In these challenging economic times, agents need to do everything they can to effectively market a property. 

While serfs dined on roast chicken and ribs, King Arthur and his bride, Princess Guinevere walked among “their people.” Before every jousting competition, trumpets sounded the alarm as signals for the costumed to men mount their horses.

Was it a special party, anniversary or birthday? Not really. It was an open house for realtors to help them learn about Sam Joseph’s newly listed “Castlewood.” The home is an 1850 14-room castle in Llewellyn Park, NJ. Sam Joseph, Certified Luxury Home Specialist at the South Orange RE/MAX® office is known for organizing exceptionally memorable events like this. Sam consistently ranks in the top ten percent of northern New Jersey realtors and even in this current sluggish housing market, Sam is busy.

Read the full article about what one of our clients did at a recent open house.

If you have been saddled with the responsibility of integrating new, Internet based marketing ideas into your real estate business’ pre existing marketing plan, you know how difficult it can be to keep up with the latest trends and technology. Since even the largest real estate company has a limited marketing budget, you are constantly given the challenge of deciding if the new, high technology marketing method is better and should replace an old world method. In fifty years, we may look back on these advertising and marketing methods and shake our heads, but for now, these somewhat antiquated methods are still considered a good investment.

Let’s start with direct mail. To some, direct mail ranks right up there with flyering cars in parking lots in the prestige department, but there is a reason why every political campaign over the last 40 years has use direct mail: it works. The challenge, of course, is finding a mailing list that you can trust. You also have to design your mailing and find a good mailing house to get your design out to the public, but even with all of those headaches, direct mail can still generate more solid leads for a lower per-lead price than any other advertising method.

On the other side of the coin, radio advertising has shown dwindling results for the better part of twenty years. With more and more adults tuning into their iPods, fewer and fewer people are turning on the radio when they get behind the wheel. The only demographic that may still be worthwhile is the very old, so if your real estate business deals specifically with retirement properties, you may still find radio advertising useful. Otherwise, it is time to discover another avenue.

Finally, if you are still buying ads in your local newspaper, you may want to abandon the dead tree addition in favor of the online one. Newspaper readership has been declining at an even more precipitous rate than radio listenership, but online traffic to newspaper sites is rising significantly. Better yet, online ad rates tend to cost a fraction of what print ads cost, so not only are you likely reaching a more affluent audience, you are saving money at the same time. Newspapers aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, but they may be changing formats within the next few decades.  

It is no secret that the world of technology changes each and every day and it can seem like a full time job keeping up with everything the Internet is capable of these days. While some real estate professionals seem to enjoy flushing money down the toilet by having their entire website completely redesigned from head to toe every year, the rest of us know how to make subtle adjustments here and there to keep things fresh and continue to generate solid leads that turn into life long customers. Here are a few easy things every real estate professional can do with their website to keep things moving.

One major part of keeping up with the times is understanding the speed in which data moves across the Information Superhighway. In the late 1990’s and the early part of this decade, most computer users were still on 28.8 baud dial up modems and websites, in general, had to be kept fairly simple so that everyone could view your content. Today, the overwhelming majority of Americans are on high speed Internet of some kind and the amount of data that can flow at a high rate is significantly greater than it was five years ago. If your real estate website is still a bit basic, it is likely turning off customers who would view your site, and your business, as amateurish. This doesn’t mean that you need to load your site full of streaming video and other unnecessary bells and whistles, but it does mean you need to give your content an overhaul.

The real estate industry is powered by the photograph. With today’s high quality digital cameras, there is no reason why each and every home listed on your site doesn’t have a half dozen to a dozen unique, high resolution photographs posted for it. Connection speeds are more than high enough to allow for easy downloading, so take advantage of the available technology.

If you want to go even further, you can use video hosting sites like YouTube.com to upload video descriptions of the homes on your site and then embed the video directly on your website. That way, you won’t have to pay for hosting the video and you get to reap the benefits of streaming video.

