Learn from three real estate pros whose online marketing strategies have earned them top honors.
Congratulations, winners!
Web site strategy First place: Randy Engfer Second place: CJ Cole Third place: Judy McCutchin
E-mail marketing strategy First place: CJ Cole Second place: Judy McCutchin Third place: No prize awarded
BY CHRISTINA HOFFMANN SPIRA
Who’s best at using the Web to build their business?
In our first Internet Marketing Contest ever, we set out to find real estate’s savviest Web and e-mail marketing strategists.
We weren’t looking for pretty Web design--everyone’s giving awards for that. Thiscontest--conceived by REALTOR® Magazine Online and Mr. Internet columnist Michael J. Russer and sponsored by online mortgage lender E-Loan--awarded entrants who could convey and demonstrate a premeditated strategy for marketing their services dynamically and creatively on the Web and through e-mail.
Of 150 entrants, the judges named five winning entries from three practitioners. (Read about the real estate and technology experts who judged the contest, and learn from their collective knowledge, in “Judges’ one-minute marketing advice,” page 46. For details on the judging process, see “The inner workings of the contest,” page 49.)
You’ll learn a lot from the winners. For example, audience targeting, community information, and branding are critical to online success. But, as you’ll see, there’s no perfect Internet product yet.
“Practitioners’ sites are evolving rapidly,” Russer says. “There’s still much to be gained in terms of appropriate application of a Web site and strategy.”And much to be gained in terms of building a strategy. For instance, the small number of e-mail entries we received signaled a marketing void. Hint to the enterprising: Make a killing by developing a comprehensive e-mail plan.
Even the judges have disparate opinions about what works on the Web. Some like a little glitz with their content--others just want the facts.
With that, we introduce you to the winners of the Internet Marketing Contest 2000, real estate pros whose marketing plans channel business through a supertargeted wormhole in cyberspace.
Consumers first
Randy Engfer, first place, Web site marketing (www.engfer.com); The Hasson Co., REALTORS®, Portland, Ore.
nInternet marketing strategy: To provide a real estate resource and first point of contact for buyers and sellers.
Online since: 1994
Business generated from site: $1.5 million in the past 12 months; gets one to three listings a month from sellers who found him online
Best Internet move: Hiring an office manager who’s computer literate to oversee the site. After learning HTML, she built the third and latest incarnation of his site. “My best decision was letting her loose to create it,” he says.
Biggest stumble in creating a strategy: “Recognizing that you have 20 or fewer seconds to grab visitors’ attention,”
he says. “That’s my guiding light in terms of design.” Engfer knew his latest site would be successful when, without any additional marketing, site activity increased 300 percent over the previous version.
Site developer: Office manager Lisa Storms
As Randy Engfer emphasized in his contest essay, his site is “by no means an online personal brochure.” Instead, it offers what all the judges agree is the one key element of a strategic marketing plan: consumer orientation.
“Randy added tools that don’t benefit him directly but appeal to what consumers want,” confirms Stephen M. Canale, a judge and real estate technology trainer. “Web sites aren’t just about style--they’re about usability.” Among Engfer’s consumer-focused gems: a comprehensive Portland listings search, links to his listings with virtual tours, a mortgage calculator, and guides to selling and buying.
In addition, Engfer and his developer work hard to make sure the site pops up high in search engine results under the term “Portland” and to build relocation relationships through e-mail. In fact, although past clients and referrals make up the lion’s share of his business, having a site has expanded his reach to out-of-towners.
In the spirit of tinkering, Becky Swann, another judge and president of the International Real Estate Directory, suggests that Engfer beef up his community information: “The map is good, but there’s not enough to tell me why I should buy in Portland.”
Still, the judges unilaterally laud Engfer’s home page site map. “It’s just like an index or table of contents,” says John Peckham III, a judge and president of the Real Estate Cyberspace Society.
“I don’t want to have to drill down to find what I want,” Canale adds. “With the site map, I know exactly what’s available. And if he doesn’t have something you want, you save yourself a lot of time.”
And that respects the busy consumer.
Venice Beach’s No. 1 fan
CJ Cole, second place, Web site marketing (www.cjcole.com); first place, e-mail marketing; Venice Properties, Venice, Calif.
