1. Consistency is key. We can’t emphasise this point enough. For people to come to recognise your online brand, you need to make sure everything – from the font you use on your website to the background colour on your email newsletters – stays consistent.

2. Consult with others. You might think your logo, tagline, or colour scheme is perfect. But are you the only one? Take every opportunity to consult with people outside your office to see where you might be slipping up, and tweak things accordingly.

3. Accessibility matters. This point builds off the idea of consulting with others. Set up a feedback process so your customers have some way of telling you when something goes awry – an email that only 10 percent of your subscribers can open, for example, or a new website addition that’s crashing half your readers’ browsers.

4. Keep it clean. The results of this study show that cluttered banners perform worse on branding impact measures than less cluttered banners. We think this goes for all aspects of your online presence. Less is always more when it comes to online presentation.

5. Keep it simple. Along with good, clean design, clarity of message is also crucial in online brand building. You should be able to sum up your aim in one short sentence, or even a few words. Find that message, and keep repeating it until its synonymous with your brand.

6. Relaunch with care. The feedback you receive might convince you to start your whole online brand strategy again from scratch. If you do, make it obvious to website visitors and anyone else who might come into contact with your online business that this is a new version, not someone else operating under the same name.

7. Track your mentions. A listening post tool like Google Alerts can be invaluable in finding out when and where your brand is mentioned. Plug in your business name, then sit back and wait for the regular emails showing you exactly who’s talking you up online.

8. Thank them. This is the social side of online brand building. Whenever you do find an example of someone discussing your brand online, jump on and thank them – publicly if possible. This proves there’s a real, engaged person behind the brand name.

9. Drown out the negativity. There will be times when your brand shows up somewhere in a negative light. If it’s not an issue you can address personally, spend your energy promoting your business in a positive light. Don’t let other people’s definition of your brand be the most visible one.

10. Know when to stop. Believe it or not, there is such a thing as online over-exposure. If people are coming into contact with your brand too often, they will start to tune you out. Don’t be afraid to let things settle for a while, and see what effect your efforts have had, before launching your next campaign.

Online branding is a delicate business, requiring a mix of advertising savvy and relationship management prowess. We hope our tips take you a few steps closer to establishing a brand you can boast about.

[Image: activerain.com]

So how do you walk that fine line, outlining all the positives a property has to offer without stretching the truth, and promoting it to the right audience without leaving other buyers out?

Here are propertyadguru.com’s Top 10 Tips for Great Listing Copy:

1. Gather all the information you can about the property itself, the street it’s in, and the surrounding area. Build up a clear picture of what you’ll be promoting.

2. Use all this information to be as specific as you can. Is the property on the high or low side of the street? What will buyers see from the balcony? How is the house heated and cooled? Answering these questions up front will build trust in potential clients.

3. Avoid going overboard with the superlatives. Describing a home as “gracious” or “excellent” might sound nice, but ultimately it doesn’t give home hunters any solid information.

4. Encourage home hunters to see themselves in the property, perhaps by saying that the 10 metre pool is perfect for morning laps, or that the sunroom is ideal for lounging with the Sunday newspapers.

5. Don’t skimp on the details. If the property is in a “great location”, talk about what’s nearby that makes that statement true. Similarly, if it has “tons of extras”, give examples of what those might be.

6. Use details to attract the right buyer. Rather than say the property is perfect for a family, which may cause other buyers to switch off, focus on the large bedrooms or big back yard.

7. Can you give buyers a sense of the property’s history? Mentioning recent renovations, or the fact that it has had the same owner for 40 years, will show property hunters you know all there is to know about this place.

8. Correct grammar and spelling is crucial. If you don’t have someone who can proofread your work, try reading it aloud to spot any errors.

9. Similarly, try to stay away from slang, overuse of capitals and exclamation marks, and creative punctuation.

10. Originality will pay off. Even if true, saying a property is one buyers “can’t afford to miss” will only make their eyes glaze over. Take the time to think of a new way to describe what the property offers.

