About Kevin Hawkins

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So far Kevin Hawkins has created 291 blog entries.

Delta Media’s “Fresh” take on real estate advertising

Every so often, a real estate-related advertising campaign emerges that cuts through the clutter to make a strong audience connection. Not too long ago, Zillow, like the old AT&T tv ads, tugged at our homeownership heartstrings. The National Association of Realtors' ads used fictional Realtor Phil Dunphy from Modern Family to make us laugh. Go back 30 years to find the groundbreaking Great Western Bank commercials featuring Dennis Weaver. These brilliant TV ads spoke to both a B2B audience (Realtors) and B2C (consumers) with the same powerful "use a Realtor" message. My favorite one has Dennis walking in front of [...]

North Carolina Regional MLS continues its statewide expansion

North Carolina Regional MLS is quickly creating one of the most expansive MLSs in the state through building an innovative "alliance" with other North Carolina MLSs and Associations that run other MLS. NCRMLS now covers 38% of the Tar Heel state, announcing it just increased its coverage from 315 cities and towns in 27 counties to 361 cities and towns in 31 counties. Its strategy is straightforward: to simplify data access across multiple MLS boundaries throughout North Carolina. Its momentum is growing. NCRMLS is demonstrating there's great value in offering "one set of rules with a robust, streamlined MLS system [...]

By |2021-09-01T07:10:03-07:00September 1st, 2021|MLS, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Two Mega-MLSs Connect on Common Data Platform

MARIS and NorthstarMLS understand that data is one of the most coveted resources on the planet. Today, data is the water in real estate’s ecosystem. Without water, there would be no life, just as data is essential to making real estate markets function. These two mega-MLSs are working to provide agents friction-free access to data. And that ultimately benefits consumers. How? MARIS and NorthstarMLS are working together, using NorthstarMLS’s Common Data Platform, to make real estate markets in the Greater Midwest work better by unifying the marketplace around shared listing data. This effort removes the toll gate that currently forces [...]

The role of real estate agents in an iBuyer, Bridge buyer world

Last week, zavvie, the creators of the first marketplace for real estate agents to help homeowners see all their selling choices, announced securing a $1.75 million inside round. zavvie strategically has carved out a way for agents to remain at the center of every real estate sales transaction. Brokerages using a zavvie-powered platform – one that is often white labeled to the brokerage’s brand – can help homeowners sort through all of their choices. Most importantly, homeowners employ the guidance of a trusted professional: their real estate agent.

By |2021-05-25T14:52:06-07:00May 26th, 2021|Real Estate Technology, Technology|3 Comments

Real estate tech integration survey: What firms are at the top?

When I was head of Marketing and PR at Imprev, now part of MoxiWorks, we polled industry brokerage leaders twice a year about their challenges and their take on emerging technology trends. One of the most common pain points that topped the majority of broker-owners lists year after year was that real estate tech didn’t “talk” to each other. Most real estate technology was in silos, they complained. Double, triple entry of the same data by agents into different tech tools was commonplace. The challenge remains daunting enough that the Real Estate Standards Organization formed the Cross-Platform Interoperability Workgroup. Its [...]

Why doesn’t every Realtor have access to Tech Helpline?

The pandemic forced more than a million Realtors nationwide to work remotely and embrace digital technology at a record pace. One leading real estate tech executive told me more progress took place getting agents to adopt technology in the first five months of the outbreak than the last five years.

By |2021-04-12T09:43:09-07:00April 13th, 2021|COVID-19, MLS|1 Comment

A podcast classic: Joe Rand rants and raves about relevant content and digital marketing

Podcasts have been popular during the last decade and have flourished during the pandemic. Over 55% of the US population have listened to podcasts, and over 155 million people listen to at least one podcast every week. With over 700,000 active podcasts and 29 million episodes, choices are abundant. In real estate, here's one every agent should enjoy: Snapshot. The Snapshot podcast, featuring Homesnap’s Gayle Weiswasser, delivers solid takeaways from every episode. Gayle is easy to listen to, is a skilled interviewer, and also is a top industry expert. With over 150 podcasts to date, Gayle talks to real estate [...]

By |2021-03-19T17:38:37-07:00March 19th, 2021|Broker Public Portal, Marketing, Podcast|0 Comments

Rental Beast study shows rental industry is bracing for “a multi-million-dollar impact”

Rental Beast held a press conference on Jan. 20th, moderated by Victor Lund, Founding Partner, WAV Group, to discuss the economic impact of a new policy change by Zillow. On Jan. 12, Zillow changed its rental policy and rental listings are no longer free. MLS rental listings are no longer being syndicated directly to Zillow. Instead, agents and brokerages will need to pay $9.99 per week, per listing for each rental property to be published on Zillow. The potential new costs to individual real estate agents, teams, brokerages and MLSs are massive. Ishay Grinberg, Rental Beast Founder and CEO, spoke [...]

By |2021-01-21T07:22:29-08:00January 20th, 2021|MLS, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Delta Media launches Creative Studio as it builds the one-stop marketing shop

For the first time, Creative Studio gives its clients the ability to design marketing materials from scratch. Think of it as Canva for real estate.

By |2020-11-19T12:47:52-08:00November 19th, 2020|Broker Technology Research, Technology|0 Comments

More competitors than ever — and counting: REALTOR membership sets a new record

Last year, the National Association of REALTORS® reported 1.4 million members. In October, the NAR total membership number now stands at 1,453,128 – up some 50,000 new members in growth during the middle of a pandemic.

By |2020-11-18T08:33:08-08:00November 18th, 2020|Broker-Agent Information, Conferences|0 Comments

Does your website have a Newsroom? It should

One of any organization’s core public relations strategies is the creation and dissemination of your story. Every company has a story. What makes you different? Better? Stand out? Memorable?

By |2024-04-24T06:59:38-07:00October 8th, 2020|Communications and PR, Our Company, Our Services|1 Comment