6

Try This 6-Step Lead Generation Strategy for a Shaky Market

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Two Free Real Estate Strategies!

It has come to our attention that we somehow landed on a couple of email black lists and as a result, many of you haven’t seen our most recent emails.

That’s not exactly the type of thing you want to hear when you’ve just sent out two emails with valuable strategies and business building information in them.

So, I decided to go ahead and create a post out of the email just in case we managed to miss any of you. If you’ve already seen these two reports, please forgive me, I just don’t want to leave any struggling agents out in the cold when I have the ability to help.

Over the past two weeks I’ve made two reports available to real estate agents, completely free of charge.

If you just want to jump right in, go to http://realestatemarketingmastery.com/renters-report, enter your name and primary email address, and you’ll be good to go.

You see, just recently I discovered an absolutely amazing (no make that beyond amazing!) marketing strategy while attempting to sell my waterfront condo at Lake of the Ozarks, in central Missouri.

Here’s what happened.

I’d heard about a free online ad source called Craig’s List, but never used it. So I thought, “What the heck? I’ve got nothing to lose. Why don’t I try posting my condo ad there?”

Well, after one try I got nothing. Not a call. Not a hit. Notta.

So I thought “Hmm? Why don’t I take some of the ideas I’ve been teaching agents for the last 12 years and apply them to this thing?”

My next run?

One or two calls…nothing great.

So I tweaked my ad a little bit.

Then…three or four calls…a little better.

So I tweaked it on last time…and then it happened!

My ad started to gather some steam. This time I got 11 calls the same day I posted. That’s when I knew I had something. After three or four revisions of my ad, subject line and a variety of other things, I had, almost by accident, discovered a formula that generated 147 inbound leads for my condo in the next 38 days!

And the best part was it didn’t cost me one red cent!

I got good quality prospects calling me day and night from a source that didn’t cost me a thing, except 5-10 minutes a day to post and re-post my ad. What was even more amazing is the fact that I did it all with just ONE listing…my condo.

All I could think was… “This is CRAZY!”

I’m getting leads out the ying yang…they’re good quality leads…and I’m doing this all while agents around the country are literally dying and dropping like flies.

Armed with this new knowledge, I put together a quick video (don’t worry, it’s 100% free) that explains exactly how I got 147 Leads in 38 Days from just 1 Listing. More importantly, I take you step-by-step through this information, and show you how to apply it to your real estate business and start generating leads right now.

Again, let me stress the fact that there’s no sales pitch, no catch, I am simply trying to help agents around the country that I know are struggling right now.

To watch the video, just go to http://realestatemarketingmastery.com/renters-report and enter your name and primary email address. We’re trying to avoid any future black list issues so you’ll have to verify your request.

Once you’ve verified your request, you’ll be given the access code to both the “147 Leads, 38 Days, 1 Listing” video as well as the 22 page Renters Report.

The Renters Report is another potent, high-powered strategy for you that will help you grow your business even in the midst of this struggling market.

In fact, it will show you how to capture huge chunks of market share and grow your business like never before…because of this tough market!

You see, every market has unique opportunities to profit…if you know what to look for and how to go after the business.

And in this tough market right now…foreclosures…resetting adjustable rate mortgages…declining property values…it’s created a “perfect storm” in the housing market that’s been a nightmare for sellers but an absolute dream for buyers.

If you have a well-developed strategy for working with Renters you can exploit a very timely series of events and start generating those sought after buyers leads right now, at a time when your competition is searching for scraps.

Rather than just giving you a quick general overview of how to target, and more importantly convert renters into buyers, I wanted to give you something that you can use, something substantial that you can take and put to use immediately and begin to see results in your business. So, I’ve decided to provide you with a comprehensive 22 page Renters Report.

This report is absolutely awesome! It gives you step-by-step instructions, precise details, a six-part mailing program, six follow up mailers, and word-for-word phone scripts to help you follow up with the leads you generate!

