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#ICYMI: May 2019 Real Estate News
By Jessie Trapp, Marketing Coordinator & Tiana Baur, Marketing Manager
The May madness has quickly come and gone and we’re full speed ahead into the busy season. A lot happened in May. We said goodbye to Game of Thrones, hello to Pikachu, and started working on our summer bodies – but what happened in real estate? We have the scoop!
In case you missed it, here are the top five May 2019 real estate news stories to know:
1. “RE/MAX and Redfin end exclusive partnership after 2 months”
Like a summer romance, the partnership between RE/MAX and Redfin has ended almost as quickly as it started. What happened to this budding relationship, you ask? Redfin introduced a new tool that allows people without buyer’s agents to place offers online on Redfin-listed homes in Boston.
According to Inman, the RE/MAX CEO had this to say about it: “Given Redfin’s recent announcement regarding a program that would encourage buyers not to use agents on listings where the seller is represented by Redfin, we cannot continue with an official, corporate-level relationship at this time.” We’re with him on this one.
2. “CENTURY 21 Scheetz First-to-Market in Indiana to Offer Affordable Healthcare to Its Relentless Sales Professionals”
RISMedia recently published a Century 21 announcement that stated, “CENTURY 21 Scheetz has announced that it is offering affordable healthcare plans to help its 350-plus relentless sales professionals.” The plan was built specifically for real estate agents which includes 24/7/365 care, reduced healthcare costs by up to 50%, coverage for physician visits, and more.
Mic drop.
3. “Airbnb will hand over data on 17K listings to New York City officials”
Airbnb and the Big Apple aren’t exactly getting along. In the aftermath of a subpoena that NYC issued back in February, Airbnb has finally agreed to give New York City officials data on 17,000 listings. According to Inman, “city officials specifically wanted information on Airbnb stays that lasted less than 30 days and involved entire apartments — a type of booking that is actually illegal in New York. The city also wanted data on certain Airbnb listings for private and shared rooms.”
To be continued.
4. “NAR Moves to Dismiss ‘Baseless’ Lawsuit, Hopes to Consolidate All Cases”
So, here’s the scoop: Allegedly, NAR conspired to inflate commissions by requiring all real estate agents to “make a blanket, non-negotiable offer of buyer broker compensation when listing a property on a Multiple Listing Service (MLS),” which also happens to violate federal antitrust laws. Queue lawsuit. NAR filed a motion to dismiss said lawsuit saying it was baseless and that the other side of the aisle didn’t know how real estate works. TBD on how this all plays out in court.
Read more about it here.
5. “The Amazon Effect: Prices Up, Listings Down Near Its New HQ2 in Virginia”
As pretty much every single person predicted and no one doubted, the real estate market has rapidly changed where Amazon is launching their new headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. In fact, home sales in this town have jumped 50% compared with the previous year, according to a recent realtor.com® report.
As Seattle natives, we know all too well about the “Amazon Effect.” Our advice to Arlingtoners is: get really comfortable with being in your car or on public transit and queue up those podcasts and audiobooks – you’re going to need them.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for another #ICYMI next month!
P.S. If you’re into podcasts (and if you’re not, you should be) we have our very own! The latest episode of the REAL with MoxiWorks podcast featuring Greg Scott, VP of Branch Services at Long & Foster Real Estate, is out now. Have a listen!
MoxiWorks Agent Spotlight: Tyler Freed
By Tiana Baur, Marketing Manager
It goes without saying that if we’re spotlighting an agent, they’re obviously the bee’s knees, but we’re going to say it anyways. Tyler Freed is a broker/owner at the Windermere Real Estate PSK Maple Valley Four Corners office. Not only is he insanely talented at what he does, he is also driven and fully focused on delighting his clients time and time again. He also happens to be a marketing maven in his own right, making sure he has his eye on the prize with the help of digital advertising.
Find out more about him and what marketing tactics he’s using to stay competitive below!
