How you package, market, and develop yourself really matters. Customer experience = brand = pricing power.
Where do you want to be positioned in the market? Are you The Reject Shop, Louis Vuitton, or a great David Jones that can serve all customers at all price points, selling the very best-presented properties in that price range?
The world is rapidly changing. We live in a digital world where we spend 6-8 hours per day on a mobile device, 12 minutes per day on a subscription service like Netflix, and 90 minutes per day watching short-form video content on our platforms of choice.
The secret is to build a formula and to work it. Here’s our deep dive into the Rise of Addictive Content and what you can do to position yourself in the digital world.
You just can’t get enough of addictive content. So, what’s addictive?
Off-market Listings
An entire industry is being born with the Rise of Buyer’s agents. Their number one claim is the ability to get you access to properties before they go to market. To drive email subscriptions, allow people to gain access to your off-market listings. Leaders include those properties yet to be photographed, and have a search function on their websites where you’ll find exclusive content before it hits the major portals. End consumers quickly and easily understand off-market, so it makes sense as the lead item of value to drive your database growth.
New Listings
The latest listings provide the most enquiries. A well-priced and well-marketed new listing to the market brings in a tonne of buyers, buyer/sellers, and neighbours. It’s often the quickest way to build your database and get exposure to customers.
Sold Results
From auction results on a Saturday, to marketplace results over the week, to monthly results for your area, buyers and sellers alike love sold results. It gives sellers confidence to welcome, and buyers confidence to proceed with an offer. Originally customised in comparative market analysis (CMA), consumers are now going for a deep dive into real-time results as they happen.
Now take that content and think about distribution:
1. Website sign-up — How quickly can I give you my email address and subscribe to receive off-market, new listings, and sold results? As a market appraiser, can I get a weekly list of off-market, new listings, and sold results? As a past client who’s purchased, can I get a monthly summary of sold results?
2. Where does it land on your website? Do you have a sold gallery? And how quickly can I sign up there to receive alerts about sales just like my place?
3. It’s time to refresh your email templates. We no longer need a list of everything. Welcome to the world of clickbait. The bigger the email, the faster it gets clipped. Back to a main image, followed by some great headings. Think of specific email templates for custom audiences.
4. Social - There’s nothing that says when a result happens, you have to post it in real-time. Understand the advantage of calling a great list of sellers first, before you post the sold result on socials. You see, a new trend has emerged: people post their holiday photos all in one go as a ‘dump’ or ‘lately’. Social is incredible, but takes away the special feeling of what can be created if you call your key people first. People love to know things before everyone gets to know what’s happening in the market. A list of 20 similar appraisals and 20 aspirational appraisals to call the moment you list a property sells leads to more seller pipeline progress.
Welcome to the Customer Lends
We have the largest transfer of generational wealth ahead of us. Welcome to the baby boomer era. Plenty of cash and not much time as they approach the sunset, as opposed to the sunrise.
Now, think about age-specific marketing
How quickly can I search based on a single-level, no-stairs flat block, close to shops, with side access for a caravan/boat? It seems like a simple request. Baby boomers will pay more for each of those items, yet they are nowhere to be found on property listings.
Investors - They’ve got all the money
Defence Force Housing has a great list of properties to buy, with locked-in lease terms, maintenance contracts, and a fresh coat of paint/carpet when the lease concludes. How quickly can I pull up on your website a list of the properties you have for sale that are already leased, would lease well, or have development potential? All that great information is buried deep in the advertising copy. It’s time to think about specific audiences. Whichever brand cracks the formula on powerful search, wins.
The Rise of Video
Traditional TV is in a fight for its life, and next is the subscription services, where you spend more time searching than you do watching. Welcome to the Rise of short-form content.
You don’t have to be in your videos to make great videos. I’ve never met Stephen Spielberg, yet I know plenty of his work. Josh Phegan presents 1 Smith St. There, great titles or lower thirds, will do all the heavy lifting.
Welcome to Sound Effects and autonomous sensory meridian response.
There’s nothing quite like a great property video, with the toast popping in the kitchen, the sound of little kids laughing in the lounge room, or the birds tweeting in the gardens. Property videos are fast emerging to have incredible sound effects. Combined with fast cuts and day and nighttime transitions, we’re back to selling the full lifestyle elements and emotions experienced in every room.
