mollification corolla: I Think I Just Threw Up...... A Little Bit

So I got up this morning, around 5AM, as I always do, looking to take advantage of a quiet house, and an opportunity to read some news, sip on my first Rockstar of the day, and plan my attack on what lies ahead.

Flipping through AG Beat this morning, a headline caught my eye. The headline of the blog post was, ?Harlem Shake videos by businesses: please die?. I suddenly felt very, very ill. You see, without even clicking on it, I knew this was going to be an article about how the Harlem Shake has already ?jumped the shark?, and how nobody cares about it. I couldn?t agree more. What made me ill though, is that I knew, without even spending a second reading this article, that Realtors? somehow were involved.

Sadly, I couldn?t be more correct. The author, Stephanie Sims included a link to one such video, made by a team of agents that work for Prudential Realty:

This video can best be described as the result of horrible, out of touch, uncomfortable and lame getting in a car accident.

Even better, the person that posted the video decided to allow comments (After all, if you make a kick ass video, why not let the world tell you how awesome you are). But for the most part, it didn?t quite work out in their favor. My favorite comment being:

Anyone that knows me knows that not knowing what to say is one thing that you can never accuse me of. At this moment, I honestly have no words.

After thinking about this, it occurred to me that perhaps this is just a small piece of a much bigger problem. How long has this misguided form of promotion and marketing been going on?

Another somewhat recent viral video/dance sensation that came to mind was ?Teach Me How To Dougie? by Cali Swag District. I did one quick YouTube search, and what do you know:

I don?t know about you, but if I?m a Real Estate Investor, the last person I am going to invest hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars with, is someone that is in a low budget, knock off music video with the nickname ?D to the Hizzy?. Utterly ridiculous.

Now look, I?m not writing this article to simply throw salt at these people and tell everyone how bad I think their videos are. In one sense, I think they should be commended. It takes courage to do something such as this and throw it out there for the public to review under a microscope. Even though I think we can all agree it?s in the wrong direction, regardless, these videos also show their initiative and drive to get out there and ?do something?.

The problem with the hundreds, if not thousands of videos out there, made by Realtors?, that I would put in a similar category to these, is the same problem we see day after day, week after week with the marketing campaigns many Realtors? launch. They lack originality, personality and uniqueness.

Not a week goes by that a prospective client calls our office and either wants us to create an EXACT copy of a campaign we have done for another Realtor? that they happened to see, or an EXACT copy of something they bring to us, that another Realtor? has been doing, with success. After all, ?If it worked for them, I?ll just copy it and it will certainly work for me?.

That is not how marketing, and especially marketing in Real Estate work though. Yes, every one of you is selling homes. But if Real Estate were simply just ?selling homes?, you would be able to purchase a home, in a store, at a check stand in Home Depot (pardon the pun). Real Estate isn?t just about selling homes. It is a relationship business. The reason your clients hire you is not only because they think you can do the job, but they also have a connection with you, like who you are, and are comfortable sharing the intimate, personal details about themselves, that come up when buying or selling a home. They are inviting you, if for only a brief while, to be a part of their family.

If I see Realtor? ?Joe Smith?, and I see his entire career has been ripping off marketing from other agents, and pretending to be anything other than ?Joe Smith?, am I going to trust him, feel connected to him, and want him to sell my home? No, I am not.

The fortunate thing about print marketing, is that firms such as mine, when asked to basically copy another agent?s campaign, will artfully explain to the agent why this can?t be done, and open a dialogue as to how a campaign could be created that would be unique to THAT agent.

Video marketing should be viewed the same as any other marketing initiative you undertake. The unfortunate thing about it though is that with iPhones, Youtube and tons of cheap video editing tools out there, there is no filtering process and basically anyone can jump on a bandwagon, shoot a video copying whatever they think is ?cool? and ?relevant?, and then you get what I have posted above.

This isn?t to say all Real Estate Videos are horrible. Just as I can?t say that all Realtors? rip off marketing ideas from other Realtors?. It?s just not true.

Because I don?t like to end anything on a negative note, and because I feel I owe it to you, to make up for that assault on your eyes and ears from watching the above two videos, I thought I would share two videos that are clever, well done, and even funny.

This first video, I?ve actually posted before. Whether or not this fits your style, the important thing to note in this video is that everything is original and creative. These agents set out to make a Real Estate Music Video, and took it seriously, doing every piece of it (even the music), originally:

And one more. I know this isn?t a ?Realtor?, but it?s safe to say that everyone in the Real Estate Industry knows who Tom Ferry is. The production quality of this video is very high, the idea is original, and it?s well executed. Even better, it is relevant to the trials and tribulations Real Estate Professionals were going through at that time (This video was posted in 2010).

If you are a Real Estate Coach, what better way to market your business?

So for what it?s worth, I hope my morning rant was helpful and educational. There is nobody else in the world out there LIKE YOU. If you ?do you?, and do it well, people will recognize this, and you will reap the rewards.

If you need help getting your marketing on track, or want to start a unique campaign that speaks to your true strengths and personality, please contact me anytime. I would love to help you get your business to the next level.

Chris Leo is a Silicon Valley, CA entrepreneur, complete workaholic, top notch marketer, type ?A? personality, shameless self-promoter and never ending ?connector?.

Even though he is seemingly always working, when he does take breaks, the ?work hard, play hard? motto takes on a whole new meaning. His life is controlled chaos and he loves it.

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