Why do you love being a real estate agent?
“I love how each day is full of problem solving and never the same. It allows me to work with friends and challenges my competitiveness.”
What is your fondest client memory?
“Every transaction is different, but my favorite client memory of all time would have to be when I sold a mini farm a few years back. The seller made me a custom mug, wrote the nicest card and gave me a gift card. That gesture really went a long way for me and confirmed why I love this line of work so much.”
How has Promote (advertising your listings & services) helped your business?
“Promote is the easiest way to get online traffic to my listings. It looks a lot more professional than other social media advertising and is great tool to show sellers at listing presentations.”
What is your favorite part about Promote?
“I like that it easy to use and delivers the exposure I need to sell listings.”
Would you recommend Promote to other agents? If so, why?
“Yes, Promote is priced competitively, easy to use and in line with our Windermere branding.”
Any tips for other agents using Promote?
“I recommend using it the second your listing goes live and to make sure you bring it up to your sellers in your marketing plan to get their home sold quickly. Always utilize the drop down features for the just listed or open house banners and add your headshot and firm on all ads.”
Thanks, Tyler Freed, for giving us some insight into why you love using Promote to serve your clients and grow your business!
At MoxiWorks our main goal is to help agents by making their day-to-day tasks more efficient, so they have time to do more of what they love doing, which is helping their clients home dreams come to fruition. We’re grateful to hear our new tool, Promote, makes a difference. For anyone out there interested in learning more about this advertising tool, you can do so here.
4 Tricks for Achieving Your Real Estate Goals
By Tiana Baur, Marketing Manager
Motivation is hard to build in insolation. Only the extremely driven and ambitious people are able to perfect it and keep the fire burning over long periods of time. In reality, most of us don’t feel motivated all of the time and you know what? That’s OK. Motivation, like other feelings, comes in ebbs and flows and because of that, we need to act when we’re feeling it.
The keys to staying motivated when it comes to your real estate goals.
I could really go on and on about the importance of setting and writing down goals, but you already know that – that’s the easy part. The hard part is actually achieving them and taking the million steps to get there. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither was Amazon, Starbucks, or the empire that is Fredrik Eklund. So, without further ado, here are a handful of tips to keep you on the path to success when it comes to achieving your real estate goals.
1. Make sure they’re YOUR goals.
It’s hard to stay motivated regardless, but it will be downright impossible to achieve goals that you don’t want deep down. Make sure you are the one in control of where your business life is leading. At the end of the day it’s up to you to see it through, so don’t let others force you into goals that don’t align with your own.
2. Let go of what you can’t control.
Whether it’s a tough-to-handle coworker, particularly frustrating client, or home inspection gone wrong, don’t let these get to you and affect your daily life. As humans, we only have so much brainpower and only so much energy to care about things. If you’re putting all of that brainpower and energy into mulling over things again and again in your head, how is that helping you achieve your real estate goals? What energy are you taking away from your productivity and putting towards something you have no control over? Not only is this an unhealthy business practice, but it’s an unhealthy life practice.
Sometimes all we can do is try our very best and move on. That’s the important piece: moving forward despite obstacles. If you haven’t read this particular book, it dives deep into this topic, and I very much recommend it.
3. Reward yourself (within reason) for progress made.
I had this roommate in college. She used to do something that I thought to be pretty silly while studying, but looking back on it, maybe she was onto something. As a student of the sciences, she had tons of reading material and studying to get through. The textbooks were massive and to reward herself for finishing a page, she’d put a skittle or M&M at the bottom of it. See I told you, strange, right? But it worked for her.
