Luke:
Tell me, Karina, what is something that you do consistently in your marketing and communications day to day that's extremely important and key to your success as a brokerage?
Karina:
Starting with our agents, we are super heavy in education with them. So most of the time, our emails are filled with questions on certain things. And, usually, if we don't already have a video put together on how to do something or some kind of step by step on where to find a resource, those questions kind of initiate us to do educate on said topic. So if an agent reaches out with a new question that maybe we haven't covered before, we've been really into leaning on some AI tools like Scribe to record our screen and give a step by step of what it is that they're asking about. And I think we mentioned this on the MAXA mastermind call that we do like to film these Marketing Minute videos just to explain things to our agents in a way that's really easy for them to learn themselves. Our day to day key to success in marketing with the agents is educating them in the most concise and easy to know, easy to learn way.
And then with each other, I wish we used a task management platform. We have jumped around a couple, and I know so many people have recommended such good ones. But I’d say the weekly accountability meetings we have both on Monday and Friday kind of keeps our team together. We like to start the week off that way just to kind of have everything in line and then wrap up the week with how our week went and what our goals are for the week to come. So, for us, I would say that's key to our success as a team—communication! It's very nice that we're all in office, so we're constantly able to collaborate in person, which helps immensely.
Luke:
So many important things you've just mentioned. But is there anything additional you could talk about that is external facing? I know you do work very intensely with your sales associates, your agents. But what about externally facing as a brand and a brokerage to customers?
Karina:
I think social media is probably our most consistent form of communication to people outside of our company. So trying to be present and show up on social media on a daily basis is huge to us. Whether that is just getting out our agents listings and things, which is a given, but also trying to showcase our company culture in a way that attracts not only agents who we might want to work with us, but also the general public. We want them to see that this is the brokerage that they want to work with as well. So I think pushing company culture is a huge thing for us. We really try to embody the idea that we are good people to be around, and we're all just here and have the same goals, which is to help our agents and their clients.
Luke:
You mentioned some of the things that you do to help your sales associates and agents, but how would you say you empower yourselves and associates daily? And what marketing tools do you support them with?
Karina:
So on the daily, we're kind of known for being a reliable support staff. If our agents have any single question about anything ever, we're going to be here on the other side of the email or the call, whatever that looks like, as fast as we can to support them. And I think we always try to go the extra mile. Our CEO puts on weekly accountability calls with our agents and that's something that motivates them regularly. We have new agent orientations and monthly marketing meetings/trainings that we be put on, and every month is focused on a different topic.
So when we launched with MAXA, we had a training that was strictly focused on the platform, how to get into it, what you'll find within the platform, that sort of thing. We're leaning on MAXA’s platform heavily because we've always wanted to provide an immense number of templates or just diverse materials since nobody wants to look the same. And I think now having the MAXA platform and pointing people to one place where we are cohesive as a brand and our agents can still have the variety that they're looking for while maintaining the brand image has been huge! We're constantly pushing that.
We used to add a new template to our to do list each time we got a request that we didn’t already have a template for. And, usually, it has had the look of our company overall, but it's kind of been whatever the agents want it to be. MAXA has helped a ton in pushing everything in the same direction of how we want our company to look.
Luke:
I'm really glad to hear how the MAXA platform is really enabling you to empower your agent with the content that they need consistently.
What would you say is your favorite feature on the MAXA platform, or what do you find yourself using the most for perhaps the agents' communications?
Karina:
I am immediately thinking of something that I know is going to be the most popular thing, but we haven't quite gotten into it yet. And that's the seller's guide that we've been working on for over a year. It's fallen into so many different people's hands, and we haven't quite had the platform to be able to use it how we want. So we're working on the final version of that, but once that's in there, I think that's easily going to be the biggest thing that our agents are using possibly ever in our company just because we also have an in house binding machine that can make that seller's guide into a nice hardcover booklet. I think it's going to change the game for listing appointments. But overall right now, I think our agents are just excited about the fresh look of literally everything in the platform. We completely took it a different route from things that we were doing before with the cabernet color and that sort of branding and focused on marketing the beach. Working with designers Daniela and George at MAXA on making our brand represent our market with different colors of blues like the ocean helped us refresh our materials in a way that the agents are super excited about. Whether it's using monthly e-newsletters or new property flyers for their open houses, everyone has just been excited to dive into the platform. So I feel like there's not, like, one big hit right now in the platform. I know what it will be in the future, but I think it's just been a game changer overall. Not only do we have all of these materials easily accessible for them, but now those materials are our inspiration for how our marketing looks across the board moving forward.
