Brand name is not brand perception

Its important to understand how your customers and consumers actually perceive your reputation. 

You have customers that have worked with you and consumers whom know of you and may become customers some day.  Both consumers and customers already have an opinion about you, your company and your brand.  Their individual and collective thoughts and opinions create your brand reputation.

Understanding your true brand reputation is important as it is key to building a better overall perception of your brand.

Perception of brands dictates buying habits – but also dictates how they share experiences with friends. Personal referrals to friends come from great experiences.

In order to gain some perspective, lets step outside of our RealEstate bubble for a minute.

Think about a product or service what you just bought. This could be an oil change, a pair of shoes or an island in the Pacific. What was the company selling that item or service? Was it a big national company or small local? Did you get what you wanted? Was it cost effective? How did the transaction make you feel?

Here’s a Quick Brand Quiz for RealEstate folks and Small Business owners. No. 2 pencil is not required and theres no pep rally when you are done.  Are ready for the Quiz?

Is a Name a Brand?

The Three Question Quiz

1. Why did you buy?
2. How do you perceive that company’s brand?
3. Is there a difference between the advertising for the brand / product / service and reality?

My Example: I just bought a $1.29 song on iTunes from apple. Apple -The brand is comfortable, cool and rarely misses. The purchase was fast, simple and made me smile. To me apples advertising mirrors their image and my perception of the brand, not the other way around. I trust apple. In fact, would pay more than they charge for music – so I feel like its a value. No matter what Apple says in its ads, or on its site – Its my awesome customer experience that dictates the perception of brand.

The quiz is cheezy but effective tool to get you to actively asses another brand and criticly engage your habits as a consumer.  You frequently make buying decisions with out thinking deeply about the brand – its your perception that creates reality.

The reality is you frequently buy from and recommend products, brands and services that have good customer experiences, good products and good service.

Your brand is your customer experience.

Bonus Question:
Do you know what your customers say and feel about your own brand? What is your brand reputation?

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One third of the Huge Main Stage at Keller Williams Family Reunion 2012

Leverage – Gary Keller Spoke to a 2 thousand person gathering of top agents (KW calls them Mega Agents) suggesting they power their lives and grow their buisness by leveraging their skills and background to grow and expand.  Simply, he suggested hiring someone to run their offiece / buisness for them so they could create new real-estate businesses.  He indicated that 100 interviews would turn up a suitable candidate - and it should take a year to get them running full speed.  Mega Agents could then focus on other elements of the industry including writing books, speeking or just focusing on vacation.  Use your “leverage to do what you want” he said.

International Growth – KW announced that its first office overseas opened already this year – Vietnam.  The territory looks to cover much of the phillipienes and western australia.  There were 5 other countries / regions that are in “final discussions” with KW and represeniteves of another 12 or so in attendance including Egypt and France.

Technology – KW has focused its resources on eEdge.   This program was turned on one year ago, and already has won awards.  It seems all systems must work within its rules and process to be viable for KW – but future plans are being kept tight lipped.   Im anticipating further growth within eEdge soon.

The Cavernous, yet sparse feeling KW Expo Hall.

Status – KW painted a picture of “us against the world” in several performances.  With 79k agents they are proud of their #2 status and view #1 as a goal in the near future.  They can see “blood” in the water and see red.  Offices were challenged to add 16 agents each in 2012  - they believe this will enable them to become the largest real estate company.

Attendance – The crowd in the main session was enormous.  It was said to be down slightly from last year – but I saw no difference.  It can easily be described as massive. Somewhere around 10k attendee massive.  The Expo hall however was another story. Granted, its a huge space – yet seemed to be half of the number of vendors as last year. (this is a gut guess, no official data)

RE.net Celebrities – Ben Kinney, Sue Adler, the Geeky Girls and Inmans Chris Smith all spent time on stage educating and entertaining audiences.

Family Reunion 2013 -will be in Dallas Texas Feb 16-20th

Ive attended the MegaCamp and Family Reunion events previously and like normal, this years Family Reunion was run smoothly and had a very high production quality.  Well Done KW – Im looking forward to MEGA!

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Frustrations grew to new heights.  No one was in control of their own reputation.

As this was boiling over, Jeff Turner introduced me to two outstanding Australians – David King and Phil Kells.  They built a new real estate reputation focused product, RealSatisfied, that was making its start in Australia.

