There is plenty of marketing advice within
The Title Report archives, but with the constant changing of the new media world, and the more-level playing field it can create for small businesses, it never hurts to seek out more insight. We asked recent entrant into the title agent marketing space, New Media 4 Agents, for its best advice for today's title agents.
Tierra Wilson, founder and chief consulting officer for New Media 4 Agents, launched the company in December 2011 after working with real estate and title agents for a year. During that time, working on a large marketing project, she noticed the same questions kept popping up:
- How can we get more leads online?
- How can we market ourselves better?
- How can we brand ourselves better?
- How can we rank higher than our competition?
- How can we benefit from social media?
How important is that last question? Wilson cited a recent HubSpot report that said:
- Businesses who blogged 16 to 20 times per month got more than 2 times more traffic than those who blogged less than four times per month and got 3 times more leads than those who didn't blog at all; and
- Businesses with 301 to 1,000 Twitter followers or Facebook fans had more than 3.5 to 5 times more traffic than those with 1 to 25 followers or fans.
"Because of social media and the Internet, in my opinion, a small agent can do what a larger agent can do when it comes to online marketing and new media strategies," Wilson said. "Social media is free. A good flexible WordPress website with a custom theme only costs you between $1,500 and $2,000. Business card printing is at an all-time low. And did you know that agents who make $100,000 or more per year only spend between $7,500 and $10,000 on their marketing budgets. That's was unheard of two years ago."
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Think it's time to redo your marketing plan before the weather gets warm? Here are the top five problems Wilson sees with marketing in the title industry and the five solutions she would recommend to fix them.
Problem 1 - Forgetting that marketing should be relationship based.
"We have a saying at NM4A, 'relationship based marketing.' Genuinely engaging with agents on every platform, in person or online, is a challenge I see the title industry struggle with," she said.
Solution – "When you are talking with a client and while you are online, spend 20 percent of the time promoting yourself and 80 percent of the time asking how you can help. Just doing that will help you develop your next product, increase your business and increase your referrals."
Problem 2 - Understanding that branding is the first step to marketing.
"No matter how nice you are or how great you are at your job, eventually, someone has to look at your business card, website, marketing materials, etc." she said.
Solution – "Spend the time and the money to develop a brand and stick to it. The title companies and agents that I've seen do the best have great websites and they have great marketing materials. We've been taught in business that first impressions are everything and again, that includes your marketing materials."
Problem 3 - The inability to think outside the box.
"There are so many great ideas out there, but everywhere I go, title agents are either too serious or they are doing the same thing every other title agent is doing. There's nothing that stands out. It's the same social media training; the same mind groups; the same market reports," she said.
Solution – "Start getting inventive. Try contests, movies, family fun days, mentoring programs — think out of the box. Get crazy, but legal, with your marketing. Have some fun."
Problem 4 – Not asking for referrals as a priority.
"It's proven that referrals alone can bring in 13.2 percent more revenue each year," she said.
Solution – "When someone walks away from you or your office they should have had a great experience and received more from you than you got from them," Wilson said. "They should have heard you say, 'If you had a great experience, please tell someone.' They should leave with your marketing materials. They should immediately get entered into your drip campaign and receive communication from you within one hour. That communication should include a referral-based call to action. This industry is all about relationships, don't be afraid to ask."
Problem 5 –Not keeping up to date with the latest trends or becoming first adapters.
Solution – "I heard some alarming statistics from the recent Inman Connect in New York: 61 percent of real estate agents making more than $100,000 today, working at a brokerage, are considering opening their own brokerages. Why? Because brokerages are not giving agents what they need anymore. Also real estate agents have become early adopters and are more tech savvy than their brokerages. This is a great opportunity for the title industry to fill those gaps and become the early adapters. I can't stress the importance of this and how powerful this could be to a title agent's bottom line."
Wilson said smaller agents have one advantage today: They can really focus more on relationship building than a larger agent.
"In the end, that wins," she said.
Here are some other basic tips that Wilson noted for title agents looking to revamp their marketing efforts:
- Think of new ways to engage and market. Use Facebook, social media, advertising and your website to their full potential. Spend time every day updating your social media accounts;
- Create content that matters — for your clients and for Google. Go above and beyond the normal blog post and give information your clients need and want to hear; and
- Take advertising to a new level. Use sponsored tweets, other people's YouTube videos and more to really target your audience.