Now, I’m not saying you play with candy at work, but I am saying rewarding yourself is an important piece to motivation. Here are some ideas that come to mind:
– Treat yourself to your favorite restaurant when you’re 25%, 50%, and 75% towards your GCI goal
– Win a new client? Go buy yourself that extra sugary drink from Starbucks that you normally feel guilty about
– After a big home closing, take a day off to rest and reset
4. It’s about bite-sized chunks.
You can’t keep envisioning all of the work you have to do in order to achieve your goal, it will drive you insane. Or, to the Valley of Despair, which is very much a real thing. Essentially, the Valley of Despair is where you find yourself once you realize all of the work, blood, sweat, and tears that it will take to achieve your goal – it’s the bottom of an inverted bell curve. You can also think of it as your fork in the road: either keep going or quit now.
The way to push through is to ignore the momentous amount of work ahead and instead focus on what you have to do today, and maybe tomorrow, in order to push through and continue climbing. If you do that, your mindset will shift, and you’ll be able to continue chipping away at your real estate goals until you achieve them.
I sincerely hope these tips help, or if nothing else, allow you to think outside the box a little bit in what is going to help you stay motivated and keep going when the going gets tough. Your real estate goals may seem lofty at times, but they’re definitely achievable! If you’d like other tips for your real estate business, checkout our blog here.
Welcome to the MoxiCloud, Paradym!
By Tiana Baur, Marketing Manager
The forever-growing MoxiCloud just got even bigger with the latest addition of marketing software partner, Paradym! For those that don’t know, the MoxiCloud is at the heart and soul of MoxiWorks, connecting all brokerage data and tools into one point of truth. The MoxiCloud is built on an open platform model that gives brokerages the freedom to pick and choose their own tools, retain current investments, and most importantly, maintain control of their own data.
We now have 50+ partners that integrate into the MoxiCloud, such as DocuSign, Buyside, MoveEasy, QuantumDigital, and many more. We’re excited to welcome Paradym as the newest member of the MoxiCloud squad.
So, what do they do? Simple. Paradym makes marketing super easy for real estate agents with the power of automation. Here’s how they do it:
Brilliant marketing campaigns for every listing, automatically.
Paradym combines MLS listing data, text, voice, and visual effects into elegant stories, so agents can use Paradym to share those stories about client successes, properties and places, and engage more prospective buyers and sellers.
Coaching at its finest.
When you sign up for Paradym, you’re immediately connected with a success coach. You’ll get to know each other, and they’ll be able to tailor a marketing plan that fits your specific needs. Plus, you can call the coach at any time along the way.
Tell your story.
Once you get a feel for how Paradym works, you can start sharing your stories. These stories invite potential clients into your world and help keep you top of mind. You can use Paradym to tell stories about people (think client success stories!), places (think neighborhoods), and/or specific properties!
The ways you can tell your stories.
Paradym’s marketing toolkit is packed with great stuff. Agents can easily create single property sites for all or just their tops listings, listing videos, easy lead capturing and reporting, social media campaigns, and more. Agents can do it all on the go from their powerful app.
Progress is everything.
An agent dashboard allows users to constantly be tracking the progress, keeping them on track to get the most out of Paradym’s technology.
MoxiCloud + Paradym.
The MoxiCloud and Paradym integration will include SSO (single-sign-on) and API integration, which means agents will spend less time doing duplicate data entry and logging into multiple places, giving them more time to focus on what they do best: helping their clients!
Great to have you aboard, Paradym! If you’re interested in finding out more about Paradym and what it can do for your brokerages and agents, you can do so here.
MoxiWorks Agent Spotlight: Michelle Harrington
By Tiana Baur, Marketing Manager
One of the absolute best parts of working at MoxiWorks is getting to see agents not only succeed, but also excel in growing their business, delighting their clients, and making home dreams come true. Michelle Harrington, of Windermere Real Estate in Bellingham, WA, is definitely one of those agents that stands out amongst the rest. Because of that, we couldn’t help but to dig in and see what exactly is making her so successful.
Tech-savvy, forward-thinking, and with a great marketing strategy, Michelle is one to watch. Find out more about her and her favorite advertising tool, Promote, below.
Why do you love being a real estate agent?
