Blogging for advertising

by Alex Beattie on August 2, 2010

Blogging as an advertising medium?

It’s obvious that the internet and the marketing of real estate (including luxury real estate) have merged. You might be slightly out of touch to believe otherwise. It’s also okay if you do. If what you’re doing is working, why change? If the money you’re spending on advertising is not working the same as it did four or five years ago, there is probably a good reason for it.

As for why it’s not working, I’m not sure I have all the answers. In fact, I’ll bet spending 50 grand a year on gorgeous printed magazines will pay off. Of course, it may be more if you consider all the other marketing expenses (i.e., fee to your respective brand, fees for banner ads.)

As far as banner ads are concerned, you need not even click on this link about banner advertising efficacy:

Being a familiar name takes you miles closer to closing a sale. People like to buy from companies they’ve heard of.

It turns out that this is an overlooked benefit of banner ads.
Banner ads are fairly worthless in terms of generating clickthroughs… you have to trick too much and manipulate too much to get clicks worth much of anything. But, if you build ads with no intent of clicks, no hope for clicks… then you can focus on ads that drill your name or picture or phrase into my head. 100 impressions and you’re almost famous.

A household name. Not for everyone, but for people who matter.

That was a year ago, also. If this is true, and you’re not getting an ROI, doesn’t it make sense to stop spending over 50 thousand dollars a year hoping that it will start working?

One thing I’m absolutely certain of is that marketing your brand online is cost effective. And writing online for your brand is not as simple as a facebook status update. If you are writing online (or blogging, which I write with extreme caution because it has the tendency to be equated to the LOLcats or to a personal journal), and you do it everyday with the same idea that the 50 thousand dollars a year in ads you’re spending, you’ll probably save about half, if not more.

P.S. The reason I haven’t been maintaining this blog is because I’ve been building semantic sites for agents. Li Read, someone I admire as well as someone who frequently made brilliant insights contributing to this blog (in the past) is about to prove my point. It starts tomorrow. Watch.

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Real estate websites

by Alex Beattie on July 19, 2010

Real estate websites that are informative, helpful and easy to navigate are the only websites that I would even remotely consider when I go to buy a house again.

Of course, this is a luxury real estate blog (for the most part). Other times it’s a marketing “in the internet age” blog.

After looking at real estate websites for almost 4 years, it just seems that it’s always too much information. Most likely if I’m going to real estate website, I’m going to be looking for … real estate. Yes, believe it or not. Also, however, I’d like to know that you would like to do more than just sell me a property. I’d like to know a bit about you. I’d like to know that you care enough about your business to update it. I’d also like “ease of access” to your listings.

It’s still a “tough market” for agents. It might be for a while, but it won’t be for people who invest in their website. And I don’t mean the “latest and greatest.” What I do mean is transparency and authenticity in what you are portraying your services as. It should be easy, right?

That’s why I’m an extreme advocate in “blogging.” Not because of network of ads, but it provides a level of competence, compassion for the consumer (that would be me) and your expertise doing what you’re actually doing. If you practice a little bit (just like anything – i.e., tying your shoes) you’ll get good at it. If you are trying rank your blog for search or keywords, that is not difficult either. It’s also not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a good thing. If you are the real estate agent who offers the best services in Las Vegas, NV, I should know about it.

A real estate website with an XML feed is not going to help you when the market recovers, however rich applications will. This much I’m sure of. Why? Because it is what the next generation of buyers demand.

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After thinking a little bit more about the last post on luxury marketing… then, I read Clay Shirky (again). Or, at least I read this article of his in the WSJ.com—a newspaper, ironically enough.

The point was not to call attention to situation. Nor was it to shed any light on economic hardships or profits in a distinct medium. I am not an analyst. But, I am in an interesting (though sometimes difficult) situation of real estate marketing and its respective mediums.

Perhaps some might say…

print works… clients like it

That is true, of course. How could it not be? If your client wants to be (or wants their home) in a magazine or the newspaper, it is true.

Some might say…

Not all my clients use the internet…

Ok… this would have to be true, also difficult to imagine.

Others might say…

People believe what’s printed more than they believe what’s online.

For this, I will defer you to Clay Shirky’s link again. Specifically, pay close attention to happened because of print. I’ll even quote a piece of it for you here:

As Gutenberg’s press spread through Europe, the Bible was translated into local languages, enabling direct encounters with the text; this was accompanied by a flood of contemporary literature, most of it mediocre. Vulgar versions of the Bible and distracting secular writings fueled religious unrest and civic confusion, leading to claims that the printing press, if not controlled, would lead to chaos and the dismemberment of European intellectual life.

