I met Roy yesterday for the first time. He is a mild-mannered kid from California.
And he single-handedly runs the marketing department for one of the most innovative brokerages we’ve run across.
Roy doesn’t spend his days paginating newspaper ads, writing About Me copy for agent websites or Tweeting about his lunch.
Roy writes the company’s Website copy. He designs landing pages. He experiments with new advertising platforms. He pores over Web analytics for the six Websites he oversees.
Roy manages all of his company’s social media initiatives too. The blog. The Twitter account. The small, windowless room in the building he converted into a film studio equipped with three cameras and a green screen.
I liked Roy a lot. Throughout the day I never once felt the dread I often do when realizing that the marketing checks the broker wants to write will never be cashed by his marketing department.
Roy is a model marketing person for the forward-looking real estate brokerage.
He is not a singular case. I have met and work with some really talented marketing people inside brokerage companies. But these folks are unusual. And that makes no sense.
So without wasting any more time embarrassing Roy, here are ten things I think brokers should look for in a marketing director:
- A sponge-like quality. Marketing is less about rattling off all the things you know than it is about listening – to customers, innovators inside and outside your industry, those who challenge your thinking. Marketing is about learning, especially in this time of rapid change
- Passion. Marketing is a vocation, but it’s also an art. Taking a notion, running it through the creative blender and producing something good is as much about feel as it is about discipline. Measurement matters, but if you don’t have fire you’ll be measuring vapors.
- Ignorance of real estate. The less they know about real estate, or about what makes agents tick, the better. Part of the problem with real estate marketing has everything to do with marketers who were born inside the incestuous bubble of the real estate office. I know some of you will disagree with me here, but based on scores of close-in observations I believe this quite strongly.
- A capacity for internal and external focus. You need to get your message out there. But not necessarily in the manner in which you broadcast it internally. It is often said that there is a channel conflict in real estate brokerage – that the broker must serve the agent and consumer constituencies at the same time. The good marketer can do this ably, but, more importantly, does not even view this as a conflict in the first place.
- An understanding of branding. A good marketer channels your core values and pushes them out like rays of light from the sun. Everything they do must manifest clearly your brand’s truth.
- Flexibility. People fixated on accepted practices don’t make very good agents. They tend to make horrible marketing directors.
- Obsession. Trust that when Bill Bernbach, the greatest ad writer ever, wrote the “Think Small” Campaign for Volkswagen, the final copy did not emerge in two seconds. Your marketing person will obsess over their copy. Over their design. Over punctuation. They survey. And they stay up until three in the morning the day after the campaign launches wondering if they could have done a better job.
- A sense of humor. The glass they see is neither half full nor half empty. Theirs just needs more ice.
- Inventiveness. A Facebook fan page. A Blog. A Twitter account. A post card. A new signature file. Come on brokers, is that the best they can do? Try this: Ask your marketing person to imagine there is no social media. Ask them to come up with a new campaign that expresses the very thing about your company that makes it special. Message matters, not just media.
- Writing skill. Hiring a marketing director who doesn’t write well is like hiring a plumber with no fingers. Put anyone you interview for your marketing department through a rigorous writing test. In an age when you’re going to need to make media rather than buy it, this is a skill you need to have in your organization.
This is just a start. And the profile will vary depending on your needs. But you take my point: You need a Roy.
Fast.
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A mist of difference
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Marc Davison, Brian Boero. Brian Boero said: It’s 2009, brokers. Do you know where your marketing director is? http://bit.ly/3Xl6kj [...]
Yes, I do know where he/she is…but the real question is does your broker (or corporation) recognize the need for this person? Or better yet, the need for several of these types of players? You can’t put 1 player on the field that can run the ‘wildcat’ and expect the whole team to execute unless the whole team ‘gets it’. It must be an all-in strategy driven by vision, passion and values. And that individual cannot spend their time coaching and cheerleading and explaining what is Twitter or the value of Twitter. Much less explaining how, why and what must be tracked and measured. ‘Roy’ must be supported and be given support.So I feel strongly that your list should include #11- Articulate the Vision and #12- Enroll other people into it. It’s been said that “passion triggers extraordinary effort” and “your passion will have more influence than your personality”. That couldn’t be more true in this case. I’d take Roy’s passion over his skills any day of the week, especially on any given Sunday. Let the ‘wildcat’ loose and keep his glass full of the Goose. I’m headed to the bar to get some more ice! FAST.
