Market 4 Real!

So everyone who reads my blog knows how much I love unique marketing ideas. Well, here's one that I thought was not only hilarious but effective. There's this vacant office space in Tucson, Arizona that tweets and blogs and has a Facebook Fan Page.  Seriously!

The office, called A Lonely Office, is named Ralph and says he started his foray into the online community because he's lonely and the office next door didn't password protect their Wi-Fi.  Why is Ralph online?  He's looking for friends.  I'm not making this up people.

Not only does he blog and all that, now he's hosting a networking event in the hopes of getting people into the building just so he can feel like someone was there!  He calls it his "No-Snob Hob-Nob."

Anyway, I hope you'll visit him and become his friend.  More importantly, I think he hopes you will!

~Renae

Thinking about using a Virtual Assistant but not sure if you're ready? Contact me for a free consultation! Want to take a Virtual Assistant for a test drive? Try a 5-hour starter block for $20/hr!

30 Days of Marketing Opportunities - Day 18

My goal is to write 5 days per week for 30 days. So I've started this series that I hope to motivate me to write. 30 Days of Marketing Opportunities will give you 30 projects or tasks that your Virtual Assistant can handle on your behalf, generating leads that will ultimately generate more income for you!  These are tasks that do not require a lot of high-end skill but, instead, require some time (hence the reason your Virtual Assistant should handle these tasks, not you!) and attention to detail.  Join me on the journey!

Day 18 - Don't Forget to Cross Over

Some doctors do it. Lawyers do it. Musicians do it all the time. What am I talking about? Cross-marketing!  Cross-marketing, in this instance, is marketing yourself across several social media platforms in an effort to ensure that your connections can connect with you on any social media platform - and then to use it to your advantage.

The question is, how does one implement social media marketing across platforms? It's really quite simple! If you have a profile set up on Facebook and have fans there, invite them to connect with you on LinkedIn. The connections you have on LinkedIn should be invited to join you on MySpace. Your MySpace circle should be invited to follow your stream on Twitter. And they all should be invited to subscribe to your blog's RSS feed!

There are many ways to do this. You can:

• put an active hyperlink to each of your profiles on everything you write.
• use social media logos everywhere that are linked to your profiles
• set up a "find me" webpage that lists all of the ways people can connect with you
• set up a cool toolbar that will easily allow people to connect with you - my newest favorite is Wibiya

Make sure those you are connected with are able to connect with you on multiple platforms! And to make it even better, why not offer/provide something different that one can only receive if they are connected to you on that particular platform.
 
~Renae

Day 1 - Use Short URLs
Day 2 - Syndicate Your Blogs
Day 3 - Create a Marketing Campaign
Day 4 - Take Advantage of Holidays
Day 5 - Farming Works
Day 6 - Socialize Your Listings
Day 7 - Create a Partnership
Day 8 - Create a Community Website
Day 9 - Host a Coloring Contest
Day 10 - Send Sweet Treats
Day 11 - Throw a Party
Day 12 - Send Out 10 Greeting Cards
Day 13 - Host a Brunch for Working Parents
Day 14 - Create a Neighborhood Blog
Day 15 - Host A Webinar
Day 16 - Put Local blogs To Work For You
Day 17 - Fan Your Fans

Thinking about using a Virtual Assistant but not sure if you're ready? Contact me for a free consultation! Want to take a Virtual Assistant for a test drive? Try a 5-hour starter block for $20/hr!

30 Days of Marketing Opportunities - Day 17

My goal is to write 5 days per week for 30 days. So I've started this series that I hope to motivate me to write. 30 Days of Marketing Opportunities will give you 30 projects or tasks that your Virtual Assistant can handle on your behalf, generating leads that will ultimately generate more income for you!  These are tasks that do not require a lot of high-end skill but, instead, require some time (hence the reason your Virtual Assistant should handle these tasks, not you!) and attention to detail.  Join me on the journey!

Day 17 - Fan Your Fans

You're probably thinking, "Ok, Renae has lost it for sure now! What in the world is she talking about?" Let me explain!

