marketing » Technology Tools for Real Estate

Image Credit: Jonathan Mak*

The world lost an innovative giant when it lost Steve Jobs. For more than three decades, he has been the force behind many of the major advances in personal computing and consumer electronics.

In reading over the story of Jobs’ life, I was struck by how much real estate professionals can learn from him. Consider the follow:

He knew how to brand himself. In his later years, his black turtleneck became his trademark. Whenever we saw him in that shirt, we knew he was introducing a new product or a new service—something what would delight us or improve our productivity in some way. He, himself, became synonymous with the quality and originality of Apple products.

He was a leader, never a follower. Job’s accomplishments include a slew of firsts: the first commercially-available personal computer, the first easy-to-use operating system, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad. Other companies always find themselves playing catch up or trying to duplicate something that Apple thought of first.

A difficult situation didn’t seem to slow him down. In the 1980s, Apple’s board of directors fired him from the company he had founded. That might have been a blow to many people, but Jobs used his talent to create success elsewhere. During his hiatus from Apple, he bought Pixar Studios and turned it into a filmmaking powerhouse by showing the world that computers could be used to create animation for movies.

He insisted on quality and service. We know when we buy Apple products that the quality will be there, and that the product will work well. We also know that if we need help, the people at Apple will offer knowledgeable, enthusiastic assistance. Who doesn’t love visiting an Apple store?

He kept it simple; he made it fun. Lots of other companies build products for consumers, but Apple’s products are successful because they’re easy to use. Jobs’ was a master at identifying what the people wanted, and then figuring out a way to give it to them to in an elegant, simple-to-master package, that was fun to use.

Here are the take-aways for real estate:

Branding: Consumers seldom see a different between real estate companies and often no difference in individual agents. That’s because few companies and agents know how to set themselves apart the way Jobs’s did. Figure out a way to stand out from the crowd so people can purposely choose you.

Leadership: Are you a leader or a follower? What can you do to become an innovator in your market?

Thrive in tough situations: The situation probably can’t get much worse for real estate professionals than it is right now. So how can you refocus your thinking and use what’s available to you to thrive anyway?

Quality and service: Find ways to build both into everything you do for every client.

Keep it simple; make it fun: No one likes to deal with the details of buying or selling or renting a home. Your job is to make the process as easy and painless as possible. Do that well, and people will beat a path to your door.

*Tribute image designed by Jonathan Mak.

I’m pleased to introduce this guest post by Keith Hackbarth of RentersFriend.com who’s got great ideas about how to make QR codes—like the one you see here—work for you.

QR codes, short for Quick Response Codes, are currently a hot topic in the marketing world. They look like barcodes. If you look around, you’ll see them in newspapers, museums, and online blogs.

Consumers equipped with smartphones such as iPhone, Android, or Blackberry can take a picture of these codes and be instantly transported to a website with helpful information about the properties.

Realtors and property managers have started placing these QR codes on their signage and brochures. For example, a rental property might have a QR code on the “For Rent” sign in front. Walk-by traffic will see this code, capture it on their phone, and instantly get a virtual tour of the property. Best of all, the QR code will also be stored in the phone’s memory for later reference.

To get started with QR codes, download “QR Reader” or “QR Scanner” software on your phone. There are many free applications, such as Google Goggles, for this. Next take a picture of the code and follow the link.

Ask your signage company if they can put QR codes on your lawn signs, flyers, and business cards. It might make the difference between a vacancy or not.

About the author: Keith Hackbarth is CEO of RentersFriend.com, a web service for online rental applications and credit checks. He loves finding ways to use technology to improve his family’s real estate business. If you own rental properties, take a minutes to check out his innovative service https://rentersfriend.com

As a real estate professional, one of your on-going tasks is self-promotion. You always want to make sure people know what you do and how to contact you if they ever want to buy or sell real estate. On the one hand, you’re always looking for ways to circulate your business cards and keep your name and contact information in front of lots of people. On the other hand, you—like all of us—want to discourage junk e-mail. These two goals, it seems, are mutually exclusive.