Ok, that should bring all of you affected by the black list issue up to date. To request your copy of these two 100% free reports, simply go to http://RealEstateMarketingMastery.com/renters-report, and enter your name and your primary email address. Again, there’s no sales pitch, no hidden cost, it’s just solid usable information that will help you not only survive this market, but thrive in it.

The comments on this post will be closed, not because I don’t want your feedback on this, I absolutely do. I would just prefer it if you’d post your feedback over on the Real Estate Marketing Mastery blog so that we don’t fragment the conversations.

Thanks and here’s to your success!

9

How to Write a Damn Good Email Subject Line

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Boy in the Bubble: How to Entice Even the Most Preoccupied Person

Breaking news: You have to break through more than just clutter.

What do I mean by that? Let me explain.

Attention is the new economy. That means the barrier is preoccupation.

Yet, it’s hot stuff to rattle off how many ads CEO’s see a day, the average person sees a day, the left bank bookseller sees a day.

This is commonly known as clutter.

But it doesn’t explain anything about what’s inside a person’s head. That is the real obstacle.

But if you learn how to split through someone’s preoccupation, it doesn’t matter if the he’s barraged with 1 million messages.

You will strike him dead. But it’s not that easy.

Combating Tangible and Intangible Preoccupations

Think of preoccupation as a boy in a bubble. Inside that bubble?

His iPhone. His laptop. His email inbox. His magazines. His television. His notepads, pencils, drafting compass.

Those are the tangibles.

Intangibles include dreams, lusts, fears, worries. All things that keep his vision very short-sighted. In a nutshell, he sees, rarely, no farther than the inner edge of his bubble.

Unless he’s interrupted. Or enticed.

You, my friend, have to entice him. Interrupting him will only piss him off. Piss him off and he hunkers more.

Enticing him involves waiting for him to ask a question.

Why would he do that? He has a problem.

Enter the sales process.

That Irresistible Scent

The first thing you need to have is a clear understanding of is how your prospect arrives at a buying decision.

Here’s a very simplified flow of a buying decision:

• Recognition of need or problem

• Search for information

• Evaluation of alternatives

• Decide what to purchase

• Purchase

• Evaluate the purchase again

With that in mind, let’s now consider how you sell to your prospect.

Keep in mind: Sales is not a push-method. It’s a pull method, where you entice your prospect to follow you by an attractive scent you are offering.

This scent has to appeal to him. It has to satisfy a craving he has. That craving he got before he decided to crawl out of the bubble.

And the overall decision has to be a win-win scenario: both you AND your prospect feel good about the outcome. He must feel it is delicious and think it divine and you must think it fulfilling and feel like you didn’t feed him your arm and leg.

So let’s look at the sales process with a clear goal in mind: matching the what you have to offer to what they want or need.

Defining That Complex Relationship with Clients

A complex relationship, like the one you want to develop with your prospects, goes through stages, like this [with each bullet followed by a little narrative]:

• Suspects–the entire universe of potential buyers for your product or service.

The boy in the bubble runs across your blog posts because he’s decided he wants a new home. You have an article called “11 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a New Bubble Home.”

• Prospects–those suspects who have expressed an active interest in your service.

He’s decided to follow you at this point. The 11 Mistakes article was good. So was the article called “How to Sell Your Bubble for the Most Money in Less Time and Hassle.” But he really liked the story you told about another boy in a bubble who you helped successfully and safely buy a new bubble.

• Leads–those prospects who are actively engaged in the buying process your service.

At this point, he likes you. He joined your email list. You have his permission. Eventually he wants you to help him find that dream bubble. In a matter of days, he’s calling you on the phone.

• Buyers–those leads negotiating with you and who have made a commitment to buy in principle, but have not yet bitten the bullet.

Your relationship gets a little rocky at this point. He doesn’t feel like you understand what he means by “leg room.” Nor does he feel like you are listening when you show him a bubble with fist holes in the door. You listen, re-engage, probe deeper with questions, find out what he really is thinking. You are negotiating.

• Customers–those who have paid for your product or service.

