The Future of Real Estate Email Marketing

Posted on 25. Jun, 2009 by Jason Steele.

As we are coming down the final stretch for launching our direct marketing tool using the Meredith Corporation subscriber database I have been entrenched in the concept of putting the right message, in front of the right consumer, at the right time, to get the desired response. So it would be fitting that I actually saw a real world example of this last week from Amazon.com.

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Friday Blog Scan: Things We Liked from the Week That Was

Posted on 19. Jun, 2009 by Jason Steele.

Marketing Experiments blog did a great job of compiling a list a must read Twitter tips for business all in one post. Just when you think you have Twitter figured out (love or hate wise) another new way it is being used in business springs up. This post titled Twitter for businesses: 7 articles + [...]

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Friday Blog Scan: Things We Liked from the Week That Was

Posted on 12. Jun, 2009 by Jason Steele.

Granted we’re bullish about Twitter. But we’re also realistic about it. TechCrunch brings some of that realism to life in this post titled On Twitter, most people are sheep which documents how many people actually use Twitter regularly and how many, 80% to be exact, don’t. Sometimes I think agents get in their own way [...]

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Friday Blog Scan: Things We Liked from the Week That Was

Posted on 05. Jun, 2009 by Jason Steele.

Anthony Tjan, CEO, Founder and Managing partner at VC firm Cue Ball believes that businesses rely to heavily on demographics to understand their customers when instead they ought to be focusing more on their psychographics. But now, with new technologies such as OpenID single sign-on service, gleaning that data could change all that. Read more over at Harvard Business Publishing in his post titled Want to Understand Your Customers? Go Psycho.

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Friday Blog Scan: Things We Liked from the Week That Was

Posted on 29. May, 2009 by Jason Steele.

Marketing used to be simple. A flyer. A postcard distributed to your farm. A newspaper ad in what once was a robust real estate section filled with listings. Today, simplicity has not be replaced, just relocated to the Internet where social networking websites are providing small business great new opportunities to market their services and wares. Rhonda Abrams digs into the top 5 and how small business can make best use them in her post titled Strategies: Which social networking site is best for your small business?

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Friday Blog Scan: Things We Liked from the Week That Was

Posted on 22. May, 2009 by Jason Steele.

U.S. home prices are their most affordable in at least 18 years, according to a report released Monday published on CNNMoney that offers insight into where the opportunities for great deals on great homes in markets where good jobs can also be found. Here’s neat little Twitter story really makes you sit back and go [...]

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Top 5 Pet Peeves on MLS Listing Alert Emails

Posted on 15. May, 2009 by Jason Steele.

I bought a home back on December 10th of 2008. That is almost exactly 5 months to the day and I am still receiving those automated MLS listing alerts from the first agent I ever spoke to about buying a new home. Being in real estate now for almost a year I find them sort of fascinating because I am curious if I actually bought at the bottom of the market in my town. Turns out I didn’t, but that isn’t the point. The information (listings) contained in these emails can be very powerful motivators to get an active buyer or someone on the fence to engage an agent. The most important reason is that the information contained within is the most accurate and trusted source for new listings and listing status changes (price drops and under contract). With such a powerful vehicle for information, I wonder why it misses the mark on so many levels for the average home buyer.

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Friday Blog Scan: Things We Liked from the Week That Was

Posted on 15. May, 2009 by Jason Steele.

To fail or not to fail. Just as real estate is finally contending with the reality that newspapers really don’t deliver value and that their demise might open up mew opportunities, Washington steps in and talks bailout. Is this a good idea? The Business Insider Silicon Alley had some thoughts on that this week.

Lynda Gratton is a professor at London Business School. She often writes smart/feel good articles. Learn to Glow is one such example that offers us insight into how to become invaluable at work.

Can you over Twitter? Yup. And when you do, you run the risk of loosing followers. Check this video by RodneyB from Reachd.

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Friday Blog Scan: Things We Liked from the Week That Was

Posted on 01. May, 2009 by Jason Steele.

Programmable Web keeps a running directory of mashups adding 36 new ones last week to the list. Lot’s of good ideas here for real estate considering the varied use of Flickr, Google maps and Twitter. Do you have a mobile version (dotmobi) of your Website? You might want to seriously consider doing so if you [...]

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Friday Blog Scan: Things We Liked from the Week That Was

Posted on 24. Apr, 2009 by Jason Steele.

Bill Gates, Barry Diller and about a billion dollars in venture capital have been thrown at real estate. Yet for the most part, the transaction today looks almost identical to what it was back in 1990. Brian Boero from 1000wattconsulting takes a peak at real estate past and present. He wonders if we have reached the end of the real estate story or not. This is a riveting post worth reading.

Lon Cohen, writer and Director of Communication at als-ny.org publishes 7 Ways to Approach Twitter published on Mashable that includes a litany of great links to learn by example.

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Friday Blog Scan: Things We Liked from the Week That Was

Posted on 17. Apr, 2009 by Jason Steele.

We know how well the big sites in real estate (Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia) rank in the search engines. And we are clear about the vast amount of traffic they receive. We also know that consumers are drawn to these sites first before drilling down to the local broker and agent sites. What we inside real estate know that most consumers may not is how many local listings are actually missing from these search sites. Jay Thompson digs a little deeper into this discussion in his post this week titled Where to search for homes online.

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