Real Estate Pros Podcast: For Real People Working in Real Estate

When it comes to digital marketing in real estate, we’ve seen a lot of new ‘things’ this year. From the developments in Facebook Advertising tools for promoting properties to the launch of countless agent comparison sites and property portals. It can be easy to be seduced by shiny new platforms and tools that promise to deliver more leads to agents, more often. Something that our team have been focusing on heavily this year is educating agents on how to have less of a reliance on other platforms for new business opportunities. It's something that we’re super passionate about and from the exciting results we’re seeing with our own clients or agents who have attended our training in 2017 and have implemented the key learnings themselves, it’s a mission we’ll push even harder next year. On this episode of Real Estate Pros, we share three digital marketing must-haves for agents in 2018 that will deliver you more leads, more referrals and less of a reliance on other platforms for new business opportunities. Show notes -> stepps.com.au/podcast

There are only a few industries left in which automation isn’t threatening job roles. That’s a pretty scary thought, right? Well, don’t panic just yet. According to The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?, it is jobs that are highly reliant on social and negotiation skills that are less threatened by automation. BUT! If you and your team are too busy performing mundane repeatable tasks while your competitors are the ones who are face-to-face with clients and prospects, delivering a better customer experience, your chances of being disrupted are highly likely. On this episode of Real Estate Pros, we interview Ian Campbell, founder and CEO of Aire - a software company focusing on solving big problems for the real estate industry. Ian and his team have built the first ever digital assistant for real estate, Rita, who can outperform a human counterpart at a range of tasks and deliver an amazing customer experience across digital channels. Ian shares his background in the industry and we look at how artificial intelligence is shaping the future of real estate. This is an interview you don't want to miss!

Are you concerned about the growing influence of the major real estate portals, agent review sites and lead generators? What if there was something you could do to rely less on those platforms for new business opportunities? What if that 'something' was a marketing strategy that's actually been around for hundreds of years, and more recently has become one of the most talked about terms in digital marketing? On this episode of Real Estate Pros, we're joined by Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute and the guy who invented the term 'content marketing'. We discuss why content marketing is so different to traditional advertising and why it could be the only marketing left if you want to rely less on the big online platforms for new business opportunities into the future.

How many times have you heard someone say, I just want that top search result on Google? For a business website, the top spot in a Google Search can be a lead generating machine. Think about it. Google is where most people go when they are researching. What if there was a way to get the pages of your company website on that coveted first page? Well there is… On this episode of Real Estate Pros, you'll learn 3 simple ways to improve your Google ranking - without the need to bother your web developer or SEO team. Read the highlights: stepps.com.au/podcast

What would it mean for your business if you owned direct access to an audience of homeowners who love your marketing so much they actually looked forward to getting it from you? What if instead of paying other people (media companies) for the privilege to access their audience, you could communicate with your own, for free, whenever you like? On this episode of Real Estate Pros, we share the story of a brand who became the largest media company in their industry. We discuss how they did it and why there is a growing trend toward brands turning into media companies in many industries all over the world. Read the highlights: stepps.com.au/podcast

“Whoever gets to scale with data centric businesses has a natural advantage - a monopolistic tendency.” These are the words of Adrian Turner of the CSIRO in a recent documentary on the ABC titled 'The AI Race' - where business leaders and tech experts explored how Artificial Intelligence is changing jobs and impacting the value of businesses in every industry. Turner's argument suggests that businesses ought to focus on owning their data and direct access to consumers or allow 'monopolistic' platforms to continue to thrive. In this episode of Real Estate Pros, we discuss the influence of our major property portals, the growing influence of Facebook and how some agents are leveraging its targeting capabilities to drive traffic to their own platforms and to generate enquiries at a lower cost. Read the highlights: stepps.com.au/podcast

'Show, don't tell' is one of the most powerful marketing strategies in real estate today. Much like in the movie Inception, your goal is to plant an idea in the mind of your prospective clients (or new team members) without them being fully aware of it. Someone is more likely to perform an action when it’s inspired by their own idea, not someone else telling them to. In this episode of Real Estate Pros, we explore the 'show, don't tell' marketing strategy and examples of how you can apply it in your business to attract (and retain) clients and staff. Read the highlights: stepps.com.au/podcast

Your clients and prospects are bombarded by advertising messages every day, and each one fights to carve out its own place within their consciousness. With an overabundance of marketing channels, it is even more important in the digital landscape to stand out and get the attention of your audience and the answer may lie in the AIDA model - an advertising framework used particularly well by car companies like BMW to stand out from its competitors. On this episode of Real Estate Pros, we discuss the AIDA model and what BMW can teach real estate about using it to make your advertising stand out. Read the highlights: stepps.com.au/podcast

From the major portals to banner ads, from websites to social media, there is no shortage of real estate agents and agencies with a presence on the internet today who are marketing their services and points of difference to vendors and investor clients. Let's face it, everyone is creating content. Lots of content. But just like any marketing channel, there are agents and agencies who stand out more than others. There are some who generate revenue from their digital marketing efforts but for others, it's costing their business time and money with minimal (if any) return. On this episode of Real Estate Pros, we discuss why some agents stand out online more than others and how to get more results with less effort. Read the highlights: stepps.com.au/podcast

We would (probably) all agree that social media can be really fun from a personal perspective but when it comes to using social media for business, there is an entirely different purpose behind everything you post. It can be tempting to focus on the number of 'likes' you have or how much engagement you get as a measure of success. But if you're using social media for business (and you are!), these 'vanity metrics' can’t be the be-all, end-all of your social media efforts. In this episode of Real Estate Pros, we look at what you should be measuring to determine if social media is contributing value to your business, or a useless distraction. Read the highlights: www.stepps.com.au/podcast