Marketing Archives

Century 21 touches franchises with 2012 plan

Century 21 is cool. And that is a new thing for a 40-year-old real estate brand. I purchased my primary home from a Century 21 agent because of the agent, not because of the brand. However, in the past few years, Century 21 started looking cool. Being a cynic and a skeptic, I did not really believe that they were cool. Sotheby’s is luxury, Coldwell Banker is business, BH&G is lifestyle, ERA is old school, and Century 21 is Middle America. None of those brands are cool. That changed for me today. WAV Group works with lots of brokers. They [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:06-07:00April 12th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Marketing|1 Comment

Award-winning Joomla web site featured by Apple in the new iPad campaign

As you may know, RE Technology is built on an open source content management solution called Joomla. Joomla competes with WordPress and Drupal in this category. Choosing a platform is never an easy task and I am sure that a debate among strong willed patriots from each of the open source camps would end in a draw. You can pick any one of them and have great success. Today, RE Technology has been averaging about 1.7 Million visits a month and we have not had any down time! That is awesome performance, especially contrasted against this site, which is built [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:07-07:00April 3rd, 2012|Main category, Marketing|1 Comment

AFIRE’s 2012 Conference Heats Up – Marilyn Wilson to speak

We know you’ve been to your share of boring real estate conferences, filled with lackluster speakers tackling the same topics you’ve heard a dozen times before. Breakout sessions, if available, offer the same-old, same-old. That’s not what AFIRE is all about. We’re just 9 weeks from the opening of our AFIRE conference, Courageous Leadership, in Scottsdale, Arizona...and we can’t wait! As a member of the AFIRE Advisory Board, I can't wait to share all of the exciting news about this year's event! AFIRE is a dynamic event created by women who are leaders in our industry. It's been created for [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:25:07-07:00April 2nd, 2012|Broker-Agent Information, How to Make Strategic Planning Really Work in your MLS, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights|Comments Off

iPad Listing Presentation Apps are hot for 2012

If you appreciate research, you will enjoy some of these statistics. They point to the prioritization of tools that agents and brokers are seeking to improve the effectiveness of their marketing. The survey conducted by Imprev was presented to agents and brokers attending the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World conference. Keynote: They want iPad Listing Presentation Apps. With Apple selling more than 250,000 iPads a week - it is clearly a game changer that professional real estate agents are adopting. RE/MAX in concert with Imprev is the first company to launch a franchise-wide listing presentation tool for the [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:08-07:00March 23rd, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing, Suveys and Research, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off

Victor Lund to speak at Leading RE Conference Monday

WAV Group partner, Victor Lund has been invited to speak at the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World Conference on Monday, March 26th, 2012 in Orlando, FL. 1 PM EST. Leading RE is one of the best organized and most highly respected group of brokers in the United States. They are comprised of real estate brokerages from across the nation who are independent (not a franchise) and each of them qualified for membership by having the highest market share of any independent brokerage in their region. Today’s real estate brokerage is lifting its head once again from the slumber [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:08-07:00March 22nd, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing, Strategic Planning|Comments Off

New iPad is here – more fun, more fast

I woke up at 3:42 am pacific time this morning, only to realize I was probably one of the first people on the West Coast to see the “official” launch of the latest version of the iPad. While there is no AMAZING new innovation that we’ve never seen before, they have taken the device to new levels in a few interesting ways. First, there is a new high definition screen called a “Retinal” screen that delivers more pixels per square inch than anything we’ve seen to date including high definition televisions, according to the video promotions from Apple. Next, it [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:25:09-07:00March 16th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing|Comments Off

Best Days to Reach Agents

There is an old pubic relations myth that indicates that the best day for issuing PR is on Tuesday. This opinion is likely formed from the days when media was printed on paper or broadcast on TV. Tuesday is not the top day anymore. For today’s MLS, Association, or any other company that supports real estate agents, communication is very important. The timing of that communication is also very important. Despite the nay-sayers that preach “REALTORS don’t read,” we have learned that they do. They read a lot. In fact, the problem with communicating to real estate professionals may not be [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:10-07:00March 13th, 2012|Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights|Comments Off

Real Estate and Scented Print Ads

Oh the sweet smell of real estate. Open house month conjures up fresh baked cookies or home made bread. Agents have put scent into their open house strategy for decades. More than myth, scent is a great marketing tool! When I think of scent marketing, I think of the perfume ads that still show up in magazines. I am not a big fan of those ads, but they do catch your attention. They make you smell, even if only to reconfirm your distaste for the perfume. Today, scent marketing has extended beyond fragrances. Leading brands like Dove, Neutrogena, and Airwick [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:10-07:00March 12th, 2012|Main category, Marketing|Comments Off

Figuring Out The Non-Dues Revenue Equation

As membership numbers have declined, many MLSs and Associations are feeling more and more pressure to reduce their dependence on dues based revenues. At the same time, the cost of running an MLS is increasing. Members are more demanding for the scope of services they expect while they expect the pace of improvements and enhancements to keep up with the ever-increasing speed of technology innovations available today. Third, members are under increasing pressure to offer better service and information to their customers, putting even more pressure on the MLS to deliver comprehensive, accurate data and seamlessly integrate to third party [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:25:10-07:00March 8th, 2012|Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights, Press Releases, Product Management, Strategic Planning|Comments Off

RE/MAX renews VOWS with Homes.com

Divorce happens in life and in business. Keeping a relationship together over a long term requires faith and dedication. When issues arise, strong partnerships raise to the occasion. Online competition is fierce today. RE/MAX is crushing all other franchises in America in terms of visits and page views, but there are new competitors now – publishers. It is harder to stay competitive unless you have a great team. There is always fear in any relationship. Fear that something could be better if you were partnered elsewhere. My goodness – look at the divorce rate in America. But today’s post is about a [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:11-07:00March 6th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing, Press Releases|Comments Off

MLS and Brokers need community managers

Like many others in real estate, I’ve spent the last few days devouring the new brand timelines launched for Facebook pages. This new medium is the focus of this article, but consider other publishing requirements in business today as you read this: website publishing, youtube publishing, twitter, etc. My expectations were sky-high but after several hours I realized that Facebook timeline is going to be a lot harder to implement than most real estate professionals think. As it stands now, there is a clear divide between brands that have adopted the timeline feature set full on and those that have [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:11-07:00March 6th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights|Comments Off

A Discussion on Virtual Brokerage

We have the opportunity to work with many different software companies providing great products to the real estate industry. Some of these companies are geared to serve both the traditional real estate model as well as a virtual brokerage. It is clear to us, as well as these software providers, that the future of real estate companies will be different. It will be leaner, lighter and in many cased “virtual” with a heavy emphasis on the broker providing great, integrated software products to agents that often work remotely. I wrote at length about this shift in the white paper, “The [...]

By WAV Group|2018-05-03T21:25:14-07:00February 23rd, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing, Reports, Technology Evaluation, Virtual Office Website Series|Comments Off