You did it. The dream bubble. You found him the dream bubble. He’s happy, you’re happy. So you buy him a wreath to hang on his bubble. He gives you a sketch of his foot. And then you follow up with him regularly through out the year. Why?

Post mortem, you still want him to love you.

Your advertising–not just your blog, because your blog simply can’t do it alone, neither can your email–must compel potential customers through these five phases.

To do so, they must not communicate not just information–but benefits. Benefits cinch the deal. It’s that attractive scent that snaps him out of his preoccupation to look at you.

Benefits are cream.

3 Questions to Find Out What They Desperately Want or Need

Benefits will provide the momentum to move potential customers along. This needs to happen, by the way, at every stage, both in an individual blog post or email through text ad or postcard through negotiations and post mortem discussions.

Now consider these three questions to determine your objectives every time you communicate with a prospective customer, whether via your website, phone or blog:

1. What actions do prospective customers need to take that will lead to a buying decision?

2. Who do I have to persuade to take action? The wife? The father in law?

3. How do I persuade them to take action?

The running theme here is “taking action.” Keep that in mind.

Truly powerful communication always addresses the recipient’s needs: What’s In It for Me?

If not, then you will never break through their mental preoccupations and get their attention. [They are thinking about dinner now, last week’s Lost episode, not about you or what you have to offer.]

Always anticipate and ask the question, “Why should he buy from me?”

But be sure that you are addressing people at their level of interest and in the language that best suit their dominant personality styles. You want to give them information that convinces them to write a check, not write you off.

Conclusion

There is a huge difference between information and persuading. Persuasion is designed to move readers to action, to get results–whether it’s subscribing to your blog or pulling the trigger on a $800,000 home.

To persuade effectively you must take their point of view. You must answer questions correctly and fully. You must ask questions. And you must answer objections. Before they say them, if you can.

Breakthrough their preoccupation, maintain momentum, and actively lead your prospect through the decision process and you will survive.

Related Articles

Unforgettable Negotiation Advice: Discover His Thumbscrew

Pleasure and Pain: The Seemingly Dark Art of Manipulation

Cooking Up Persuasive Copywriting with These 2 Crucial Ingredients

When Being a Narrow-Minded Fundamentalist Works

Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add.
And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.

2

What You Should Know About Building a Pocket of Greatness in 21st Century Real Estate

Do you know which company attained the number one-spot in terms of return to investors on a dollar-for-dollar basis, of all U. S. publicly traded companies from 1972 to 2002?

It wasn’t GE. Nor Microsoft. Not even Wal-Mart.

Who came out number one? According to a 30 year analysis in Money Magazine, the winner was Southwest Airlines.

Think about that for a minute.

There’s Something Wrong with This Picture

You cannot imagine a worse industry than airlines over this 30-year period: fuel shocks, deregulation, brutal competition, labor strife, 9/11, huge fixed costs, bankruptcy after bankruptcy after bankruptcy.

And yet, according to Money Magazine calculations, a $10,000 investment in Southwest in 1972 would have returned more than $10 million by 2002.

Meanwhile, United fell into bankruptcy, American limped along and the airline industry remained one of the worst imaginable. Not only that, airlines that had the same model as Southwest got killed along the way.

Airline executives have habitually blamed industry circumstances, ignoring the fact that the number one best performing investment in the universe of American public companies over a 30 year period–is just like them–an airline.

Now consider a question: what if the people at Southwest had said, “Hey, we can’t do anything great until we fix the systems constraints facing the airline industry?”

Jim Collins notes that he’s conducted a number of Socratic teaching sessions in the social sectors, and in that time says that he’s encountered an interesting dynamic: people often obsess on obstacles in the system.

At one gathering of nonprofit health care leaders he asked the question “What needs to happen for you to build great hospitals?”

The group poured out a litany of excuses.

Confront the Brutal Facts

Next Collins sorted the people into discussion groups and gave them the task of finding one health care organization that made the leap to sustained superior results, and most came up with at least one solid example.

After that, he made them go back into their groups and find one organization that faced comparable circumstances, but did not make the leap.

The groups went to work and for the most part came up with solid candidates.

