It comes across as a cheap alternative for marketing, advertising and PR types to sound like they're doing their jobs when they really haven't thought through their product well enough to promote it correctly.
I can envision the marketing meetings now.
Corporate type: "We need to sell more widgets and increase our market share. Any thoughts on how to do that?"
Marketing guru: "Well, the economy's in bad shape and consumers are cautious."
Corporate type: "How can we play that to our advantage?"
Marketing guru: "We need to emphasize how our widget helps people save money and live better. People are having a tough time. Our widget will help make life a little easier."
Corporate type: "Good. Put together the story boards/press release/etc. and let's talk Friday."
The marketing guru goes back to his office to rethink his conversation, looking for an angle to approach the story he just sold. He considers the economic news, unemployment numbers and shrinking consumer spending, and begins assembling his pitch.
And that's when it comes up.
"Now more than ever..."
"In times like these..."
Heck, just Google the phrase. You'll see 155 MILLION results. "Now more than ever" was a Nixon campaign slogan. It was the name of an album by Jim Guthrie. "Now more than ever" even appeared in the headline of a recent article about the Lakers on NBA.com.
Sadly, "Now more than ever" and "In times like these" are two of the most cliche lines in advertising over the past two years.The truth is, these lines are used intentionally to reiterate the financial struggles many families are going through and tell them the company is there to place a theoretical arm around them.
Is it true? Well, it's advertising. So take that as you may. Plus, it sounds good...at least until the 50th time you've heard it from 47 different companies over four different advertising mediums in the same week.
Companies are desperate to gain market share "in times like these." Often, the market as a whole is shrinking, so increasing overall sales is tough. Instead, companies need to take a larger percentage of the total market at the cost of their competitors. This is especially true in real estate. But cliched lingo won't do it.How can a real estate brokerage grow market share?
While there's no shortage of poorly written and researched advertisements out there, there is a shortage of effective marketing. But two marketing mediums are actually growing, while the traditional mediums are not. Those are online and mobile, and they're both absolutely necessary to continue to compete as the real estate industry and consumers evolve.
Online Marketing in real estate.
Online, the most effective marketing strategy is in way of search engine optimization. With continued declines in newspaper and other print medium subscriptions, more and more consumers are turning to search engines to find what they're looking for.
Having a good ranking among search engines is now essential for real estate brokerages looking to increase their market share. Brokerages have been able to get by in the past with a strong brand or reputable name. This will continue to be true, but without a search engine presence, those companies will lose a constantly increasing stream of new business to real estate brokerage and agent websites that are ranked higher in search results and provide their visitors with a more robust, user-friendly experience online.
Marketing real estate via Mobile.
Part of the ever-increasing growth in searches on search engines has come from mobile use. Smartphone users are growing by the day, and many of those utilize their mobile Web browser to find everything they're looking for. Upon finding that on Google or Bing, mobile users want to access a mobile website that is built to operate quickly, efficiently and cleanly, giving them the answers they want in the quickest possible time.
Apps are definitely a popular fad, but they're not supported on all mobile phones and don't tend to have the same retention rate as good mobile websites. Plus, apps can't be found via a quick Google search. Mobile websites can.
I know this isn't the most detailed blog post on mobile and SEO applications (I'll go into more detail on future posts), but the message is clear:
Now more than ever, real estate brokerages need a strong search engine and mobile presence in order to increase their market share.
Sorry...couldn't help myself.
