By Sean Cutright
Delta Media Group
I’ve spent a good amount of hours in the New Year looking to revamp myself, how to market my product, and my knowledge on the real estate industry.
Naturally, that has involved hours upon hours researching the industry, trends, competitors, and other companies that are influencing the real estate market.
What I’ve discovered is a disconnect between seller and real estate broker/agent. As real estate vendors, we all seem to assume we know what brokers in the industry need, while rarely asking or providing assets that are actually catered to the way real estate business is conducted.
Over the past two years I have heard several inquiries about products, features and functionality, and when I ask how this will be implemented, the inquirer’s answer is simply, “I’m not sure, but I was at a conference/speech and this speaker said that’s what we need for the future.”
In looking at these requests and how I’ve positioned myself among them, I realized why Delta Media Group is a profitable, growing business, and has been since 2000 under the same owners and management…philosophy.
Delta Media Group’s online real estate solutions were not designed by features, but by a business model. It just so happens, that business model has been immensely profitable everywhere it has been correctly implemented.
For reference, relate real estate Web systems to race cars. I can sell you a Dodge Neon with nice rims, a sporty spoiler, custom paint job, and an array of additional after-market accessories that spice the car up visually, and may even add a few horses. But in the end, no matter how flashy, you’re still driving on a 140-horsepower base engine that was never designed to race the way race cars need to.
On the other hand, I can sell you a Dodge Viper. You might not spend much additional time or money adding accessories, but you’re running on a 600-horsepower engine. Sure, it may cost you more, but the ROI is much higher, considering you’re actually getting an immediate bang for your buck instead of a glamorized piece of standard equipment that was never meant to actually benefit you in your field of competition.
The Viper’s engine was built by engineers that understand the philosophy of race cars, and know what it takes to build one. And that doesn’t mean that everyone who buys a Viper will go 200 miles per hour, or 0 to 60 in less than four seconds (as the 2008 model claims), but those that give a nice step on the gas pedal will.
Real estate tools are only as good as the broker that implements them. In today’s age, a brokerage will no longer be able to profit by having a website just because they’re supposed to have a website. Instead, it will be the Dodge Vipers of the industry that drive their owners to victory, and the race car drivers of the industry that purchase Dodge Vipers.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Would you rather be selling fish aquarium toilets?
By Sean Cutright
Delta Media Group
The winter, and this winter in particular, has seemed to light a flare under the “real estate recession” talks we’ve all been too fond of hearing for the past couple years.
While it’s true during this period that home sales have declined, foreclosures have increased, home construction has decreased, and many agents are leaving the industry, it is also true that there are plenty of ways to overcome the current market.
The Wall Street Journal ran a front age story Dec. 19 on Todd Brabender, a former media employee who spends his days e-Marketing newspapers around the country with press releases on peculiar products. One such product is the Fish n’ Flush, a $299 toilet/fish aquarium. The makers have sold 1,000 of them without spending a penny on advertising--only the fee Brabender charges to e-Market the product.
Another product Brabender took on was the Toilet Tattoo, which is a $9.95 toilet-seat appliqué. The creator claims Brabender brought her around $5 million in web sales on the product.
When consumers are ordering toilet stickers and fish bowls by the hundreds and thousands, one would assume the confidence to sell real estate. Granted, maybe the media would let you believe that the toilet accessory market is doing better than the real estate market is. I would argue that it all comes down to marketing.
Bradender is no specialist on toilet accessories. Instead, he’s an expert at marketing. He utilizes e-Marketing to gain an audience in the media, and the media publishes his press releases because they find a unique value in them on otherwise slow news days. This style of marketing may not necessarily follow the same track of success in real estate, but unique interactive property search maps probably won’t sell toilet appliqués either.
As agents, you likely already have the first component that helped Brabender sell the products he marketed: a Web site. The second is Brabender’s marketing.
Develop your marketing style to improve real estate sales. A slowing market only means you need to get more creative. But it also means the most creative brokers and agents will likely come out on top.
