Blogger? Hell, No! I’m a Cyber Pro…Just Like You

I’m glad that Greg Swann addressed the whole blogging question.  Today, I’m going to share with you,  the members of the CyberProfessionals group, the genesis of the Bloodhound Blog Unchained University of Online Marketing Event, in Phoenix, on April 28-May 1, 2009.    I also want to tell you about the Bloodhounds and how this rag-tag group of agents and originators transmogrified from a pack of swaggering bloggers into some of the most nimble marketers on the web.

I think it’s important for you to know who we are …

…and why you should listen to what we have to say.

My online marketing game started on LinkedIn, in 2003. I had just moved from Phoenix to San Diego as a National Sales Manager of a start-up mortgage bank.  As start-up was the key word, I had to retain some personal production to pay for the higher cost of living, associated with the SoCal Lifetsyle.  I was invited to LinkedIn by a buddy in the tech field.  With the soon to be enacted “Do-Not-Call Legislation” on the horizon, a platform filled with high earning geeks was a phone-dialing, mortgage originator’s dream.  Rates were under 5.25% and LinkedIn was the “Online Chamber of Commerce” meeting…and I was the only mortgage guy in the room.

I didn’t call it social networking then, I called it prospecting.  You see, I’m a lot like you.  I started my sales life dialing the phone 300 times a day, selling municipal bonds and mortgage-backed securities to widows and dentists.  I moved over to mortgage origination in 1995 and dialed homeowners with FHA loans, selling them savings of “over one hundred dollars a month”.  LinkedIn wasn’t about the conversation to me, it was about the contact. Online media wasn’t some “experience”, it was a chance to get in front of someone and sell them…and it worked…and I was hooked.

Do you remember how you felt when you tried something new and it worked?  It felt amazing, didn’t it?  That was me when I closed my first loan from LinkedIn.  Only two things felt better than that first closing:  the first time I kissed my wife and the day I held my newborn daughter in my arms…

THAT’s how big that rush was for me.

I had my consumer direct channel on LinkedIn.  In 2004, this young gal I worked with sent me an invitation to MySpace.  What I found on MySpace was a way to search for people by “profession” so I connected with REALTORs there.  I started a group called “MLS on MySpace” and invited REALTORs to feature their new listings.  It was like an “online pitch session”, filled with potential referral partners, and once again, I was the only mortgage guy in the room.   Now I had a consumer and professional channel through which I could market my loan origination practice.

Two years later, I was invited to Active Rain.  I showed up there and saw 5000 agents and less than 500 loan originators.  The cool part was that the agents were all dominating the blogging while the originators weren’t.  I honed my writing skills and started sharing marketing ideas and loan programs with a bunch of hungry REALTORs.  I felt like I had snuck in the back-door to the NAR convention; once more, I was one of the few mortgage guys in the room.  I met Linda Davis there and found out that we were both members of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.  I met Kristal Kraft on Active Rain and found out we both grew up in The Garden State.  Cheryl Johnson invited me to write on NELA Live.  I recruited Teri Lussier to Bloodhound for the Project Blogger Contest.  When I finally met these ladies, in person, it was only natural that I rushed over to them and hugged them.  Yep…I’m a hugger..men, women, I hug everybody because I love people.

Kind of sounds strange for an introverted blogger, doesn’t it?

I am NOT a blogger,  CyberPros…I’m a marketer, just like you.

Naturally, I read BloodhoundBlog, a few months after I joined Active Rain.  RUSSELL SHAW was writing on Bloodhound Blog and Russ has street cred.  I started watching Greg Swann expose Keith at Housing Panic and read all those glorious tales about real estate investing from Jeff Brown.  It was a rough and tumble atmosphere, filled with very smart people and I begged to play.  Three Christmases ago, I was granted my wish.

Soon thereafter, I played my typical “bridge the Digital Divide” game and bought a bunch of REALTORs donuts.  Again, I was the only mortgage guy in the room and I started getting used to that old game.  What I didn’t expect was the excitement I’d feel when Greg Swann and I started talking about the possibilities of the “brave new world” of online marketing.  Here was a self-proclaimed introvert, dominating the online space and a garrulous, back-slapping, donut buying, mortgage salesman talking about how we would overtake Inman News and become the online source for the convergence of technology and marketing.  An unlikely couple of partners but magic happened on that rainy, Arizona day.

