The Power Of Brand

Brand is a powerful thing. Yet, many real estate brokerages underestimate its power in attracting consumers.  A successful brand can be leveraged to establish trust, credibility, and ultimately, success. Many successful owners have worked hard to build a name for their company, which has helped lead them to where they are today. However, for many brokers, building a brand that people instantly trust and want to engage with, can be challenging. Where do you start? How do you compete? How do you make yourself memorable?

Customer Service: What Does It Really Mean?

It is not news to anyone that customer service is a top priority to consumers, but in real estate, it’s all about customer service. So what exactly defines quality customer service for real estate agents and brokers? While many brokers agree on some key elements of this, it’s surprising how many different answers you get. According to NAR, buyers and sellers have named honesty, technology, and regular communication as their top priorities in terms of customer service. No matter how you define it, it’s what the customer values that’s important.  Take a look at your company. How would you rate your brokerage and your agents in these areas? If they’ve not been a priority, make them priority in your operations. By focusing on these areas, you’ll be on the path to delivering the best service possible in your market. But consistency is also critical. Good brands deliver consistent experiences. It’s why customers keep going back. Define and post your unique definition of customer service for everyone to see and make sure your entire team trains on it and keeps it top of mind. When everyone defines service in the same way, using the same tools, that’s the beginning of building a real brand experience that means something to people.

Effect on Lead Generation

It’s a simple fact. The strength of your brand has a direct impact on your ability to generate inbound leads, which can directly affect the success of your company.  As a broker, you want to ultimately build a brand that magnetically attracts buyers and sellers which you can hand-off to your agents. That makes you valuable in the eyes of your agents. The struggle for many independent brokers is that they simply can’t invest the kind of money in branding and lead generation that large, national real estate companies do. At Weichert, the lead generation challenge is one of the biggest reasons that independent brokers turn to us for help.  The Weichert national lead generation strategy creates a constant stream of quality leads, by leveraging both digital marketing and technology. Not only does Weichert cultivate leads inside your market through our lead network, but it provides lead opportunities from our rental company, relocation company, and referrals from our network of over 500 offices across the country.

Brand Touch Points

A silent brand is no brand at all. You can’t build a brand that generates leads and recruits new agents without implementing a system of regularly reaching out and touching your community with events, ads, content, volunteering…and yes, even Open Houses. In fact, the more that you get your brand in front of consumers in your service area, the more brand recognition and credibility you will achieve. It is human nature to feel comfortable with things you are exposed to repeatedly, but make sure it looks consistent. These touch points create a connection and understanding with your brand that makes doing business easier down the line. The brokerages that are able to touch their community the most will be the one buyers and sellers think of when it’s time. As a broker your job is to use all your knowledge and skills and all the media and personal channels at your disposal to get your brand out in the world, and keep it there.

Independent Broker Independence VS. Big Brand

Many independent brokers feel like affiliation means giving up their identity, their independence, and everything they’ve built and learned over time.
But what if that wasn’t true?

What if you could maintain your independent operating style and culture, while plugging into the benefits of national branding, lead generation, recruiting systems, agent education systems, technology, coaching and more? What if someone could really show you how to do this in a proven way that has taken others like you to the next level of success?

If that sounds like the kind of brand you’d like to be part of, give us a call today to find out more: 877-567-3350, or visit us at weichertfranchising.com.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/the-power-of-brand/

Content Marketing Strategies For Real Estate Brokerages

As an experienced and savvy real estate broker, you already understand that building a powerful web presence for yourself is essential for forming new connections, generating leads, and attracting valuable agents to your brokerage. However, as the web becomes continuously louder, it becomes more challenging to earn organic traffic lead to your brokerage’s website and convert that traffic into leads. As you probably already know, content marketing is touted as one of the most powerful ways of earning and converting that targeted traffic your brokerage requires to continue to grow. To help you better understand the content marketing universe, here are three types of content that have proven results for generating the kind of interest and interaction that makes all your sales efforts, more effective.

