SHREWSBURY, Massachusetts – The latest tools to be brought to the Shrewsbury real estate marketplace have truly been taking hold here in town and I’m finding it pretty exciting.  OK, so my excitement threshold may be a tad low, but what can I say? In any case, it took about a year to get it right, and more revisions than I can count, but it was certainly worth the wait and the expense, as true downloadable virtual tours, QR codes, and private domains go mainstream in the minds of the Shrewsbury real estate consumers.  It wasn’t long ago that such things were considered frivolous, but now they’ve become a part of almost all marketing plans I’ve put together, as buyers look for more information than can be found in the typical four line listing on one of the many websites, and as they turn more and more to mobile devices for their house hunting needs.
I’ve always prided myself on being out there in front of the curve when it comes to “high tech.”  I can still recall back in 1986 or so, having my first “cellular telephone,” which was a really big deal at the time.  Mine was a ten pound device, due in part to the huge battery, complete with a carrying bag, and “optional magnetic mount antenna” for the car!   While it may seem to be a luxury now, mark my words, this will become the new standard of real estate marketing in the future.
The virtual tours are a seemingly simple tool, but one that took ages to get really perfected.  Simply put, this software package I picked up enables me to load all of the custom photographs or video into a template file, select the best music choice and other features, and then with just a simple click, put it all together in a cohesive, branded video presentation that really takes the Buyer far, far beyond what they would otherwise be seeing on line.   These tours can be given out on CD’s or Flash drives, or most commonly hosted on the web, where we can link all of the other online based marketing tools back to it.
For marketing that goes one step beyond what any Seller might expect, we now have the ability to now register a separate custom domain name for each property, to use as a marketing tool.   Now that’s a useful tool, albeit not an inexpensive one.   For example, check out www.2weaglefarm.com , 50grovestreet.net , and 4comstockdrive.com .   Those links will show you the type of high-end presentation that was once thought of as being a bit over the top, but has now become a part of almost all of my marketing plans.  As the industry has corrected, and demand out-scaled supply, it’s just been more important than ever to make sure to leave no stone unturned with respect to marketing.  In this way, we’ll not only have the best possible chance of a sale, but also be able to better address why something “isn’t selling” in the event that happens.
QR, or quick response codes, are only just in the last few months starting to see a glimmer of mainstream use.  It has yet to be proven whether or not the customers will fully embrace them, but I think they will. I know that as a shopper, I use them all the time.  In fact, just yesterday, I was in Staples picking up some supplies and I saw a new type of high speed wireless modem that was really interesting.  It proudly displayed it’s QR code, and with just a click from my iPhone, I had it logged in so that i could look at it later.   Simple put, a QR code is essentially a virtual 3D image of the type of bar code that you see in the store every day.  You code it so that when it’s viewed with a QR Reader – which is a free app on most smart phones – takes you to a specific product website.
To see what we can do with a QR code, take out your smart phone and use it to scan the image to the left, and watch what happens.  Soon, you’ll start to see these appearing on our real estate sign riders, so that a consumer stopping in front of the home to check it out can pull up a comprehensive, mobile specific website with interior photos and specs galore, which will hopefully be an asset in generating a showing.
This shows where each visitor to the marketing site is coming from, for each particular home.
Lastly, one of the coolest things of all is the ability to interface the different marketing tools and use advanced tracking techniques to be able to properly establish just what’s working and what’s not working and why.  Then, being able to go in and make modifications, can make the marketing program even more effective.
How far can you carry “tracking,” well, you can go pretty far.  As shown in this image, you can actually drill down not only to the source of the client, but even identify how many people looked at each photograph!    This may help us to understand if there’s a photo that needs to be swapped out, or perhaps identify any drop off in viewers that may serve to indicate how many folks are beginning to watch the tour, but not making it to the end – something which again may tell us to swap out a photo or to, or perhaps even just change the order of the pictures.
Will any of this change the world, probably not.   However as markets have become more and more challenging, it’s become vital to at least make sure that you’re doing everything you possibly can to maximize any potential turns at bat that you get.  By thinking outside the box, and trying new and exciting things, you’ll at least know for certainly that you’ve done all you could possibly do.  After that, it’s all a matter of fate.

