THE DEMON OF MARKETING

Transcription

1 THE DEMON OF MARKETING 09/05/07 14:07:02 Page: 1

2 There once was a broker, who had a great ride: signs filled the yards, the commissions were high. To get a house sold you had to call the man ; there were few options, control was his plan. But in the dark of one night, he awoke to find the demon of marketing crouched close at his side. At first he declared it s a really bad dream! But the creature replied more a nightmare it seems. The thing whispered softly, with words that had bite. Then the marketing demon burst out a great fright. Marketing has changed, but you have not. If you re not smart, you ll lose all you ve got. 09/05/07 14:07:39 Page: 2

3 09/05/07 14:08:08 Page: 3

4 Google, Zillow MSN and Yahoo: these are the players, to name a few. The world loves Trulia and the eccentric Craigslist; it s a marketing hydra you ve missed or dismissed. These are where the world looks, to find what they want. They don t need your office, or the car that you flaunt. They want full information bared in their hands; if you don t do it, they ll find someone who can. 09/05/07 14:08:38 Page: 4

5 The broker retorted, I ve got a website with a blog, it s got a glamour shot of me, my spouse and my dog. The MLS is where we keep the data jailed. We ve done it for decades, it s never failed. Web-based newcomers know nothing of real estate; only fools give free data, then open the gate. Oh my dear broker, life is not fair; I m the demon of marketing, and really don t care. For years you dominated, as king of this game; open houses, flyers, want ads now look really lame. I m telling you broker, you better get where it s at, or soon you ll be donning a Burger King hat. 09/05/07 14:09:21 Page: 5

6 The boys at Google listened to me well; set aside your PhD s give em all hell. They could have been profs bent to pontificate. Instead they listened to me, and sealed your fate. Many others competing: Zillow, Yahoo and Craig, a new world of marketing they all have made. No one drives horse & buggies, or hauls ice up stairs; I m the demon of marketing, and never have cared. The market runs swiftly to those with the best. Those not innovative will be laid to rest. By the end of the night, the broker knew the score: Toto, I don t think we re in Kansas anymore! 09/05/07 14:10:08 Page: 6

7 You ve always wanted a more effective and less costly way to sell your home, and Universal MLS is it. You place your home s information in our listing database just once; we then allow the entire world to extract and advertise it on web sites internationally, in every country and language there is. Your property s information won t be on just one website; it may well be on thousands of websites, giving you worldwide exposure. No other real estate MLS service does this for you. As an example of how the Internet changed the world, think how stocks used to be sold. You had to drive down to see a stock broker, open an account there, and sit by their desk while they retrieved data on their computer system. Then you had to tell the broker which stocks to buy or sell, and finally pay them a large commission. Today, you go to Schwab.com, Etrade.com, or Scottrade.com, do your own research using their tools, decide what to buy or sell, click a button, and pay something like $9. The Internet allowed innovative stock brokers to create new business models, design incredible tools for your use, and cut your costs to nearly nothing. Once again, try to visualize the database of stock information these companies use to fuel their websites. This is what Universal MLS is to the real estate industry the data source that allows innovative businesses to create wonderful tools and websites using your home s information. It s good for them, it s good for home buyers, and it s really good for you. reaching the eyes of the world

8 The Demon of Marketing is the personification of a concept demonstrating that within a marketplace the pool of sellers and buyers will gravitate toward the most beneficial services offered. Just as stockbrokers and travel agents received this rude awakening a few years ago and changed how we all buy stocks and arrange our travel, the Demon of Marketing is now hovering over the real estate industry. All of this can be quite frightening for anyone in the real estate industry; the changes will definitely destroy many who are not innovative, but as the Demon of Marketing says: I really don t care. The changes are here and unstoppable because the market demands them. From a marketing perspective, the best case scenario for you as a seller is to have every buyer on the planet know about every property you have for sale. Just a few years ago this was impossible; a year from now this will be commonplace. To sell your property for the highest price and in the shortest time, you want your property s information in as many locations on the internet as possible; for within a competitive marketplace, the more buyers that know about your property, the better the chance for a sale at the highest price the market will bear. Starting today, the exposure of your home can be exponentially expanded via a system called Universal MLS. This is an amazing system that will allow the dissemination of your property s information beyond anything you ve ever seen or maybe even imagined. copyright, creed smith, 2007 artwork, rob doe, robert.doe@comcast.net