Luke:
I really like to hear you mentioned Daniela and George on the design side on our MAXA team, and it's it's really great to hear you say that they're helping and inspiring the agents with being creative in a slightly new direction with color in and branding and what you need for the templates.
Karina:
They just helped us bring our vision to life so much better than we ever could have. It was so helpful. And obviously, we're still pretty new to it and we're learning, but I just feel like being able to lean on the MAXA team is nearly equivalent to having more support on our team here and that's huge because we have sought out additional design help and there's just not a huge supply of designers. There are busier times that it has been tough to serve our agents with speed and efficiency, especially as I mentioned before, with the way that we've been serving our agents with custom request after custom request. I'm a marketing manager, but wouldn’t say I am a graphic designer in any way. So it’s the ability to lean on the MAXA team when needed that is a huge plus. I think I just submitted a template request at the beginning of this week and got it back by end of week. I remember when we had our first call with James at MAXA, and he mentioned what the platform was gonna be like. And he mentioned the design help that we could get, and I was like, wait. What? Like, this is insane! It's truly just so much more than a marketing design platform that hosts all of these templates for our agents.
Luke:
Thank you for saying that. We appreciate that. Tell me I know we did discuss this on the MAXA mastermind webinar that you were part of. But how big of a role and importance does tech apps and APIs play in what you do in marketing and to support the sales associates and agents?
Karina:
I think now more than ever our agents need marketing. We had, like, the Unicorn Years after 2020 where the market blew up, and the agents were not even having to do much marketing like before because listings were coming off the market so quickly. Now I just feel like they are a little bit anxious and hungry to do more for their listings, more than I’ve experienced before.
So I think it plays a huge role in having exactly what they need, when they need it, how they need it because of customization, at least in design, and then some of the other platforms that we're using just with automation, I think, has been huge for when they are out in the field and need to be doing real estate focused activities. A lot of these platforms that we're using are working well for them or they have the support that they need close by to help them with that.
Luke:
Yeah. For sure. Is there one in particular or anything new that stood out that you've started to use or implement?
Karina:
Well, we use ChatGPT for a lot. We are pushing our agents in different ways to get creative on using that platform. Just to have in their corner, when it comes to writing listing descriptions or things like that prompting ChatGPT to come up with the things that they sit for hours guessing on. We are just encouraging them to use what's out there and what's happening right now to kind of lean on. Also I mentioned, we're using scribe a lot on our staff side just to be able to educate the agents and even educating each other. Our marketing team is mostly all in house, but we have some office managers that aren't here so even today our operations supervisor said she just scribed the entire process of how to get our agents into all of the marketing platforms that we're in so that if she is not available, we all know how to do this. So I think we're trying to stay ahead of it by learning what's out there and how we can use it and then also just applying it, whether it's for the agents or for each other.
Luke:
Well, I'm glad you mentioned ChatGPT. Because inside the MAXA platform, we are releasing that integration so when templates are designed, you can use it inside the design process to create copy for listings etc.
Why would you say it's important for any company or their sales associates to stay on top of their marketing initiatives? And I know you just mentioned about agents being very hungry at the moment to really be at the forefront. So I'd love to hear your perspective on why you think it's important.