He finally asked the groups to identify why some organizations made breakthroughs while others facing similar [if not identical] constraints did not.

His point was this: what if these organizations that went from good to great had all given up hope, thrown up their hands and waited for the system to get fixed?

It might take decades to change the entire context, and you might be retired or dead by the time those changes come. In the meantime, what are you going to do now?

This is where the Stockdale Paradox comes into play: You must retain faith that you can prevail to greatness in the end, while retaining the discipline to confront the brutal facts of your current reality.

A Tough But Doable Task

So the question to you is: What can you do today to create a pocket of greatness, despite the brutal facts of your environment?

Whining is not an option.

In the end, greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline in strategy, marketing and execution.

Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add.

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How to Carve Out Your Place in Real Estate History

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The Top 10 Miracles of Real Estate Research

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6 Unorthodox Ways to Become a Market Shaker

SEO as a Marketing Strategy for Real Estate

If you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.

1

How to Carve Out Your Place in Real Estate History

In building a great real estate business, there is no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no miracle moment, no silver bullet.

Rather, it’s more like turning a giant, heavy flywheel.

Pushing with great effort–days, weeks and months of work, with almost imperceptible progress–you finally get the flywheel to inch forward. But you don’t stop.

You keep pushing, and with persistent effort, you eventually get the flywheel to complete one entire turn. You don’t stop.

You keep pushing in an intelligent and consistent direction, and the flywheel moves a bit faster. And faster and faster. Then, at some point–breakthrough!

Cool thing is, each turn builds upon previous work, compounding your investment of effort. The flywheel flies forward with almost unstoppable momentum.

This is how you build greatness.

The Article That Has Been On My Mind for Months

I’ve been thinking of this article for nearly nine months. Maybe even longer. Probably before I even posted my first article on July 2, 2007.

Since then, each time I’ve posted I’ve always asked myself this question: “Is this helping you [the real estate agent] not only survive but thrive in this current market?”

I’ve always felt that posts that talk about this negotiation tip or that prospecting tip sometimes miss the point–the greater point: survival and greatness are founded on doing the basic but essential stuff over and over again.

Think about it: If you are lost child stranded in a forest on the side of a mountain, it only makes sense to teach you how to stay warm, find food, filter water and seek shelter. Ignore these basics and your chances of survival are slim.

That’s how I view your helping you carve out your relentless focus on the highest money-making activity you love to do best [what Jim Collins calls the Hedgehog Concept].

Carving Out Your Place in Real Estate History

By sustaining this relentless focus on what you do best, you build results. Those results in turn attract resources and commitment and clients, which you use to build a bigger, stronger business. A sustaining, compelling business. A business that competitors have to reckon with.

If you do that now you may not be a millionaire in two years [assuming you are not a millionaire now, of course] but you may be able to stay above the water with some greenbacks in the bank to boot.

Just think what will happen in a good market.

However, maybe you are in a hot market like Austin. Then you definitely understand this:

People want to feel the excitement of being involved in something that just flat out works.

When clients and prospects begin to see tangible results–when they can feel the flywheel beginning to build speed in an individual [whether it’s by consistent recognition of you by advertising or word of mouth]–that’s when most people line up to jump on board–whether they are clients or colleagues. They sense something big is happening and what to get on board.

This is the success of the flywheel. Success breeds support and commitment, which breeds even greater success, which breeds more support and commitment–round and round the flywheel goes. People like to support winners! Jim Collins

Examples of Financial Success in Non-Profits

In the real estate business the driver in the flywheel is the link between financial success and a growing reputation. Take a look to the social sector to see what I mean.

Does Harvard truly deliver a better education and do better academic work than other universities? Perhaps, but the emotional pull of Harvard overcomes any doubt when it comes to raising funds. Despite having an endowment in excess of $20 billion, donations continue to pour in.

Does the Red Cross truly do the best job of disaster relief? Perhaps, but the brand reputation of the Red Cross gives people an easy answer to the question “How can I help?” when a disaster hits.

