Google Local Guides Are Great For Real Estate

  If you remember the rage about FourSquare years ago, its coming back again. But this time, Google is leading the way to create local experts and Google Maps is the platform. So set up your account on Google Local Guides and get going! If you participate a lot, (hit 50 reviews), you will be highlighted as a top reviewer on Google Maps for Apple’s iOS and Android. Why?   Well, that is only something that you can answer. Like so many other social media strategies, it needs to be something that you enjoy doing. Also, consider this – Google Maps is [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:45-07:00June 13th, 2017|Main category, Marketing|0 Comments

Can Luxury Real Estate Learn From Luxury Clothing?

Customer experience is the cornerstone of luxury purchases. Buying luxury yachts, jewelry, clothing, cars, restaurants……you name it – its always different. Now lets look at the other side of the coin. Have you noticed that retail in your downtown area is dying? Have you noticed that malls are struggling? Macy’s, Target, Walmart, Gap, Nike and so many other retailers are struggling. The silent voices are the small, non-chain merchants, commonly known as the mom and pop retailers. When is the last time you went into an independent toy store? The consumer has gone online, and Amazon is the category killer. [...]

By |2018-08-11T03:11:33-07:00June 6th, 2017|Main category|0 Comments

NAREE Denver Conference Destined to Dazzle

Even when it comes to working with reporters who cover our industry, the real estate business is unique. Think about it. You could spend a month and tens of thousands of dollars on transportation, lodging and meals, trekking across the country to meet with a couple of dozen reporters, or you could attend a single conference and in a few days accomplish much the same thing. That’s exactly what’s happening in Denver next week: an opportunity to meet with journalists, face-to-face, who write for the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, Dallas Morning News, [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:47-07:00June 6th, 2017|Main category|0 Comments

Highlights and Lowlights at NAR Midyear

The REALTORS® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo is a mouthful, so we all just call it NAR Midyear. This one was a scorcher: both inside, as Upstream was the hot topic, and outside, as the temperatures were in the 90s in mid-May and the humidity made me remember why everyone leaves D.C. in August (except the tourists). CMLS Brings it to the Table For me, this was the highlight of the conference and it really isn’t even officially part of Midyear. It’s a tangential track that the Council of Multiple Listing Services hosted at American University, about 15 minutes north [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:47-07:00May 25th, 2017|Main category, MLS Insights|1 Comment

Putting Storytelling Back Into a News Release

The art of storytelling is celebrated today as one of the most effective ways to communicate. When I first started practicing public relations, the most effective news releases were the ones that told a story. They were called feature news releases. I’m not sure what happened to them, but over the years, that term has all but disappeared from the PR vernacular. In fact, Google yields a paltry 5,700 search results for the term, which makes me very sad, as it once was the most effective way to get a reporter or editor’s attention. It was a great way to [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:49-07:00May 25th, 2017|Main category, Press Releases|0 Comments

Pacific Union Delivers On International Reach

WAV Group has been studying broker website effectiveness for more than a decade. One area of interest is global reach. When we look at Google Analytics, we study traffic to understand the level of visibility that brokers are achieving for their websites internationally. Over the past 12 months, Pacific Union International has been living up to their name by expanding their international reach. Driving International Reach International reach has largely been a listing tool in real estate. Even in global cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago or New York, we see that 85% of buyers come from the immediate [...]

The Industry Has Risen

I had a feeling during the recession that the pillars that held our industry in trust had cracked. The first of two pillars of trust is the National Association of REALTORS® as fully constituted by its local, state, national, and international chapters. The second pillar of trust is the Multiple Listing Service. History has taught us that when you apply pressure to any society or organization it is likely to fracture. No doubt, these industry pillars came under massive scrutiny from their constituents. The real estate brokers who founded these noble entities became conscientious objectors to the organizations and their [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:50-07:00May 10th, 2017|Main category, MLS Insights, Wav of Change|0 Comments

RESO Honors its Outstanding Volunteers

Real Estate Standards Organization, or RESO, recently showed how massive volunteerism is in real estate. It often goes unnoticed, under the radar. But at its sold-out Spring Summit in Austin, Jeremy Crawford, CEO of RESO, took to the stage and invested time to honor more than two-dozen people in our industry. Jeremy recognized each of them for their outstanding personal contributions with a 2017 Spring Tech Summit Award. What’s amazing to think about is that collectively, these individuals contributed literally thousands of annual volunteer hours to RESO. They spent time volunteering for the seven RESO Workgroups – and one key committee – all [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:51-07:00May 8th, 2017|Main category|0 Comments

Digital Designers are Killing the Content!

One of two things has happened. Either my eyesight is completely shot or magazines have somehow decided that 8-point font is legible. Unfortunately, it turns out my eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be, and just about every magazine I seem to pick up these days appears to be designed by a prima donna or don who is killing the content because it’s impossible to read. The hard truth for boomers is that somehow, magazines have decided to try and make Boomers adapt to them instead of the other way around. My guess is that if you visited [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:52-07:00April 27th, 2017|Main category|0 Comments

4 Things Robotics Students Taught Me About Marketing and Communications

“Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn, and you will.” That quote from Vernon Howard sums up why I love being around students. They are so damn smart, engaging and not as jaded as the rest of us older folks. They are open to new ideas, quick to embrace innovative thinking and fast to adapt and explore new approaches. During their high school years in particular, what emerges from their minds and behaviors is an explosion of growth that is truly intoxicating to watch. I’ve been a direct witness to this as a founding member [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:52-07:00April 12th, 2017|Main category, Marketing|0 Comments

Brokers Can Learn Customer Experience Lesson From Mercedes Benz and Others!

If you have been to a hotel or purchased a car in the past few years, you have likely received high quality customer service as well as a survey and feedback request. According to Gartner, “Today, 89% of marketers compete primarily on the basis of customer experience.” For major companies and brands, the process of issuing a satisfaction survey after the service is complete is long expired. Today’s companies are measuring every touch point that a brand has with the customer, and for good reason! Real estate brokers can improve their performance by going deeper on tracking and improving the [...]

NAREE Real Estate Journalism Conference to Draw Journalists and Industry Experts to Denver in June

DENVER–The National Association of Real Estate Editors has opened registration for its 51st Annual Real Estate Journalism Conference in Denver, June 14-17, 2017. NAREE’s conference, which begins Wednesday morning June 14 at the Brown Palace Hotel, will attract scores of journalists from major newspapers and prestigious publications from around the nation and Europe. The conference features newsworthy speakers covering commercial and residential real estate topics, green building, architecture, hotels, mortgage lending, mixed-use development, single-family investing and vacation properties. Insightful speakers will include Douglas Yearley, chief executive officer of Toll Brothers; Marilyn Wilson of the WAV Group; Rohit Anand of KTGY [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:53-07:00April 6th, 2017|Main category, Press Releases|0 Comments