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Hints & tips to help you future proof your real estate operation

By 3D Tour, Marketing, Matterport Tour, Real Estate Marketing, Virtual Tour No Comments

Everyone is talking about the ‘new normal’ in real estate but what does that actually mean?

“In the immediate future, technologies that reduce the need for human contact will be the clear winner; be they gesture-based building controls, platforms that eliminate the need for any human contact in real estate transactions, or technology that enables safety and social distancing on construction sites.” – Angelica Krystle Donati – a consumer tech journalist focusing on proptech & innovation in real estate and construction – published in Forbes in May 2020.

Everyone is talking about the ‘new normal’ in real estate but what does that actually mean? While no one can forecast what might happen next year, next month or even next week, we do know that real estate needs to become more digitally driven and ‘hands off’ in every aspect, as the above quote confirms.

If you’re starting to plan your real estate future, let Synergy help guide you to the new normal. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn that the many of the changes you can implement will improve your profit margin, help you close sales quicker and give you peace-of-mind with ways to future proof your business. Don’t miss out! Register today.

How to Prepare Your Property for a Virtual Tour

By Market Your Home, Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Virtual Tour No Comments


Pets

If you have pets, please find a comfortable and contained space for any dogs. It’s best if they are not in the house while the Matterport photographer is on the job. Large animals could knock the camera over and cause damage.  If you need to keep your pet in the house during this time, we ask that you keep them with you and out of the way of the photographer.


Personal Items

Please put away any personal items you do not want to be photographed as the camera will capture EVERYTHING. Consider – family photos (if you’d like them to remain private), prescription bottles, important paperwork, jewelry, or artwork. The photographer will need to go in every nook of the house, so you have to conceal items if you’d like them to not be picked up on the camera.

Cleaning and Staging

Please clean and stage all rooms and hallways in your house. Please make sure dishes are clean and put away, blinds and drapes are open, beds are neatly made, and laundry is not visible.

 

Lights/Fans

Please turn on every light and turn off fans in your house for the photographer.

 

Limit the Number of People at Home

If at all possible, it is best if the photographer can be alone in the house to create the 3D tour. Every 30 seconds or so, the photographer moves the camera and has to hide out of the way so that the 360 degree camera can scan the room. Depending on the size of the home, this will be done around 75-200 times. It becomes difficult when the photographer has to make sure others are hiding as well. We realize you may need to be there and of course we will work out a plan to accommodate your needs!

Contact us today for your Virtual Tour!  970-639-9225

 

How to use social media in order to promote your business

By Business, Facebook, Marketing, Promote Your Business, Social Media No Comments

As you well know, social media plays an important role in the existence of any business, and therefore you should definitely use it in order to gain more customers. However, you should keep in mind that social media can be used in several ways, each business owner choosing the best strategy for his business. Taking this into account it is safe to say that even if social media has a great influence over your business, you should be very attentive to the way you are going to use it. If you find the best way of using social media marketing you will be able to develop a successful business. Even if it looks simple, this is actually a difficult task, and therefore you should be attentive to all of it.

If you are looking forward in using social media marketing in order to promote your business, you should take into account the following facts that might help you during the entire process.

  • Hire someone professional

One of the first things you should keep in mind is the fact that social media is not a hobby, at least not when the fate of your business is at stake. This means that you should not handle this alone, especially if you do not have enough free time. On the other hand, you should not hire someone who does not have experience in the marketing field. There are many students, and even children, who know how to use social media websites. However, they do not have the necessary marketing skills in order to help you in an effective manner. Therefore, even if you pay a higher amount of money, this will be an investment that will come back to you.

  • Have several marketing strategies

Everyone has to agree that social media plays an essential role in the life of any business, being one of the most successful marketing strategies. However, no matter how successful it may be, you should never depend solely on social media. You should keep in mind that this is a risky movement that may cost you a lot. Additionally, you should also know that the official website will always be more important than any social media website, and therefore you should not ignore it.

  • Invest money and time

Every business needs some investment, and therefore you should keep in mind that you will have to pay a price in order to have a great marketing strategy. Even if social media marketing is cheaper than the other forms, you still have to pay a certain amount of money in order to get it right. This means that this will not be for free. Even if there are many people who are using social media marketing without paying any money, their results are not very good.

Now that you have all this information concerning social media marketing you should be prepared to start on your own.

The importance of social media marketing

By Facebook, Marketing, Social Media No Comments

Social media plays an important role in many fields, and marketing is one of them. As you well know marketing is essential in the life of any business, and therefore every business owner should be aware about its importance. Therefore, if you own a business you should know that marketing is the only field that with decide whether you will succeed or not. The truth is that there are many people who believe that if they have an innovative product they have already succeeded. However, the history is full with situations when a product that has been invented hundreds of years before has managed to become popular only after the right marketing strategy has come around.