These tips really boil down to two major points: know what you’re promoting, and explain it clearly without embellishments.

Here are propertyadguru.com’s Top 10 Tips for generating online press.

1. Start your press release with a question, an intriguing quote, or a surprising statistic – something that gives people a reason to read beyond the headline. Make sure you cover your most important points first, remembering you have limited time to get your message across before readers lose interest.

2. Publish the release in a news section on your website that’s kept up to date. Optimise this section so search engines can latch on, and provide an RSS feed for updates.

3. Keep your “about us” section up to date as well, linking back to other recent releases where relevant.

4. An online press release can be a good option if you have some funds to put behind its distribution. To find out which press release service to use, try a Google News search on topic related to your release and see which brands appear first.

5. Once your press section and releases are up and running, contact local journalists with your news. Local coverage including your name and brand will help in positioning you as the go-to agent for the area.

6. Contact local websites that cover your area as well to discuss opportunities for syndication of your content.

7. Explain your news from the ground up. Not everyone will understand its context and some might puzzle over its importance.

8. Keep your tone professional, but avoid any overly formal language. Imagine what your copy would sound like if spoken aloud to a client.

9. Avoid buzz words as they generally undermine your message rather than enhance it. Readers will suspect a lack of genuine content.

10. Correct spelling and grammar is vital, of course, as is consistency throughout the document. Capitalisation as well as incorrect homonyms (there/their) can be particularly easy to miss. A second pair of eyes to look over your work is crucial before it goes online.

Of course, online promotion techniques such as blogging, social networking and video are all important when promoting your brand, but the occasional news story can also go a long way towards establishing yourself as an agent of choice.

[Image: ehow.com]

While we think all listings should always be best they can be, it’s a competitive world out there and sometimes you want your listings to really shine, and give them a good dose of “web appeal” – the new curb appeal.

So here are propertyadguru.com’s Top 10 Tips for making your listings stand out.

1. Photos photos and more photos. Need we say more? A picture tells a thousand words, so make them clear, quality and appealing. Read more in our article Photos Are King.

2. Think about including some special extras like floor plans, local neighbourhood shots, or maps.

3. Does it warrant a virtual tour? Or some kind of video showcase of the property?

4. Sell, sell, sell. Use compelling sales language and make your description the best it can be. This means making it accurate too, right down to spelling and grammar. Don’t leave anything out, highlight the features, and lay it out in a logical fashion. Consider writing a small piece of introductory text, a succinct sales pitch, that will begin the listing.

5. If in doubt, add more information. People are hungry for details and will spend more time on your listing if it contains more information. Is the property animal friendly? Are good schools nearby? Is it a renovators delight? What’s the price guide?

6. Aim for the top. Ensure you are on the top advertising package available. Most portals offer a premium option that allows for better positioning for your properties so they attract buyer’s eyes more readily.

7. Exploit all the features you can. If the portal offers paid for positioning, audio, mapping, or attachments like info sheets and neighbourhood data – use them all.

8. Dare to be different. Does it warrant a special open house, or something unusual?

9. Choose the right portal for the property. Not all portals are the same, and not all buyers look on all portals. It pays to get it right.

10. Flaunt it. Tell everyone you can about this property – email it, blog it, tweet it, facebook it, talk about it, make phone calls about it, link to it, whatever it takes.

And finally, make sure your listing is kept 100% up-to-date, and this includes saying when it’s been sold.

Read more about “web appeal” – the new curb appeal – here.

[image: flickr/I See Modern Britain]

While an open house is generally not seen as a sure-fire way to sell a property, they are certainly an expected part of an agent’s routine and can be great opportunities to meet new clients face to face.

But how do you turn a listing into a successful open house? The answer lies in combining good listings with great customer service before, during and after the event. Here are propertyadguru.com’s Top 10 Tips for Open Houses.