These claims were, of course, correct. Print fueled the Protestant Reformation, which did indeed destroy the Church’s pan-European hold on intellectual life. What the 16th-century foes of print didn’t imagine—couldn’t imagine—was what followed: We built new norms around newly abundant and contemporary literature. Novels, newspapers, scientific journals, the separation of fiction and non-fiction, all of these innovations were created during the collapse of the scribal system, and all had the effect of increasing, rather than decreasing, the intellectual range and output of society.

For me, what this says is that the opportunity for your clients—and us, the people being challenged by this shift—is huge. Even traditional media outlets like NCI have the biggest opportunity since the Dark Ages. We all have that.

It doesn’t mean that sending a beautiful magazine to someone doesn’t have a distinct advertising impression. That’s not at all the case. The point is that beautiful magazines got that way for a reason… and they, alone have the power to be part of what is digitally output. So do individuals…

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Here’s some news about the future of luxury real estate marketing.

the cluetrain letters

Of course, this news is not shocking. This has been happening for quite some time. It’s been discussed here in great detail on this blog.

This is what is written about NCI, their late payment and “debt-restructuring“:

NCI is in the enviable position of generating more than enough cash to fund its day-to-day operations.

Really? To whom? I’m not suggesting that it is a shameful position to be in. The only shame would be to keep putting cash into the day-to-day operations. Not because the business of publishing has changed or drifted, or however you choose to frame it, but because putting more cash into it is part of the problem. Blame the internet all you want. But the internet is not a medium. (Please see Cluetrain. specifically #11,12… ah heck do yourself a favor, read them all.)

Here’s the “shortlist” of the publications:

  • The Real Estate Book
  • Apartment Finder
  • Unique Homes
  • Ultimate Homes
  • Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles
  • Atlanta Home Improvement
  • For a more complete list, click here.

    My point is this. There’s a huge shift and it’s well documented in this book too: The Power of Pull. Authors Hagel, Brown and Davison elegantly outline what is happening and needs to happen in order for “putting more cash” to have an effect upon organizations.

    Again, it’s not the “magazine.” It’s not “print.” It’s about the way these platforms are utilized as venues. (i.e., building relationships, trust and transparency.)

    While the NCI publications are not “the news,” per se, their foundation is predicated on the scoop, the story and information that wasn’t common knowledge. Here’s a bit from Buzzmachine.com, which I’ve referred to before. But think about it. Then ask,  Does it really make sense to throw money into this?

    So to try to transpose old business models to this new business reality is simply insane. Just because people used to pay in print they should pay now—when the half-life of a scoop’s value is a click, when good-enough news that’s free is also a click away, when the new newsstand of Google and Twitter demands that you stay in the open, searchable and linkable? This argument I hear about pay walls comes from emotional entitlement (readers should pay—when did you ever see a business plan built on the verb should?), not hard economics.

    The hard truth is that news organizations will shrink or die. No longer monopolies or oligopolies, the barrier to entry to their kingdom and business reduced to an inch, they simply cannot maintain their old scale, the size and margins that the City demanded. A new ecosystem of news, made up of countless smaller players operating under varying means, motives, and business models, will undercut the big, old institutions. The hard iron that once was their advantage—the presses and trucks—now become a killing weight around their craggy necks.

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    Karl Nettgen has a new website (being designed by Artisan Branding, LLC … yes, slightly promotional, I know…). It is appropriately called KarlNettgen.com. It also is all about Gold Beach Oregon Real Estate.

    It’s an interesting blend of dynamic content from the “social” media realm. [How I loathe the use of social media as a trend or marketing trick.]

    gold beach and artisan branding

    gold beach and artisan branding

    It’s also cool because I’m working on helping Karl develop it. What’s interesting (on a personal note) is that we are incorporating all of the things that this ‘blog’ spoke of way back when… actually using the “Power of Pull” as opposed to “push.”

    Hope you’ll check it out.

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    What are the best social media luxury blogs according to google?

    If you clicked the above link, it is interesting to note—mostly because it was unintentional. It’s interesting because this blog is about (more often than not) how you can utilize social media in your marketing of luxury goods.