“Knowing that I am good at what I do and able to bring this experience to my clients.”
What is your fondest client memory?
“My very first transaction in 2002, where I held an open house for a colleague and the buyer walked in 30 minutes after the open house was over. I followed up with this buyer and he said he wanted to bring his wife by the next day at lunch hour. She was in agreement it was the right house; we wrote a contingent offer and I listed their home on what would feel like the first day of fall. It was windy and rainy on their listing day – we received an offer and sold it the same day, signing their purchase and sale agreement by candlelight. They are still my dear friends today. They truly launched me, and I am grateful!”
How has Promote (advertising your listings & services) helped your business?
“My sellers expect to see their home online. I am able to say so much more about a property and reach people far and wide.”
What is your favorite part about Promote?
“Promote is simple to use and with each new listing or sold – it’s right there as a reminder to use it.”
Would you recommend Promote to other agents? If so, why?
“It is a time saver and packs a punch with social media with one click.”
Any tips for other agents using Promote?
“To get in the habit of using it—layering with social media and traditional marketing is important for your clients so you can be sure you are targeting certain groups.”
Thanks, Michelle for your wisdom and story! We’re honored to be creating and improving tools that, in turn, help you help your clients! For anyone out there interested in learning more about Promote, you can do so here.
Hey, Brokerages! Time to Get Excited for Automated Listing Ads
Automated listing ads are coming soon! Here’s why you should get excited (and exactly how to get started).
By Jessie Trapp, Marketing Coordinator
In a world where 46% of Americans check their smartphones before getting out of bed every morning, digital marketing is a key component to meeting your target audience where they are already spending their time: online. However, finding the time and resources to invest in creating digital ad campaigns for your listings is a roadblock being faced by many real estate pros looking to utilize this powerful form of marketing.
Agents don’t have the time to be knee-deep in the trenches of digital marketing because they’re too busy out in the field doing what only humans are capable of doing – building strong relationships. On the flip side, brokerages don’t have the time to support agents’ listings on an agent-by-agent basis, as they have powerhouse businesses to run. The compromise?
Automated listing ads.
With the next upgrade coming soon to Promote, you’ll be able to support your agent’s listings without any heavy lifting. This new ability, which will be provided at no additional cost to current MoxiWorks users, will allow you to enable automated ad campaigns for your agents’ listings with a few clicks and a simple, set-it-and-forget-it style workflow.
Taking your technology offering a step further and supporting your agents’ listings through automated ad campaigns will put your agents, and your brokerage, far ahead of the game.
Here’s why this upgrade will be so powerful for your business:
One. With automated listing ad campaigns, you’ll be able to set your budget and spend as little or as much as your heart desires, meaning you’ll always be in control of what you allocate towards them.
No contract. No minimum. The power lies 100% with you.
Two. Providing agents with these campaigns shows that you’re tech savvy and know the important role that digital marketing plays in their businesses.
Three. Providing this boost demonstrates that you’re invested in your agents and their success, so much so that you’ll even take on a portion of the marketing spend to prove it.
Four. Refreshed ads featuring all of your brokerages active listings will constantly be circulating and reaching the masses. That’s powerful marketing for your brand, let alone your agents’.
Five. More eyes on listings means shorter time from list to close, and more time for additional transactions.
Six. When your get the ball rolling on your agents’ ads, it allows them to see the immediate impact digital advertising has on their businesses and will encourage them to incorporate automated ads into their own marketing activities moving forward, a win for everyone.
So, there you have it. If you didn’t previously think of providing digital advertising services as a major value-add when it comes to recruiting, retention and adoption of technology – now you know, and it’s time to jump on this train, pronto.
Here’s exactly how to get started:
Step 1: Make sure you’re ready to hit the ground running.
None of this magic can happen if the feature isn’t turned on for your brokerage.
The MoxiMarketing advertising suite, which will soon include the automated listing ad function comes free to all current MoxiWorks customers, all you have to do is ask your designated Account Manager to turn it on.
