If there was a single thread that ran through the most recent Fried On Business program, that thread might well indeed be marketing.
Marketing is vital to almost everything we do in business – and perhaps in life. So it was a real treat to discuss it in the realms of real estate and social media.
First up was Andreas Senie, Director of Business Development for RealConnex in New York City.
RealConnex is an intelligent, online matching system that puts your deal in front of the folks who would be most interested in it, Andreas said.
RealConnex could be considered a part of the rapidly expanding “CRE Tech” or “Prop Tech” sector. The number of companies and the amount of capital flowing into this space is just incredible, he said.
The platform is one of the few that runs on a deal-centric approach, Andreas added, promoting relationships as the driver for deal-making.
While the platform is facilitated by technology, he said, it’s not meant to replace face-to-face interaction. It makes that interaction more efficient.
And there’s a “Concierge Assisted” option to help people who are less comfortable with technology and prefer phone calls and handshakes, he added.
It’s not just for old pros, Andreas said. RealConnex is a valuable tool for young real estate professionals who are just starting out. For example, the platform features a built-in referral system, as well as discussion rooms where participants can benefit from the experience of thought leaders – or become one themselves.
That can happen through content – that is, generating expert content and sharing it both inside and outside the platform, Andreas said.
“The ecosystem has grown incredibly over the last year,” he said. Deal volume has grown markedly, but the emphasis is not on numbers. It’s on quality.
“It’s not how many deals we’ve closed. It’s can we close YOUR deal,” he said.
RealConnex is free to join. Ongoing costs depend on the number and types of services you use.
This was a great interview, and we covered a lot more ground, including:
– RealConnex acquisition of Koss REsource, a longstanding debt matching platform.
– RealConnex’s receipt of the 2017 Product of the Year Award from the Miami Board of Realtors.
Click here to listen to the entire conversation with Andreas Senie of RealConnex.
Click here to read Andreas’ article titled Commercial Real Estate Industry’s Age of Collaboration (first published on Linkedin).
Reaching the masses
Then came a delightful conversation with Bekah Carlson, Founder of Carlson Integrated, LLC in Chicago, IL, an integrated full-service marketing collaborative.
Carlson helps some of the largest real estate firms in the country with their content marketing, and she’s helping me with mine, too.
Here are some of the things she’s done to help me become more efficient and productive:
– Verification of my contact list. We updated all of the contact info to make sure we’re reaching the right people.
– Critiqued my existing email newsletter content and developed ideas for modifying the approach.
– Moved the email blast to a responsive format that accommodates smartphones and tablets.
“Probably one of the most important things we’ve been able to do just in the last month has been to do a true announcement of Sandstone’s (Sandstone Realty Advisors) position as one of the top 25 commercial real estate advisors in the market,” Bekah said.
“It’s a monumental achievement, and it’s been so well received by your colleagues and friends and your relationships.”
We’ve seen the highest open rate for that message in at least 18 months, she said.
One of my goals for the near future is to grow my subscriber base on YouTube. Bekah said my extensive contact list on Constant Contact would be the ideal vehicle for getting the word out.
And we’ll be looking into how to display or promote my live feed on my various social media platforms.
Now, despite my experience with social media, I’m still dogged by the question of timing – when to schedule my posts for the various platforms.
Emails go out on Mondays at 10 a.m. Flyers for the Fried On Business show are sent on Thursdays both early in the morning and then again just before showtime.
We’re planning on adding a promotional blast on Tuesdays for Nikki Fried, my niece who is running for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture.
“When we talk about the analytics from your prior eblasts, the ones that deal with real things in your life and things like that are the ones that people gravitate toward,” Bekah said.
“The people that do business with you are doing it because they know you and they like you and they want to hear good things – not just traditional sales pitches. Nobody minds the traditional sales pitch, but they want to hear the rest of what’s going on in your world, too.”
Bekah is a real pro. You can reach her at bekah@carlsonintegrated.com or carlsonintegrated.com.
Click here to listen to the full interview with Bekah Carlson of Carlson Integrated, LLC.
