I find synonymous with this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_water_torture. What a terrible thing to do to your database.
This isn’t marketing. To me it’s an exercise people do to make them feel as if they are marketing. And in the one in a million times that it actually works, that becomes the testimonial these thing use to sell themselves.
Imagine your attorney (who you hopefully hardly ever use) send you an email that begins with a question about whether you watched Captain Kangaroo as a child and offers you 5 facts about him including his massive troubles with IRS that ties into a call to action to make sure you don’t end up in jail like he did.
Would you really call that lawyer back? Ever? Be honest.
I know this isn’t an apples comparison. But the point is the same which Leslie made so eloquently. Agents absolutely destroy their credibility when they bombard the user with uninteresting, irrelevant things over and over. And these canned, fun, conversational emails are definitively that.
To Joe’s point above – there are so many things going on in your community creating a never-ending stream of good content to pull from. That’s a well worth dipping into.
If Twitter has taught us anything, it’s shown us that we can converse in 140 characters (simple writing) and get our point across really well. Every single agent can write one or two sentences. You don’t need vanity. You don’t need scripted messages. They are all disconnected from the matter at hand.
You don’t need anything other two very simple things to create effective and compelling marketing. They are:
1. Respect for the people in your database.
2. A deeper understanding of what is important to them
That’s it. You do not need to be great writers. A simple note that comes from your pen that includes one single bit of useful and relevant particle of information is all you need to do.
Here’s an idea: Take that gorgeous photo of a local wine tasting, a sunset, a neighborhood, that you shot using your Camera+ app and filtered through Snapseed. You know, the one you posted up on Instagr.am. Why not queue that up in a email with a 3-sentence description that serves to promote your community, the lifestyle and your interpretation of it. As seen through your eyes. With a simple line or two describing it.
I know it takes an agent 5 minutes to do that and vendors have made you believe you don’t have those 5 minutes. But if you had the 5-minutes to leave a comment here spent it editing some arbitrary article from a vendor – an article that another agent in your same location might be sending to the same person you are – then you absolutely have 5 minutes to cobble together a nice, simple tidbit of relavent info whenever it comes to you. Even if it’s twice a year.
Your career is worth it.
Your personal brand deserves it.
The people in your database will love you for it.
As a career researcher, marketer and writer, I stake my reputation on it.
Hi Marc,
My name is Dan Stewart and I’m the co-founder of Happy Grasshopper. I’ve been reading your blog for a while and we’ve had some polite exchanges online. Frankly, it surprised me that you would write such a scathing post without asking me for facts.
I would have happily shared these:
• That for the real estate vertical, our open rate is almost 200% higher than Constant Contact. For many agents, we are doing a better job than they do on their own.
• That most people struggle with creating content. Doing it well and doing it consistently takes a level of discipline few have – you know this – that’s why there are so few Jay Thompson’s and Marc Davison’s running around.
• That our system does not allow a single recipient to receive the same message from more than one sender.
• That our 3-week send cycle was selected after careful testing proved that it yields the best combination of high open rate and low unsubscribe rate for our type of message.
• That our customers choose the messages they send and have the opportunity to edit them, which we encourage. Make them your own.
• That our messages are about something interesting happening now. They are relevant to the time frame in which they are sent, typically having a shelf life of just a few days.
• That for each available send, 2/3rds of our customers approve a send – they are actually using our service – not merely subscribing – as many do with traditional email marketing services.
• That our service is month-to-month with no contracts and has a 100% money back guarantee. If it doesn’t work or you’re not happy – we don’t want your money.
• That our cancellation rate is less than 4%.
• That users in more than 30 other verticals – including medical, legal and accounting – report extreme satisfaction with our service.
I think your disapproval is the result of a fundamental misunderstanding. We are not suggesting other types of messaging have no value, and we are not asserting that our messages are designed to motivate consumers to buy or sell anything. This happens as a by-product of our goal to help agents have more conversations with the people in their database.
Our goal is conversation and it’s an important one. Think of the people you’re closest with and how you got that way – it’s through the authentic human connections that only happen in conversation. We just help start those conversations. It’s up to the user to take it from there.