SHREWSBURY, Massachusetts – The latest tools to be brought to the Shrewsbury real estate marketplace have truly been taking hold here in town and I’m finding it pretty exciting.  OK, so my excitement threshold may be a tad low, but what can I say? In any case, it took about a year to get it right, and more revisions than I can count, but it was certainly worth the wait and the expense, as true downloadable virtual tours, QR codes, and private domains go mainstream in the minds of the Shrewsbury real estate consumers.  It wasn’t long ago that such things were considered frivolous, but now they’ve become a part of almost all marketing plans I’ve put together, as buyers look for more information than can be found in the typical four line listing on one of the many websites, and as they turn more and more to mobile devices for their house hunting needs.I’ve always prided myself on being out there in front of the curve when it comes to “high tech.”  I can still recall back in 1986 or so, having my first “cellular telephone,” which was a really big deal at the time.  Mine was a ten pound device, due in part to the huge battery, complete with a carrying bag, and “optional magnetic mount antenna” for the car!   While it may seem to be a luxury now, mark my words, this will become the new standard of real estate marketing in the future.The virtual tours are a seemingly simple tool, but one that took ages to get really perfected.  Simply put, this software package I picked up enables me to load all of the custom photographs or video into a template file, select the best music choice and other features, and then with just a simple click, put it all together in a cohesive, branded video presentation that really takes the Buyer far, far beyond what they would otherwise be seeing on line.   These tours can be given out on CD’s or Flash drives, or most commonly hosted on the web, where we can link all of the other online based marketing tools back to it.For marketing that goes one step beyond what any Seller might expect, we now have the ability to now register a separate custom domain name for each property, to use as a marketing tool.   Now that’s a useful tool, albeit not an inexpensive one.   For example, check out www.2weaglefarm.com , 50grovestreet.net , and 4comstockdrive.com .  

 

Those links will show you the type of high-end presentation that was once thought of as being a bit over the top, but has now become a part of almost all of my marketing plans.  As the industry has corrected, and demand out-scaled supply, it’s just been more important than ever to make sure to leave no stone unturned with respect to marketing.  In this way, we’ll not only have the best possible chance of a sale, but also be able to better address why something “isn’t selling” in the event that happens.QR, or quick response codes, are only just in the last few months starting to see a glimmer of mainstream use.  It has yet to be proven whether or not the customers will fully embrace them, but I think they will. I know that as a shopper, I use them all the time.  In fact, just yesterday, I was in Staples picking up some supplies and I saw a new type of high speed wireless modem that was really interesting.  It proudly displayed it’s QR code, and with just a click from my iPhone, I had it logged in so that i could look at it later.   Simple put, a QR code is essentially a virtual 3D image of the type of bar code that you see in the store every day.  You code it so that when it’s viewed with a QR Reader – which is a free app on most smart phones – takes you to a specific product website.To see what we can do with a QR code, take out your smart phone and use it to scan the image to the left, and watch what happens.  Soon, you’ll start to see these appearing on our real estate sign riders, so that a consumer stopping in front of the home to check it out can pull up a comprehensive, mobile specific website with interior photos and specs galore, which will hopefully be an asset in generating a showing.
This shows where each visitor to the marketing site is coming from, for each particular home.Lastly, one of the coolest things of all is the ability to interface the different marketing tools and use advanced tracking techniques to be able to properly establish just what’s working and what’s not working and why.  

 

Then, being able to go in and make modifications, can make the marketing program even more effective.How far can you carry “tracking,” well, you can go pretty far.  As shown in this image, you can actually drill down not only to the source of the client, but even identify how many people looked at each photograph!    This may help us to understand if there’s a photo that needs to be swapped out, or perhaps identify any drop off in viewers that may serve to indicate how many folks are beginning to watch the tour, but not making it to the end – something which again may tell us to swap out a photo or to, or perhaps even just change the order of the pictures.Will any of this change the world, probably not.   However as markets have become more and more challenging, it’s become vital to at least make sure that you’re doing everything you possibly can to maximize any potential turns at bat that you get.  By thinking outside the box, and trying new and exciting things, you’ll at least know for certainly that you’ve done all you could possibly do.  After that, it’s all a matter of fate.