1. Becoming an agent of choice for your area is the essential starting point. A recent study outlined how sellers choose their agents and highlighted social influence, market sources and reputation as three important factors.

2. Making your online listings stand out with effective photos and a detailed description – everything that goes into creating what we like to call web appeal – will go a long way towards drawing people to the open house.

3. Aim for maximum exposure (without blowing the budget). The use of social media could make an important difference, and of course there’s that initial issue of choosing the right portal for your market.

4. Go offline as well. While the Internet is fast becoming the real estate advertising method of choice, don’t forget that simple tools such as signs and flyers can sometimes reach those who might not see your listing online.

5. Follow up on leads before the viewing. As well as giving you the opportunity to confirm details, this simple action says a lot about your conscientiousness as an agent as well as your commitment to getting the property sold.

6. Consider different marketing techniques. We’ve reported on marathon open houses and extreme house selling tactics before. Even if these ideas aren’t appropriate for you, they could spark an original approach that makes your open house one to remember.

7. Make the home theirs. Before people arrive at the property, check for things you can change to make it easier for potential buyers to imagine themselves living there. These last minute tips cover the essentials, from clutter clearing to the right scent.

8. Providing interested viewers with information beyond the basics is another factor that can make a big difference. This information could include a list of recent improvements made to the property, details of annual utility costs, or colour photos of features you’d like people to remember.

9. Ask for feedback. While you still have potential buyers and sellers walking through the house, check with them to see where they found your listing. Later on, you can feed this valuable information back into your next open house strategy.

10. Post sale communication is vital, not only to keep your name in the minds of future buyers and sellers, but also to make sure your details are passed on through a glowing recommendation from the people whose house you just sold.

Whether your open house results in a signed contract or a list of new contacts, if done right you will always gain something in exchange for your time and effort.

[Image: miamirealestateauthority.com]

Simple as it might sound to just “point and click” there are a few things to keep in mind that will ensure photos really add to your listing.

Here are propertyadguru.com’s Top 10 Tips for Property Photos.

1. Cover the essentials. Make sure you include shots of the property’s main elements. Features that shouldn’t be left out include the front and back of the property, bedrooms, livings areas, dining room, kitchen, bathrooms, backyard and any other special attributes, such as a pool or fireplace.

2. The more photos, the better. Never be afraid to include more photos than you think you need. A floor plan is also a great inclusion if at all possible.

3. Watch for intruders. Are there items in the room that shouldn’t be there, or that send the wrong message? This photo from blog lovelylisting.com tells a rather strange story to potential buyers.

4. Watch the weather. While it’s not something you can control, photos that show an overcast sky or dreary late afternoon light are best avoided. Your camera settings can help with this, as can photoshop. But don’t overdo it.

5. Don’t leave them guessing. Photographing just one half of a room, even if you are trying to focus only on its best attributes, can make potential buyers suspicious as to what lies outside the frame.

6. Work your angles. Photographing large rooms from different angles gives the viewer a sense of perspective. By the same token, don’t be tempted to take crooked shots or to succumb to the lure of the wide-angle lens.

7. Common mistakes to avoid include using your flash in a room where lights are already on or in front of a window, and accidentally including yourself in a photo taken in front of a mirror.

8. Giving a sense of what life is like in a home is great, but don’t try too hard. Removing clutter is a great idea. Going so far as to include obviously constructed scenes, like in this example, will only create a sense of falseness.

9. Get to know your camera settings, and your tripod. If you’re going to do it yourself get a decent camera and get to know it. You need to know about aperture, shutter speed and ISO to make your photos work harder for you. Shooting interiors at a slower speed for instance, makes them look better. A garden can look better in shade, and in harsh sunlight you might want to use a flash. There are some great tips on blog sites or take a short course.

10. If in doubt, go to the pros. While it’s certainly more expensive than whipping out your trusty digital camera, hiring a professional photographer could end up being well worth the extra cost.