We started experimenting with our respective talents- experimenting and copying each other.  The introvert was building landing pages, based on the Myers-Briggs personality profile and the extrovert was connecting with anyone and everyone who wanted to hear him talk…and then we copied each other and experimented some more.  The other Bloodhounds were coming up with even BETTER ideas and we were in the middle of a scenius which you can watch unfold in the first two thousand posts on Bloodhound Blog.

I know this is long-winded but I want you to get the full effect of the Bloodhound influence.  Understanding how we got into the “Online Marketing University” business is important because it will foreshadow what you can expect from us this April.

About a year ago, I suggested that we all get together for a weekend of golf, drinks and masterminding, in Phoenix.  Someone from the outside suggested that we help HIM put on a conference and I went beserk!  I was, literally, screaming into the phone about how we spent a year building up the Bloodhound Brand and that WE needed to host a conference.  The Bloodhound Unchained Social Media Marketing Conference was born.  We weren’t sure of our ability to host a conference but we knew that we were doing a lot of valuable things that were getting good results in various markets.  Hosting this conference forced us to think about the process.

The Zillow folks financed this venture and for that, we owe them a great deal of gratitude.  David Gibbons and Drew Meyers sold Spencer Raskoff on the idea.  I’d like to think that we gave them more than their money’s worth, in publicity.  If you saw us in Orlando (which I’ll discuss next), that boondoggle couldn’t have happened without the investment Zillow made.  Every real estate agent and loan originator, who makes money in the Web 2.0 space, owes a small debt to Zillow.  This is a revolution and the Zillow people have that glint of upheaval in their eyes.

It was no picnic.  We suffered potshots from the “blogging elite”, had folks organize counter conferences in bars, and generally stuck our neck out on the line.  We pulled it off and the next thing you know, conferences sprung up in bars in San Francisco and Houston, and in hotels in Atlanta.  Everyone wanted to get in on the “blogging conference craze”…

I told you that we’re not bloggers.  We’re marketers.  There IS a difference.

We decided to preach the gospel in Orlando and realized that we had to expand our curriculum if we were to be truly relevant.  We proclaimed that blogging was but a part of social media marketing, in May.  We realized that social media marketing is but a component of online marketing, in Orlando, in November.

Orlando was simply amazing.  We packed 12 hours of content into one full day.  Sherry Chris of Better Homes and Gardens was our keynote speaker.  Mitch Ribak discussed online conversion.  Kelley Koehler broke down her Google Adwords strategy and landing pages.  Eric Blackwell preached the religion that is SEO and a whole bunch of us shared other online marketing strategies.

We lost money but that was okay.  We had a great trip and were invited to speak to you, the CyberProfessionals.  That’s where we REALLY had fun!

What we saw in the CyberProfessionals group was people who have been making money on the internet, selling real estate, with various strategies. It was your group that convinced us that we could put together an online marketing university curriculum….so…

we did it.

Check out what we have in store for y’all.

 
PS:  I would be tarred and feathered if I didn’t offer you a way to sign up right now.  CyberProfessionals get the special $397 conference pricing (a $300 discount).  Reserve your spot before they go away.  We’re about 33% full right now.

 
PPS: Are you ready to commit right now?

A good marketer makes the purchase process as easy as possible, so, if you’re ready to commit, all you have to do from here is click a PayPal button to reserve your place at BloodhoundBlog Unchained in Phoenix.

Fair warning: This won’t be cheap. If you’re looking for the best possible deal, and if you qualify, joining the CyberProfessionals might be your best bet. And if you’ve entrusted us with your money before, either last May in Phoenix or in November in Orlando, we want to express our gratitude with a special Unchained Alumnus price. But whatever you end up paying, we’re going to make it worth your while and then some.

Here’s how the prices break out. Just click on the appropriate button to make your payment:

CyberProfessionals: $397

Unchained Alumnus: $497 (you must act on this offer before 01/01/09)

Early-Bird Price: $597 (you must act on this offer before 01/01/09)

Regular Price: $697 (after 12/31/08)

Here’s the thing: We know money’s not falling from the skies right now. If you need to make payment arrangements, let us know by email, and we’ll work something out.

We look forward to seeing you in Phoenix!