Further, we are designed to augment, not replace the agent’s need to communicate the valuable, factual, market and property information that only they can provide.
For what it’s worth, I like Nudge. It’s a needed simplification of data. Consumers often don’t care about this as much as we’d like them to and making it visual helps them understand the relevance. Good luck.
Regarding Pop A Note – it’s flattering that with just a year and a half under our belts – we’ve inspired RISmedia to try duplicating our service. That’s validation. I don’t think they’ll do it as well as we do, but the market will decide.
Back in November of 2010, we were just an experiment. I wanted to figure out if our style of messaging could deliver real value, before bothering to create a company. So we announced ourselves on Active Rain and recruited a few hundred users. After carefully measuring their results we incorporated in March of 2011.
Today we have thousands of users throughout the US and Canada, primarily as the result of what customers post online. I can only assume that RIS noticed how strongly we’ve been embraced, and decided to give it a try.
We have greatly benefitted from an enormous amount of positive press and social proof. For this I am sincerely overwhelmed with gratitude. REALTOR Magazine called Happy Grasshopper a ‘Cool Tool’ (4/2011), association magazines have published user provided success stories (Florida – Jan/Feb 2012, Massachusetts – July 2012) and quite a few agents have taken the time to share their experience with us in their blogs (there are links to them on our blog) and on Facebook (just search Happy Grasshopper in any Facebook group).
Without exception, all reviews have been positive until yours. Maybe we should have talked before you clicked ‘publish’? You’ve ‘staked your reputation’ on being right that our service won’t work and there’s overwhelming evidence that it does.
And not just for the “lazy, vain” agents you assume are using our service, but for busy, ass-busting agents getting it done all over North America. It’s fine that you don’t like what we’re doing, but it’s not okay to assert that we are preying on anybody. Our customers are leveraging technology and the talents of others. That’s just smart.
Let’s face it Marc, traditional email marketing is getting tired. After more than a decade of subject line, call-to-action and send-time optimization, recipients have grown tired of being manipulated and feeling like a target.
Year over year falling open rates confirm this. Email is still a great way to communicate, but senders can get better results by changing their game. If people want better results, they must do something different. Happy Grasshopper is different. Instead of optimizing for conversion, we’re optimizing for friendship.
We get a lot of feedback after a customers’ first send – the most common is something along the lines of “Whoa, I didn’t expect this to work so well. I got more replies from this message than I ever get with my (regular newsletter / 33-touch / anything else I’ve tried).
There are plenty of these on our site http://happygrasshopper.com/testimonials or you can watch what people think on video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy1WLe7n0Js&feature=relmfu
Often, their comments are followed by a rave review on Facebook or their blog, which is what’s really driving our growth. Many users report our messages leading directly to a transaction, without ever asking for one. How could this possibly be bad?
Sometimes a customer will be so pleased with the replies they get that they forward them to us. Here are two (with last names and contact data removed):
REPLY FROM RECIPIENT
Subject: Re: Flying Dutchmen
Hi Matt!
I just wanted to reach out and let you know that from a business owner’s perspective, as well as just a normal reader of your emails, I think you’re doing a fantastic job! While I’m not in the market for a ”jetson-like” flying car nor an IKEA pre-fab, I have been intrigued enough with your emails that I not only opened them, I’ve also gone as far as to read them in their entirety, clicked on all the links, looked at all the different pics and then share them face-to face with a couple friends just for fun.
While that’s every company’s goal, it is a very difficult result to get when marketing and you’ve managed to do it successfully several times now with me.
I also REALLY appreciate how you do not inundate my inbox with marketing blast emails. The frequency in which I received your emails has made them feel personal and important. …another difficult outcome to accomplish.
So, well done Matt! Best of luck to you!
Warm regards,
Sarah, CEO, founder
ORIGINAL MESSAGE
Hi Sarah,
Did you ever dream about having a flying car when you were a kid? How about flying out while sitting in traffic?
??
