by Brian Brady
Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL
This is an article I wrote on Active Rain, about a month ago. I’ve since deleted it because it was behind the “Members’ Only” wall and the rules there state you can’t “out” a private post because of the comments:
I am not a blogger.
I’m a marketer, a social media marketer. There’s a difference between the two. Blogging is often portrayed as an “art form”. I am no artist. If you’ve ever seen my drawings, or heard my singing, you’ll quickly verify that.
Why do I blog? It’s part of my overall branding strategy within my social media marketing plan. I want to be a ubiquitous presence, in plain sight of consumers, giving them what they want. If I give consumers what they want, they’ll give me what I want; a chance to fund their mortgage loan. It’s simple economics if you think about it. Consumers demand; we supply that demand.
Consumers want to see houses and mortgage rates. How do I know this? I write on Long Beach Real Estate Home, Laurie Manny’s blog. Laurie has had tremendous success with blogged listings. Her readers (and subsequent buyers) want to see homes for sale. Her readers started calling me when I wrote the Long Beach Mortgage Rates report…AND put my contact information on the post! Readers want to see homes for sale and mortgage rates available.
Todd Carpenter takes it one step further:
I bet most of you didn’t realize that I had a second mortgage blog. That’s okay because it flies under the radar. When I talked to Brian Brady about it a couple weeks ago, he called it a Trojan Horse. I like that definition. The secret is, my other mortgage blog is cleverly disguised as a blog about Modern Homes in Denver. Yep, it’s a mortgage blog that never bothers to mention mortgages
Todd jokingly recalls the expression “Real Estate Porn”. The most successful real estate blog, Curbed.com, is laden with real estate porn. Consumers LOVE it. Alas, Todd reports that blogging theoreticians don’t:
Blog experts like Dustin Luther will tell real estate agents not to blog about there listings. I disagree with the idea, especially if the homes you’re listing are actually interesting to look at. Walk into any Barnes & Noble and take a look at all the Home & Garden design magazines are on the shelf. It’s a heck of a lot bigger than the Men’s Interests section. In my local store, It’s the biggest section on the entire rack. People like to look at pretty houses.
If you click through, you’ll see a post instructing real estate agents to not blog their listings unless there’s a story to go along with it. Here’s the problem with that advice; there’s a story about EVERY home because every home is part of a community. I said as much when I told REALTORS to stop selling houses and start making memories. EVERY home has a story, even the newly-built ones. Your job, as a real estate marketer, is to show that beautiful home and tell that beautiful story. Here’s what I said:
Neighborhoods don’t have character, they have Characters. Weave these Characters into the stories you tell when you talk about your market. Characters are what entice us. They make the memories your customer’s children will cherish .
Connect the sights, sounds, and smells of the present with a story from your market and you will have inspired the reticent homebuyer’s imagination. Characters call out and beg the buyer to join them in the comedy of life, unfolding on the stage (your market), from a seat in the front row (the house).
Read that last sentence, again:
from a seat in the front row (the house).
The house. Give them what they want. You’re no artist; you’re a marketer.
PS: I’ll be hosting a discussion about how blogging fits into YOUR social media marketing strategy. Join me.
REBLogGirl says:
Well said Brian. It’s easy to decide to preach to the choir and blog to other Realtors or blog to your own ego instead of the consumer. I love when people bring up how much consumers love their community pieces or their “voice.” I have clients that have used ghost bloggers exclusively and have the same results as people that blog themselves – sit on the top of searches and generate leads daily. The common thread is those blogs all write exclusively about real estate.
April 2, 2008 — 1:22 am
Ann Cummings says:
Hi Brian – I couldn’t agree more with you. I used to do a lot of the types of posts that weren’t bringing me leads, and then I started writing almost all real estate, including listings posts, and guess what? My business leads really did pick up. I’m online for business, and if I’m not going to write in a way to bring me business, what’s the point? My on-line presence began replacing hard copy advertising long ago. Working on my blogging efforts is bringing results that print advertising never did.
April 2, 2008 — 5:11 am
Rebecca Levinson says:
Real estate is interesting. There are so many questions that consumers want to know, judging from my phone line that never stayed unlit when I worked for a real estate attorney. Now, judging from the amount of question and answer forums that are out there and active (Trulia, Zillow, Yahoo).
People buy a residence because there is something about it that makes it a home. It involves the structure, the lot, the neighborhood, the community, the town, the commerce, the commute, the homeowners, the schools, the municipality, and more. Certainly there are several local stories there to keep a blogger busy and a consumer interested.
April 2, 2008 — 5:51 am
Thomas Johnson says:
If you blog listings, and people look at the listings and then you get leads, does that not take the lead vendors out of the equation? Just asking..
April 2, 2008 — 2:15 pm
Brian Brady says:
“does that not take the lead vendors out of the equation?”
…then you’d have a whole bunch of extra money, too. So…you’d have THAT to deal with, as well.
April 2, 2008 — 3:10 pm
Tom Vanderwell says:
I tell you, every time I come to BloodhoundBlog, I learn something. This place is great! Very thought provoking.
Question – have any lenders who have blogs successfully used their blog to have guest bloggers about unique properties they have listed? I’d love to know if something like that is successful.
April 2, 2008 — 5:19 pm
Brian Brady says:
Tom:
Can you explore this and report back? You might try Vance Shutes, in Saline:
http://homesbyvance.blogspot.com/2008/03/sweetheart-deals.html
Vance does a nice job blogging about real estate although I prefer to read about our mutual interests:
http://homesbyvance.blogspot.com/2008/03/dans-downtown-tavern-saline.html
If it works, you owe me a cold one, Tom, at Dan’s
April 2, 2008 — 7:30 pm
Teri Lussier says:
Brian-
Your point is well taken, however.
I disagree with your assertion that you are not an artist. Your post: https://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog//?p=1496 –
“Realtors should stop selling houses…” was art- is art. That still stands as a beautifully written post, is one of my favorite BHB posts, and one of the best real estate blogging posts around.
How nice to revisit that work of art.
April 3, 2008 — 4:26 am
Tom Vanderwell says:
Brian,
I think that’s the type of thing I’m thinking about. I’ll have to work on it some more, but now I’ve got customers to take care of before I leave for a cruise on Saturday.
I’ll definitely take you up on the cold one. He’s not too far from me, so let me know when!
Tom
April 3, 2008 — 5:25 am
Colleen Kulikowski says:
Brian,
You are a never ending resource and inspiration! Thanks so much for sharing!
April 3, 2008 — 12:49 pm
Alex says:
But im like to be a blogger =)
October 12, 2008 — 11:25 pm
Wooden Gates says:
It’s easy to decide to preach to the choir and blog to other Realtors or blog to your own ego instead of the consumer. I love when people bring up how much consumers love their community pieces or their “voice.” I have clients that have used ghost bloggers exclusively and have the same results as people that blog themselves – sit on the top of searches and generate leads daily. The common thread is those blogs all write exclusively about real estate.
October 30, 2008 — 6:06 am