Written Content

Written content, such as blog posts, newsletters, market updates, and just listed/sold are the most traditional types of content produced on the internet by real estate professionals. Just because it is common however, doesn’t make it any less effective. The key to being successful with written content is to optimize it to get it on Google’s radar and other search engines, and to make sure that it is written with your target audience’s goals and challenges in mind. By anticipating buyer and seller pain points, your topics will resonate with more people. The more you tailor your content to have both technical and human appeal, the more it will generate both credibility for your local brand, and of course, leads.

Video Content

Video marketing has been viewed as one of the most powerful forms of content marketing for the last decade thanks to the success of platforms like YouTube and Facebook.  Many people find video content easier to consume than written content.  This along with the ease of producing good quality videos on an iPhone today, has led to a boom in video content consumption. Real estate brokers and agents have been using video for years of course, to show house tours and related content online, but this is not the only subject matter you should use. If you already have a blog, simply convert those topics into videos which you can use to grow your presence on YouTube, social media platforms, and your website.

Audio Content

Audio content is now surpassing video content in both results and popularity because people now consider audio even easier to consume than video. In fact, Salesforce reports that in 2017 the average consumer was listening to more than 5 hours of podcasts each week! Therefore, it goes without saying that progressive brokers are making a move towards audio platforms like iTunes and SoundCloud to reach their audience. For those of you that have been creating videos for the last several years, this is great news because many free and inexpensive software programs will allow you to extract the audio portion of your videos and use those files for podcasts.

Another consideration is that companies like Google are transitioning to “voice search” and search results will begin to include more audio-only results especially on mobile devices. As a broker, being ahead of this curve is sure to give you a leg up on the competition. Plus, if you don’t like being on video, this now gives you options!

How Content Marketing Has Proven Itself Valuable

As a real estate broker, you already know the value of earning the trust of the public. In fact, trust is the biggest obstacle for most businesses in any industry. Content marketing allows you to break down those barriers and earn people’s trust passively. An Easy Agent Pro study conducted recently found that 90% of consumers find custom content useful and 78% believe that companies behind content are interested in building good relationships with their customers.

From the beginning, Jim Weichert sought to create and build upon his connections with the members of his community, which continues to this day. That means knowing where your clients spend their time and making sure you are where they are.  It also means interacting with them the way they want to receive information, no matter how that changes over time. These are the types of core beliefs that have grown a single real estate office into one of the largest providers of real estate related services in the country.

To learn more about the Weichert formula for brokerage growth, please contact us or visit our site at https://www.weichertfranchise.com/weichert-real-estate-franchise/ or call 877-567-3350.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-lead-generation/content-marketing-strategies-for-real-estate-brokerages/

Recruiting Strategies For 2019

As 2018 draws to an end, you and the rest of the real estate broker universe are actively thinking about how to make 2019 your best year yet. A big part of that plan is sure to be how you will attract more sales associates to your brokerage. If you’ve hit a plateau or feel like you need new tactics, it may be time to take a fresh approach to your recruiting strategy in the new year. Here are a few thoughts on recruiting strategies for 2019.

Get Serious About Instagram & Facebook

Yes, you have heard for some time that Instagram and Facebook are important platforms for real estate professionals, but are you using them actively for something other than home sales? It turns out that these portals have a role to play in recruiting agents, as well as buyers and sellers, but unless you are consistent about staying active and engaged on each of them, you won’t see results. By having the right connections, and being active on these portals, agents will see your brand as dynamic and active and you will increase the number of touchpoints you have with other professionals. When using these portals for recruiting, here’s a few things to keep in mind.

• Start and grow a FB group to engage the agent community that’s different from your general group for consumers.
• Use 10-20 hashtags on every Instagram post to increase your reach.
• Take the initiative by commenting on other’s agent posts, asking questions, and sharing valuable content relevant to the people you hope to recruit.

The key here is to be helpful. Both your content and your comments should give people real and valuable information. What you give freely, you will receive in return tenfold.

Get Yourself in Front of the Right People

While there is no dispute that technology has earned its place in real estate recruiting, face-to-face connections will never lose their value. The more you can get yourself, your name, and your brand in front of interested recruits, the faster you will grow. One way in which Weichert affiliate brokerages have achieved recruiting success is hosting a weekly career night at their offices. With careful promotion and consistent scheduling, this activity helps each of our brokers shake hands with interested candidates and take that first step to bringing them onboard or into the industry.