If Mozart, Beethoven and Shakespeare were alive today, they likely wouldn’t be writing music or sonnets to express themselves, they would be designing websites. The sheer number of variations one can have on a website is akin to a palette of colors that includes millions of subtle variations. Today’s Internet savvy business owner must choose which bells and whistles to include that will help drive business and not scare it away. While this is a far from complete list, here are a few of today’s best features no real estate firm can live without.

One of the hottest new lead generating tools to hit the Internet recently is known as Klick2Kall Technology. This application only takes a moment to integrate into your existing website and allows for someone to call you via the Internet with a simple click. This technology is showing such promise that every major real estate business is said to be inquiring about this easy to install plug in. If you don’t get it, your competition likely will.

For years, the promise of streaming video has been tantalizingly out of reach, like a chocolate covered carrot on the proverbial stick, but thanks to sites like YouTube that allow you to host video for free and then embed it on a third party site (like that of your business), you can finally have your own video library that showcases everything from homes and condos to realtor profiles and anything else you can think up. The available technology has finally caught up to our imaginations, and now the sky is truly the limit. Any serious real estate company that doesn’t have its own YouTube channel is hardly even trying to make it in today’s hyper competitive business world. Free hosting, millions of visitors and all of the creative control you could ever want: sounds like a recipe for success to me.

No matter what kind of real estate business you find yourself in, we all face the same problem: turning leads into business. We invest huge amounts of money on newly redesigned websites, creative and funny email signatures, shiny new business cards and an intuitive phone system that pitches potential clients while they wait on hold, but the best tool of the Internet age for turning leads into cash has just recently hit the market. Known as Klick2Kall Technology, this simple button can be added to your business webpage in minutes. It allows anyone, from anywhere in the world, to simply click and be connected to you via the phone.

Klick2Kall Technology takes the guesswork out of wooing potential clients. You no longer have to try to talk someone into something or get them to send an email to an address that they may or may not transcribe off of your business card correctly. All they have to do is make a single click and they will be connected to your office so they can learn more about what you do. Best of all, Klick2Kall Technology is extremely affordable and will pay for itself within days of you installing it once you begin to make sales from the leads it helps generate. To say that Klick2Kall Technology is every salesperson’s best friend would be an understatement. This simple little button helps to generate real business where there simply wasn’t any before. If you are tired of working your fingers to the bone just to turn a few leads into sales, install Klick2Kall Technology on your real estate business’ website and sit back and watch the leads generate themselves.

It is only a matter of time until your competition hears of Klick2Kall Technology, so don’t waste another minute. They could be turning your potential leads into cash while you wait for conventional emails to trickle into your inbox. Klick2Kall Technology can make the job of any sales person simple.

Admittedly, the title is a bit of a misnomer.  The way the modern world works, it is practically impossible to be successful in real estate without a good marketing plan to back you up.  While you can get that plan from people who are experienced in the ways of real estate marketing, one of the best things you could ever do in order to increase the amount of customers that you get is definitely free and in most cases it is probably easy as well.

That thing, simply put, is to do a good job.

One of the most powerful methods of marketing that exist in the world today is word of mouth advertising.  This has always been the most successful method because it utilizes your former customers and has them explain your services to people they know.  Since the recommendation comes from someone they know and trust, the person is more likely to follow through on the recommendation and that in turn should illustrate just how powerful the word of mouth method can be.

In order to gain the benefit of word of mouth advertising however, you must do a good job.  If you’re a great agent, your customers will notice and they will then do some advertising for you when chatting with their friends and relatives.  If you don’t return your phone calls, do a sloppy job with your open houses, and generally ignore your clients’ best interests, you can count on getting a poor reputation. Good marketing can do a lot for you, but it can do even more if you make sure that the services you provide are top notch.

If you look around at all of the best real estate agents, you will notice that almost all of them have good service and good marketing as their one-two punch.  There are some exceptions to that just as there are in any field, but the easiest way to the top is to make sure you have a good marketing plan and the good service to back that plan up.  We can help with the first, but only you can do the second.