Bravo Roy.
I say … give the Roys of RE marketing the resources they need to execute their ideas. Nothing’s free and people like him can’t run the entire show on their own. Eventually things fall through the cracks or they get burnt out if they try to be everything to everyone.
I like #3.
It’s hard to read the label when your inside the bottle.
To counter balance the insider mindset, I consume advice, tips, techniques, strategies, perspective, tactics, triumphs and folly from people engaged in other business and industries.
Cheers.
“Part of the problem with real estate marketing has everything to do with marketers who were born inside the incestuous bubble of the real estate office”
Only part? This is close to the root cause, which are the owners of these companies, and then the mindset of the industry they work in.
This is a great list, Marc, to which I would add that they also should be marketing educators, teaching the rest of the company the why of marketing: The process of making things memorable. And the real estate industry is not alone in this need for understanding…
Marc-
Please embarrass Roy some more and share his brokerage’s website with us. If a post about him can get me this fired up, I’m anxious to see what a little taste of the fruits of his labors might do for me…
Crispin, Porter and Bogusky (ad shop out of Miami that’s done the Burger King commercials and many others) supposedly tells their creatives to imagine that traditional media doesn’t exist and to plan a campaign around that idea. That’s what led to the Subservient Chicken.
Interesting that you mention telling a broker’s marketing person to imagine social media doesn’t exist. That’s the 2009 equivalent, it seems. A crutch that discourages bigger picture thinking.
I wholly agree with all your points, having been a Marketing Director for a large brokerage myself. However, I would agree with David S and add that all of this is all-but mute for the MD if he/she resides in a brokerage whose culture continually fights against the value of the marketer’s expertise. A good marketer’s impact is only as good as the latitude they are given to execute and the guts of broker leadership to stay the course in the face of opposition from those people who HAVE grown up in the bubble of old real estate. (And who typically fight change or anything new and unknown with every fiber of their being!)
On #3) I would say that there is a difference between not being FROM real estate and understanding the business/culture of real estate – what it takes to operate successfully in a real estate brokerage.
I completely agree that bringing non-real estate sensibilities to the job is essential for the industry but I also saw a lot of great marketing people crash and burn in my job (marketers who have gone on to do extremely well in other industries) because they just didn’t understand a broker’s unique set of challenges.
Yes, having 1 through 10 helps but you do also need Justin’s #11 and #12 plus, you need to find the right brokerage, with the right leadership, that will enable you to execute.
I applaud Roy – he seems to have found all of the above. Good for him!
Love the post… although I may be a bit partial.
Definitely agree that some good marketing direction and overall sense of brand awareness is desperately needed by most brokerages, as is a change in attitude about the benefit someone like this can bring.
Speaking from experience, there’s no quicker way to take the wind out of your MD’s sails than to say, “You have to do it this way because that’s the way it’s always been done.”
That’s typically my cue to have a heart-to-heart with leadership and if that doesn’t work, to dust off the resume. If you hire ‘em, you gotta give ‘em room to run free a little.
Very good point. The new marketing people need to GET social media. Another huge deal is the writing, you cannot have someone who is constantly writing and creating searchable content for you when they do not have good English, grammar, and overall good writing skills. That seems to be a lost talent with the newest generation, I am the only one of my many siblings that cares about penmanship and grammar any longer.
-Tyler
It’s great that you guys are adding to the list. As you do, I will add to my master list and republish so it is all in one place.
@Jeff – Regarding CPB, you are correct. They are known for pushing the envelope and breaking rules. It works for them for 3 very clear reasons:
1. They are extraordinarily gifted, created people.
2. They have mastered all the traditional rules of marketing.
3. Every campaign they work on emanates from teams and is tested before ever hitting the public.
I purposely went in another direction with my advice because IMO many real estate marketers do not posses the qualities found in CBP or any major ad agency. Social Media is not a game as we have been writing about of late. Blogging, Twittering, Facebooking… this stuff is, for better or worse, a distribution device for businesses to market in a new way. But if a company doesn’t have the traditional tenets of traditional marketing nailed down, their SM efforts will be dismal.
I’ve maintained the reason why most real estate brokerages see no value from offline advertising has less to do with its reach and everything to do with the message its creates.
A great marketer’s first objective is create the killer message. Hence my suggestion to get back to basics.
Thanks for all your comments!