Multiple Cuts
Now, each video is shot in both vertical and horizontal formats. Think of a 30-second preview reel prior to release, then a full-length feature film or a 1min 30 seconds, followed by a just-sold reel for 30 seconds for when the property sells.
Digital is hungry for content. If you list five a month, that’s 15 pieces of content, and nothing stops you from sharing or collaborating with others in your office to present the very best properties. Now you’re talking about the power of curation to position your brand as a family home, downsized, or investment property specialist. We have one client who only sells architecturally significant property in Brisbane.
Stories, Posts + Reels
First, plan the grid. When someone turns up to your profile on Instagram, they see the first 12 squares. Will it be enough to get them to click Follow? It starts with one simple question: What’s the goal? Is it to build social proof? Get listings? Or engage with your community? You need to choose a primary goal.
Here are some content suggestions:
Areas - Make sure it’s clear where you do business. You’ve got a global audience. Having a tile where the location, i.e. Balmain, Sydney, is across the image as a watermark is a great way to establish authority over your core market.
Sold — Nothing screams success more than a sold sticker. A watermark of SOLD over the type of real estate you like to sell seals the deal.
People — Whether it be social shots of your team or local heroes, people love to hear people’s stories. Move beyond the headshot into carefully curated imagery of your team. Every year we engage an incredible photographer to build an image asset library. Over 800 images shot in one day at a studio, with different looks and outfits for social content throughout the year. It’s a great investment in your and your brand’s position.
Stories
Where do you want to drive your traffic? Stories are a great way to feature beautiful property. A list of opens is hard to read. Consider a static story that links to a page on your website with all your open and auction times. Use your stories wisely. Each tile features a key property with a link to drive traffic back to the listing. This is a chance to showcase your best.
Collaboration
How big is your audience, and what can you do to rapidly grow it? Collaborations are a great way to build an audience. Collaborate on your posts with key suppliers in the industry, and even your office and individual business profiles. This allows you to share content across both streams. Consider high-end architects, landscapers, painters, etc.
Copywriting
Generative AI, step aside; we’ve got this. It’s not AI that’s going to win; it’s the agent that uses AI that will. It can assist in starting, but it’s not the go-to for isolation. Copywriting should be used to fit within your brand guidelines. It’s also critical to bring out the non-obvious. Think the high-span garage, the side access gateway, and the no stairs, which is good for someone with hip, knee or ankle issues.
You can write a formula
- A stunning headline like ‘Socialisers Wonderland’
- Then work to a formula. You’ll love, We love.
- First line: Something about the architecture.
- The second line is a crucial item of value, i.e. open-plan living.
- The third line is outdoors, so think of the large deck.
- Fourth line: One more internal item, i.e. spacious bedrooms.
- Fifth line: Location or aspect, i.e. the northeast aspect, which is 3km to local schools, etc.
Whatever you do, have a style, have a limit, and stick to it each time.
This is product positioning. Think about showcasing all the important features and benefits that may not be evident in the photos or the video.
It’s not just property that matters. How are you positioned as an agent? If I viewed your bio on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, the major portals, and your own website, would it be the same? Is it up to date? Does it scream the first day in real estate or never touched? Or is it consumer-focused?
Think first person: Hi There, lovely to meet you. My Name Is Josh, etc. Or is it third person? Josh is the go-to guy. You get the idea, but here’s the chance to develop a style.
Then, think about your agent photo. A team shoot, more candid photos, and several different photos that you can use to position yourself. Think of high-quality images that wrap you up and summarise you as a brand. Are you in a great suit, more casually dressed, or both? Whatever you do, realise it’s your brand, and you have to make the decision on how you’d like to be positioned.
Content is King
Let the property do the talking. Off-market, new to market, and just sold — maybe that’s enough. Add in auction day videos and live streaming of auctions. Then, add feature interviews with interesting people, including builders, landscapers, architects, and town planners, if they’re good on camera. People love to see an economist or a valuer talk about current trends.
It’s up to you to set the tone of voice of who you are and what you want to be in the marketplace.
What I know is that the best investment is in creating great content and using that content to position your personal and business brands. You either have an air of quality to what you do, or you don’t. It’s evident who builds brands and has no idea what they’re doing. You don’t have to be on video, but you do need to have a relevant style.
Welcome to the digital world, where reality meets virtual reality. Remember, marketing is a battle of perceptions. Are you David or Goliath? And what are you doing to win?