Just remember: Honesty is the best policy. After all, when clients eventually see the property, the difference between a picture that has gone under the Photoshop knife and the reality will become all too obvious.

So what should you take into account when parting with your precious advertising and marketing budget?

Here are propertyadguru.com’s Top 10 Tips for Choosing a Property Portal:

1. Always consider advertising on the dominant player in your market, if only because you might not be able to afford NOT to be there. But give careful consideration to how you advertise, do you need to stand out or are you happy to be one of the crowd?

2. Look at where your competitors are advertising. Do you want to join them or try another tactic (and portal) to beat them?

3. Listen to your customers. If they are continuously asking to have their properties advertised on particular sites, don’t ignore them.

4. Don’t lose sight of value. Consider each portal in terms of cost of subscription versus the package you’re offered. Take into account: web traffic (number of unique visitors to the site and page views) any marketing the portal does; the reports and analytics the site gives its subscribers; and the extra advertising options available to you on each site that could help you trump your competitors. The most expensive might not always be the best.

5. Understand your market. Would a niche property portal suit the property you’re advertising best? There are niche portals for executive leasings, prestige properties, holiday rentals, and student accommodation, which can often offer you the chance to better target any potential customers.

6. Trial several portals. Take a trial run on a number of portals over the same period of time, advertising the same properties, and compare the results. Don’t succumb to marketing hype and wild sales promises. Ask for facts and figures to be supplied, and understand what they mean (read our article about understanding the stats). If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, so test it out first.

7. Breadth versus depth. Whilst breadth of coverage is important, it’s also necessary to consider depth of advertising. With a limited budget available you’d be better off being a premium subscriber on 2-3 sites than a standard subscriber, getting lost amongst the rabble, on 4-5 sites.

8. How easy is it to get your properties onto the portal? You don’t want to spend your days doing data entry (unless it’s a rare one-off for a particular property). Does the portal offer a data feed?

9. What extra consumer-friendly features does the property portal offer? How many pictures can you load, what about floor plans and virtual tours, and are there maps, driving directions, walk scores, or extra widgets you can add to your own website? Consumers are often attracted by the portal’s add on neighbourhood features.

10. Would you enjoy searching for a property on the portal you’re considering? Never lose sight of the bigger picture: portals should be easy to use, consumer friendly, and attractive. If you don’t like using it yourself then a user probably won’t either.

Once you are up and running on a portal you should continuously monitor how you are tracking on that site, reviewing your statistics on a weekly basis.

[image: flick/the_toe_stubber]

Here are propertyadguru.com‘s Top 10 Tips for Your Agency Website:

1. The site should utilise an easy to use Content Management System. Old, out of date content is one of the biggest criticisms by users of agency websites. A simple content management system accessed only by nominated employees should help ensure that the site remains fresh and updated.

2. Clear contact information is imperative. There’s no point having a fabulous site that encourages people to work with you if they can’t get hold of you! Make sure you have phone numbers and addresses (both postal and email) highly visible on your site. Sounds simple but it’s amazing how it can be forgotten!

3. Search functionality should be easily accessible. Most users will be keen to see your property listings – whether they are there to buy or are looking to sell with you. Make the functionality simple, available from the homepage and in the sales/rentals/leases area and ensure it is working at all times!

4. Include information about your local area. Both buyers and sellers want to work with people who know their stuff. Being experts in an area helps build confidence. Provide stats and facts on property prices, properties you have recently sold, demographics, schools, dining, entertainment etc, to show you are both interested and knowledgeable in your area. For the most part you are selling a lifestyle as well as bricks and mortar.

5. Encourage people to join your database. Being able to contact interested parties is key. The bigger your network the more opportunities for your customers. Include an easy sign up form to join your mailing list – this could be for a regular newsletter and/or new properties that you list.