    It never occurs to me to get this blog listed for anything. Further, it is a personal choice that I not use superlatives because of my inchoate grammar and style of writing. For the most part anyway. (pardon the pun… )

    On that note, here is Nicki and Karen‘s 12th most viewed photo on flickr:

    25919 Dark Creek

    Have the most luxurious lovely day! And, by the way, thank you to you (and google) for this accolade. Celebrate we will … that this blog as at least one of the best social media luxury blogs out there. If not for you, it would not even exist… also… flickr is a cool blog.

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    LuxuryRealEstate.com is a network of real estate professionals that has cornered the market on affluent memberships.

    They have a few annual conferences a year that literally span the globe. To name a few places where their loyal members have been before:  France, Austria, Vegas, Vail… you get the idea … I don’t want this to come off as one of those P.R. junkets you see too often on splogs. (Piecing this luxury blog together has been a difficult task as it is.)

    I’m privileged to know and have met most of the LRE.com “braintrust.” They are all just as exceptional, astute and classy as their website and the events they hold.

    I don’t think I’m going to be at the next one, but I would if I could. And, if your business is in luxury real estate, you’d be hard pressed to find a group that gets together and shares marketing and training tactics like the event that is going to be in Miami at the Ritz-Carlton next week.

    I’ll be there in spirit ;) … Here are the details to the 8th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat:

    2010 8th Annual Luxury Real Estate Spring Retreat

    • When: Tuesday, May 4, 2010 to Friday, May 7, 2010
    • Where: South Beach, FL
    LuxuryRealEstate.com

    LuxuryRealEstate.com

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    Real estate ratings

    by Alex Beattie on April 26, 2010

    Real estate agents serve a necessary function in a real estate transaction. The BLS, a government agency, points this out in certain terms.

    A real estate agent’s job description is defined by the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics.):

    One of the most complex and significant financial events in peoples’ lives is the purchase or sale of a home or investment property. Because of the complexity and importance of this transaction, people typically seek the help of real estate brokers and sales agents when buying or selling real estate.

    Real estate brokers and sales agents have a thorough knowledge of the real estate market in their communities. They know which neighborhoods will best fit clients’ needs and budgets. They are familiar with local zoning and tax laws and know where to obtain financing for the purchase of property.

    Brokers and agents do the same type of work, but brokers are licensed to manage their own real estate businesses. Agents must work with a broker. They usually provide their services to a licensed real estate broker on a contract basis. In return, the broker pays the agent a portion of the commission earned from the agent’s sale of the property. Brokers, as independent businesspeople, often sell real estate owned by others; they also may rent or manage properties for a fee.

    You can find the remainder of the Nature of the Work of a Real Estate Agent here.

    At first blush, this doesn’t appear to be a position that can be replaced by a “rating system” or a “customer satisfaction bonus.Movies are given star reviews. So are kindergartners. Oh, don’t forget that Amazon and Apps for the iPhone also use a community based rating system which works quite well for the community and the product. Real estate agents are not a product. Furthermore, an agent is not “supposed to help you” they are your agent!

    If the function of a business is to remove the human element, there must be an excellent reason for the automaton. Why would you want a robot helping you with an investment such as a house? I don’t even own a vacuum that functions on its own, though I do think it is a good idea. But an automated vacuum is quite different from a person assisting you in a major transaction.

    Buying a home is not an impulse buy. A book or a 1.99 App for your iPhone is; hence, the five star rating system. Rating agents like this is dubious, at best.

    One more problem I have with the model:

    Its underlying premise is: real estate agents are not going to give you the best deal because they work for a commission. This is entirely untrue. In so many ways. It implies that all agents were to blame for the housing crisis—which is not true—at all.

    Buying a home, as the BLS so keenly points out, is a one of the most complex and serious events in peoples’ lives. That is why you need an agent’s help. Even if they do make a commission.

    Some things are worth a little bit more money.

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    You still need an agent

    by Alex Beattie on April 23, 2010

    Maybe this is just me, but I don’t think that because someone earns a commission on a sale that the buyer might not get the best deal.

    There is absolutely no doubt that the internet—as a place, not a medium—has given far more power to the consumer. Ultimately, for real estate transactions, this means that the consumer is far more prepared. This is one of the primary shifts in the business of real estate. There is a wealth of information on the housing crisis, elsewhere. Google housing crisis).

    Personally, I’m not crazy about when a sales rep, when I walk into a store that sells batteries and remote control cars, pushes me for my phone number and tries to upsell me on products I don’t need. And I don’t like it for precisely one reason: They are trying to earn a commission—that is all. This is entirely different than when an agent that has dedicated one’s life to real estate transactions is selling a home.