Rather than using MLS data to score agents,  RealSatisfied was created to allow real estate agents to easily gather testimonials, survey customers, and create their own data and stats. Agents can then view how they stack up in their office and versus a national benchmark – all with real time reports.

While reviewing the system, back end and dashboard, Jeff and I were sure that RealSatisfied could make a significant positive  impact on many in the Real Estate world.

This reputation management product is already a hot commodity in Australia and I was sure it would be a hit here.  After a few lengthy conversations, Go to Meetings in HD and skype calls – Jeff asked Finch Mktg to take the helm of the US launch of RealSatisfied.

Currently, beta testing is underway in 4 markets in the US – with positive feedback flowing in.

It is with great excitement that we announce that RealSatisfied will launch at Inman Connect NewYork January 11th 2012.  David, Phil and I will be a part of the ICNY expo with a booth in Start Up Alley.  We are also a Gold Sponsor for REBarCampNYC.

Test out the system for yourself – and be the first to take a 30 day Free Trial as soon as we go live.  Pre-Register Here!

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Before - 20.72 Mbps with Linksys G

In retrospect, this is a no brainier. But…It simply fell off my radar.

The Short answer is – if you have an older – even 3-4 year old wireless router for your home or work network, a small investment will help your download speed- allot.  The time savings are incredible and well worth the trip to the store.

My new Linksys E4200 looks sharp and I was really happy to see a 26% increase in download speed.  Very Cool.

The iPad, and iPhone love the faster and longer range Wifi and the other devices that are hard wired run predictably faster as well.

Features I really like include the Duel Band, HD ready and Guest login – separate from my desktop login.  It was under an hour to set up.

I purchased the E4200 at Micro Center while it was on sale (List $180 – Paid $139).

It takes under a min to test your speed using the Geek Squad tool

After - 27.27 Mbps with Linksys E4200

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Twitter launched a well documented ad platform a year ago to sell promoted tweets. Last month those  tweets began show up at the top of your timeline as advertisers now pay a hefty sum to get in front of you. Discussions of the “downfall of twitter” aside, Ive been curious to see who in the Real Estate space adopts the new ad format first.  Typically, early adopters are on the bleeding …err… cutting edge of more than just advertising. This move (pun intended) will be telling.

Zillows Tweeting Edge Marketing.

While logged into my “other” twitter account for an upcoming event ( @rebcKC ) I was pleased to find my answer.  In a non fact checked study, industry giant Zillow is officially the leader in twitter advertising.   Well Done Zillow!

Would you take the bait?  Would you click the promoted tweet?

I dont clip coupons, buy Groupons or save direct mail.    I feel like that’s the norm.  But Zillow is banking on demographic and geographic, market centered rapid fire 140 character tweets and follow suggestions paying off.  Zillow must know something and they must have  invested a ton.

I clicked it.

"You might also want to follow Trulia."

All the marketing efforts of zillow on twitter worked, and got me to click “follow”.

Then the remarkable, astonishing and amazing non-advertising organic twit-suggestion occurred: “You Might also want to follow Trulia”

Do you think Zillow had this in mind?

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Unknowingly, I had innocently walked into a marketing trap.
Selecting the frame could be difficult – but I’m pretty simple, so this was easy. It took five min.
That was more than enough to spring the trap.

Vulture Photo Credit Teunie Polak / Trek Nature

First I got stuck with the “upgrade” pitch – you know the one.  Anti scratch coating, is the best, blah blah, You should get the destruction or dismemberment insurance.  “No thanks” I declined.
With a raised tone she persisted with pressure- you will see better at night with the anti glare… “Thats ok, no than…”

I was cut short –

Screaming like a bottle rocket from above a sales vulture swooped in with horror stories about helpless clients with broken glasses.  She went for the kill; From under her desk she pulled a baggie with a dog chewed pair as proof.
“This could happen to you.” She said with a glare in all four of her eyes.

I gasped for air – I had been pounced on like prey. The “double eyeglass fear sales attack” had me surrounded.  (I think they snuck up on my blind side)
“Anti glare could save you and your family when driving at night”
They tore into my sense of decency, ripped at my fiscal concerns and then offered an upgrade as the only salvation.

It was a fight.  Me vs The screaming attack sales vulture.

I declined.   In that moment of shock, I was able to escape.

I ran away, vowing never to do business with them again.

In the end, I got my new shades.  They were a great deal, fair quality and fast.

There are lots of products sold with fear and scare tactics.  Fear sells, however, I strongly dislike this tactic.