Internet marketing strategy: To provide community information so that consumers return to the site and remain on the newsletter distribution list.
Online since: 1996
Business generated from site: 50 percent, she estimates, since nearly all new business comes from her Web site. The rest of her business is referrals.
E-mail subscribers: 250; about 30–40 sign up each month. Some also drop off each month because of job and ISP changes.
Best site addition: A neighborhood section with a map of Venice that links to information and photos of each neighborhood. Visitors comment on this the most, she says.
Biggest stumble in creating a Web strategy: Nailing it down. Web sites have to evolve, but Cole says it’s hard to stick to a strategy when you’re “always wanting to make the site better.” So far, Cole has changed her site three times.
Site developer: CJ Cole
When REALTOR® Magazine caught up with CJ Cole, she was--where else?--attending a Web development class. “I live for this stuff,” she says.
Cole’s love of the Internet is a reflection of the market she’s trying to reach--high-tech, creative, community-involved people.
Her strategy? Provide local information--on restaurants, entertainment, shopping, and events. “My site provides insight into living and investing in Venice,” she says. “I promote my listings and services, but most of all I promote Venice as a place to live and enjoy.”
The integration of Web and e-mail increases her name recognition and keeps her in front of prospects regularly, notes Peckham. In addition, Canale says, “The newsletter has ownership and vacation appeal--not just homebuying appeal, which is transient.” Cole confirms that many clients continue to receive the newsletter after their transaction is done.
What could she do better? Allen F. Hainge, a judge and president of Allen F. Hainge Seminars, says her newsletter is “probably too complete. Most recipients might like it shorter--three stories maybe. But she’s still ahead of most practitioners.”
Canale suggests that she incorporate financial calculators and loan qualifiers into her site. And he eschews the splash page, as does Swann: “I’d rather go right to the information,” she says.
Still, the judges found plenty of consumer-friendly features. Web site: Sales comps, color-coded maps, easy navigation, and related links that launch a pop-up window so that she keeps visitors at her site. Her newsletter gives users an option to "unsubscribe" and URLs prefaced with http:// so that they appear as live links in users’ e-mail.
Whiz-bang site
Judy McCutchin, third place, Web site marketing (www.dallashomes.com); second place, e-mail marketing; RE/MAX Preston Road North, Dallas
Internet marketing strategy: To build a casual but information-rich online relationship with Web-savvy buyers and sellers.
Online since: 1994
Business generated from site: $12.8 million in Internet sales in the past 12 months, or one-third of her sales team’s total production. McCutchin gets 14,000 visitors a month.
E-mail subscribers: 700
Best Internet move: Automating her lead system. When visitors complete an online relocation form, for instance, their information automatically goes into a Lotus Notes database, which triggers an automatic e-mail acknowledgment--an auto-responder--and notifies McCutchin to follow up.
Biggest stumble in creating a Web strategy: Consumers’ bandwith and browser limitations. “I tend to want to get ahead of the average consumer,” she says of her site’s bells and whistles.
Site developers: McCutchin and two professionals whom she hired, Heather Fehrenbach and Haley Steele
“Judy McCutchin has as sophisticated a cyberspace setup as any I’ve seen,” oohs Peckham. But not just because of the sound and Shockwave (optional features if your browser doesn’t support them): She seamlessly integrates her Web and e-mail strategy.
From her site, for instance, you can subscribe to a variety of electronic communications, such as a newsletter, new listing updates, and feature articles written by her site mascot, Chester B. Chatsworth, a caricature of her pet Great Dane. Of her e-mail marketing, Canale says, “You get what you want, and she’s got a comprehensive follow-up campaign.”
A key to her strategy is that she’s branded all her marketing materials--online and otherwise--with Chester. The judges say the dog makes the site unique and memorable. And Swann says that “Chester expresses her personality,” an important way to connect with anonymous cyber visitors.
McCutchin’s cyber personality is also reflected in her high-tech site. Still, some judges prefer her real estate resources and community information to the techno whiz-bang stuff. “[A marketer] should focus on ease of use and what the aver-
age consumer is looking for,” Canale says. “Pages won’t display until the site’s music downloads--whether you opt out of it or not--which doesn’t respect users’ time.”
Swann acknowledges that users can opt out of the site’s Flash version, but she underscores that site operators should never ask users to download anything.