6. Great photos are enticing. The web is a visual medium. Don’t bore people with lengthy diatribe and no pictures. Use great photos on all of your listings (this should be a given!) and use great local imagery throughout the rest of your site. Try not to use stock photos either – apart from being a bit cheesy, you don’t want your site to look the same as others by using the same images.

7. Use a reputable designer up front. It’s important that the basics of good web design are adhered to – easy navigation, correct page weights, browser compatibility etc. These are not things that are necessarily obvious to the uninitiated but if they’re not right they are annoying for browsers. Get it right first time.

8. Mapping is a great addition – and almost a given now – for property websites. Knowing where the property is located is a huge part of buying a home. Make sure you choose a reputable mapping provider so there are fewer problems with up-time and accessibility.

9. Sold properties are a great testimonial. Use your recent successes as a way to promote future success. Your ability to sell properties in a similar area under similar conditions is the best testimonial a prospective seller can get. Use these wisely.

10. Search engine readiness. Again, this is not something that the viewer will be keenly aware of, but it is key to the success of your site in terms of visitation. There’s no point having a great site if people can’t find it! Make sure your designer has included all the necessary work in the background to help your website be found via search engines.

It’s quite simple to make your agency website an enticing place to be – interesting and useful updated content, good photos and maps, easy to use navigation, great property listings and an easy way to communicate with your business. Make sure you work with a reputable designer who can build an easily editable site with all the correct background work to ensure your site is found ahead of your competitors on the search engines.

[image: the Century21 group website gets a huge amount of traffic]

With an email newsletter you can talk to customers past, present, and future, keep your brand fresh in the market’s mind, develop your reputation as an expert or leader, and create and build new relationships within the community, not to mention cultivating leads.

Here are propertyadguru.com’s Top 10 Tips for Email Newsletters:

1. Reach far and wide but remember who your audience is. Keep in contact and engage all your contacts including tenants who become purchasers, who become sellers, who become investors who provide referrals and repeat business. But always keep in your mind who your audience is and what they are looking for. It has to be relevant to keep them interested. Ensure there are articles or links to articles in each edition that relate to each of your subscriber segments so they will find at least one article of interest (eg: buying, renting, investment).

2. Add value with great content. Got a fabulous 7 bedroom luxury house for sale? Feature it! Include a snapshot of recent sales, properties for sale and rent, a market update, renovation or moving tips, community noticeboard, local info summary, and more.

3. Don’t be afraid to beat your own drum a little. This is the perfect place to spread a little good news. If you have received any awards or testimonials mention them here! And you could also include staff profiles or big sales and successes.

4. It doesn’t have to be all about you. Think big – broader issues, local community news, new property laws. How can you make these relevant for your audience?

5. Design is important. If you have great photos, show them. Ensure there are some images or graphs to break up the text – the layout needs to be pleasing to the eye, logical and easily scannable.

6. Don’t forget to edit. This is a public document, presenting your company to the world. Spelling, grammar, accuracy, fact checking and presentation are important. Always get a second pair of eyes (or better still, an editor) to double-check it!

7. Brevity. Keep each article relatively short and concise and perhaps have a summary in the newsletter with a link to the full article. People don’t want to read an essay.

8. Encourage people to pass it on. The newsletter is another form of advertising, so make it easy for your audience to spread the word for you by including a “send to a friend” button on your newsletter, and links to “sign up”.

9. Promote it widely. Use every opportunity to sign people up. Print it out for open house inspections and collect email addresses, allow people to sign up online, advertise it on your window, marketing flyers, advertisements and listings.

10. Measure the impact and learn from it. An email newsletter adds value to your business so you need to measure the results or effectiveness of your newsletter – otherwise, what’s the point?! How many times is the email opened, passed on and which articles or links are most popular? These statistics will help you know what your audience likes and wants and tailor and develop future newsletters.