I heard in the news that a Dutch company is now taking orders for one. I immediately had visions of the one on the Jetsons. Unfortunately, it is more like a motorcycle with a helicopter attached. I guess it’s a start. ??It did get me thinking about all the other gadgets I dreamed of as a child. What did you always wish for?
Have a great day, and please let me know if I can help with anything.
My Best,
Matt
REPLY FROM RECIPIENT
Subject: Re: The IKEA House for real, an actual house with everything inside included…
That is so cool Matt! No, I did not. This just may be the answer!! I’ve been looking at Tumbleweed homes (a little small), the Sweetwater canvas Bungalows (not sturdy enough to take the winds), and redoing the 1890′s barn (just don’t know where to start with that!) I’ve been getting a little frustrated by the process! I LOVE IKEA and Swedish design! We don’t have as many IKEA stores up here as in L.A. but there is one in Palo Alto. I’m going to check your link out.
You are an angel for giving me the right information when I need it most!!
Thanks so much!!
Cindy
ORIGINAL MESSAGE
On Apr 5, 2012, at 12:53 PM, Matt (last name)- REALTOR wrote:
Hi Cindy,
Do you love IKEA? Funny, but now you can now buy a whole house from them for $86,500.
It’s small, but the 745 sq. ft., 1BR/1BA is stocked with all things IKEA from the kitchen appliances, to cabinets and counters. The bathroom has IKEA sinks and storage, and the bedroom closets are all built around the retailer’s closet system. What has the world come to?? Check it out here.??
Don’t worry, you won’t need a plastic baggie of wood dowels and pressed metal wrenches to put the house together. It is delivered in a couple of pieces and assembled on the spot. What do you think? Would you buy a house from IKEA?
Have a great day. Let me know if you need anything.
My Best,
Matt
Well…there it is, my response to your post. While I doubt that we’ll ever satisfy everyone, I’m very proud of the value we’re providing our users. If you’d like to discuss this Marc, let’s have a conversation. Who knows, you might become our next raving fan. ?
Best,
Dan
[email protected]
@DanStewartHG
PS – special thanks to our happy customers who’ve commented above. <3
Dan,
Not sure how I’m supposed to respond to your advertisement here on my blog. However, I will keep it posted here and let readers judge your product for themselves. If they believe these email samples are a good idea and a good way for them to represent themselves, then by all means, I hope they don’t listen to me and contact you guys for a subscription.
I wrote this piece specifically about Pop a Note. Not your product. Had it not been for the comments left by your fans, friends, customers, I would have stayed out of your sand box completely. In fact, I believe I applauded one of your customers here for her use of your product.
As far as I can tell, HP is somewhat different since you allow agents to edit these musings. However, in examining what you sent me and comparing it with one I received from an agent where she asked me about Star Wars and The Force suggesting I use the force to contact her about real estate services, I remain firm in my belief that these messages are peculiar and not something I would endorse.
For a personal or individual brand to send messages about flying cars to people they’ve interacted with over a very personal transaction like real estate stands well outside textbook marketing. And really, it’s outside my own belief system, which is what my post was about. I simply do not believe that this sort of marketing is a good idea for an agent, a masseuse, a plumber or anyone who performs a service for another individual. Why? Because these emails aren’t written by the agent and I believe that after such an emotionally trying experience like a real estate transaction, the least an agent can do it send personal notes they write.
That’s how I feel. I realize I am in the minority. I am fine with that.
But maybe I am wrong. I’d love to see actual screen shots of the testimonial emails because as a marketer, I like facts direct from the source. But more importantly, and in good spirit, I’d love to interview Sarah, CEO, founder and Cindy and get their take on the product. I would then publish those interviews along with a glowing review of your product and include an image of me eating crow.
If I am proven wrong, I will absolutely stand corrected. Until then, I can respect you as a person and commend you on a gallant rebuttal.
Marc
Marc,
I think Happy Grasshopper might be appropriate for use by many agents I know, but I don’t think my clients would accept or appreciate emailings like that from me. I think my tendency would be to pull something I thought might be universally interesting from Neatorama, Mental Floss, Life Hacker or Holy Kaw! and send that with a personal message and a little soft marketing. I try to make my communications reflect MY personality and brand.
