Authenticity Is The New Black

Landon Ray, of Moon-Ray.com is not only one of our latest clients, but he is also our latest member of The Vine.  Landon’s direct experience with the online real estate marketing industry makes him a perfect fit for our soapbox, as well as a trusted peer.  His marketing savvy is obvious, and his delivery sound.  We hope to have him around for a while.

Authenticity Is The New Black
By Landon Ray

Everywhere I look, businesses are beginning to embrace a new strategy for connecting with customers: getting real.  Fed by the blogging explosion, sales and marketing organizations are looking at how to drop their corporate masks of sameness and grow real relationships with people.

This month’s cover article in Wired Magazine is about authenticity, though they sex it up by using the word ‘naked’ instead. Of all people to profile, they chose Glenn Kelman, CEO of.. Redfin Corp.

Love him or (more likely) hate him, it’s a great story and it’s worth putting aside our opinions of his business model for a moment to look at why Wired chose him.

You can read the whole article at the website, so I won’t drag through the details. Instead, I’ll just give you what I see as the take away lessons:

1. As a business-owner, connecting with the right people is your job.  Trying to be everything to everyone is a waste of time and money – you end up connecting with no one. Kelman is a divisive character; you either love him as a revolutionary, or hate him as a cheat who undermines the efforts of quality service providers in the territories he works.

But you have to envy the passion he generates from his supporters. Fact is, he’s not after your clients.. he’s after self-service oriented buyers who feel that cheapest is best and resent the fees traditionally paid to agents. Is that your target?

2. Connections are not made with bland, ‘me too’ messages. This is about stepping forward with who you really are, what you’re all about, and being clear about the specific value you provide.

Of course, we know that Blogging is about the best thing you can do to generate real connections. But not everyone will read your blog.  Are you presenting yourself to your market (on your website, with your marketing materials, etc) in a way that resonates with just the right clients, or are you out there trying to flag down anyone with a checkbook?

Kelman is on a mission (he just released his latest marketing ploy, the Real Estate Consumer’s Bill of Rights, which I won’t touch with a 10–foot pole) and he loves his detractors.  They dominate his blog comments with every post.  But he knows that he doesn’t have to please everyone.. just his ‘right match’ clients.

3. Blog. This is related to the last lessons, but deserves it’s own space. The wired article series (it’s actually several related articles in the issue) shows that business owners that blog – that like to blog – are at a specific competitive advantage.

Corporate-speak is out.  Real is in.
—
Thank you, Landon.
We look forward to more solid contributions from you.

Landon left out his shameless self promotion, so I feel I should step in for him, he certainly earned it.

The gang over at MoonRay are doing a fantastic job of creating ‘authentic marketing’ campaigns for Realtors. They offer an entire suite of matching marketing pieces (website, postcards, biz cards, etc.) that reflect your personal authentic message in a high-end design. The website they provide is free, just for checking out their service.

It also comes with a complete automated marketing package that we’re going to have to look into more closely in the near future.

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Comments

[Dean Wormer]

It’s true that connecting with the right people is the job of a business-owner, but isn’t it really the job of everyone at the company? Isn’t that one of the ways that WOM really works? I don’t own my company, but I absolutely know that if our salesforce can connect the right people with the right product – we will delight each and every one of them (while providing a valuable service). Not only that, but eventually these “right people” will be so appalled that their friends don’t have product with us that they’ll never talk to them again – or at least, something close to that. Why stop at the business-owner?

Bland messages have to fall short in that they lack passion, purpose and honesty. WOM doesn’t catch on if all you’re doing is spreading rhetoric (which I hope I’m not being guilty of now…) Blogging is a great way to do that! Of course, there are challenges. For example, I can’t tell you much more about my company because it’s against company policy. Likewise the blogs that the company runs are highly scrutinized by all sorts of lawyers, compliance folks, marketing folks, etc.. But as most of us have probably found, the more you tell folks “you can’t do that”, the more likely they will. Oh – and ignore the shiny red button.

I took a look at the MoonRay site – it looks interesting. Though I’m curious – the company offers authentic marketing by offering “tailor-able” materials. How does that work? In my previous life, I was with the-firm-formerly-known-as-andersen-consulting and we had service offerings and value propositions for every occasion – custom fit for our clients. I think some of them found it hard to swallow. It was always hard not to fall into the one-size-fits-all, ‘me too’ solution. I suggest adding something around this to your FAQ – a little more on how the tailoring works – without giving away the secret sauce.

[Austin Realtor's Wife]

Hey Jim, I hope to hear more from Landon in the future- what a clear, concise and intelligent writer!

Listen, I am very glad that Wired is bringing to the forefront the need for authenticity- Real Estate is the MOST guilty of the "me too" syndrome. I would venture to say that 90% of agents in any market are in the follower pack of "me too"-ers. Blogs make personal connections possible that no calendar, mailer, tv ad or single media outlet can create. That is the specific advantage of a blog. Another advantage of the blog is the ability to shine- even now, a majority of the Real Estate blogs out there are no more than charts of NAR stats, regurgitated news from the local paper, or stale, canned talking points... in a sea of the "me too" (EVEN IN BLOGS), it is not difficult to stand out.

The best part of blogging is that like any other marketing outlet, it takes a certain savvy to be effective. Not everyone can complete a sentence, keep readers interested, or capture the essence of authenticity. (Yeah, go ahead and read my blog and tell me how LACKING I am, ha!) Great article, Landon!

[Landon Ray]

Dean, thanks for the feedback - I'll definitely add more information on what the tailoring process involves.

The problem we're out to solve with the marketing pieces is that getting high-quality marketing design and copy done is radically expensive, and often, even when you go to the Hobbs/Herders out there and spend, the quality is marginal at best.

We see what we've created as a road map. The pieces work great left alone, but they're meant to be a guide; instead of re-inventing the wheel, you can see what we've done and simply replace phrases, words, and even images so that the pieces actually reflect your personal authenticity. We offer a range of services from 'do-it-yourself' to 'interact directly with our head marketing guru' to create your personalized message.

Thanks again for the feedback - it's always a learning process, as we craft our own message, to strike a balance between overwhelming our prospective clients with details and saying too little.

Regards,

Landon

[John Lockwood]

I think these points about authenticity are well taken.

In fact, I've maintained the following maxim to be true for some time: "The most important thing in life is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made."

[Kimmahunni]

What a great headline! The best I've read in awhile. Wish I'd thought of it..... I agree with the article that the public responds much better to a true person than a slick PR generated spin machine.