For everyone who has set up a Facebook Fan page, or a Twitter or LinkedIn account, the first thing you did was to start requesting connections - you wanted people to friend you, connect with you, or fan your page. (And if you didn't, my first suggestion is to stop reading this, go connect to at least 10 people on each site, and then come back to finish reading this post!) Ask yourself this question: why do I want to have people connected to me? The answer is simply because you want those people to "opt in" to receiving your news stream! They are now directly connected and requesting information about real estate in and around your area. Or, if you're like my friend from Real Estate Client Referrals - @ClintMiller, you're not following him for his real estate information (although it is quality stuff). You're following him because you just don't know what he's going to say next and you're waiting on baited breath to see what it will be!

This support will be even more unwavering if you fan your fans. Support those people who are supporting you. How? By engaging them! It isn't just about "how many people can I connect with?!" It's about how you can make those connections mean something! Your connections should be two-way streets - you aren't just sending them information about you but you are receiving information about them as well. Then, when you retweet or repost what they've said, and it's something specifically local, you'll start making local blogs work for you (yesterday's post). This will make you even more of an authority and expert about your local community.  So get out there and FAN somebody!
 
~Renae

Day 1 - Use Short URLs
Day 2 - Syndicate Your Blogs
Day 3 - Create a Marketing Campaign
Day 4 - Take Advantage of Holidays
Day 5 - Farming Works
Day 6 - Socialize Your Listings
Day 7 - Create a Partnership
Day 8 - Create a Community Website
Day 9 - Host a Coloring Contest
Day 10 - Send Sweet Treats
Day 11 - Throw a Party
Day 12 - Send Out 10 Greeting Cards
Day 13 - Host a Brunch for Working Parents
Day 14 - Create a Neighborhood Blog
Day 15 - Host A Webinar
Day 16 - Put Local blogs To Work For You

Thinking about using a Virtual Assistant but not sure if you're ready? Contact me for a free consultation! Want to take a Virtual Assistant for a test drive? Try a 5-hour starter block for $20/hr!

30 Days of Marketing Opportunities - Day 16

This is Week 4 in my goal to continue providing marketing motivation for you! 30 Days of Marketing Opportunities will give you 30 projects or tasks that your Virtual Assistant can handle on your behalf, generating leads that will ultimately generate more income for you!  These are tasks that do not require a lot of high-end skill but, instead, require some time (hence the reason your Virtual Assistant should handle these tasks, not you!) and attention to detail.  Join me on the journey!

Day 16 - Put Localism Blogs To Work For You

When you write about local businesses on your blog, you accomplish a number of things:

• your blog moves up high in the search engines due to concentrated local search terms
• your blog becomes a hub for inforamtion about your local area
• you become a local expert in the real sense of the word (a person who has special skill or knowledge in a particular field or area)

So, how do you make localism blogs work for you?

1. Choose your subjects. What are you going to write about? Ensure that you focus on the local aspect of that topic, whatever subject you select.  Some options are to write local series on area businesses such as "________ of the Week" (Restaurant, Grocery Store, Movie Theater, Dry Cleaner,  Dentist, Optomitrist, Beauty Salon).You could also write about local events (fairs, street parties, store sales, book fairs, construction, and of course real estate!).
2. Write local. When you write your posts, be sure to use as many words and phrases as you can that relate to your local area. That will help locally focus your posts for the search engines.
3. Comment on other local blogs. Your comments (along with your name and website when you log in!) will keep you associated with your local community. That's what you want and need.

When people start to associate your name with their community, it won't be long before you are the one they think about and call when they are ready to buy or sell!  And that's what we want, isn't it?  

~Renae

Day 1 - Use Short URLs
Day 2 - Syndicate Your Blogs
Day 3 - Create a Marketing Campaign
Day 4 - Take Advantage of Holidays
Day 5 - Farming Works
Day 6 - Socialize Your Listings
Day 7 - Create a Partnership
Day 8 - Create a Community Website
Day 9 - Host a Coloring Contest
Day 10 - Send Sweet Treats
Day 11 - Throw a Party
Day 12 - Send Out 10 Greeting Cards
Day 13 - Host a Brunch for Working Parents
Day 14 - Create a Neighborhood Blog
Day 15 - Host A Webinar

Thinking about using a Virtual Assistant but not sure if you're ready? Contact me for a free consultation! Want to take a Virtual Assistant for a test drive? Try a 5-hour starter block for $20/hr!

30 Days of Marketing Opportunities - Day 15

This is Week 4 in my goal to continue providing marketing motivation for you! (I kind of got sidetracked when the servers were down and then lost my momentum last week so here we are again!) 30 Days of Marketing Opportunities will give you 30 projects or tasks that your Virtual Assistant can handle on your behalf, generating leads that will ultimately generate more income for you! These are tasks that do not require a lot of high-end skill but, instead, require some time (hence the reason your Virtual Assistant should handle these tasks, not you!) and attention to detail. Join me on the journey!