Marketing is a field that adapts according to the personal needs of a company, but also to the times in which it has been used. Therefore, you should pay attention to any marketing strategy you are going to use. For instance, even if the television commercials are important, they are no longer effective in the case of new products. This means that you need to think about all the ways you can create an amazing marketing strategy that might actually help you.

Social marketing has developed right after the apparition of the social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn. Since all these websites are very popular all around the world, they have managed to become the perfect marketing tool, being able to prove that marketing is indeed an adaptive science. Even if social media marketing is only at the beginning, the truth is that it managed to become very important, especially when it is used in a proper manner.

The influence of social media upon the present society is very important, and therefore it should not be ignored. Right now there are many people who are using Facebook for instance in order to promote their products or services. If you look carefully you will see that all the main websites of a certain business have attached all the social media links that may entertain them in a great way. The main principle of social media marketing is to promote the products or the services in an entertaining and informative manner that will attract the attention of the target audience, which is spending its time visiting these social media websites. On the other hand, social media marketing also promotes the publication of valuable content that is able to engage the user in the best way possible.

As you can see, social media marketing is very important, and therefore it should be taken into account. Now that you have all this information concerning social media marketing you should know that this is the cheapest form of marketing, and at the same time it is also the most successful marketing strategy. Thus, you should definitely use it in order to attract a greater amount of possible customers. Social media marketing represents the future of the marketing strategies.

The Worst Marketing Advice Ever!

By Marketing No Comments

Bad advice is usually preceded by fateful or terrible happenings, whether in life or business. Instead of ignoring such advice, people and businesses spend so much time trying to counteract their effects. So, why follow a bad advice when you can ignore it? Here are some of the worst marketing advice ever.

Black Dog Education, Meg, “If you build it, they will come.”

Kate Donlon, “You have no competitors for your ‘unique’ product or service.”

Shareena Ali, “You do not have to ask people what they want.”

Amanda Brandon, “If we make a brochure, we’ll increase sales.”

Abnormal Marketing, “If you just advertise, you will get customers.”

Cathy McKay, “I’m too busy with project work, so there is no need to market.”

Doug Sherwood, “I can get you to page one on Google… that’s all you need.”

Ann Swanson, “Just have the intern do it.”

Marketing Sutra, “A/B testing can wait.”

Steve McNamara, “Join Share A Sale’… an affiliate program that costs a lot of money and delivers a lot of spam ‘coupon’ sites.”

Patrick Ifonge, “We are going to do the same things as our competitors, but we will do it better.”

Signs by Tomorrow, “Let us go through and delete all bad reviews on social sites for you…”

Nameer Khan, “Develop the business and if they are interested THEN we will send them the proposal.”

Adam Kleinberg, “ Had a client who hired us to do a logo, and then wanted us to put five icons into the logo.”

 

Do you have a piece of marketing advice you received that you look back and think what the heck?  If so, comment below with yours, we would love to hear!

3 Ways to Completely Revamp Your Social Media

By Marketing, Social Media No Comments

Define the Role of Social Media in your Marketing Campaigns

It is essential to determine the role social media platforms will play in your campaigns before even signing up for an account with any social network. Social media can be used to enhance a firm’s digital image, attract and generate leads, build customer loyalty and engage them, or even position a brand as a leader that is very thoughtful through the creation of curated and compelling content.

They can also be used to build and develop relationships or connections by a firm’s salesperson, support and communicate the process of sales to the relevant parties, and even optimize the sales idea through the utilization of the resources, tools and consultants offered by the social media sites.

Determining the needs of clients, and finding out opportunities existing in the market can be found out through social media market research. Moreover, social sites are a perfect tool for businesses to learn and get to know their target market.

What are Your Social Media Objectives?

It is also essential to come up with an objective for your social media use or campaigns. For instance, the quality and quantity of shares, follows and referral links either on social media or a firm’s site can be used to attain its objective of building an awareness of being a thoughtful leader. Lead generation, building of client loyalty and increasing of revenue are some great examples of social media objectives a firm can adopt.

Social Media Channel to Adopt

There are several social media websites on the internet to choose from, ranging from LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest to Google + and Instagram, among others. The social media site to be chosen depends on a firm’s specific audience or target market. For instance, LinkedIn is perfect for sales representatives working for a B2B firm trying to build new connections and relationships, Twitter for businesses looking for a large following, Pinterest for visual niches like wedding photographies and food, while Google + is perfect for user engagement, communication in real time (via the site’s robust toolkit) or even optimization of interactivity.