Contact them now so you’ll be able to use this powerful tool the second it’s available.
Step 2: Open the automated listing ads builder
Once it’s released, you’ll be able to access the automated listing ads builder by opening the My Advertisements tab in your account holder’s MoxiWorks account.
Step 3: Create an ad campaign
Next, you’ll complete a list of parameters to create your campaign. These will include:
- The design (copy, colors, branding)
- The spend (overall budget, spend per ad)
- Choose whose listings you’d like to advertise (which agents, price points, offices, regions, organizations)
- Craft a personalized message to the agents you’re advertising for
Step 4: Mentally prepare for a brand explosion
And just like that, your beautiful brokerage branding will be painted across every listing ad placed on Facebook, Instagram, AND Facebook Audience Network as part of your new campaign.
This means that it will be seen in places such as:
- Forbes
- Vogue
- CBS
- NFL Network
- New York Times
- HGTV
- Huffington Post
And many, many more.
Sit back, relax, and watch your brand recognition get a major boost in record time.
Step 5: Keep an eye on your campaigns
The ad reporting functionality built into the automated listing ads feature will make it easy for you to track ad performance and see firsthand the massive boost you’re giving your agent’s businesses. You’ll see it and want to do a celebratory dance, as you will officially be supporting your agents with a best-of-breed, innovative advertising experience.
Want to learn more about the MoxiMarketing suite? Here’s the rundown.
Real Estate Facebook Best Practices 2019 – Part 1
By Jessie Trapp, Marketing Coordinator
Changes to the Facebook algorithm tend to throw users of all types through a loop: brands, businesses, friends, and nowadays, probably even the tech-savvy grandma.
You work hard to fine-tune your social media strategy to drive the highest performance possible for your posts, yet it can be tricky to keep up with the current best practices for the platform. Regardless of frequent algorithm changes, there are several key factors that play into how your content is ranked that seem to remain consistent.
Here are the Facebook best practices 2019 for optimizing your real estate business’ Facebook page and posts:
1. Video rules all.
What should come as no surprise to social media diehards is, video outperforms virtually all other forms of content, so it’s best to use it whenever possible. In fact, Facebook videos have been found to earn 135% more reach and generate 59% more engagement than posts with only a single, still image.
A few more video stats:
- Optimal Facebook video length is 3-4 minutes
- Facebook video shares grew by 100% over the last year
- People spend 3x more time watching Live video than pre-made video
- 85% of people watch Facebook videos without sound
Need some help making killer videos for your social media? Check out these video tools.
2. Short & sweet.
Finding the balance between making your post copy short yet valuable can be difficult. However, considering that 88% of Facebook users are accessing the platform on a mobile device, formatting your content to make it easy to consume on-the-go is worth the effort.
According to a study done by BuzzSumo, keeping your posts under 50 characters is ideal for optimal engagement.
3. Conversation.
Over the past few years, Facebook has been vocal about shifting its algorithm’s focus to personal engagement, meaning the more conversation your posts generate, the better they will perform.
A few conversation-generating content ideas:
• Share a personal story
• Ask for reviews & feedback
• Post jokes and memes that your audience will appreciate
• Share a real estate-related statistic
• Take a poll
4. Post often.
Many Facebook pros have differing opinions when it comes to the “magic number” of times you should post per day in order to have the biggest impact possible, but research shows that posting twice per day is a great starting point.
With two posts a day, you’ll begin driving the levels of impressions and engagement you’re striving for and gaining insights into your follower base, without risking too many unfollows due to over-posting.
5. Know when to post.
Not all audiences are alike, so make sure to get familiar with yours. Use analytics tools to get a read on what times & days your followers are likely to be on social media and post accordingly. Here’s an in-depth overview of the built-in Facebook insights tools, along with a rundown of how to use them.