Today is an exciting time to be in the world of real estate.  In fact, it might just be the most exciting time in the history of real estate marketing.  This is a very bold statement to make considering the fact that advertising has had eras of great invention and great success before.

However, there has never been a period where so much was available to the agent in order to get things done.  The modern world and the internet in particular has created a marketing revolution, allowing people to use a website and ingenious marketing tactics in order to score millions of dollars in commissions through the online market.  These tactics, such as pay-per-click advertising, forum posting and e-mail list advertising have all been well-documented in blogs such as these and are an integral part of any real estate marketing campaign.

At the same time however, there are many old school methods of marketing that still work exceptionally well.  Mailers that hit people just as they are thinking about buying or selling are extremely effective, as are flyers and word of mouth advertising.  All of these are decidedly outdated methods for anyone that chooses to work solely through the internet, but for someone such as a real estate agent that still exists at least partly in the offline world, a combination of new and old in your marketing plan is the easiest way to ensure success.

There are new methods online that have bombed and been relegated to the trash heap of history.  Likewise, there are old methods that simply do not apply anymore because they have been replaced by something better online.  However, between those two extremes is a huge space that includes methods from the old and new schools of real estate marketing.  Using all of these methods selectively in situations where they might apply most is ultimately the best way to be successful in marketing your real estate services.

Depending on who you talk to, there are a number of different ways to actually compete in the world of real estate marketing.  However, all of these different methods can be separated into two distinct categories.  Depending on the methods that you prefer, you are one of two marketing types.

The first type is the numbers type.  If you fall into this category, your main goal is to get your marketing out there as soon as possible to as many people as possible.  While targeting might be important every now and then, it is only applied as an after-the-fact adjustment to an already existing campaign. 

Numbers marketers tend to be big proponents of the ready-fire-aim approach, and for this reason, they really enjoy using mass marketing techniques to reach as many people as possible.  There are certain fields where this type of marketing is not appropriate, but since almost everyone thinks about real estate at some point, this is a field where this type of marketing can work.  Utilizing multiple cheap methods of mass marketing can certainly score leads for you on a consistent basis if you do it properly.

The second type is the cautious type.  This is the marketing type that people use most often in niche fields.  Rather than marketing to a massive number of people and using statistics to ensure the scoring of leads on a regular basis, the cautious marketer will instead try to target their methods as much as possible.  This means that marketing to real estate audiences, websites or interest groups is the priority and whatever advertising method can get that done will be utilized.  Cautious marketers spend less money than numbers marketers on their advertising, but they also get fewer leads because of the caution.

The type of marketer you are is mostly determined by your personality.  Consider this question before you sit down to develop a comprehensive real estate marketing strategy. No matter what type of marketer you turn out to be, James Colucci Enterprises can serve your strategic marketing needs.

Web 2.0 Marketing can be a great way for you to reach people interested in entering the real estate market.  At the same time however, it is important to note that it can be fairly fickle - it can provide great dividends to you and your company or it can end up forcing you to flounder in uncertainty and waste hours of work with no real benefit to show for it.

The main advantage that web 2.0 marketing has is access.  When you combine MySpace, Facebook and YouTube, there are hundreds of millions of people that you can reach.  Chances are pretty good that many of them have thought about real estate recently, are thinking about it right now or will think about it in the near future.  And best of all, they all join groups and self-target, doing most of the actual marketing work for you.  With those kinds of numbers, a successful marketing campaign will definitely land you some sweet leads.

The main disadvantage of web 2.0 marketing is that in some ways it is very hard to accomplish.  Even at the start, these communities were all about meeting and making new friends and because of that they tended to be suspicious of people that were there for other reasons.  Doing web 2.0 marketing in a successful way requires walking a very fine line between selling your services while at the same time maintaining credibility as a good source of information for the community.

This rather interesting duality that comes with web 2.0 marketing is something that you can use to your advantage, but only if you know how.  A real estate marketing firm with experience in web 2.0 marketing can take the campaign from you and turn it into a powerful way to generate new leads. 