Karina:
Sure. I think for anyone, if you repeat something enough to someone, you might have to say something seventeen times before somebody actually is like, wait a minute… so and so said that, or I've seen that before. So I think staying consistent is probably the biggest thing you can do in marketing across the board, whether it is on social media, email campaigns or whatever that looks like, staying on top of it and kind of being that person that someone counts on to provide certain information or even if it's not being informative as much as it is entertaining, just being consistent is key. We try to preach that here for sure and also try to provide our agents with the content that they need to consistently push out to their database so that they are staying in front of their clients' minds for sure.
Luke:
Yeah. I love that. I think it's something like 7 to 8 touch points for a brand or company in any market or industry. To have with their potential customer so that beyond that point, that's when the relationship potentially starts. So I'm glad you said consistency.
Can you give us some advice or a tip that other marketers or sales associates and companies can implement in their marketing or branding?
Karina:
I think for us, our culture is our differentiator. There are tons of people who are in real estate, but I feel like down here at the beach, a lot of companies have a similar kind of vibe. I mean, we're all marketing several of the same kinds of listings in the market. So I think we as a company, we try to not only show that we're good at what we do, but that we have a good time doing it in the company that we enjoy. So our secret sauce and also just a goal throughout all of our marketing is to show a little bit of that. It's what people connect with. Obviously, everyone loves to look at a beautiful home and might be just interested in real estate in general. But I think when you can connect with the people behind everything that it's just a little bit deeper. And, obviously, as humans we’re emotional, some of those transactions can be driven by emotions, and I think real estate is a big one. So that's what I would say. Showcase your culture, who you are, even if you're not showing it visually, but just in the way that you speak, that kind of thing, I think that's my one tip.
Luke:
That's great. I love that. Because that, like you say, you are marketing properties that are similar to other brokerages or companies, but that culture is so important for a brand and company to really stand out and be different. And like you said, emotionally engaged and then with authenticity and trust as well.
One last one. Where do you see the future of marketing and communications going in Real Estate.
Let me caveat that. The real estate industry feels quite old school to me with regards to other industries. And so I'm just interested to know where you think or see marketing going in the future with, especially, the adoption very quickly now of AI and seeing how potentially slow real estate has moved before to now where we are and where we can be going.
Karina:
I mean, I think you've gotta keep up is just what I'm thinking. Even us, I feel like sometimes we are trying to stay ahead of the research and things, and I don't know, I feel like everyone all at once is going to realize if you're not doing it this way, then you’ll back there where nobody's paying attention. So whether that's utilizing AI tools to automate and create and the whole nine—utilizing those or being present on social media in a way that stands out is key to success. Obviously, social media been a big thing, but I feel like it's never been as crucial to real estate marketing as it is now. If you're not on social media, which has become consumers search engine, then you aren’t keeping up! People are going to Instagram to figure out who's doing the best in real estate before they're even checking out realtors on Google. So I don't know, just keeping up and as much as you can trying to stay ahead of it is what I see coming.
Luke:
Listening to everything you said, it feels like you are on top of it. For sure. So let me ask you this then because you have spoken a lot about digital. Where do you see print right now and perhaps potentially in the near future for the industry?
Karina:
We, as a company, just in the way that the market has changed a little bit. We have also changed some of our focus on print. We used to have a company magazine that we are on pause with now, and I think it's been that way for the past 2 issues. Just that it's probably the biggest budget spend, and I guess the easiest to cut on the operational side. I don't think Print is really dying necessarily. I think it just depends on where you're at in budget spending, but I do think that any print that we have done or even on the agent's side, trying to be more intentional with it has been a focus. By that I mean, everyone might get the same kind of postcard to their house about a listing so incorporating QR codes to point them maybe to something a little more, like a video or valuable resource. Just combining digital into print pieces as much as we can is something we focus on, especially for tracking purposes. It's hard to kind of know what's going well with print without digital tracking.
Luke:
Yeah. I love that you mentioned about bringing the digital side back into print where you can track. What if there's postcards going out, you can track back to digital through what you're messaging on those postcards. I think that's really cool.
Karina:
I think it's important. It almost feels wrong to not include. It's not to say that every single person is going to scan the QR code on a postcard. But it doesn't hurt to have it there, and it's a way to make that one piece of marketing go a step further.