Hi Marc,
You know, I really like you. It’s easy to respect people who aren’t afraid to express what they believe in, more so when they are willing to admit they may be wrong.
Although I appreciate your offer to eat crow, I’d much prefer helping you arrive at an understanding of the true value that HG provides. To that end, I will happily submit to whatever level of investigation you require – including screen shots, interviews and blood spatter analysis.
The video link in my reply above does provide some direct indication of what our customers think. As for what the recipients think, and as evidenced by “Sarah’s” reply above (I actually changed her very unique first name – but will forward to you the entire exchange upon receiving permission from my client), she is under the impression that Matt (actual first name) writes the messages himself.
It sounds like Matt does a better job editing his messages than the person who suggested you use the force to hire her. That is not an edit I would recommend.
As for being “well outside textbook marketing”, thank you for the compliment.
I’m glad we’re having this conversation Marc and I will look forward to getting to know you.
Best,
Dan
PS – I neglected to clean up some formatting traces when pasting my reply from Word, which caused excessive question marks to clutter up my previous reply. My bad.
In the days since I wrote this post, Dan Stewart of Happy Grasshopper, a product that has similarities to PostaNote, sent me enough testimonials of his product sent from recipients of his customers. (agents). Though I’ve chosen to not take the time to actually follow up and interview the people who have sent the testimonials (I just couldn’t find the time) I will keep to my word and report back on this information.
Clearly, it appears from these emails that some people like receiving them. Well, at least that’s what these people write back to the agent. I have no information on who these people are or what their relationship is to the agent. They could be close friends and relatives. But these testimonials do not change my belief about this form of marketing. To me, it makes no sense to touch your audience with obscure missives about arbitrary things that have nothing to do with with what an agent does as a business or a service. And it make less sense to me for any brand, albeit a major one or personal brand to let strangers compose messages and send them to your database without even a clue as to whether the content sent is of any interest to the recipient.
This also doesn’t change my opinion that marketing is still best when done by the brand and when the message directly target the needs and interests of the recipient.
This also doesn’t change my opinion of PostaNote and the promises being made by its spokespeople.
The real estate industry is fortunate in the vast amount of options and solutions available to it. There’s something for everyone. But my advice to my readers, research everything before you buy and ask yourself whether a product like this would be something you would want to receive if it were sent from the brands and people you do business with.
Totally on the mark, Marc. There is always a vendor to play on Realtor laziness, as there are always Realtors willing to pay for the Magic Bullet. This is my favorite Realtor exploitation ad of all time: “Post. Tweet. Blog. Without doing a thing” http://goo.gl/Aztkk
Joe,
Toll takers are lazy. Motor Vehicle employees even more so. Agents – no. They’re too busy working a hard job to be lazy.
But I think I know what you mean. It’s their lack of bandwidth to deal with things not absolutely critical to the daily process. And given the fact that acquiring a deep level of understanding of things not often part of the initial skill sets needed to be an agent (marketing, branding, technology, SEO, social media) most agents don’t know if the product or advice they are being given is good or not.
I’m like that with stock investment advice. So I just trust my stock broker. What might be construed as laziness, is really the agents trusting the person, vendor or product. Especially if the pitch comes from a perceived source of reliability. Or promises big results without ever having to do anything.
A similar product to PopaNote promises this on their site: “Stop worrying. Send consistently. Get replies.”
Stop worrying. As a marketer, I’m always worried. And continually analyzing my marketing to make sure it’s on taget and effective.
Send consistently – Really? How bout chill the #$%! out and send only something when you have something important to send. You’re agents not CNN.
Get replies – What sort of replies? “Hi Bob, thanks for sending me an email about Captain Kangaroo. Can I buy a house from you today”
Most big time digital marketing doesn’t get replied too. Do you call Groupon or Sur Le Table when you get their digital ads? Do the research. Big brand digital marketing results in 14-35% open rate. 35% is a fantastic open rate but it’s just an open rate. It’s not a click through which is often far less not a “reply” which is far far less.