Is the American Cancer Society the best organization for conquering cancer or the Nature Conservancy the most effective at protecting the environment? Perhaps, but their brand reputation gives people an easy way to support a cause they care about.

Conclusion

When you have a relentless focus on the highest money-making activity you love to do best, you will naturally create the flywheel effect.

This focus attracts believers, builds strength in your business, demonstrates results and builds the brand. It’s a cycle that feeds itself.

Consistency distinguishes the truly great–consistent intensity of effort, consistency with focus, consistency with core values, consistency over time.

Look at people like Joe Girard, Jim Rohn or Roger Dawson.

Enduring and great real estate or sales people preserve their core and stimulate progress, separating core values and fundamental purpose [which should never change] from mere operating practices, cultural norms and business strategies [which endlessly adapt to a changing world].

Remaining true to your core values and remaining focused on your Hedgehog Concept means, above all, rigorous clarity not just about what to do, but equally, what to not do.

And that will help you make your mark in real estate history.

Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add.

If you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.

0

Images Are Powerful Symbols but Not Communicators

At the Visual Ideology site, you can take a visual political test that suggests which images portray political ideas the strongest.

Be prepared to be confused.

The “test” is rather frustrating, and I gave up, clicking through images without thinking because I did not know what I was supposed to do [possibly this is part of the test] just so I could get through the end.

What was most confusing is that there were no instructions. In my mind, this was a good example of something crucial we have to understand about images:

Images are powerful symbols that work on our souls, but images alone are incapable of communicating what we want people to do.

With a simple task we need at least a little coaxing. On the other hand, on a more complex task we need more coaxing. Otherwise we are asking people to interpret images on their own, which can be dangerous [read: they leave the website].

And whether visitors read all of the copy or not is not the point–it’s there if they get confused and need instruction.

Now, an elegant combination of copy and images was done well at the Interface Research survey.

Simple tasks with simple instructions.

Way back when David Olgivy proved repeatedly that long copy always outsold short copy with photo…but–and here’s why we need both copy and design–the right amount of compelling copy with the right photo doubled the previous results.

Political consultant Frank Lutz has made a fortune on a simple idea: it doesn’t matter what you want to tell the public–it’s about what they want to hear.

For a case in point, watch the video “Give Us What We Want” to see how one word increased public opinion from 50% to over 75%…

“Estate tax” versus “death tax.”

This simple change brought a bland, background issue screaming to the front of politics.

Just one word. By itself.

Just curious: Can you think of any images that have revolutionized an issue on its own merit?

If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.

2

Britney Spears Reputation Management Mistakes You Should Avoid

Reputation is possibly your most important asset. Thus, reputation management is crucial to your success.

The classic example of reputation management can be found in the small town.

Population is so tiny interactions between members are frequent. More importantly, most interactions are face-to-face and positively identified–that is, there is no question who said or did what.

Thus, reputation accrues throughout one’s lifetime. In a nutshell, one’s individual reputation depends both on one’s own actions and experiences. [Yes, reputation is a lot like your brand. Think back to Bill Leider’s post, “What Is a Brand?“]

I’ve said in the past that there are ways to go about becoming the most irresistible person at a party. Gauging by the comments, this topic resonated with people. But I should have added a warning: don’t become the party.

Britney Spears doesn’t seem to understand this.

The Grammy-award winning singer rocketed into success in less than 4 years and seemed to have ahead of her a brilliant career. But something unraveled. She failed to manage her actions, her experience–in essence, her reputation.

I like to thing she compromised her values [because, as you will see, she did have values] to please the world.

What follows is a brief history of her sad career to date and the the 6 reputation management mistakes she made. The mistakes you should avoid.

1. Spears posed for Rolling Stone.

The shot garnered widespread criticism for the mixing of wholesome innocence and sex.

But why the criticism? Didn’t Madonna do the same with sex and Catholicism [“Just Like a Prayer” video]?

I think the difference is that Madonna was controlled. Her image was not the same as her lifestyle. Besides, Spears was only 18, pointing to her lack of direction, experience and foresight. This will show up later.