Get A Buzz Going

One thing experienced agents will evaluate is what value your brokerage brings to their business. That can take many forms, one of which is lead gen. At Weichert for instance, we invest in a national lead network from generation to qualification to distribution, which is an extremely powerful recruiting tool. We cultivate leads from Weichert.com with over 3 million visitors a month, which supplements an agents’ own activity. Another is tools and resources. Weichert, for example offers one of the best Listing Presentation tools in the industry. Still another is your company culture. Creating an environment of support and open communication empowers agents to do their best.  Agents talk to each other and if they love where they work, they talk about it. That kind of talk can ignite a fire of interest around your brokerage that will attract agents like moths to a flame.  It’s these kinds of dynamics that makes working for a Weichert brokerage so popular.

Recruiting Isn’t Easy, but Weichert Makes it Easier

Have you done a check-up of your recruiting strategy lately? If there’s one story our brokers tell us over and over, it’s how much easier recruiting was once they affiliated with Weichert. Sustained agent recruiting is one of the keys to achieving your brokerage dream, and no one does more to give you the right recruiting tools and strategies than Weichert.

If your brokerage could benefit from better recruiting systems, contact us to see how we can help. For more information about the Weichert system, go to https://www.weichertfranchise.com or call 877-567-3350.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/recruiting-strategies-for-2019/

Don’t Let Your Brokerage Get Caught In “The Shiny Penny Syndrome”

There’s one thing for certain about the real estate industry–there is no shortage of gadgets, downloads, software tools, or marketing services targeted to brokerages. And as a broker, it’s easy to get distracted – you’re afraid you’ll be left behind if you don’t take advantage of the latest and greatest thing out there. At Weichert®, we call this “The Shiny Penny Syndrome”.

Essentially, this occurs when a company jumps to chase a shiny, new opportunity, service or product instead of focusing on mastering the basics of running a business. Often, these products and services offer to make your lives easier by saving time, helping to maximize efficiency, effectively marketing your brokerage, getting more listings or even helping your business survive the latest economic crisis.

It’s important to learn to navigate this minefield, if you are a broker looking to grow in a challenging housing market. There are so many shiny pennies out there that it’s easy to end up jumping from one promising new real estate tool or marketing idea to the next in an increasingly rapid and costly cycle, while the core elements of the business like how to recruit, write an effective business plan, maximize agent production and monitor key performance indicators get less attention than they deserve.

These shiny pennies are marketed so well and with such urgency that brokers often forget to ask pivotal questions like “How will it fit in with my current business goals?”, “What real results will it bring?”, “Where will I go for support?” and “What operational changes will be required in order to actually get the benefits of the product?”. Most Brokers know they must adapt and innovate to stay current and effective in an ever changing landscape.  The real challenge is knowing how to balance innovation with the basic activities and systems needed to run a successful brokerage and build a business.

Innovation With Purpose

A key to successful innovation is to focus on the benefits to your core customer and core operations, rather than innovating for multiple seemingly attractive, trendy options. Important questions to ask when considering a new product, technology or marketing service include:

• Will this help me achieve the business goals I’ve set for myself this year?
• Will this help me or my agents better service and communicate with our customers?
• Will its use enhance the credibility of my brokerage or my agents?
• How can I measure the effectiveness of this investment in 3 months, 6 months, a year?
• Am I committed to doing the work and training necessary to use the tool or process effectively and consistently?

Strategic growth through planned and proven marketing for brokers

One of the things an affiliation with a credible Real Estate Franchise Company can provide is a guide who can steer you to the best of real estate innovations while keeping your business plan on track. The Weichert System gives you proven, productive systems, technology and activities to implement for nearly every aspect of your real estate business, including real estate marketing, selling systems, recruiting, a lead system and business management. With comprehensive training, ongoing support and expert coaching from our real estate professionals and a parent company with first-hand brokerage experience, you’ll feel relieved knowing you have people in your corner. You’ll never have to go it alone again. Our support staff will work with you to map out a road to growth.

At Weichert, we’ve already paved a road for success. All you have to do is take it. Visit us today at https://www.weichertfranchise.com.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-broker-marketing/dont-let-brokerage-get-caught-shiny-penny-syndrome/