The chief advertising officers for eXp Realty, Brown Harris Stevens and CoStar Market share why gross sales metrics don’t resonate with at present’s shoppers and what brokers can do as an alternative.
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The previous 12 months has compelled brokers and brokerage leaders to shortly adapt as intensifying market headwinds and mounting antitrust challenges flip the {industry} the wrong way up. Though brokerages have already switched up their messaging on commissions, three advertising leaders onstage at Inman Join New York mentioned leaders have to upend their advertising to focus extra on storytelling than metrics.
Wendy Forsythe
“In the past, it was almost a badge of honor for an agent to put out a message, whatever vehicle of that message, something along the lines of ‘I sold this house in 24 hours’ or ‘I sold this house in two days,’” eXp Chief Advertising Officer Wendy Forsythe advised the Inman Join crowd on Wednesday. “We would market messages like that with great pride of, somehow, this was a validator of how great we were at our jobs.”
Forsythe mentioned that messaging doesn’t work in at present’s market, particularly as shoppers change into extra attuned to the dialog about buyer-broker commissions and their capacity to barter. Whereas brokers see these posts as validation of their experience, shoppers usually tend to view it as an indication they’re getting ripped off.
“To the consumer, they look at that and say, ‘Why did I pay X amount of dollars if you only did 24 hours’ worth of work?’ That’s a broken marketing strategy,” she added.
As an alternative of metrics and empty testimonials, Forsythe mentioned brokers and brokers have to give attention to telling a compelling story that explains how they’re capable of shut a deal quick.
“What is important is leaning into that storytelling of the expertise it takes,” she mentioned. “You may have the same results — that you sold the house in 24 hours — but you did that because you’ve got a decade of contacts and a decade of relationships. You have 10 buyers who might be interested in that particular property when it hits the market because you have built relationships with other agents who you network with who are working with buyers looking for a particular property.”
“[You can tell the story of] there was a problem at the last minute of the transaction and you left the soccer game or left dinner with your family to call the loan officer to fix that problem, to get it closed the next day,” she added. “Those are the values that we bring to the transaction. Use that instead of taking a shortcut of, ‘Oh, I sold it in a day’ or ‘I sold it in 24 hours.’”
Matthew Leone | Credit score: BHS
Along with switching to a story-based method to advertising, Brown Harris Stevens CMO Matthew Leone mentioned advertising efforts have to give attention to candidly educating shoppers in regards to the challenges and alternatives out there.
“Educat[e] the consumer as often as you can in this very uncertain time of where the market is now,” he mentioned. “It’s not about what you want them to hear. It’s about what they should hear.”
“If you’re talking about your successes, you don’t have the eye on the prize because the people who are watching that, listening to it, learning, don’t really care about that,” he added. “They care about what’s going on in their lives. ‘Where is the market right now? What should I be doing with my home: buy, sell, rent?’ Talk to them about that.”
Leone mentioned Brown Harris Stevens has created up to date pitch books for brokers on the significance of buy-side illustration and has invested in new instruments and platforms that assist brokers attain shoppers shortly with the most recent data.
“We have a remote content studio through an amazing collaboration with a company called Open Reel,” he mentioned. “Email communication, social media communication, video communication. It is really education over entertainment right now.”
Chris Mumford | Credit score: LinkedIn
CoStar Group Marketplaces CMO Chris Mumford echoed Forsythe and Leone’s insights whereas noting a robust character can be a part of attracting and retaining long-term purchasers. Mumford, who got here to CoStar six months in the past from Geico, mentioned shoppers in the end work with folks and types they like.
“Well, in my experience, there’s two ways [to differentiate your brand]. One is emotional; one is very rational,” he mentioned. “The most powerful [approach] I’ve found in my career is personality. People buy from companies that they like, and so developing a brand, whether you’re human or developing a brand that’s a product or service, people need to understand what that brand stands for and what the personality of that brand is and why they’re in business.”
Mumford mentioned CoStar residential portal Houses.com has nailed the duty of making a robust model character and leveraging the ache factors brokers have had with different portal rivals to bolster their worth proposition — a advertising platform that enables brokers to have middle stage on their listings.
“They did an amazing job on the emotional side of putting the brand out there and expressing a vision,” he mentioned. “We still have some work to do to educate and make sure people understand how they can tap into the power of this product that’s evolving and getting smarter and better and more robust every single day. We’ve got more work to do there.”
