Puppy's adventures showcase Corcoran Group website

Brokerage commissions TV ads to demonstrate site's mobile, social capabilities

BY PAUL HAGEY, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012.
Inman News®

Screen shot of Marcel, star of Corcoran's TV commercial

Who wouldn't want to spend a day touring New York City's Upper East Side, taking a cab to get a massage at a mid-town day spa, getting a run in at the park, and doing some boutique shopping and meeting a significant other for a "romantic brunch?"

Marcel -- the French bulldog puppy who stars in The Corcoran Group's first scripted live-action TV commercial -- clearly does.

2-minute version of commercial by The Corcoran Group.

Marcel (his real name) will soon be familiar to TV viewers in the New York City market, where two-minute, 60-second and 30-second versions of an ad that showcases the mobile and social capabilities of the brokerage's new website launched Monday. The six-week ad campaign will also run in movie theaters and taxi cabs -- and on YouTube for long after that.

5 steps to a more mobile-friendly website

Give potential real estate clients what they want, when they want it

BY BERNICE ROSS, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 Inman News®

Searching real estate listings on smartphoneimage via Shutterstock.

Shifts in mobile technology are driving fundamental changes in terms of how real estate will be conducted in the future. What can you do as an individual agent to be prepared to cope with this onslaught of change?

At Real Estate Connect last month, Brian Boero, partner at 1000Watt Consulting, likened where we are with mobile to where the Web was in 1997. We're aware of it as a tool. We know the impact it will have on our business will be huge, even though very few people have figured out how to integrate mobile into their marketing strategy. In fact, 23 percent of the traffic to brokerage sites originates on a mobile device.

Although most brokerages have a website, very few have optimized their sites for maximum functionality on mobile devices.

If you have your own website and want to provide a great mobile experience to potential clients, take the following steps to make your website more mobile-friendly.

Social media marketing is passive prospecting

Don't let the fear of rejection stop you from asking for business

BY DAVID FLETCHER, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012 Inman News®

Boy fishing image via Shutterstock.

I'm getting so many "tips" on how to use social media, I am getting a truth ache.

Our salaried friends can become addicted to social media, have fun with it, build their lives around it. Try every tip or trick in the book, because it doesn't affect their household income. As commission-only real estate agents, we don't have that luxury.

We need to understand that social media marketing is an important but passiveprospecting tool. Social media is a "hope so, think so, maybe so" prospecting tool. It can be effective, but it calls for focused discernment on our part.

Husband's affair inspires FSBO marketing campaign 'Adulterers need not apply'

BY INMAN NEWS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2012 Inman News®

Photo of for sale sign via GreatFamilyHome.com.

A Beaverton, Ore., woman has created what may be the most successful single-property "for sale by owner" website in history by advertising that her home is up for sale because her husband of 10 years left her for a younger woman.

"Husband left us for a 22 year old," says a sign in the front yard of Elle Zober's home. "House for sale by scorned, slightly bitter, newly single owner."