Still, some of the high-tech features that McCutchin incorporates are critical to shoring up customer service on the zero-time Net, she believes. There’s a private, password-protected extranet for clients, where they can view information on their transaction. “You don’t even have to call her; you can follow your transaction online,” Canale says.
The Live Assistance (www.liveassistance.com) program lets users type in a question and receive an immediate e-mail answer from a human at the other end 24/7, much like an online answering service. Similarly, users can input their phone number, which beeps McCutchin’s pager. They can then expect a call from her or an assistant. McCutchin says she sells a home a week just because of this feature.
For all this interactivity, the Dallas home pro has paid a hefty price--$50,000 on Lotus Notes programming alone.
That’s why McCutchin pays close attention to whether she’s getting her money’s worth. She pores over server logs “intensely” each night. She even knew that I’d been surfing her site--and on which pages--the day before we spoke for an interview.
How’s that for knowing your customers?
Judges’ one-minute marketing advice
A rousing thank-you to the five real estate and technology experts who ruminated over 20 finalists’ entries. Here, they offer a one-minute crash course in Internet marketing.
“The difference between sites that are productive and those that aren’t isn’t a function of cost or design. What counts is the value the site brings. Ask yourself, Would this feature help the average visitor to my site?”
Stephen M. Canale(www.canale.com)is a member of the GRI faculties in Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee; a certified Top Producer System 6 trainer; and a technology, sales, and marketing trainer based in Ypsilanti, Mich.
“Follow up, follow up, follow up. [Some practitioners] are nailing Web business because they have a plan for following up on inquiries, such as with automatic e-mail responses. And they have an e-mail newsletter.”
Allen F. Hainge is president of Allen F. Hainge Seminars (www.afhseminars.com), founder of Allen F. Hainge CyberStars, and a senior instructor for the Council of Residential Specialists’ technology course. He’s based in Springfield, Va. (Note: Hainge appropriately disqualified himself from judging Judy McCutchin’s Web site and e-mail entries because of their working relationship.)
“Don’t just sell houses. Provide community information in your e-mail marketing so that it’s worthwhile for people to sign up for your newsletter. Be a resource.”
Barbara Ling (www.realestate-resources.com) createda suite of products called the Real Estate Pros’ Internet Edge. She teaches businesses how to maximize e-mail marketing effectiveness and is based in Holmdel, N.J.
“The tools you use to drive traffic to your Web site, such as e-mail newsletters, are as important as what’s on the site.”
John C. Peckham III, CCIM,CIPS, is executive director of the Real Estate Cyberspace Society (www.recyber.com), an organization of real estate practitioners interested in networking and keeping up with technology changes.
“Take a look at your competitors’ sites. Consumers aren’t just looking at one or two practitioners’ Web sites. They’re doing research and learning what kind of information they should expect to find.”
Becky Swann is founder, editor, and president of the International Real Estate Directory (www.ired.com), which provides articles and opinion on real estate Web sites as well as listing and reviewing such sites. Swann is based in Grapevine, Texas.
Editor’s note:Mr. Internet designed the contest with REALTOR® Magazine Online and was therefore ineligible to judge.
3 must-dos to create an online strategy 1. Target a niche. Your online marketing shouldn’t speak to everyone. If you try to, you speak to no one.
2. Determine what that niche values. Then provide specific, relevant content.
3. Establish a real human connection. This comes through in your site’s personality. Judy McCutchin (www.dallashomes.com) uses a caricature of her dog throughout her site, which imbues it with levity and demonstrates her love of pets. Since most practitioners provide content similar to yours, you need to stand out by supplementing your site with personality.
—Michael Russer
(Mr. Internet)
The inner workings of the contest
From the 150 entries to our Internet Marketing Contest 2000, the editors narrowed the field to 10 finalists in each category. The judges reviewed the finalists’ entries via an intranet database and evaluated each entry on the effectiveness,
execution, creativity, and originality of its marketing features.
The judges’ scores for each entry--based on a 10-point system--determined the winners.
Thanks to a generous donation by contest sponsor E-Loan (eloan.com), first-, second-, and third-place winners received a Sony Vaio laptop computer, a Nokia handheld communicator, and a Sony Mavica digital camera, respectively.