Take advantage of assets you have. Real estate web developer Delta Media Group builds unique URLs into their web systems for each listing from the MLS. Many agents using Delta Media Group Web sites cater their print ads to this, creating a “call to action” from their print ads to the Web page of each listing. This offers a more unique approach to finding a house because it allows the consumer to glance through a magazine, then go online directly to the listing they want without searching through 40,000 listings to find it.
When searching for homes in real estate magazines, agents utilizing this feature stand out, because they allow the consumer to quickly and effortlessly find the listing they want online, while other real estate agents and brokerages struggle to even find where to put the URL to their office Web site.
Another tool that will make you unique during listing presentations is Seller Reports. Sellers know the real estate market has trailed off over the past two years, and, now more than ever, want feedback as to the status of inquiries toward the sale of their house. Delta Media Group has developed an automated way of doing this online. Their system E-mails sellers once a week displaying the statistics of how many times their home has been viewed on the listing company’s Web site each week, and how many times it has been viewed on other sites throughout the nation that Delta Media Group markets it on.
Delta Media Group’s Seller Reports provide a competitive advantage when showing sellers why you are the agent to list their property. They also give some often much-needed feedback that the market is not always exactly how the media portrays it, and that Web sites are driving a considerable amount of traffic to listings.
Delta Media Group
The winter, and this winter in particular, has seemed to light a flare under the “real estate recession” talks we’ve all been too fond of hearing for the past couple years.
While it’s true during this period that home sales have declined, foreclosures have increased, home construction has decreased, and many agents are leaving the industry, it is also true that there are plenty of ways to overcome the current market.
The Wall Street Journal ran a front age story Dec. 19 on Todd Brabender, a former media employee who spends his days e-Marketing newspapers around the country with press releases on peculiar products. One such product is the Fish n’ Flush, a $299 toilet/fish aquarium. The makers have sold 1,000 of them without spending a penny on advertising--only the fee Brabender charges to e-Market the product.
Another product Brabender took on was the Toilet Tattoo, which is a $9.95 toilet-seat appliqué. The creator claims Brabender brought her around $5 million in web sales on the product.
When consumers are ordering toilet stickers and fish bowls by the hundreds and thousands, one would assume the confidence to sell real estate. Granted, maybe the media would let you believe that the toilet accessory market is doing better than the real estate market is. I would argue that it all comes down to marketing.
Bradender is no specialist on toilet accessories. Instead, he’s an expert at marketing. He utilizes e-Marketing to gain an audience in the media, and the media publishes his press releases because they find a unique value in them on otherwise slow news days. This style of marketing may not necessarily follow the same track of success in real estate, but unique interactive property search maps probably won’t sell toilet appliqués either.
As agents, you likely already have the first component that helped Brabender sell the products he marketed: a Web site. The second is Brabender’s marketing.
Develop your marketing style to improve real estate sales. A slowing market only means you need to get more creative. But it also means the most creative brokers and agents will likely come out on top.
Take advantage of assets you have. Real estate web developer Delta Media Group builds unique URLs into their web systems for each listing from the MLS. Many agents using Delta Media Group Web sites cater their print ads to this, creating a “call to action” from their print ads to the Web page of each listing. This offers a more unique approach to finding a house because it allows the consumer to glance through a magazine, then go online directly to the listing they want without searching through 40,000 listings to find it.
When searching for homes in real estate magazines, agents utilizing this feature stand out, because they allow the consumer to quickly and effortlessly find the listing they want online, while other real estate agents and brokerages struggle to even find where to put the URL to their office Web site.
Another tool that will make you unique during listing presentations is Seller Reports. Sellers know the real estate market has trailed off over the past two years, and, now more than ever, want feedback as to the status of inquiries toward the sale of their house. Delta Media Group has developed an automated way of doing this online. Their system E-mails sellers once a week displaying the statistics of how many times their home has been viewed on the listing company’s Web site each week, and how many times it has been viewed on other sites throughout the nation that Delta Media Group markets it on.