The lesson for you: know what you are doing. And if you don’t, educate yourself. More importantly, figure out the consequences for your actions early in your life or career. Create a moral compass to live by. Anything that doesn’t fit into that narrow set of values, ignore. Think long term.

2. Spears declared she’d remain a virgin until marriage.

Noble, indeed. But hardly believable considering her childhood trauma, overt sexuality [see point 1] and relationship with fellow pop singer Justin Timberlake.

Spears’ statement is an example of a statement that lacks credibility. If you want to make a bold, noble statement, make sure that your lifestyle–both private and public–supports it. Otherwise you simply get the requisite cock of the head, the “yeah, right,” the wide swath people cut to stay away from you.

3. Spears ruined her restaurant through mismanagement and debt.

Early 2003, Spears entered territory she didn’t belong. And wasted dollars and time and reputation.

The same goes for us. We need to remain experts in our area of expertise. Going after money in an arena we know nothing about is doomed to failure. And failing by debt and mismanagement will remain on our reputation scorecard for a long time. Unless you move to a different state, of course.

4. Spears first marriage lasted 55 hours.

The reputation lesson to learn here is that you need to understand what you are getting yourself into. Otherwise you could look like a fool that people avoid [see point 2].

Spears requested the annulment to childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander on January 4, 2004, because she “lacked understanding of her actions to the extent she was incapable of agreeing to marriage because…[they] did not know each other’s likes and dislikes….”

The impact on Spears’ reputation is clear: she is either a naive or simple girl. Neither virtue that instills confidence in people.

If you want people to believe in you, steer clear of rash, uninformed decisions and opportunities. Build a foundation of credibility through perfection by making consistently wise business choices.

Your reputation will love you for it.

5. Spears does chaotic reality TV show.

Any particular reason you need to make public to millions of people your immaturity, abrasiveness or irrationality?

While this behavior might pay the bills for rock stars, it’s not likely to get you any kind of lasting success or brownie points. People might like to gape at your weaknesses, but it’s highly unlikely they’ll ever want to work with you. That wide swathe they cut for you…they’ll make it wider.

Of course, the best way to avoid publication of your weaknesses is simply to minimize them. And this means, investment in personal growth is one of the wisest decisions you could ever make.

6. Spears shaves her head.

Clearly, at this point, she is devastated by her life. She has no control over her emotions and appears to be tormented. From a reputation management perspective she needs intervention–someone to take control of her life for her.

For you this means having accountability, reporting to a mentor.

Don’t think you can weather the storm by yourself or that you are smarter than anyone else out there. An isolationist attitude will level you flat.

Find a friend, pastor, executive or relative you can easily trust and cultivate a relationship with that person. Ask them to hold you responsible for your actions. And to take you by the collar when you stumble.

Also, consider creating a small group of peers you respect to bounce ideas off of. Even if you have “the best idea in the whole world” and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s going to work, discipline yourself to run ideas by other people. They might just save your career.

Conclusion

Spears short music career is a history of a life spiraling out of control. Perhaps it is psychosis to blame, evidential in behavior that ranges most recently from crying uncontrollably as she walks her dog to faking a British accent to shopping manias at all hours of the night. But something like this doesn’t develop over night.

It’s sad, and overall speaks to the point that she needs help. And the final point to drive home to you is this: it’s probably safe to say that her misery was in part due to the fact that she surrounded herself with the wrong people.

Make sure you don’t make the same mistake.

7

Creating Killer Web Personas in Under 30 Minutes

Shaun Of The Dead isn’t your typical zombie movie. In fact, the zombies don’t truly enter the story until almost a third of the way in.

But that’s beside the point.

If you have seen the movie, then you’ll remember the part where Shaun and Ed are sitting in the pub making up personal histories for the other bar patrons.

Turns out this is not just a fun way to kill time over a few pints–it can also be an important tactic in evaluating your customer base for you marketing efforts.

Creating the Perfect Personas–without the Long Nights

According to Usability.gov, personas are fictional people who represent a major user group for your site.