As a general rule, it’s been found that weekends and evenings tend to be the best times to post, although most businesses also post content outside of those windows, depending on the content type and general habits in their industry.
6. Keep it genuine.
To keep us honest, the Facebook algorithm favors posts that naturally generate likes, comments, and shares because of the awesome content in them, not because you directly asked your followers to engage.
Facebook scans for posts that explicitly ask for engagement and will rank them lower in your follower’s feed meaning less reach and impact for your biz, so make sure to avoid this risky practice.
Regardless of the amount of time and effort you choose to allocate to your business’ Facebook account, your time is valuable and it’s important to be strategic about making the most of the time you put into it. By incorporating these best practices into your content strategy, you’ll be generating a bigger impact while keeping your work load to a minimum.
We hope these Facebook best practices 2019 help! Want to extend your reach even further on Facebook? Great, we have exactly what you need.
Real Estate Busy Season: How to Knock It out of the Park
By Maddie Jostol, Senior Marketing Manager
It’s go-time. Yes, we’re talking about the real estate busy season. It’s the time of year when listings ramp up, and real estate agents buckle up for an increase in inventory, clients, and closed deals.
May, June, July, and August are the heaviest home-selling months in the US, accounting for 40 percent of an average year’s total volume of existing home sales, according to Housing Wire. For reference, November, December, January, and February are the slowest home-selling months, accounting for only 27 percent of an average year’s total existing home sales.
Remember that the busy season benefits both your buyer and seller clients. Buyers have more inventory to choose from, and sellers see a shorter time on market. An analysis of single family home and condo sales from 2011 through 2017 by ATTOM Data Solutions shows that not only do we see more home sales during those peak months of May through August, but sellers enjoy a premium as well, with increased median sales prices.
For many agents, the real estate busy season is a huge opportunity to drum up new business and exceed those sales goals. How will you ensure you make the most of it? Here’s your step-by-step guide to knocking it out of the park this summer.
1. Stand out from the crowd.
This time of year is busy for you, but remember, it’s noisy for buyers and sellers as well. It’s vital that you stand out in a sea of real estate agents as the one that those home buyers and sellers want to work with. Stand out crowd by getting more eyes on your business, and remember that generating leads is only the beginning, but you need to make a strong first impression in order to seal the deal and start off on the right foot.
Here are a couple things to focus on in order to stand out:
• Response time (don’t forget, timing is everything)
• Market knowledge
• Personalized, thoughtful communications
2. Be the expert.
If there’s a niche market or customer you specialize in, capitalize on that opportunity during the busy season and seek out prospective clients within that niche. You’ll have a higher likelihood of winning their business because of your experience, and you’ll easily be able to wow them with your level of service. Think: first time home buyers, vacation homes, investors, specific neighborhoods, etc.
P.S. This is a great opportunity to build your reputation within that niche and generate referrals. When your clients feel you were able to deliver an outstanding, tailored experience, they’ll tell their friends who are in the same boat about you.
3. Bring your A-game.
When things get busy, in the heat of battle, it’s easy to let the little things slip. Leading agents retain a high level of professionalism, ensuring their business is marketed to be as outstanding as your service is.
As things ramp up, here are a few quick and easy ways to make sure you present your business in its best light:
• Up-to-date CMAs with live data
• Update your agent website with current market information (and an updated head shot while you’re at it)
• Create hyper-local marketing content
• Wow buyers with simple-to-use, interactive buyer-tours
4. Blow your clients away.
Once you’re underway with your clients, it’s time to offer a home buying or selling process in a way that will make them want to tell their friends. One easy way to blow your clients away is to show your clients just how many people you’re getting their listing in front of. When you advertise their listing using Promote, you’ll get their listing in front of a massive audience in just three simple steps. You can then either automate reports so that they’re emailed to your client directly, or you can deliver them personally. Either way, they’ll see that thousands of eyes have been on their listing, and they’ll see you as the digitally-savvy marketing superstar that you are.
