Let's Get Back to GOOD Marketing

People want to be inspired, not bored by technical or legal details

It’s time for the real estate industry to stop talking about the “lawsuit” and settlement and tigers and bears. Get back to inspiring people to fulfill their dreams with the help of housing — and YOU. Here are 5 ways to do it.

Stop Talking About Lawsuits

Friends, it’s time to let the past be the past. Not because it’s not important, but because what’s happened “since” the settlement is now the “new normal.” When you talk to consumers today (and tomorrow) they won’t be thinking about “how it used to be” because honestly - they don’t remember how it used to be! If they’re a first-time buyer, there wasn’t any “used to be” and if they’re a repeat seller or buyer, it was most likely between 7 and 10 years ago and they have no idea what the rules were back then.

So why bring it all up?

Please Put these Goggles On

Yesterday I went to the eye doctor for the first time in two years.

I checked in using an iPad. That was a nice change over the “old paperwork on a clipboard.” I then did a bunch of eye tests I remembered from the last time. Look into the machine, get a puff of air in the eye, and focus on the little farmhouse in the distance. All the things I’ve done over and over for the past twenty years. Most of it was familiar.

Then, I went into the exam room and the doctor handed me these goggles.

“Put them on and follow the instructions in the virtual environment you’ll see,” he said.

This was so cool!

As soon as I put the goggles on, a floating “guide” appeared in a 3D scene, telling me to “relax and follow my instructions as we perform some special tests on your vision.” It could talk? I hadn’t expected that (the last time I did anything like this was with a Viewmaster viewer). When I moved my head side to side, I could select options, perform different activities, and let the system measure a variety of aspects of my eyesight.

They didn’t do anything like this the last time. I like this new approach!

After a few minutes (more like playing a video game than taking a medical test) the assessment ended. “Please remove the goggles from your head. Your doctor will go over the results with you.”

I was disappointed it was over.

Stop Scrolling the Past; Start Selling the Future

The lesson from the eye goggles is clear.

It’s time for the housing industry to stop selling the “past.” To stop making mass marketing videos “explaining” the “changes” and how the “lawsuit” and “settlement” will make things “different.” This isn’t a great starting point — for marketing or for the first conversation with consumers. It focuses on a negative, nostalgic viewpoint that feels like a “fear of loss.”

Face it: few consumers are excited to start their new home journey with the nuances of “antitrust.”

They are, however, happy to focus on themselves and their goals. So start there.

Get back to the essential work of marketing opportunities. Create fresh videos that offer excitement for the market today. If you must reference changes, do so with optimism for the new options and choices to be represented. Don’t bore people with too many details. And stop talking about whether it was “right or wrong.” That’s a conversation for the dinner table, not the coffee table. Emphasize the benefits the changes have opened up for consumers to build wealth, security, prestige, and happiness in their lives —

With YOUR HELP!

Pepperidge Farm Remembers; Consumers Don’t

For most people, the lawsuit saga of the past few years has been a minor blip on their screens. They read a few articles, got excited in the comments section for a few minutes, and moved on. They went about living their lives — until the next time they will buy or sell: which is now once every 7-10 years!

Those future clients will be happy to be updated when the time is right. When it matters to them. When they get into the market. In the meantime, they’ll be bored by your 111th video update on “the lawsuit” on their Instagram feed.

Don’t Sell the Drama; Sell the Dramatic

Rules change all the time in business.

New laws, different tools, market conditions - it’s all changing all the time. But most industries don’t obsess about those changes — at least not negatively — in their marketing. When something changes, they find the silver lining and market it. They keep the focus always on positive possibilities and fresh opportunities that the changes create for consumers.

That’s where we are today: with more options for representation, greater transparency of service and fees, better opportunities to compare offers from different brokerages, and the possibility to negotiate the best outcomes for all parties. These are all good things — and they’re good because they are different from the past.

When you have to get into the weeds, do it 1-1 with consumers - without the distractions and confusion from the comments-section-experts chiming in with misleading and misinterpreting views on the issues.

Look into the Future

So, please put on your future goggles. Shift the conversation - in our heads and with consumers. Nobody will jump into the market from yet another “let me explain the complexities” marketing piece.

Remember your job: To inspire people to take their next steps in their housing journey!

Talk about the future.
Their futures.
Not your past.
Highlight their desires.

Everything else is a detail that belongs in a personal discussion, not a marketing piece.

If you liked this piece, please give it a ❤️ and share it with a friend.

PS: If you’d like FIVE GREAT WAYS TO GET BACK TO MARKETING THE FUTURE, keep reading! 👇👇

1. Focus on Gains, not Tasks. Did you buy a car so you could read the manual? Were you excited by the two hours it took to set up your last computer? No, and no. You took action for the gains, not the tasks. Great marketing focuses on the benefits, not the features (and especially not the pains). If you want to get paid like an over-busy assistant, then keep marketing the “long list of things” you have to do; and don’t be surprised when people pay you at that level. If you talk about the most valuable gains you can create, then look out: People will pay anything to work with someone who shows them how to achieve their dreams!