Lot’s of talk about Real Estate Company social media strategies.
I may be wrong, but personally, I don’t care how clever the social media campaign for a corporation is, I don’t think the general public is going to bond with a company/office/brokerage.
Experience and survey after survey, (NAR/HAR) show that over 60% call on 1 or 2 agents and the agent was either known or referred by a friend. I understand that 80% of people begin their search on the internet, but, when it’s time to go shopping or sell, most call someone they know, like and trust. They don’t call a real estate company because their ads look cool or their FB Fan Page is jazzy…they don’t call and ask to work with a total stranger…that’s a rare, rare thing.
Individual agents or brokers who use SM wisely, will develop relationships and attract opportunities.
I don’t feel people are moved much by interacting with a logo and generalized conversation and information.
Social Media, when used correctly, IMHO, is social and semi-intimate. Sure, we want to know that the company behind the product or service we’re buying is trustworthy, but in residential real estate, most choose the individual agent and the corporate trust supports their decision.
To me, it’s most important to teach your agent-army how to point, shoot, hug, beam, engage, interact, embrace and effectively use Social Media. It’s no different than how to talk on the phone, or hold Open House or attend social functions.
As for writing skills, CopyBlogger.com is the best source for understanding how On-Line writing should be done.
My 3cents.
Excellent list Marc.
There are a few brokerages, very few, speaking locally here, that realize the need for a change or a need for a Roy. A few of the ones that do – don’t have a clue as where to start.
I totally agree with Ken, and thank you for that great survey stat, which I will use in helping our clients market themselves. It’s not either/or referrals or marketing. I don’t see marketing going away. (I actually paused to try to imagine what a growing and established company would look like that didn’t market itself and couldn’t.) Therefore, we all want it to be the best it can be. So, as Marc is telling us, you’d might as well do the marketing piece right. In this regard, I love, love Marc’s top-ten list. Since it also applies to what makes a successful PR executive, I will be sharing it with my staff. Thanks, Marc. I love how you think and hope to meet you one day as we share a client.
Marc – great post.
Ken – great reply.
The only thing I will add to Ken’s is that if the client is relocating and doesn’t know people in the target city, then it all comes down to what they see on the web, and the initial phone call.
I’m in a big relo area (Atlanta) and last year, ALL of my clients were relo clients and every one of them came to me off my web site.
That said, I don’t twitter or facebook, so on those points, I’m more towards Ken’s message.
I don’t want to read too much into these poests, but I will just say that the referral-trusted-agent scenario does not really apply for relo clients and in an area like mine, your entire business can be relo.
#3 Ignorance of real estate is something that I have not considered. Now that you exposed it, I can see why it is a key. It gives new ways that might not have been considered in real estate.
Aloha,
Keahi
I like #3.
It's hard to read the label when your inside the bottle.
To counter balance the insider mindset, I consume advice, tips, techniques, strategies, perspective, tactics, triumphs and folly from people engaged in other business and industries.
Cheers.
Thought-provoking post, and definitely a topic worth exploring: what is the uber-modern, uncommonly effective Marketing Director!?
I’m impacted especially by your insight on the need to be agile in moving from “external” and “internal.” One of the (welcomed) surprises for me, is how instrumental a marketing director can be in developing Company Culture and how important Company Culture really is.
I’m glad you put “sponge-like” as number one. It’s challenging, but essential, for me to regularly ask myself “how much of what I’m doing have I thought about objectively?” Sometimes it seems the culture is changing at the speed of light, and so it seems important to keep looking at all of our marketing with fresh eyes. This is easier said than done!
The beauty of “Roy” is that, thank goodness for our sake, they didn’t break the mold. We’ve got Dane guiding our SM/company culture tour and he gracefully directs our Associates through this new and fresh landscape while engaging our clients to see the importance and relevance of social media as exposure for their benefit.
My quest continues to reconfigure your point #9 Marc with a heaping truck load of #8. Courage and trust in one’s ability to deliver when sitting with a potential client is ultimately where the rubber meets the road. The message of “We care about you…do you care about us?” is what I want to plaster across the universe because last time I checked, we are human too and deserve the same consideration from our clients that they pray we will provide them.
Transparency, like truth is simply if you stick to it and are willing to blow up the machine you’ve just built if you find the actions are inconsistent with the message. Scary and yet, it’s good to be and feel alive.
Thanks Marc for enhancing the blue print for us all.