Most Internet security experts will tell you that the best way to minimize spam is to avoid the wide distribution of your e-mail address. They say things like don’t post your business card in public places and don’t drop it in that fishbowl when you’re visiting a restaurant. To avoid getting unsolicited e-mail, they say, you’ve got to keep your e-mail address as private as possible and only share it with your closest friends and associates. But people who are in business for themselves can’t really survive that way.

It’s a delicate balance, but there are things you can do:

Have a separate e-mail address for business. Never use your business e-mail to make Internet purchases or to participate in online forums or discussions.
Consider having some business cards printed that don’t include your e-mail address. These will be the ones you post in public places and distribute widely. If someone in possession of one of these cards needs to reach you, he or she can always call you.
If you have control over your website, make sure your e-mail address does not appear there for web bots to harvest. Instead have your webmaster create a form that prospects can complete and send if they need to contact you.
Also, find out from your webmaster what kind of spam filter you have and how to configure it so doesn’t inadvertently block e-mails you want to receive.
Never reply to suspicious e-mails. Instead, mark them as spam or delete them.

Discount marketing is all the rage and companies like Groupon and Living Social are growing fast by offering consumers discount deals on goods and services in all kinds of industries. This week, Groupon and Chicago-based Dream Town Realty have teamed up to offer a real estate discount. According to Dream Town, they’re the first residential real estate company to offer a deal like this on Groupon.

Here’s how it works: Consumers pay $25 for the Groupon. If 50 people purchase the $25 Groupon, each of them will receive $1000 back at closing. (If fewer than 50 people participate, the deal is off. But if more than 50 people participate, all will get the cash back as there is no limit to the number of Groupons available in this deal.) Buyers must close prior to 4/9/12 and sellers must list their home with Dream Town prior to that date. The minimum transaction price is $150,000.

As of this writing, with some 4½ days left before the deal expires, only 7 more people need to sign up in order for it to fly. Odds are, the deal will be on. The question is whether Groupon can give this brokerage a significant business boost in the midst of the current real estate downturn. We’ll all be watching to see how it works.

If you’re thinking of using e-mail marketing, make sure you honor these 7 habits for success:

1. Permission. One of the major reasons to launch an e-mail marketing campaign is to develop your relationship with prospects and clients. You can’t accomplish that without their consent. Also, permission is an essential first step for keeping everything legal.

2. Purpose. Don’t send e-mail just to be sending e-mail. Your campaign needs to have a purpose. Are you trying to find buyers in a tough market? Is your campaign designed to stay in touch with former clients even though they’re not thinking of buying or selling right now? Are you trying to solidify a client base for the future? Be clear about the goals of your campaign because what kind of marketing message you send out depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

3. Planning. Develop a schedule of what you want to send and when. Don’t bombard people with so many e-mails they grow to hate seeing your name in their inbox. On the other hand, don’t let so much time elapse between mailings that people forget they gave permission to receive your messages.

4. Privacy. Respect the privacy of your contacts and never use their e-mail addresses for anything other than the stated purpose. Make sure whatever contact method you use includes a surefire way to unsubscribe.

5. Pertinence. The information you include in your e-mails has to be useful, timely, and entertaining. Otherwise, it will never get opened and it will never be read: purpose defeated.

6. Professionalism. The best option is to work with an e-mail marketing company that designs your templates and prepares your message content. That way you know everything looks good and works right. If your budget is tight and you’re doing much of it yourself, at least do your research to find the best resources on the Internet.

7. People. Real estate is and always has been a people business. It’s people who buy and sell homes and it’s people who refer you to other people. So make sure your e-mail campaign is people-oriented. Infuse a bit of yourself and your personality and cater your messages to the needs and interests of real people.

For more e-mail marketing tips, see these 10 E-Mail Marketing Mistakes to Avoid.