How do you know when you are backing a good horse? You see the guys that know horse flesh standing in line in front of you and betting the same horse. How do you know when you are becoming a pretty good judge of horse flesh yourself? When those same guys are betting on the same horse, but they are standing in line behind you. I just read a post by Seth Godin in which he touches on a new online tool that allows you to become mayor of a zip code. It is not often (in all honesty it has been never) that I have an idea before the likes of Seth Godin, but I think I see him standing in line behind me!
Seth refrences a new online page builder (an approximation of what they do from a decidedly non-techie; for more info click here) wherein you become the “mayor” of your zip code. I wrote previously that the goal of blogging (and social media as a whole) should be exactly that. The difference? I don’t know that being mayor of your zip code should be the end result. After all, geographic farms are very RE.net1.0 In the coming age of 2.0 and 3.0 real estate, you can create any community that you like. You can farm geographically, vertically, even industrially (especially industrially). I have advocated for some time that loan originators do this: one whole community of CPAs for instance. The most obvious industrial choice and one that applies to agents as well as originators: divorce attorneys. Just about everything they touch turns into a sale or a refinance.
The community is not nearly so important as what you do with it once you have built it. In my previously mentioned post I introduced the idea of a new marketing plan that embraces all that is right and beautiful about RE.net 2.0. You are welcome to read it here, but the gist of the matter is this: Create your very own community of raving fans… then become Mayor of that community! MAYORAL MARKETING. Imagine the ramifications: you need to put together a group of raving fans (isn’t that the point of all long-term marketing?), you need to make sure that the people in your community know you, like you , see you as professional and see you as successful (the basis of people wanting to do business with you). Most importantly, however, they need to see you as the expert (the secret to all referrals): the one and only person suitable to be their… Mayor.
Once you become Mayor your job is to keep your job. As with any long term success plan, this one requires that you never stop campaigning and you never stop kissing babies and you never stop adding value to your community. I will end the way I started: a horse analogy. When you find a good horse, ride it till it’s dead…
Filed under: LENDERS, REALTORS , Mayoral Marketing, real estate agent marketing, Success
