Sellsius real estate marketing blog

Word of Mouth Advertising (WOM) works. It’s the buzz consumers spread about products or services they LOVE. As a broker or other real estate professional, you need to build brand awareness and customer loyalty. You want your customers to be your evangelists, touting your product and service to their family and friends. But what’s the best way to create your buzz and get the tongues wagging?

John Moore from Brand Autopsy offers two WOM methods — Creationist WOM and Evolutionist WOM.

Creationists are interested in getting your attention through novel & innovative ways —non-traditional ad medium, artificial hype, controversy that garners news media attention. The aim is to create instant buzz that will spread like wildfire. As examples, John cites Forehead ads, Paris Hilton ads for Carl’s Jr., Home Depot’s parking stripe ads and Folger’s coffee cup painted manhole covers. Creationists also love to use the time tested sexy ads to get the eyeballs. (GoDaddy’s Super Bowl ads)
Evolutionists rely on the inherent quality of a product or service being spread by the faithful customer. They aim to build interest and preference over time. It is a long term natural progression. It’s the “Field of Dreams” marketing strategy that says if you build it they will come. Examples cited are Tivo, Google, Skype, & Starbucks.

To get it straight from John’s mouth check his podcast. Hat tip: Ben Rowe’s Blog.

As professionals, Evolutionist WOM seems the logical choice but what’s wrong with a little buzz mixed in? Remember the brokers who began using shopping carts to promote themselves? And Inman blog recently reported on the broker offering free gasoline for listings.

You must get the clients before you can keep them.

Photo from album cover In The Court Of The Crimson King, King Crimson (1969).