Educate clients and help them make an informed decision.   If you provide information not otherwise available, you create value and build trust.  Become a trusted reference, not a screaming sales vulture.

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Real Estate agents rejoice.

Finch Mktg just launched EasyVT the virtual tour app for apple iphone.  Realtors may photograph a listing, select a virtual tour vendor and EasyVT automatically uploads the content all from their iphone.

Crisp 5 megapixel photos look fantastic from my iphone 4 and my apple 3GS cranks out great looking content as well.

Finch Mktg Head Developer Kevin Mitts created a simple to use but very powerful tool.  Currently we are focused on looking for any outstanding issues. We are hunting for bugs before we make a loud launch – so consider this the soft launch.

Feel free to try EasyVT since it is FREE. Just Click the link below to download to itunes.  In return, just give us some feedback or like us on facebook!

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The Camera View of EasyVT

EasyVT got a shot of adrenalin in the past two weeks boosting the sending speed of content, yet the process resulted in delaying launch a bit.

This is overall good news as it improves the user experience.

I’m excited to show off the cool new iphone app for real estate agents at Real Estate Bar Camp New Orleans and the National association of Realtors Conference and Expo.

We also got the new Website live at http://EasyVT.com along with our new Twitter account @EasyVT and Facebook

Its only a matter of time till launch and I’m counting down the days.

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Bar Camps are a national phenomenon where people gather to discuss and share ideas and tools to help everyone grow and learn. The focus of this event is Real Estate Marketing, Social Media and Websites.  Its referred to as an UnConfrence. No Suits, No Sales Pitches. They are fantastic events.

I was suckered – er… volunteered to host REBarCampKC and have been fortunate to work with a great team of other Real Estate Gurus from around the Kansas City Metro.

This event will Sizzle! We expect to draw from St. Joe, Springfield, Columbia and St Louis in Missouri – Topeka, Wichita, Lawrence  and Manhattan in Kansas.  There will also be a national influence, as top marketing and social media RE people will fly in from both coasts, Texas, Minneapolis and Nashville.  We need to show these folks a good time here in KC.

Want to attend? You don’t need to pay for a ticket – but you do need to RSVP as we have limited room.  Check out the Website for more info and to RSVP.

Help Sponsor or Volunteer – The event is run by and for the Real Estate community here in KC!  We are already half way to our Funding Goal – so the event will rock.

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1886 Newport Mansion Virtual Tour by FPO

There has never been a larger range of quality in online real estate marketing.  On the lower end of the spectrum, many agents take a few mls photos and create a slide show.   On the high end agents will pay professional photographers and TV crews to come in at night and film the sunset over the listing.

Buyers expectations are changing as well.  Three years ago 10 photos of the listing set the listing apart from the competition as a premium listing.  Today  most buyers seem to expect to see very detailed information about the listing  including photos, video and a floorplan. 20 plus quality photos has become the norm.

A recent survey showed that Buyers most want to see photos first, FloorPlans Second and video third.

If you are trying to attract buyers, There are a few appraisers and engineers out there that you can hire to sketch the floorplan of your listing.  You may also spend a heap of money on a high end photographer.

There is a simple solution. You can hire  the Services of  FloorPlanOnline.  The FPO service provider will photograph and measure your listing, and create a top of the line Virtual Tour including an interactive floorplan.  I know of no other single property website that delivers such a quality representation of the property.

Im not alone in my analysis of the high quality of FloorPlanOnline.  Here are a few other takes:

StarPower, the organization of the top 1/2 of 1% of agents Included FloorplanOnline as its 14th recommended supplier. Sue Addler, the top agent in New Jersey, and current Star of the month, Uses FloorPlanOnline on her listings.

“This has been the best value and service I have leveraged in my Real Estate Career” -Tami Garneau

TechSavvyAgent recently highlighted FloorPlanOnline in a Video interview – calling FPO “Very Tech Savvy”.

FPO has been recommended by real estate guru Barbara Cochran on the Today Show.

Mike Muller Highlighted FPO 2.0 in his weekly Radio Show “the m files”

FloorPlan Online is a recommended tool in the Real Estate tool book “My Blue Goose”.

FloorPlanOnline is simple, effective and affordable. Visit www.FloorPlanOnline.com to register for free. Since its not subcritpion, there is no long term contract – just pay per tour to try it out.

Full Disclosure: While I firmly believe in the product and service, I’m biased on this topic, as I’m the Marketing Director For FloorPlanOnline.

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