Day 15 - Host Webinars

World Wide Web + Seminar = Webinar - a seminar held online, or via the web.  Have you considered the impact of setting up and hosting webinars? There are many positive reasons why you should host at least one webinar including:

• webinars are very cost-effective - they are either extremely cheap or free, depending upon the venue you select to host the webinar.
• webinars provide lots of bang for your buck (both time and dollar) - you can get many people onto a webinar at one time without dealing with the logistics of space and you can host them at a time that is convenient for your schedule so that you don't have to worry about time constraints

So now you're thinking, "I've considered having a webinar but I have no idea what topic to host a webinar on!" Here are some suggestions for you:

1. First-Time Home Buyers
2. First-Time Home Sellers
3. Investment Buyers
4. Relocation
5. Buying a Condo
6. Scaling Down
7. Buying a Luxury Home

Finally, now that you've got some topics for your webinar, let me provide you with some options for where to host it:

• GoToWebinar
• Yugma
• Webex
• Any Meeting
• Freebinar
• Dim Dim
• Mikogo

Do you have a great idea for a webinar? Do you have a webinar service that's not listed here? Please share!
 
~Renae

Day 1 - Use Short URLs
Day 2 - Syndicate Your Blogs
Day 3 - Create a Marketing Campaign
Day 4 - Take Advantage of Holidays
Day 5 - Farming Works
Day 6 - Socialize Your Listings
Day 7 - Create a Partnership
Day 8 - Create a Community Website
Day 9 - Host a Coloring Contest
Day 10 - Send Sweet Treats
Day 11 - Throw a Party
Day 12 - Send Out 10 Greeting Cards
Day 13 - Host a Brunch for Working Parents
Day 14 - Create a Neighborhood Blog

Thinking about using a Virtual Assistant but not sure if you're ready? Contact me for a free consultation! Want to take a Virtual Assistant for a test drive? Try a 5-hour starter block for $20/hr!

30 Days of Marketing Opportunities - Day 14

This is Week 3 in my goal to continue providing marketing motivation for you! 30 Days of Marketing Opportunities will give you 30 projects or tasks that your Virtual Assistant can handle on your behalf, generating leads that will ultimately generate more income for you! These are tasks that do not require a lot of high-end skill but, instead, require some time (hence the reason your Virtual Assistant should handle these tasks, not you!) and attention to detail. Join me on the journey!

Day 14 - Create a Neighborhood Blog

A great way to set yourself up as the neighborhood expert is to set up a neighborhood blog. What better way to show people how much you care about their community than by ensuring that everyone knows what's going on there? Your neighborhood blog can highlight neighborhood or community events, important news affecting the community, PTA information, school information, and (of course) real estate information!

Fellow longstanding Active Rain member Gail Robinson created the neighborhood blog Black Rock Online.  It is a prime example of how a great neighborhood blog can be done!

And of course, if you need help blogging, let me know!

~Renae

Day 1 - Use Short URLs
Day 2 - Syndicate Your Blogs
Day 3 - Create a Marketing Campaign
Day 4 - Take Advantage of Holidays
Day 5 - Farming Works
Day 6 - Socialize Your Listings
Day 7 - Create a Partnership
Day 8 - Create a Community Website
Day 9 - Host a Coloring Contest
Day 10 - Send Sweet Treats
Day 11 - Throw a Party
Day 12 - Send Out 10 Greeting Cards
Day 13 - Host a Brunch for Working Parents

Thinking about using a Virtual Assistant but not sure if you're ready? Contact me for a free consultation! Want to take a Virtual Assistant for a test drive? Try a 5-hour starter block for $20/hr!

30 Days of Marketing Opportunities - Day 13

This is Week 3 in my goal to continue providing marketing motivation for you! 30 Days of Marketing Opportunities will give you 30 projects or tasks that your Virtual Assistant can handle on your behalf, generating leads that will ultimately generate more income for you! These are tasks that do not require a lot of high-end skill but, instead, require some time (hence the reason your Virtual Assistant should handle these tasks, not you!) and attention to detail. Join me on the journey!

