{"id":12829,"date":"2010-08-01T07:00:39","date_gmt":"2010-08-01T14:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=12829"},"modified":"2010-07-31T21:31:45","modified_gmt":"2010-08-01T04:31:45","slug":"the-holy-grail-of-real-estate-marketing-what-actually-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12829\/the-holy-grail-of-real-estate-marketing-what-actually-works\/","title":{"rendered":"The Holy Grail of Real Estate Marketing: What Actually Works?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The only thing this marketing ignoramus can say with unshakeable confidence, is that marketing ain’t sales. The rest I’m not all that sure about. Though to be fair, the more I read, the more I’m confused. So many of those who put bread on the table giving marketing advice, disagree vehemently with each other on so many aspects of their trade. But that’s true in most disciplines, right? <\/p>\n

Anywho, the more I read, observe, and try to understand about real estate marketing, the more I wanna ask the one question I think is almost never asked. <\/p>\n

Is your marketing, whether in-house or from outside, producing bottom line<\/strong>, as in ‘your banker is happy to see you’<\/em> kinda results?<\/p>\n

Since I generally couldn’t market my way out of a wet paper bag, I tend to use what works, discarding the rest. I suspect some of what I have discarded, failed due to my poor execution rather than bad marketing advice. Though Lord knows, I’ve paid for some pretty worthless counsel. Here’s what’s on my new menu.<\/p>\n

  • Direct mail<\/li>\n
  • Warm calls following direct mail<\/li>\n
  • Blogging<\/li>\n
  • IDX on company website<\/li>\n
  • Seminars directed at ‘house’ agents — i.e. Rainmaker concept<\/li>\n

    What’s the Holy Grail of real estate marketing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    For my sake, let’s not make it too complicated. It’s marketing that predictably<\/em> delivers wicked good bottom line<\/em> results.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

    Did I say results? I meant results measurable in terms of increased bank deposits<\/strong>, not mountains of ‘leads’. Man, if there’s a marketing term that’s pretty much lost any real meaning these days, it’s ‘lead’. I’m surprised there isn’t a statue somewhere in homage to the lead<\/em>. If there was any justice, it’d be the statue sportin’ the most pigeons. <\/p>\n

    Let’s really trash what seems to be the prevailing concept of leads while we’re at it.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

    Have you noticed how most marketing people want you to base the success of any real estate marketing system they tout, upon the quantity of leads<\/em>, instead of increasing sales? Don’t get me wrong, they tell us<\/em> sales will go up, but for the most part they’re sellin’ ways to generate leads. To be fair, their logical retort is that Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The only thing this marketing ignoramus can say with unshakeable confidence, is that marketing ain’t sales. The rest I’m not all that sure about. Though to be fair, the more I read, the more I’m confused. So many of those who put bread on the table giving marketing advice, disagree vehemently with each other on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[533],"class_list":{"0":"post-12829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-marketing","7":"tag-marketing","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3170,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3170\/phoenix-real-estate-conference-teaches-realtors-and-lenders-the-brave-new-world-of-internet-social-media-marketing\/","url_meta":{"origin":12829,"position":0},"title":"Phoenix real estate conference teaches Realtors and lenders the brave new world of internet social media marketing","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). \u00a0Phoenix real estate conference teaches Realtors and lenders the brave new world of internet social media marketing What happens when you bring the brightest Realtors and lenders from all over the country to Phoenix for a social\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1718,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1718\/zillowcom-takes-on-bloodhoundblog-attempting-to-crush-the-future-of-real-estate-marketing-in-the-process\/","url_meta":{"origin":12829,"position":1},"title":"Zillow.com takes on BloodhoundBlog, attempting to crush The Future Of Real Estate Marketing in the process","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In a move that is either inspired or incredibly stoopid, Zillow.com will this afternoon launch a brand new group weblog devoted to real estate technology issues. This of course is a large part of the content of BloodhoundBlog and it is the entire focus of The Future Of Real Estate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2072,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2072\/where-is-the-epicenter-of-the-national-open-house\/","url_meta":{"origin":12829,"position":2},"title":"Where is the epicenter of The National Open House?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"You guessed it. Seattle, San Diego and the rest of the country had better get off the dime. Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate marketing","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7275,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7275\/putting-the-charm-back-into-crm-introducing-top-of-mind-networks-mark-green\/","url_meta":{"origin":12829,"position":3},"title":"Putting the charm back into CRM: Introducing Top of Mind Networks’ Mark Green","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Joining us today is Mark Green of Top of Mind Networks, a lender-focused CRM system with automated follow-ups. Mark is a database marketing expert, permission Marketing disciple and overall CRM junkie. He'll bring a dry wit, along with practical execution strategies that'll help you evolve beyond sending meatloaf recipe cards\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1854,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1854\/the-deadline-is-approaching-for-odysseus-medal-nominations\/","url_meta":{"origin":12829,"position":4},"title":"The deadline is approaching for Odysseus Medal nominations","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"After Sunday at noon PDT\/MST, you'll have to wait another week. Nominate posts here or use the old school form here. Remember that you need not be the author of the post. If you've seen something truly great this week, share it with the rest of us. Technorati Tags: blogging,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Carnivals"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Carnivals","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blog-carnivals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":97,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/97\/kicking-and-screaming-the-revision-cycle-that-will-lead-to-realtor-20\/","url_meta":{"origin":12829,"position":5},"title":"Kicking and screaming?: The revision cycle that will lead to Realtor 2.0…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 17, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Council of Residential Specialists is running a Promotional Materials Contest for CRS designees:Great promotional materials and a solid marketing plan lead to better name recognition, more clients and a better bottom line for your business. They can also lead to great cash prizes and peer recognition when you sign\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12829"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12838,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12829\/revisions\/12838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}