Jay Baer - Youtility for Real Estate: Why Smart Real Estate Professionals are Helping, Not Selling

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YOUTILITY FOR REAL ESTATE

PORTFOLIO / PENGUIN

YOUTILITY FOR REAL ESTATE

Jay Baer is a digital marketing expert, keynote speaker, and author who has advised more than seven hundred companies since 1994, including thirty of the Fortune 500. His most recent book, Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help not Hype, was a New York Times best seller.

Erica CampbellByrum is a real estate marketing expert with more than ten years experience, a frequent industry speaker, and a recipient of the 2014 PR News Social Media MVP Award. She has developed and managed the social strategies for ForRent.com and Homes.com, including the launch of FRSocial and Homes.com Social.

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YOUTILITY FOR REAL ESTATE

Why Smart Real Estate Professionals Are Helping, Not Selling

Jay Baer and Erica Campbell Byrum

A PENGUIN SPECIAL

by Erica Campbell Byrum

One of the greatest misconceptions about marketing is that the louder you shout, the better youll be heard. While its important to spread your message to customers through a variety of mediums, the type of content youre sharing is paramount. This is as true in real estate as it is in any other industry.

With the introduction and steady prevalence of digital and mobile trends, the real estate marketing landscape has changed drastically over the past few years. Consumers now search for homes from the palm of their hand, twenty-four hours a day. They are seeking instant connections with trusted resources, and they appreciate transparency and a real-time approach to outreach and marketing. For real estate professionals to be successful, they need to connect with consumers in a genuine way, offering resources and tools outright, not reserving that type of service for only those consumers who come looking for it. Marketing that cuts through the clutter, offering something truly, inherently useful, is the key to making customers for lifeand the aim behind Jay Baers concept of Youtility.

Jay Baer is the New York Times bestselling author of Youtility , a powerhouse keynote speaker, and a consultant to more than seven hundred companies (including thirty of the Fortune 500). Drawing on his deep expertise in marketing and social media, he established the idea and practices of Youtility: specific strategies and tactics for increasing consumer retention, based on the premise that smart marketing is about helping, not selling.

I first met Jay in 2011 at a new media conference, and ever since then I have believed he was on to something important. Ive been following his career, reading his work, and implementing his tips in my own work. A few years ago, I started a social media department to support the brands at Homes.com and ForRent.com, both leading real estate listing sites. Since then, weve taken best practices to industry partners, creating ForRent.coms FRSocial product and the Homes.com Social offering to help evangelize the industry and offer a solution for multifamily and residential real estate professionals. The social media department has expanded from a team of one to nearly twenty. We were inspired by Jay and brought him in to speak to us about how we could apply outreach strategies in real estate based on Youtility.

Our growth and presence in the social media space took effort and risks, and we knew our marketing approach had to be smart and serve a purpose for multiple audiences, including consumers and industry partners. We couldnt just push out content. Instead, we needed to educate our partners, which included offering a social media webinar series, monthly newsletters, e-books, blogs, infographics, and more to keep clients and potential clients up-to-date on what was happening in the real estate business. Jay reinforced the importance of how the content we produce interfaces with all facets of communication, including marketing, social media, public relations, and more, ensuring were always providing useful content to our audience. As a result of shifting our focus to help, not hype, we have seen growth in customer engagement and lasting retention with both Homes.com and ForRent.com.

Todays real estate professional is faced with the growing challenge of the increasingly educated consumer. House and apartment hunters are going to real estate professionals with more knowledge than ever before. Some consumers are even opting not to seek out real estate professionals, as they feel they have all the knowledge they need for buying or renting their homes. For real estate professionals, then, its paramount to be able to cut through the noise and offer real service and information to consumers.