Day 13 - Host a Brunch for Working Parents

Working Parents are a great market for you to reach.  This presents the perfect opportunity for you to show the working parents in your farm area, community or your database just how much you appreciate how hard it is to be a working parent.  (Even if you aren't a parent yourself, you had parents at some point in your life so you know how hard it is!)

Host a brunch, luncheon or just cookies and punch for the working parents.  You want people to see your name and see you active in your farm area or with your sphere, leads, and other contacts.  If you go in on a Working Parents Day event with a mortgage lender (did you read my post Create a Partnership?), the cost of the refreshments won't cost that much at all.  And what's the point?  Let's say it together:  To make them remember you!

 
~Renae

Day 1 - Use Short URLs
Day 2 - Syndicate Your Blogs
Day 3 - Create a Marketing Campaign
Day 4 - Take Advantage of Holidays
Day 5 - Farming Works
Day 6 - Socialize Your Listings
Day 7 - Create a Partnership
Day 8 - Create a Community Website
Day 9 - Host a Coloring Contest
Day 10 - Send Sweet Treats
Day 11 - Throw a Party
Day 12 - Send Out 10 Greeting Cards

Thinking about using a Virtual Assistant but not sure if you're ready? Contact me for a free consultation! Want to take a Virtual Assistant for a test drive? Try a 5-hour starter block for $20/hr!

30 Days of Marketing Opportunities - Day 12

This is Week 3 in my goal to continue providing marketing motivation for you! 30 Days of Marketing Opportunities will give you 30 projects or tasks that your Virtual Assistant can handle on your behalf, generating leads that will ultimately generate more income for you! These are tasks that do not require a lot of high-end skill but, instead, require some time (hence the reason your Virtual Assistant should handle these tasks, not you!) and attention to detail. Join me on the journey!

Day 12 - Send Out 10 Greeting Cards

Each month, choose 10 leads and/or top contacts and send them a greeting card.  The goal here is to refresh your name in their heads.  You want referrals and leads.  Alternatively, you can include a $5-10 gift card to Starbucks or for gasoline or something similar.  If you choose to do a gift card, check into Starbuck's customizable gift cards!

Sending out greeting cards takes all of 15 minutes, maybe 30 if you add gift cards that you have to go online to purchase.  That can be the best 15 - 30 minutes you've spent on your sphere all month!


~Renae

Day 1 - Use Short URLs
Day 2 - Syndicate Your Blogs
Day 3 - Create a Marketing Campaign
Day 4 - Take Advantage of Holidays
Day 5 - Farming Works
Day 6 - Socialize Your Listings
Day 7 - Create a Partnership
Day 8 - Create a Community Website
Day 9 - Host a Coloring Contest
Day 10 - Send Sweet Treats
Day 11 - Throw a Party

Thinking about using a Virtual Assistant but not sure if you're ready? Contact me for a free consultation! Want to take a Virtual Assistant for a test drive? Try a 5-hour starter block for $20/hr!

30 Days of Marketing Opportunities - Day 11

This is Week 3 in my goal to continue providing marketing motivation for you! 30 Days of Marketing Opportunities will give you 30 projects or tasks that your Virtual Assistant can handle on your behalf, generating leads that will ultimately generate more income for you! These are tasks that do not require a lot of high-end skill but, instead, require some time (hence the reason your Virtual Assistant should handle these tasks, not you!) and attention to detail. Join me on the journey!

Day 11 - Throw a Party

Your farm is an excellent source of new buyer and/or seller clients, depending upon what type of farm you are working.  So, if you host a party for your buyers which either showcases your current listing as the focal point or that does a round-robin for several listings, that would make an excellent way to not only connect with your farm but to make you more "real" to them.  You will go from being the real estate agent who just leaves junk on their doorstep to someone who they can connect with!

And don't forget to invite your seller prospects!  Let them join in on the fun, too!

 
~Renae

Day 1 - Use Short URLs
Day 2 - Syndicate Your Blogs
Day 3 - Create a Marketing Campaign
Day 4 - Take Advantage of Holidays
Day 5 - Farming Works
Day 6 - Socialize Your Listings
Day 7 - Create a Partnership
Day 8 - Create a Community Website
Day 9 - Host a Coloring Contest
Day 10 - Send Sweet Treats

Thinking about using a Virtual Assistant but not sure if you're ready? Contact me for a free consultation! Want to take a Virtual Assistant for a test drive? Try a 5-hour starter block for $20/hr!