12 amazing content marketing ideas — no blogging allowed

July 22, 2015July 22, 2015NanaGSmith Leave a comment

These tips will get you out of your blogging rut

Style icon and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood once said that your life would be more interesting if you wore impressive clothes.

You can apply that principle to content marketing — your brand will be more attractive if you can create impressive content.

Don’t get me wrong; real estate blogging is great and can help you brand your business, but there are other ways to create valuable, shareable content.

To ensure that your content stands out from all of the standard formatted, dry blog posts on the Web, why not use a different approach? Frame your content in a new way.

There are many different ways that you can differentiate the message of your brand and engage with your local prospects. We have compiled 12 of the most creative media formats below.

1. Frame the content in the form of a quiz.

Why not create some shareable content in the form of a viral quiz? It’s a great way to segment your audience and create a viral buzz focused on you and your website.

Check out sites such as Qzzr.com and TryInteract.com for ideas on quizzes you can deploy in your market. It doesn’t have to be real estate-related all the time. You can create quizzes about your local area or city and target local homeowners in your city with a Facebook ad.

2. Hold a Q&A on Twitter.

Tweeting isn’t all about one-offs. You can release a block of questions and answers on Twitter and interact with people in your city. Later, you can repurpose that content into a curated blog post.

3. Ask a “yes or no question” in a text.

If you want a customer to give you a straight answer, then ask them a straight question. It is easy to get a simple response via a text message by using SMS applications. This type of content drives not only readership but also engagement.

4. Instead of thinking website, think document.

Go bigger by offering downloadable content. A discrete document, such as an e-book, white paper or PDF frequently is perceived to have a higher value. This tactic is great to create as a lead magnet for a landing page.

GO BIGGER BY OFEERING DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT – AN E-BOOK, WHITE PAPER OT PDF

. Use infographics and charts.

Infographics and charts are a great way to map out the data of your local real estate market. You can use sites such as infogr.am and Piktochart to create highly engaging images. Be sure to add your logo to the image — infographics can be great content that people love to share.

6. Review a recent case study.

Do you have a product that you need to present? Focus in on imagining how it was used by one ideal buyer or seller client to solve their problem. When you can be specific, it frequently has general appeal and helps with encouraging people to purchase work with you.

7. Set it up like a comic strip.

Everybody loves comics. If you can say what you need to in the form of snappy one-liners, you can always present them with sequential panels, stick figures and bright colors. Bitstrips can help you get started.

8. Use a shared space to place content.

Scrapbook sites such as Pinterest are excellent for pulling together related content and having it all in one place. Take lots of pictures as you tour and list homes, and build a significant following. You can also start a conversation in Reddit.

SCARBOOK SITES LIKE PINTERST ARE EXCELLENT FOR PULLING RELATED CONTET IN ONE PLACE.

9. Consider video marketing

Video is taking off and will continue to grow. You can easily shoot video content when you are out in the real estate field. You can also record on-screen presentation on tools such as ScreenFlow and Camtasia.

10. Interview an expert and do a podcast

Craft your content in the form of questions that your audience might ask, along with answers provided by an expert. Maybe you are the expert, or you can collaborate with a lender, home inspector or another agent on your team. You can even turn this interview-style content into a real estate podcast.

11. Write a glossary or FAQ

It isn’t just great for SEO. Reference pages such as glossaries are a type of evergreen content that will get the attention of real estate buyers and sellers now and years from now.

REFERNACE PAGES WILL GET THE ATTENTION OF REAL ESTATE BUYRS AND SELLERS NOW AND FOR YEARS.

Think of frequently asked questions, and start building a database of answers. What are the average days on the market? How long is the escrow period? What are the average closing costs?

12. Keep an eye out for more unusual content opportunities

Captions, ALT text, rollover text — these forms of microcontent can all be customized and add interest to your content. It will not only optimize your website — it will also make you appear very knowledgeable about your material.

Those are 12 real estate content ideas. You can find even more by just thinking about what attracts you eye when you’re reading content. Is it color, captions, sidebars, audio or video? They all provide you with clues for the next content marketing project you do that isn’t just a simple blog post.

Selling Your House? Price it Right Up Front

April 2, 2015April 6, 2015NanaGSmith Leave a comment

In today’s market, where demand is outpacing supply in many regions of the country, pricing a house is one of the biggest challenges real estate professionals face. Sellers often want to price their home higher than recommended, and many agents go along with the idea to keep their clients happy. However, the best agents realize that telling the homeowner the truth is more important than getting the seller to like them.

There is no “later.”

Sellers sometimes think, “If the home doesn’t sell for this price, I can always lower it later.” However, research proves that homes that experience a listing price reduction sit on the market longer, ultimately selling for less than similar homes.

John Knight, recipient of the University Distinguished Faculty Award from the Eberhardt School of Business at the University of the Pacific, actually did research on the cost (in both time and money) to a seller who priced high at the beginning and then lowered the their price. In his article, Listing Price, Time on Market and Ultimate Selling Pricepublished in Real Estate Economics revealed:

“Homes that underwent a price revision sold for less, and the greater the revision, the lower the selling price. Also, the longer the home remains on the market, the lower its ultimate selling price.”

Additionally, the “I’ll lower the price later” approach can paint a negative image in buyers’ minds. Each time a price reduction occurs, buyers can naturally think, “Something must be wrong with that house.” Then when a buyer does make an offer, they low-ball the price because they see the seller as “highly motivated.” Pricing it right from the start eliminates these challenges.

Don’t build “negotiation room” into the price.

Many sellers say that they want to price their home high in order to have “negotiation room.” But, what this actually does is lower the number of potential buyers that see the house. And we know that limiting demand like this will negatively impact the sales price of the house.

Not sure about this? Think of it this way: when a buyer is looking for a home online (as they are doing more and more often), they put in their desired price range. If your seller is looking to sell their house for $400,000, but lists it at $425,000 to build in “negotiation room,” any potential buyers that search in the $350k-$400k range won’t even know your listing is available, let alone come see it!

A better strategy would be to price it properly from the beginning and bring in multiple offers. This forces these buyers to compete against each other for the “right” to purchase your house.

Look at it this way: if you only receive one offer, you are set up in an adversarial position against the prospective buyer. If, however, you have multiple offers, you have two or more buyers fighting to please you. Which will result in a better selling situation?

The Price is Right

Great pricing comes down to truly understanding the real estate dynamics in your neighborhood. Look for an agent that will take the time to simply and effectively explain what is happening in the housing market and how it applies to your home. You need an agent that will tell you what you need to know rather than what you want to hear. This will put you in the best possible position.