We’ve focussed our Top 10 Tips on what to do, rather than how to do it. If you need help designing and sending an online newsletter many back office or CRM systems now have inbuilt tools to help you do just this, or there are email marketing programs that can assist at all different levels of sophistication. Your web designer should also be able to assist.

Here’s propertyadguru.com‘s tips for Marketing on a Budget:

1. Use online media more effectively. This really is key to marketing both yourselves and your properties in tough times. Online media is still much more cost effective than offline (tv, radio, newspapers, magazines) and gives you more control over targeting and measuring your outcomes. Consider your entire marketing mix at this time and reshuffle some funds towards online. 

2. Use online display advertising to promote your business rather than newspapers or magazines. Forego the glossy print ad just for a couple of months and try using banners on a portal website to promote your business in the areas that you operate. By doing this, you are directly reaching your target audience for a cheaper cost; the ads will also last much longer.

3. Provide great content in return for ad space. If you are determined to still appear in print, try submitting an article about the local market filled with facts and figures (and some opinion) and see if you can do a contra deal with the publication – editorial in return for an advertisement. If you are unable to secure a dedicated ad, make sure you can clearly brand the editorial – this in itself works well as an advertisement.

4. Beef up your email newsletters. If you were in the habit of sending out a newsletter somewhat haphazardly, now is the time to ramp up the writing and frequency. E-newsletters are a cheap way of communicating your message and your brand (and hopefully some really useful content) to an audience who are interested in what you have to say. If you have done the work to build your database then now is the time to talk more frequently to your customers and reassure them you are still around in the tough times.

5. Local sponsorships. Schools, churches, sporting clubs are always looking for helping hands. And whilst now might not be the time to offer a $1m sponsorship deal, you could start a new relationship that gives your brand some new visibility (through signboards, co-branded newsletters, banners at sports grounds etc) in return for event promotion through your own networks, help at working bees and cash donations down the track. In tough times small businesses need to get creative and help each other out.

6. Network network network. When the deals aren’t walking through your door anymore it’s time to return to old-fashioned networking. Go to as many networking events as possible and talk positively about what you do and how business is going. Don’t be a pushy card-toting salesman though! And be mindful of not talking about how tough times are. People like to do business with positive successful people.

7. Try new-age networking. Sites such as Facebook and MySpace have added a new dimension to business networking in the noughties. Try connecting with old associates, friends and colleagues and letting them know what you do now. Join industry groups or create ones of your own. Getting connected via these sites can open up a whole new avenue of promotion for yourself and your business. And it’s free!

8. Present a real estate information session. If times are tough for you then chances are they’re tough for many others in your community. Why not hold a free information session about the local property market for residents in your local area. Most people love to hear about where the market’s going, how to capitalise on investment properties, what’s happening in the rental arena etc. As professionals in your field you can offer this kind of information without having to sell anything, and you will generate goodwill towards your brand. You could create a cheap flyer in-house, hold the event at your office or local church/school (maybe one you are in partnership with?) and the entire event need only cost you a few cups of coffee. 

9. Make it easy for past customers to refer you. The best business is referred business so make it easy to do so. After every complete transaction, follow up with an email (to both buyer and seller) that your customers can then send on to anyone interested in selling their property. It should be short and succinct but contain your credentials. A simple reward scheme for referrals is always helpful in generating advocates.

10. Don’t be afraid to have fun! Perhaps now is the time to let the frustrated actor out of the closet. Create a video about yourself – what you do, why you do it and how – and post it to YouTube. Send the link to everyone you know (without spamming!) and get people talking. Have some fun with it so people will want to forward it on, but make sure you include a way for potential customers to contact you. It’s a free and easy way to do something a bit different that might just entice someone to give you their business.

It’s never as easy to market your business on a budget as it is with limitless dollars. But then success is rarely easy! Tough economic times call for tough measures and you can’t simply stop marketing because the budgets are tight. So think a bit laterally – and also a bit obscurely! – and have some fun generating business in a new way.