Delta Media Group’s Seller Reports provide a competitive advantage when showing sellers why you are the agent to list their property. They also give some often much-needed feedback that the market is not always exactly how the media portrays it, and that Web sites are driving a considerable amount of traffic to listings.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Increasing business in a decreasing market
By Sean Cutright
Delta Media Group
What is it that helps some real estate brokerages excel in weakened economies, while most of the rest seem to ride the recessing tidal wave?
Delta Media Group customers seem to know the answer, as many have utilized Delta Media Group’s products to better position themselves against fears of decreased real estate sales, budget cuts, and agent retention.
From the outside, Delta Media Group appears to be another real estate Web site vendor—a participant in a growing industry plagued by high turnover, escalated promises and sub-par delivery. But while it’s true that the Canton, Ohio-based firm builds real estate Web sites, that’s only the beginning of what Delta Media Group brings to the table for real estate brokerages.
“We consider ourselves more of a partner in real estate technology and marketing for the brokerages we work with,” Delta Media Group President Mike Minard said. “We provide a Web-based solution that is catered to how real estate agents and brokers work, and is proven to help increase sales, follow-up, agent recruiting, and more.”
Delta Media Group caters to the real estate industry so effectively because they have real estate agents on staff at nearly every level—from ownership to sales to programming.
“Our head programmer is a licensed agent and one of our board members is a successful broker/owner with over 40 years experience in the industry,” Minard said. “We utilize these advantages to build Delta Media Group’s systems around how the real estate market works, instead of providing bells and whistles that add flare, but no substance.”
Some Delta Media Group customers have netted millions in gross commission income (GCI) from purely web-driven sales, and many drive more sales from their Web site than any of their single real estate offices.
Don’t be fooled, though, Minard warns. No solution is the end-all-be-all in real estate.
“Delta Media Group is proven to work, and many of our customers tell us it’s the most profitable tool they’ve ever used in real estate,” Minard said. “We can say with confidence that, if used right, our systems will return your investment multiple times over.
“But, like anything, [the system] is only going to work this well when implemented correctly. If you sit back and don’t use the tools we give you, they won’t help much. But if you utilize the advantages you’ll have in your marketplace using Delta Media Group’s solution, you will excel.”
Delta Media Group
What is it that helps some real estate brokerages excel in weakened economies, while most of the rest seem to ride the recessing tidal wave?
Delta Media Group customers seem to know the answer, as many have utilized Delta Media Group’s products to better position themselves against fears of decreased real estate sales, budget cuts, and agent retention.
From the outside, Delta Media Group appears to be another real estate Web site vendor—a participant in a growing industry plagued by high turnover, escalated promises and sub-par delivery. But while it’s true that the Canton, Ohio-based firm builds real estate Web sites, that’s only the beginning of what Delta Media Group brings to the table for real estate brokerages.
“We consider ourselves more of a partner in real estate technology and marketing for the brokerages we work with,” Delta Media Group President Mike Minard said. “We provide a Web-based solution that is catered to how real estate agents and brokers work, and is proven to help increase sales, follow-up, agent recruiting, and more.”
Delta Media Group caters to the real estate industry so effectively because they have real estate agents on staff at nearly every level—from ownership to sales to programming.
“Our head programmer is a licensed agent and one of our board members is a successful broker/owner with over 40 years experience in the industry,” Minard said. “We utilize these advantages to build Delta Media Group’s systems around how the real estate market works, instead of providing bells and whistles that add flare, but no substance.”
Some Delta Media Group customers have netted millions in gross commission income (GCI) from purely web-driven sales, and many drive more sales from their Web site than any of their single real estate offices.
Don’t be fooled, though, Minard warns. No solution is the end-all-be-all in real estate.
“Delta Media Group is proven to work, and many of our customers tell us it’s the most profitable tool they’ve ever used in real estate,” Minard said. “We can say with confidence that, if used right, our systems will return your investment multiple times over.
“But, like anything, [the system] is only going to work this well when implemented correctly. If you sit back and don’t use the tools we give you, they won’t help much. But if you utilize the advantages you’ll have in your marketplace using Delta Media Group’s solution, you will excel.”
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