With an increase in listings, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Even though your to-do list will seem ever-growing, it’s important not to let your high level of customer service slip. Remember that with this increase in listings comes an increase in potential referrals once the dust settles.
How Real Estate Brokerages Can Tackle Digital Marketing
By Maddie Jostol, Senior Marketing Manager
We all know real estate agents should be advertising online. It’s key to building brand awareness, generating leads, promoting their listings, and gaining recognition as a top agent. As a brokerage, you also want to continually market your business in a way that will reach the masses and position you as the leader in your market. But, when it comes to digital marketing for your real estate brokerage, there is a lot to consider and the options are overwhelmingly endless. Not to mention, it can be a huge time suck for your team if you don’t utilize the right tools and strategies.
Here’s the run-down on how brokerages can tackle digital marketing, what to look for in digital advertising tools, how to support you agents’ marketing efforts, and why automated listing ads should be on any leading brokerage’s radar (yes, we’re talking about set-it-and-forget-it programs that automatically promote your brokerage’s listings).
Digital advertising is an opportunity for businesses to meet consumers where they already are – online. It’s estimated that 94 percent of millennials and 84 percent of baby boomers go online to search for a new home (Forbes), proving that your online presence means everything in today’s hot market. People are becoming more and more influenced by what they see online, and it’s imperative that your brand has an attention-grabbing presence.
Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, as well as the audience networks that publish ads to hundreds of top sites enable you to get your brand in front of a massive audience. Marketing on social media also offers a unique opportunity to create a dialogue as people can engage with your ads, share with their friends, and comment about their great experience with your agents, all stretching your marketing dollars further.
So, where should you start when assessing how to tackle real estate digital marketing?
Step one is to get technology in place that will support and automate your efforts. You need to keep your brokerage brand relevant, even if you don’t have a huge marketing team to do so. Technology is your friend, and automation is key, so find a real estate digital marketing system that your agents can leverage, but that also supports your brokerages’ marketing strategy.
Here are a few things to look for in real estate digital advertising tools:
- No (or low) minimums
- High ROI on ad spend
- Automated reporting
- Simple, easy-to-use interface
- Integrated with your other systems
How do you support your agents with their real estate digital marketing efforts?
Your brokerage brand is at the heart of your value proposition. It’s why agents want to partner with you and why consumers want to work with your agents. Every time your agents market their business, they’re marketing your brokerage brand along with it. What would happen if you amplified that?
Co-marketing between brokerage and agents is a win-win strategy where agents receive valuable support from their brokerage, while the brokerage grows their brand and augments it’s recruiting and lead generation efforts. Imagine this: every time one of your agents promotes their listing, you pick up the tab for 25% of it. Their marketing dollars go further, your brand gets in front of more eyes, and their loyalty runs even deeper. Co-marketing is a leading strategy for brokerages that are focused on revenue growth and agent retention.
First, find the budget. Whether you have a healthy marketing budget that allows for digital marketing, or you need to shift funds around, consider how you can revamp your marketing strategy and budget to stay competitive in today’s market. A great place to start is by moving the bulk of your marketing funds from print to digital. Not only is digital advertising simpler, it’s easier to target and you’ll have better analytics to assess ROI.
To take things a step further, look for complete automation. That is, every time your brokerage wins a listing, it gets promoted online without anyone on your team having to valuable spend time managing it all. If you’re a MoxiWorks customer, this dream will become a reality in the near future (*wink wink*).
Keep in mind, getting eyes on your brand and leads in the door is only the beginning. You then need to be able to back it up with a great brokerage website, effective lead nurture and routing process, and a seamless sales flow. Get on board with digital advertising that integrates with your technology stack, eases pain for your agents, leverages marketing dollars wisely, and helps you achieve your business goals.
eXp Realty News: The Great Migration
By Tiana Baur, Marketing Manager
It’s been a hot minute since we last talked about eXp Realty news. Since we left this topic, it’s as if nothing and everything has changed all at once. The problems and pain points in the industry are still largely the same, but the drive and focus around them have narrowed and brokerages across the nations largely “get it.” Instead of having the urge to shake people into realizing they’re going to be forgotten in a technology-driven world, it’s like all of a sudden, we can have a normal, civilized conversations about it.
