For those of you that didn’t attend ACMS, here is a link to my presentation from the event. I believe there are strategies and information you’ll find valuable.

Download ACMS Presentation (PDF – 3.5MB)

It all starts by determining what you’re trying to attain with the technology. Is lead generation the sole focus? Do you plan to use social marketing to stay connected with your current owners? Are you looking to broadcast special offers as quickly as possible? All of the above?

BrightDoor customer Hampton Lake has a robust Facebook presence.

As a primer to the potential of social marketing, I’ve compiled the following links to help as you build your plan. Although these articles aren’t necessarily real estate focused, they do provide some good background information on social media marketing, tips and best practices.

• From Pragmatic Marketing - Tuned in social media
• From Associated Content - Business: Three Risks and Myths of Social Networking
• From About.com – Reasons to Adopt Social Media Marketing
• From Duct Tape Marketing – Your Social Media Strategy

Once you’re off and running, like any other marketing initative, analyze the results and makes any necessary adjustments. In the digital age, change is just a few keystrokes away.

All good questions. But consider this. If persistance pays off, how do I manage my marketing and sales efforts over the long term? Agencies are invaluable at establishing your brand and developing a plan for targeting your ideal prospects. Most of them understand that an integrated marketing approach (mostly weighted around online) is the best, most cost-effective approach.


Today, unified software systems like BrightBase give you the power and flexibility to take control of the on-going content management process. This now extends to your public website (inventory, site maps, surveys, registration) as well as other sales force automation tools such as information kiosks and sales center presentation. No one expects the “good old days” of 2006 to return anytime soon. As developers consider how to get back in the game, those with a persistant approach are best positioned for long term success. They’ll need technology that gives them full control of their online presence.

As our friend Terry Weaver likes to say, “If none of us hold back…All of us can move forward.” In the spirit of that notion, we’d like for you to sound off on any of these real estate sales & marketing topics:

• What source of inbound leads are most effective today?
• What lead generation efforts are you investing in this year?
• What ineffective sales and marketing programs are you eliminating?
• How are you keeping your sales team(s) engaged and motivated?
• What are you doing to ensure future success?

Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN utilize a variety of methods in determining rankings. Keywords are a major factor in determining these rankings. The right keywords should be relevant to your community (location, amenities, etc) and are popular with searchers. So, how do you know what keywords people are searching with? For one, try to place yourself in your ideal customer’s shoes. What keywords would you use to try to discover your community? Try it out and see what results you get. Observe the characteristics of your search results and see if you can uncover some hidden gems that you can use for your keywords.

When it comes to looking for help online, we recommend you take advantage of online sites such as KeywordDiscovery.com and WordTracker.com. These tools contain historical archives of past searches and their data is from a large sample of internet searches. Both are paid services, but can be invaluable in helping uncover the right mix of keywords and keyword phrases. Keyword selection isn’t an exact science but these sites can increase your odds of making the right choices. Once you’ve created the best set of keywords, those are delivered to your web development partner for implementing in your web site’s “title headers” and “meta-tags”.

At our INSIGHT event, we’ll cover more on keywords during our “The Seven Steps to Higher Rankings” discussion. If you’re in the Charlotte area and you haven’t signed up for the event, I highly encourage you to Register Today. The information will be invaluable and, hey, the price is right (as in FREE)!

Most of us will never get a chance to set foot on the hallowed grounds of Augusta National Golf Club. We have to rely on CBS and their broadcast coverage (starting in 1956). The Masters was one of the first golf tournaments to ever be broadcast in High Definition and this year, the tournament committee added more new media than ever before!

To compete with the CBS blanket coverage of 60 HD cameras, Direct TV offered the “Masters Mix Channel” – three separate views with interactive controls. AT&T had the “Blue Room” for web and mobile users. But for me, the Official Masters website powered by IBM was the most impressive (despite it’s excessive use of green). Maybe it’s obvious that the Augusta National team is desperately trying to appeal to a younger audience with a focus on the web and interactivity.

Masters chairman Billy Payne; “This current initiative is more accurately described as a continuing effort to reach more and more potential golfers, especially kids, by communicating with them and delivering content to them in the manner in which they want it delivered in this 21st century technological era. “Our Web site, Masters.org, has been significantly enhanced to deliver information and offer participation to a more youthful audience by the addition of full-screen streaming video, photo sharing and blogs, among others”.

For me, the killer app of the website wasn’t only the new and improved “Interactive Leader Board” but the incredibly awesome full screen video application – “Augusta Live!” The quality was extremely impressive but the controls and dynamic data all layered on a 960 pixel wide streaming video image, simply blew me away!

So, what does all this broadcast technology have to do with real estate? Well… EVERYTHING!

Here’s my realization tonight – if an institution as historic and respected as The Masters Tournament can truly be an innovator in interactive and experiential new media, then why can’t every real estate developer in the United States? Even consider the fact these guys have been playing golf on the same 18 holes since 1934. Icons like Jones, Hogan, Palmer and Nicklaus are all associated with the rich history of Augusta National. The Masters is proving you can really merge High Tradition and High Tech.

It also strikes me that both The Masters and a typical new home community share a similar physical layout of “place” (fairways and greens; streets and lots) in addition to the same core “product” (emotion and experiences). In one sense, selling golf is just like selling homes.

The next time someone tells your marketing or sales VP that “…we don’t need high tech stuff to sell our community here”, simply remind them that times are a changing and the good old boys in Augusta, Georgia have a head start on you!

“Once again, we must be at the leading edge, delivering sports and entertainment to our fans as they want it delivered”, said Billy Payne.

How do your home buyers want it delivered?

The same rules apply for our real estate customers today. Most everyone sees the value in churning their text copy on a frequent cycle – just look at this Blog. But in the world of club house renderings or model home interiors, sales executives need visual media that accurately reflects the current state of the project. This applies to the analog outlets (that’s brochures and collateral) but even more critically are the real time digital media devices (that’s the stuff of BrightDoor).

The visual content of a community’s website or interactive presentation tools has to be relevant ALL the time. If its outdated everyone loses – especially the sales team because they will abandon the medium all together. I’ve seen this happen every time. Consider a community I toured this week; the images on their website displayed nice colored renderings but the view outside of the sales center showed a finished product. Wouldn’t the buyers be more impressed with the real thing? Some marketers remain favorable to virtual views because they look “nicer” but lets save that topic for another post.

I believe the solution to this problem is more about process and commitment than anything creative or technical. Here’s some tips we share with our customers:

1. First you must commit to refreshing visual media on regular calendar intervals
2. Get the right tools (i.e. good digital camera) and relationships with your content partners (i.e. architect)
3. Establish a documented workflow
4. Assign a dedicated person who owns this task
5. Communicate updates to the sales team and your audience immediately

With a little more effort and commitment, you’ll be amazed at the results!

- Deven Spear