Facebook Ads – Worth it or Wasteful?

By Business Services, Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy No Comments

We are constantly asked if Facebook Ads are worth it or wasteful.  While this is focusing on Facebook Ads, you should really ask that question of any advertising you are doing,  is it worth it or wasteful?

Despite the fact that Facebook was not designed to provide businesses with a marketing platform, it has grown to be a social media advertising giant. In 2013, the firm made more than $5.6 billion from ads. Facebook allows businesses to purchase ads according to the marketing strategy or method they are implementing because the ad options are objective-oriented. This means that the strategy Facebook uses for advertisements is based on a firm’s marketing goals and objectives.
This ensures that the chosen ad option by a business will bring them a higher return on investments. Unlike in previous years, Facebook has improved its social context to ensure that every user can see the businesses their friends have liked. These strategies have been improved by Facebook trying to enhance the value of its ads so that businesses can attain great results.

Is this really Worth it or Wasteful?

Yes, it is sure worth it. According to a survey conducted by Hubspot in 2013, 74% of marketers integrate Facebook in their lead generation campaign initiatives, and 52% said they got a buyer through the social media platform. Datalogix (a firm that records the behaviors and habits of shoppers in more than 100 million households in the U.S) and Facebook partnered in 2012 to determine the Facebook ads’ effectiveness. The study showed that 60 distinct Facebook campaigns realized great results: 50% of the campaigns realized a ROI 5 times higher while 70% received 3 times ROI on their investments.
Hashtags, likes, the ‘boost post’ button and the ‘build audience’ button are some features of Facebook used for advertising. The ‘Ad Manager’ feature allows businesses to monitor or track their campaigns in addition to getting reports.

One quick way to make it wasteful is to not have a clear objective in mind or a clear understanding of your budget. If you have questions about your Facebook advertising or want to get started.  Contact us below and let’s get in touch!

Are Facebook Ads Worth it or wasteful

Top 10 Reasons People Don’t Have A Social Media Strategy

By Marketing, Social Media, Strategy No Comments

The top 10 reasons people don’t have a social media strategy is just the beginning when I sat down and looked at all the reasons I have heard over the last 5 years.  Education is key, but when I do education I still continue to hear the same excuses.  I figured that if the people who come to my classes feel this way, others probably do too!  So I have compiled a list of the Top 10 Reasons People Don’t Have A Social Media Strategy and we are going to break them down and provide solutions over the next few weeks.  But first, let’s look at the list compiled together and see what the common theme is.  There is usually one solution to a lot of questions, but the delima is if people will hear the solution and be willing to jump when the answer is presented to them.  I have to look at some of these and laugh a little on the inside, but never the less, here we go:

Top 10 Reasons

Top 10 Reasons People Don’t Have A Social Media Strategy

  1. I don’t know how it works
  2. I don’t have the time to learn how it works/or to actually do it once I know how it works
  3. I don’t know what the benefit to me or my business is
  4. There are too many platforms/it is confusing
  5. No one cares what I have to say
  6. It is just for kids, I want to reach MY customers
  7. It is always changing and it frustrates me
  8. I tried it once, nothing happened
  9. I don’t want to say something stupid/ I don’t want to look stupid
  10. I do have a strategy, my neighbors kid does my social media

What is the common theme?

Do you see a common theme?  I do, I see fear.  Let me ask you this Mr/Mrs. Business Owner, were you afraid when you started this business or you knew everything that was going to happen?  You knew that you wouldn’t have any competition, or training issues or changes in software, or changes in the economy, or your customer base would change, or you wouldn’t be confused or frustrated?  I bet you did, but you figured it out right.  Or did your neighbors kid figure it out for you?  On a side note ~ hiring the neighbors kid is NEVER a good idea unless that is what they do for a living.  Would you trust them with your books?  Then why would you trust them with your online reputation and communication with potential customers?  I digress…..  Fear is not a reason to not have a social media strategy.  Get with a pro, get some help and get out there!  If you don’t want to do it yourself, then outsource it.  For example, I don’t want to do my taxes or keep my books on a daily basis so I outsource it.  (and not to the neighbors kid)

Stick with us, I promise it is worth the wait.

If any of the reasons/excuses up there looked familiar to you then please come back and keep your eyes out for our new blog series where we will address each one and provide solutions with a video blog!  If you just can’t wait becuase you don’t want the fear to live in you anymore then click here and let’s start a conversation right away!