What is eXp & what’s their deal?
To recap: eXp Realty is a new kind of real estate brokerage. At eXp, there are no desk fees, no royalty fees, and agents get to keep somewhere around 80-100% of their commissions. What’s more is they offer every single agent the opportunity to buy into the business and become a shareholder.
eXp Realty is growing – and fast. The company increased the number of agents and brokers by 171 percent to 6,511 agents in 2017, compared to their 2,401 agents in 2016.
What’s the latest eXp Realty news?
If you thought eXp Realty was just a phase, you thought wrong. In 2018, eXp more than DOUBLED their agent count, going from 6,511 in 2017, to ending 2018 with over 15,500 agents. Not only that, but their revenue jumped 220% (no, that’s not a typo). The record-hitting number was $500.1 million. We should note that their net loss, however, remained steady at $22.4 million. By the end of 2018, eXp had closed 74,678 residential transactions, up 195 percent year-over-year.
So yeah, you could say eXp Realty is doing something right, or a lot of somethings right – but that doesn’t mean they haven’t attracted some haters along the way. Gary Keller said some things about their tech, specifically that it has antiquated feel, and I quote, “It’s old game technology. That’s their digital cloud-based platform. Old gaming technology. All you have to do is go look at your Sony PlayStation, or your Xbox, and then go look at that — it’s like you’re looking at Donkey Kong or Pac-Man technology.”
While any successful business (or any successful person for that matter) attracts haters, they typically attract plenty more lovers, as is the case with eXp. Agents are straight up flocking to the brokerage faster than snowbirds flock to Palm Springs or Florida. What does this mean for traditional brokerages now? Surely everyone sees eXp Realty is here to stay, so what are the steps needed to not only compete, but to thrive in a time where new-age brokerages are winning?
How traditional brokerages can compete.
Happy agents don’t leave their brokerage. Frustrated agents do. Agents are leaving their brokerages because they have issues that are going unsolved or a general lack of support that they’re searching for elsewhere. The best way to combat brokerages like eXp is to support your agents in ways that you have been hesitant to in the past.
Here are some ideas to start with:
Brand Support
Your brokerage’s brand is everything. It’s how the communities you serve know you, it’s the face of your company, and the reason repeat and referral business is such a big part of your brokerage’s revenue. But agents are the ones out there culminating and nurturing that brand, so helping them build their personal brand will only reinforce the brand your brokerage has built.
Remember: your agents picked your brand for a reason. They are not trying to run from it, they are simply trying to grow their own business (they are independent contractors after all), so limiting brand scalability is a major no-no. If an agent wants to start a podcast, support it. If an agent wants their own logo, support it. It’s these little gives that will keep them there.
Listing Support
How about supporting the one thing that’s most important to an agent’s business? Listing support is an up and coming strategy, so getting in early will differentiate you from the competition. Try co-marketing with Promote – you pay for part of the ad spend on their listing and an agent can choose to add more monetary power behind it. Your agents see you’re supporting them, which is a major win. In addition, with co-marketing, there are no minimums and you select your own budget for however much or little you’d like to spend.
Connectivity
Agents need to have one place they can go to for everything. They need to be able to connect multiple MLSs to their tools, integrate their website, have a solid reporting dashboard, connect their CRM, CMA, intranet, client data, and more all in one place. If you’re not providing your agents with a solid tech stack to grow and scale their business, then that’s the first place you need to start. A solid tech stack that is built on an open platform is really the bare minimum when it comes to agent recruiting and retention. The more delicate matters like culture, a welcoming atmosphere, and helping agents find unlimited opportunities, are next.