The idea is to invent entire back stories, personalities, quirks, and needs for all of your personas…then evaluate how each of them would likely react to your website, blog or marketing.

This is a great way to get into your client’s head. But it can be time consuming and complex. So time consuming and complex that the time-spent outweighs the benefit.

See, at the least, you should create 9 personas. You should define these personas by age, income, experience, occupation…basically, whatever psychographic you can get your hands on.

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be. Follow me.

Typical Approaches to Creating Personas

There are lots of ways to sketch out personas. Ian Lurie has a convincing but complex persona method he’s been using since 1990.

In a video at SEOmoz Lurie expands his persona thinking with a far-fetched but compelling case for the use of Persona modeling.

Web Strategist Jeremiah Owyang waxes about early adopter personas. Theoretical. Real world? Jury still out.

There’s Usability.gov persona recommendations I mentioned above. Clear cut and organized better, I think.

And finally, my scaled-down, paper-sketch approach to personas that multiplies the result with minimal work.

Magically Create 9 Personas in 30 Minutes

This way of creating personas occurred to me during a 30-minute, 29-member “brainstorm” session I was involved in with a client when trying to redesign their website.

As you can imagine, it was a chaotic event. Bordering on stupidity.

In the middle of the battle over the definition of what this client’s website should do, I stood and stated, “You have 3 people you need to cater to. Basically.”

In a nutshell, this is what I sketched out on the white board in less than 30 minutes:

Persona 1: The Fanatic

The Fanatic is someone who has been to your website and crawled every inch of the site looking for every piece of information you offer. They are likely checking back to the site every week to see if you have added anything new.

[Recommendation 1: If you are certain one of your major user groups is a Fanatic, please, pretty please, offer a news feed. They will love you for it.]

Persona 2: The Periodic

This person comes back only when they want to buy something. Once, maybe twice a year.

[At the User Experience 2007 conference I learned that average Amazon Power Reviewer visits Amazon 4 times a year. 4 whole times. That meant most of our sites are visited and engaged a lot less than we think. In fact, only 8% of adults are deep Web 2.0 users.]

Persona 3: The Newbie

The Newbie has never been to your site. Ever.

The Reaction to My Personas

This oversimplification seemed to work for my client. But I needed to take it a bit further.

[Word of caution here: The following is standard practice, and essential. So pay attention. This alone will pay divedends for your website.]

One important thing to remember about any of your marketing is this: you are probably not your target.

Yes–it helps to put yourself in your targets shoes…but you really can’t do that until you figure out who your target is.

How do you figure out who your target is? Use one of these five tools to identify your major market groups.

Learning Styles and Web Personas

Now, what I’m about to share with you I figured out by working backward from popular and usable websites.

It’s based upon learning styles: audio, visual and kinesthetics.

The Audio Learner

The audio person tends to be the person who is attracted by copy.

They’re typically your book readers, curious, a tad more patient [not by much]. The important thing to remember about them is that they’re superior way of interacting and learning on the web is through the written word.

So ample [Myth 9], concise, scannable and objective copy is essential to your website.

The Visual Learner

Your visual person will be the person who steers towards the videos. The photos. This is their preferred style of interacting and learning on the web.

Finally, you have your kinesthetics.

The Kinesthetic Learner

This is the most often neglected group. Most often neglected because the kinesthetic wants to interact by leaving comments, rating, reviewing on your website…and surprisingly enough, a lot of website owners are still resistant to letting go of the conversation and allowing comments and reviews.

The kinesthetic is your feeler, bent to emotions. It’s your people person. No matter their age, they want to see a community.

[On a side note, bringing up the needs of the kinesthetic to a web owner has been my best argument for a web site’s user-generated strategy but not yet an air tight case].

Putting all of this together now, you have potentially nine different personas:

The Fanatic who could be an audio, visual or kinesthetic.

The Periodic who prefers audio, visual or kinesthetic.

Then your Newbie who leans toward audio, visual or kinesthetic.