Only a schooled marketer, a cynic or someone who has really experimented with marketing would know this. Most agents know a ton about real estate but really, why would they ever know this? So they trust the pitch.
Combine big promises, with deep desire, a desperately limited bandwidth and the perfect storm of opportunity is created for fiction being spun into fact.
I don’t think it’s laziness Joe. I think it’s really just people being taken advantage of.
Marc, the laziness of the person doesn’t really matter; its that they are willing to spring for any shiny object or magic bullet without understanding or considering the consequence of what the tool does or how silly they might look to the connected consumer.
I have to agree with that completely. Would be great if readers here could offer up alternative ideas for agents to help get them off that and onto doing something simple and more effective. Effective as in not offensive or bizarre. Like the Instagram photo idea I posted here. Would love to see a a half a dozen things you and other agents/brokers do that work. Anything that can help the readership do better.
Thanks Joe
Advice: I think the key is being yourself. The public is tired of stereotypical real estate agents. Let them see through your Facebook posts (Like it or not Facebook is where everyone probably needs to start – while I don’t care much for it and am migrating to Google+, FB is still the 900 pound gorilla of social and brings me more business than any other platform)that you are a real person doing real life things instead of just shoving your listings down their throats. If you blog, be real, have opinions, draw conclusions and don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself. Keep it simple. Keep it real, and keep your content interesting, and by all means, respond when someone does want to engage.
“Keep it simple. Keep it real, and keep your content interesting, and by all means, respond when someone does want to engage.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself Joe. Would have liked that comment if I could. Great insight.
Thank you for the writing. I would say the 90% to 11% figures say it all.
My natural inclination is to agree 100% with Marc’s perspective, but I do appreciate counter arguments – it makes one think and challenge assumptions.
I spend a ton of money and time on marketing: direct mail, newsletters, blogsite, video and email newletters. I get business, but I always think I should be getting more. Is my message right? Am I connecting? Do they even notice? These questions can keep me up at night. Every agent/broker knows they need to market themselves, but “how”? – that’s the question. Everyone has a solution:
- Video service providers: “You *must* do video”
- Blog service providers: “You *must* blog regularly”
- IDX providers: “You *must* have a website with listings”
- etc..
And so it goes – there is no end to the noise. I don’t think laziness or lack of voice or writing skills is the problem. The biggest problem is knowing what to do that actually works.
There are few barriers to entry to get into this business, but there’s huge barriers to being successful. Mastering a marketing strategy that works is one of the biggest.
BTW – I can’t imagine ever sending emails like the Grasshopper examples since it doesn’t reflect my brand …. but there’s definitely something to learn from the approach. Perhaps I should broaden my perspective.
The comment from Scott above really sums it up…..there are few barriers to entry, but huge barriers to being successful. Realtors are easy prey for marketing companies, especially considering that so many are basically unsuccessful and searching for ways to find something magical. Just look at the large franchises – its all about numbers and offering up products are “dumbed down”. Is is really dreadful.
In this thread no one really offered up for review an example of what they consider “original” marketing. Well, here is something. We put effort each month into created a themed newsletter that reflects who we are and what we do:
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs091/1102213396385/archive/1109242182857.html
Michael,
How about instead of struggling with a monthly email, we take just a little bit of time to regularly blog, or post something to the social media that reveals something about us, how we think, how we work, and what we do. I get more clients from branding myself in an honest, straight forward way though my blogs and social media.
I love this idea Joe but you know, not everyone can write a Blog. I include myself in that category given the stuggles trying to publish on a regular basis. I feel there is a certain writing skill one must posses to craft a blog that people gravitate toward which is often a bit intimidating for novice writers.
But then again, a blog doesn’t have to be a blog or a 700 word article. It can be image based such as One Hot Property a day. Or one great deal a day. Or random photos of the locale with a simple, 140-250 word description. There is a mens fashion designer whose Blog I subscribe too that is about as spartan as it gets when it comes to content. One Image. Few words. It’s so easy to read and keeps me the reader, who is a customer of the product, continually engaged. Here’s a link to a blog post: http://pskaufman.com/?p=1114
Conversely, there’s a brokerage in Texas that publishes a monthly calendar of events and sends it out the first of every month to it’s database.