    A real estate agent is not selling gadgets. They have domain knowledge of things that a website or a data feed will never provide. This is one of the ways they earn commission. Of course, their are others: contracts, knowledge of the area schools, past teachers, great little league baseball fields… the list could go on.

    Am I the only one who thinks that this type of mindset is what got us into the housing crisis in the first place? I guess I could have misinterpreted it, but who knows? Here is the link I am referring to:

    How buy works

    I am of the opinion that agents are forced to reinvent themselves… but so does everyone else, right?

    Love to hear your thoughts.

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    What is the best cheap advertising for real estate agents?

    Glad you asked.

    Sometimes you really do “get what you pay for.” But, not always.

    Cheap advertising is usually just that: Cheap. It is cheap because it has very little value. Of course, this is economics 101, right? If, in order to obtain something, there is no barrier to entry, then it certainly can’t be valuable (unless, of course it’s a gift—that’s an entirely different discussion.) But, value is ultimately what the consumer and the advertiser’s (agent or broker in this case) worldview is.

    I’ve been building and developing sites for luxury agents as of late. Why I decided to do this is 2 fold:

    • 1 When I worked as a print advertising rep, I got to know various mediums (i.e., print publications, print publication’s websites, broker and agent online aggregation services and major brokerage’s support for their agents). What I found was, in the luxury market, there were very few mediums that supported real estate agents in their luxury marketing. Hence, Artisan Branding & Consulting, LLC.
    • 2 I also enjoy it and think it will help agents and brokers. This is true. I believe 110% in what it is I’m doing is a) good for an agent and his/her client and b) good for the market.

    What I’m doing is actually customizing designs and functionality into these sites for agents. This is the solution I am offering to clients. Not in a flashy way. Not in a “templated” way either. It takes time to do this. And why shouldn’t it? If you are selling property that takes time to sell, why should you expect (or your clients for that matter) a canned, run of the mill, impersonal website? And yes it’s not cheap. If you want cheap, you can be online for free. Actually you can be online (and here’s the irony) as an ADDED VALUE when you invest in ANY, yes ANY printed publication. They all do this.

    Just to back up a minute, I wrote that “sometimes you really get what you pay for.” Logically, this would mean that the internet has no value. And, of course, to a medium (i.e. newspaper ads, etc.,) that is adding value with their internet service, you are likely getting nothing. No added value at all. Of course, anybody who actually believes that may need some help, but that is just me.

    If you’re a real estate agent and you believe that the internet is simply “added-value,” or worse you believe that you should just “be on the internet,” then read what NAR has to say about how buyers buy homes. And it’s a year and a half old, which is a LONG time on the internet.


    Primarily, sellers want agents to price their home competitively, market the property, find a buyer and sell within a specific timeframe.

    Home buyers are consistent in their expectations of real estate agents. Buyers thought the most important agent services are helping find the right house, and negotiating sales terms and price. Because agents often are chosen based on a referral, or were used in a previous transaction, two-thirds of buyers contacted only one real estate agent in the search process.

    Buyers used a variety of resources in searching for a home: 87 percent used the Internet, 85 percent used a real estate agent, 62 percent yard signs, 48 percent attended open houses and 47 percent looked at print or newspaper ads. Fewer buyers rely on a home book or magazine, home builders, television, billboards and relocation companies. Buyers most commonly start their search process online and then contact a real estate agent.

    When asked where they first learned about the home purchased, 34 percent of buyers said a real estate agent; 32 percent the Internet; 15 percent from yard signs; 7 percent from a friend, neighbor or relative; 7 percent home builders; 3 percent a print or newspaper ad; 2 percent directly from the seller; and 1 percent a home book or magazine.

    Eighty-seven percent of home buyers who used the Internet to search for a home purchased through a real estate agent, in contrast with 72 percent of non-Internet users who were more likely to purchase directly from a builder or from an owner they already knew in a private transaction.

    I’m not decrying print media. I love magazines. But, if it’s cheap, it’s probably cheap for a reason. Furthermore, if you hear that someone is going to “throw in the internet” for free, proceed with caution. The internet is not a fad, a trend or even worse: added value. It’s also not “cheap.” What’s cheap is that person that just opened up a facebook account that I’ve been talking to about business that suddenly wants me to be friends on facebook and be part of their facebook fan page.

    On a side note: Seth Godin has an interesting post today titled: How to buy a house

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