Have you ever dealt with a really annoying customer service representative? Quite often, you can get the feeling that these representatives are more concerned about themselves than they are about your situation. This can lead to feeling frustrated on your part and may make you want to avoid the company that you were dealing with entirely. Anyone who has owned or worked for a business knows that solid customer service skills, and connecting well with your clients to that you understand what they need and want, can help your business to go from being unknown to being everyone’s favorite business to deal with.

Technology has made it much easier to relate to customers in a variety of ways. To begin with, the internet has become responsible for allowing your customers to find you. Setting up a website is a vital piece of getting customers in today’s market. If you don’t have a website, you will have a very difficult time gaining new clients. Websites are also handy in that you can place your contact information directly on it, allowing someone to find your phone number or address much quicker than they would if they had to look through the phone book.

You can also add an email contact on your website. Having email is a great way to keep in touch with your clients without messing up your, or their, schedules. Just remember to respond to the emails you receive as promptly as you can, so that your clients and customers know that you are there to speak with them.

Blogs are also a good way to connect with your clients, and it can really give them a taste of who you are. The content of the blog can give them interesting information, while the tone can show them what kind of a person you are. For instance, if there is a touch of humor in your blog, they will know that you are a person who likes to enjoy life. If there is a more serious edge to it, they will be able to sense that you like getting straight down to business. Technology is an amazing way to help you to connect more solidly and regularly with your clients, and the more you use it, the more you will find that you will have customers who remain loyal to you.

Technology really is everywhere. No matter where you go, whether you’re in a large city or a small rural area, you’ll find wireless access points, allowing you to connect your laptop or cell phone so that you can download the latest in news and information. One of the most popular trends in today’s world is texting. It is not uncommon to find people spending large portions of their days texting their friends and family. At first, it is easy to believe that texting is a fairly annoying technological advancement – after all, isn’t it faster to speak with someone than to text? But texting comes with its own bonuses.

When you text someone, they can choose to ignore the message until they are ready to see it. This way they do not have to be bothered in a meeting or during their private time. The message holds on the cell phone until the user views it, which means that they will never miss the message that you are trying to convey to them. Because it is text, it is also a great way to get exactly what you’re trying to say across. You never have to worry that the person receiving the text message is going to forget what you said, because they will be able to read the message as often as they want.

Bringing in text messaging is a great way to help your firm gather loyal customers. There are plenty of programs that allow you to send mass text messages to specific groups of people, or you can text one individual. Say, for instance, you wanted to tell one or more of your clients the directions to an open house you believe they would like to see. You can simply text message them the directions, allowing them to have the easy-to-follow directions present and thus ensuring that they are able to find the open house. Text messaging is simple and very inexpensive, and it can be an amazing way to bring information to your clients.

Some realtors have been writing blogs for months and are wondering why no one is reading their content. Is this you? If you’re not integrating other interesting features into your blog, you will lose your readers quickly, making it worthless to continue to blog.

Camtasia is a fantastic way to invite readers into your life and into your business. Camtasia is a Windows based program that is designed to record a part (or the whole) of your computer screen. Camtasia is relatively simple to use and can be uploaded onto your blog or website quickly and easily.

What, then, can you use Camtasia for? Many realtors have chosen to use Camtasia to record “how to” articles, showing their readers in video form how to do many of the things that they have been inquiring about. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is worth 10,000 words. Camtasia is an easy to way to show your viewers exactly what you are trying to tell them in an easy to understand way.

Camtasia is also good for those who are great speakers. Camtasia has a voice-over feature, which allows you to narrate exactly what you are pointing at or demonstrating on the screen, giving your viewers the opportunity to learn exactly what you are trying to explain to them, while also bringing them more intimately into your world, as voice is much more intimate than words written down.

Whether you want to show investors a new online program or you’d like to help potential buyers better navigate your website, Camtasia can be a great way to do it.

If you are seeking for a way to interest your readers and viewers, give them something new to look at with a video created using Camtasia.

Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have become the new wave of advertising. By using these sites to market your brand, you can gain access to hundreds of thousands of potential clients, allowing you to get your message across quickly and easily without having to spend a fortune. Social networking sites may seem, at first, like they are designed for teenagers only, but studies have shown that users on MySpace and Facebook are over 25 years of age and have a fairly substantial income. In fact, it is believed that, on Facebook, over 23% of users make over $100,000 a year.

How can you make these social networking sites work for you? The first thing you have to do is to jump into them. They are very easy to figure out how to use and there are hundreds of websites offering free backgrounds.

The real trick to social networking online is to keep things interesting. No one wants to read a boring bulletin or blog, but instead are looking for a captivating headline and something that they would be amused to read or view. Videos often do well on your profile page, and they are a great way for those who have high speed access to be able to learn more about your firm, your current listings, and why they should choose you.

You may discover that it is easier to hire someone to do your ghostwriting for you on your page in order to keep your content interesting and easy to read. The more you think outside of the box when it comes to social networking, the more successful you’ll be as it is important to use the networking frequently and with an interesting flair. If you do so, you will be able to garner a large audience of followers, making your sales rise significantly.

Technology really is everywhere. No matter where you go, whether you’re in a large city or a small rural area, you’ll find wireless access points, allowing you to connect your laptop or cell phone so that you can download the latest in news and information. One of the most popular trends in today’s world is texting. It is not uncommon to find people spending large portions of their days texting their friends and family. At first, it is easy to believe that texting is a fairly annoying technological advancement – after all, isn’t it faster to speak with someone than to text? But texting comes with its own bonuses.

When you text someone, they can choose to ignore the message until they are ready to see it. This way they do not have to be bothered in a meeting or during their private time. The message holds on the cell phone until the user views it, which means that they will never miss the message that you are trying to convey to them. Because it is text, it is also a great way to get exactly what you’re trying to say across. You never have to worry that the person receiving the text message is going to forget what you said, because they will be able to read the message as often as they want.

Bringing in text messaging is a great way to help your firm gather loyal customers. There are plenty of programs that allow you to send mass text messages to specific groups of people, or you can text one individual. Say, for instance, you wanted to tell one or more of your clients the directions to an open house you believe they would like to see. You can simply text message them the directions, allowing them to have the easy-to-follow directions present and thus ensuring that they are able to find the open house. Text messaging is simple and very inexpensive, and it can be an amazing way to bring information to your clients.

As anyone who runs their own business can tell you, perception truly is reality. It doesn’t matter if you are selling hamburgers or sports cars, your image dictates popular opinion even more than the quality of the product you sell or how good your customer service is. If you project an image of quality, professionalism and trust, the customer is significantly more likely to walk in off the street and give your business a try. While these traits are important in every industry, the real estate business lives or dies by these attributes.

When people are spending tens of thousands of dollars, or hundreds of thousands of dollars, they need to believe that the company they are dealing with is going to treat them right. When you use a professional real estate marking firm to help brand and promote your business, you are making a lasting commitment to how your business is perceived by others. You are simply stating that nothing is more important than projecting the right image to your customer base and that you understand that image, above all else, will make or break your company.

How can a real estate marketing firm help improve your branding? There are several ways, both old and new. Many real estate marketing firms can help design a cutting edge website for you from scratch without the use of tired looking templates. They can not only create a beautiful and classy web portal but they can also incorporate the latest technologies, such as virtual tours and virtual slideshows seamlessly into your site.

Along with a strong voice online, a real estate marketing firm can also photograph, design and mail brochures and postcards that can spread your companies’ branding message far and wide. While direct mail and bulk mail may seem a bit antiquated to some, essentially every adult in the United States receives mail, and there is no better way to get everyone’s attention at the same time than with direct mail and bulk mail campaigns. Direct mail and bulk mail is also one of the most cost effective ways to reach such a large audience. With professional photographers and expert graphic designers on your side, long term branding success is almost a certainty.

No matter how strong your business is, your reputation is only as good as your branding. Don’t drop the ball on this vitally important part of running a successful business, contact a real estate marketing firm like James Colucci Enterprises, today to learn more.