The open rate on that is stunning. Then again – it’s a no brainer. It’s great content. People like it. And it screams local.
That’s great marketing!
Thanks for continually contributing to the blog Joe.
It really doesn’t matter if you blog or not, or if your post is 15,000 words or a single image. If you pick one platform, say Facebook for instance, and do it well, you will build your brand and get loyal customers.
It’s really all about attitude. My advice to realtors trying to get an online foothold:
1.Forget about advertising
2.Only post interesting and useful content
3.Keep it local
4.Keep it REAL!
Michael,
Really appreciate you posting a sample of what you’re creating. As an advocate for self publishing this is more in line with my sensibilities.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to offer some counseling on how you or anyone publishing content rich newsletters like this can improve upon what you’re doing.
Numerous studies are conducted on attention spans as well as the limits of time people will devote to email content or email marketing. Given the seconds you have to lure the recipient in and impact them with your marketing, consider reducing the overall volume of content (25 individual features in your newsletter) by about 75-80%.
A Groupon for example, which is a highly tested and manicured piece of digital marketing, contains only 6 elements – all of which include a great photo of a compelling product or service. Note the total of characters used for all the copy in Groupon. Minimal. The Groupon I received this morning probably has 500 characters total for all 6 features combined.
Going through your newsletter, here is a short list of things to consider doing for you next one. Remember, A/B testing is a marketers best tool. Send a few out over the next few weeks with these changes, monitor open and click through rates and then change it up and add a few more things or consider editing your newsletter down to 3 elements and test how that does.
Here’s a list of changes.
- Cut the elements in your newsletter down to 3-6 features tops.
- Keep the copy of any feature under 400 characters.
- Rethink the calls to action. Replace “Learn More” with “Keep Reading”, “Continue Reading”, “Read More” or just “More”.
- Use buttons instead of text links for the secondary calls to action.
- Minimize the elements toward the top. Currently there’s the Newsletter Title, Real Estate Resources, Your name, 3 images, Inside the 207, News, Trends, & Observations, the date, Greetings, A quote; this is a lot of information the eye must deal with before the reader hits the main feature which doesn’t seem to contain a proper headline.
- Speaking of headlines: Craft a short, snappy, compelling one that will pull the reader in.
- Move the left rail of features to the right. Lodge the main body of content to the left. For an even better flow, use the entire width of the page for the main feature and bury everything else below it in horizontal grids. View a Groupon and mimic that layout.
- Move the social chiclets down to the footer.
- Consider including your phone number or main Website URL.
- Add a “Forward to a Friend” link toward the bottom
- Add a “Subscribe to this Newsletter” link
- Add a “Unsubscribe to this Newsletter” link
As a marketer, I recommend signing up for email newsletters from some of your preferred brands. Review them for content, imagery, Calls To Action, Layout, Contact, etc. You may discover that aside from from news publication like NYTimes, Mashable, Tech Crunch, you won’t find many, if any, service or product brands that market themselves using an abundance of content.
While we at 1000watt encourage readers and clients to broadcast as if they were the media with content written in-house, we also advise believe in keeping things simple. Making it look beautiful. And hitting on topics you know people will find interesting.
Good luck Michael.
Marc, thanks for taking the time to provide such a detailed review. Your insight is appreciated. We are preparing to issue a newsletter this week, so we will definitely implement some of your suggestions. The timing is perfect!
No problem Michael. If you are publishing once a week, editing it down to fewer features will really help. Let us know how it goes.
Market Leader send me this today via email.
http://app.en25.com/e/es.aspx?s=3091&e=20217&elq=3ff4f443c153409ca9cb727dbdcae2d2
Notice how simple it is.
A graphic.
Teaser Text.
Simple Copy.
One strong call to action.
This is the framework for great digital marketing. The recipient can scan it. And get it. That makes people feel good about the brand doing the marketing. They respected the users time.
That sort of emotion goes a long way.
Thoughts?
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