How to Apply Your New Knowledge on Personas to Your Web Marketing

Now, if you find that your major user group to your website is a kinesthetic Fanatic, it’s essential you provide not only a new feed to new content…but the ability to leave comments as well.

If comments scare you, at the least allow someone to rate content. This is also a good low-barrier entry point to invite people to interact.

Say your other major group is the visual Newbie. That means you must have video feeds in your golden triangle.

Or perhaps you discover you cater to an audio Periodic, then copy, and links to more copy, better be in that golden triangle.

Your Turn

Sometime this week work this out for yourself and then share with me your results.

One thing you have to keep in mind: my goal is to make this easy and personal. You may want to call them something other than Newbies. Your show, champ. Just keep it easy.

Personas can be helpful–as long as the time-spent vs. benefit is in favor of the benefit and not the time. So get to working.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

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What Should You Know Before You Write a Press Release?

It seems Vivianne did not like my straying from my roots.

I think I was feeling a little weepy on Friday. A little metaphysical. Which is okay. As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Today then, Monday January 14, I’ll get back to business, and focus on one of the four pillars of real estate success, marketing, by showing you how to generate positive press on a tight-budget with press releases.

Press releases are one of the main ways businesses, organizations and individuals share their news with the local and regional press.

In fact, a Fleischman Hilliard marketing and public relations specialist I know recently confessed [and this was not the first time that I’ve heard this] that they’ve often had to rely on press releases when marketing budgets were tight as a main means of generating press.

Trial, error and desperation have helped them to come up with some surefire tips for writing good press releases. I share those tips with you now.

1. Keep the press release content brief

This isn’t the place to send out an 6-page history of your business. Keep the release brief–to one page, if not, two pages at the very most–and accessible and get all the necessary information as close to the lead paragraph as possible.

It is okay to format the document to single space in the body, but only if there is plenty of white space in the header and the margins. If the page looks cramped and crammed, it won’t entice anyone to scan it over to see what it’s all about. Two space between lines then.

2. Write the press release heading

The heading on a press release should be in the upper left hand corner of the page and should include:

• Release date or, “For Immediate Release”
• Contact name, title and contact information. If possible, include two contact people and their phone, FAX and e-mail, as well as their titles and company name
• Brief preview listing of : who, what, where and when – above the headline and before the copy of the release.

3. Create a compelling headline and sub-headline

Next, give the document a good headline and sub-headline. The headline should be creative and intriguing and the sub-headline should be more factual and fill in some of the specifics.

For example, the headline might say, “Local Realtor Saves the Environment with Unusual Festival” and then the sub-headline would say “Sammy Smith’s Water Festival Shares and Spreads Convservation Agenda.”

The harried reader will get a good, tantalizing idea of what the release is about just by scanning those bolded headlines.

4. Develop intriguing body copy

The copy of a press release should read like an article.

My public relations friend said she cannot count the times she’s had her copy lifted line for line from a press release and put in the newspaper. This is fine with her since she knows she’s getting the story out in her own words. For radio, this is especially helpful. A great release will often just be read aloud on air. All the main information should be easily gleaned and accessible. Use quotes in the copy, if possible, and make sure names and particulars are spelled correctly.

5. Include the essence of who you are

After your 3 or 4 paragraph “article” copy, include a statement about you and your company. Even include a headline such as “About Sammy Smith.”

This is the place to write a brief paragraph saying how long you’ve been a real estate agent, what you do and where, how you can help people and your contact information.

6. Closing the press release properly

Include a final, separated paragraph or sentence letting the reader know who to contact for more information or quotes.

If there are photographs, images, or an interview can be set up–put this at the end and in bold or all caps: “Photographs available in jpg.” or “Sammy Smith Available for Interview.”

The important thing to remember in creating press releases that get results is to make the information as interesting and accessible as possible. Like any other type of marketing or public relations or writing, a press release must compete with dozens, if not hundreds, of other stories.

With effort and practice, you can create press releases that stand out and get noticed. If you are interested, check out these articles on copywriting for tips and advice on how to write compelling copy.

[Enjoy, and I hope this article makes sense. *wink wink, nudge nudge*]