So, contrary to popular belief, I’m not your typical caravan sponsor speaker. Yes, my company carries loans. We have FHA, Jumbo, ARM, conventional and VA loans. Rates are low, home prices in San Diego are great! Sound familiar? I thought so. I thought I’d share some information with the other agents in the room to spice things up a little.

In my former life, I consulted Realtors on their offline and online marketing techniques. I’m always looking for opportunities to share my knowledge and give advice to Realtors. Of course, what I was able to deliver in 10 minutes was only the surface of marketing, but at least it gave Realtors a general guideline.

If you missed it or wanted a recap, here are the major points we covered:

1. Keep it simple

  • Buy your own domain address.  Make it easy for your customers and prospects to find you no matter what company you work for. It makes a lot more sense to brand yourself than to brand the company you work for.
  • Use one phone number and one fax number. Don’t make it complicated for your customers to figure out whether they should call your home, office or cell number.
  • Take advantage of available free services. Professional services such as Google Voice, Google Apps and WordPress offer a lot with little to no financial investment.

2. Have a Voice – Your Own Voice

  • Less is more – Keep drip-email, social media posts, and texts very concise. Grab the viewer’s attention with a sentence, phrase and link to the any additional content.
  • Generic is generic. Prove that you are the expert and write, report and post about your own market, real estate or whatever you find relevant. Stay away from generic content that your broker, company, web provider gives you.
  • Don’t risk your inbox ‘real estate.’

3. Bring it Together

  • Stay consistent – Your website should be the centerpiece of all your marketing that will follow you wherever you go and allows you to centralize the most current contact information.
  • Pitch it every time – Keep yourself in front of your clients and build your pipeline. Every conversation, voice mail, open house should have your website address.

I did end up talking a little bit more about loans and my actual job during the Q&A section. Not surprising, many Realtors were excited about HARP and the plans President Obama has about the new programs. To read my Rant about that, check out my post from earlier this month about the Obama’s HARP 2.0 plan.