Sellsius real estate marketing blog

Good eating at the ad:tech interactive marketing conferences we attended today, Wednesday November 7, 2007. On the menu were:

Innovate or Die! Surviving in the Age of Distraction

Creating Talkability: Uisnf WOM Lessons to Make Your Marketing Go Viral

Social Media and Consumer Generated Content: Has a Value Proposition Emerged?

Follow the Money: Why Some Advertisers Successfully Use Emerging Media and Why Others Cannot– or Will Not

Tales from the Bleeding Edge

Lead Generation and Customer Acquisition

Sellsius Notes and Quotes:

Why is so little spent on marketing R&D? Maybe a Blog Tour would help.

“That speech was zero calories” Jason Hirsshorn (Sing Media Entertainment Group)

Show me the experience. Is your client walking away with a good experience they can share with their friends and family? If not, how the heck are you gonna get referrals?

Consumers want a good deal for basic services but will pay more for add-ons. Hmm.. maybe you can offer a menu of services.

People value time and money. Are you saving your client time or money? If not, they may go somewhere else.

There are two major types of marketing– that which appeals to the intellect and that which appears to the emotions. Hmm.. I guess you should figure out what works for your product or service.

When you say viral, do you mean the product or the advertising campaign?

Seed and Feed. Once you get a client, you have to try to keep them.

The best type of marketing is face-to-face referrals from peers. That’s why marketers are trying to get into the social networks…to find evangelists to promote their brand to their friends.

Viral and professional don’t always go together. More often it’s the unprofessional video that goes viral. In fact, companies hire professionals to make their ads look amateurish.

Where’s your interactive widget? If you don’t have one, get one. And then give it away.

“Accidentally cool”

Is there a science to going viral? Yup.

Social communities are NOT receptive to marketers, so do not overbrand. Be subtle and cool. Get a conversation going first– then interject the brand. We say give them something cool for free– try to do better than a home evaluation.

Viral depends on the audience. But these are some factors that help something go viral–apply them to the people you want to reach— strong utility (how to), emotionally stimulating (I know what you’re thinking); cool; contest with a reward of value to your audience, shocking, mysterious, entertaining.

What are your audience’s hot buttons? Find them and push. Often.

Find the influencers, the experts and market to them.

How do you pass along your message? Some ways— offline and online networks (try meetup.com), face-to-face, email (there is some cool email stuff out there), forums, pass along to an expert, lead a group, speak at an event, telephone (yeah that old thing), blog (yeah, so ad:tech folks are hip to blogs)

Mobile marketing is not viable— yet. But it will be very soon. There are 2x as many cell phones as PCs and by 2010 there will be 3x. Get ready to market via cell phones. But remember it is a utility device and appeals to those wanting instant gratification (see Housefront.com)

“I don’t want companies to advertise to me. I want them to be my friend.” Rob, 27, LA

There are levels of participation in a social community. Hmm.. sorta like high school dances. The “super users” are best because they spread the message but there are many more who absorb. But how do you measure absorption?

What are the steps to creating a brand advocate or evangelist? Generate awareness > Engage > Immerse > Momentum. This involves getting people to participate with you, either through entering contests (these seem to attract alot of attention) or having them create the marketing or spreading useful widgets. See the Cherry Coke campaign on MySpace. It’s C2C marketing (customer to customer)– this happens in the social networks. It is a strong force and that’s why you should try to get involved in those networks.

The drivers of social networks: self-expression; discovery, ego/fame, making connections.

Why people like social networks: Keeps them on top of trends and what’s new– they want to be the first to know (46%).

How to be a friend to consumers: Send them notices of events, sales and exclusive offers, give them discounts — so long as you let them opt-in or opt-out (here that Zillow?)

When taking feedback don’t forget to include this check box— “Will definitely use or buy this product or service” or “Will definitely refer you”. It’s like getting an A+

5 Steps to Unlocking Momentum

• Know your audience
• Keep it real
• Empower the audience
• Enable dreams
• Leverage the power of the platform

Content is king but you have to know the time and place– where and how people consume your service.

Mix your media, tailor your message to the channel. Rinse and repeat.

Note to self: check out the Delta siteseer blog.

Many people like to be entertained as they get their information. Brands are running campaigns on YouTube and other places to poke fun at themselves. That should be a slam dunk for realtors.

Use YouTube as a consumer focus group.

Consumers do choose video ads

Blogs are disruptive media (we knew it)

The path to customer loyalty: Awareness, recognition, understanding, preference, loyalty

Metrics in the merging media are difficult. “We’re selling dancing silhouettes” Matthew Rosenberg

Fragmented markets takes more work for marketers.

“A click is not the be all and end all of advertising” Matt Rosenberg

What’s the next big thing? No, it is not an owner opt-out of zestimates. Here’s what some folks from the bleeding edge told us:

• QR codes which allow mobile phones to shoot ads, posters, whatever, and get information displayed on the phone.
• Dutch umbrellas– a way to market and help people on rainy days
• Total Immersion– augmented reality– turn a toy package into a virtual toy

Tune in for Day 3.

Related Post:

Ad:tech New York: Notes and Quotes, Conference Day 1

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