Real Estate Marketing Tools Blog

I, Me and Myself of Personal Branding

Personal branding is all about how you market yourself to the world. A personal brand is synonymous with reputation. Are you trustworthy? Are you an expert? How do people respond to your brand name? What you choose to project can influence the way people think about you and your business. A well-built personal brand can help turn prospects’ perception into sales.

Why is personal branding important?

Helps you attain a leadership role
Helps build prestige
Helps attract the right people and right opportunities
Helps add perceived value to what you are selling
Helps earn recognition
Increases your earning potential
Helps differentiate yourself from the competition
Helps ingrain your focused message in the minds of your target audience

Ways to build your brand

Define who you are by identifying your key strengths to help build your brand.
Leverage your experience and expertise to make your brand successful. Bring an element of ‘you’ in your branding.
Determine what you’re going to offer. As a product or service what you offer, how your product or services will help your target audience and so on.
Set goals for how you want people to perceive you and work on how you can present yourself publicly.
Be visible and consistent. Integrate your brand statement in whatever you do and offer.
Use different mediums to expose your brand. Social media marketing and personal website are some of the important tools to build your personal brand.
Monitor and evaluate your brand performance regularly.

Transform the way you market your commercial or residential properties using Newplans – the next generation marketing tool. Newplans helps you build and manage your residential or commercial property websites, execute effective marketing campaigns and help measure your ROI.

Our online marketing tool is here to help you create print and web marketing materials that will help promote your property listings in an effective and cost-efficient fashion. With our ready-to-use templates you can create property websites with interactive floor plans, site plans, stacking plans, print flyers, e-mail marketing campaigns, personal website for agent/broker, or YouTube videos and share them on major social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and content syndication sites like Craigslist. Not just that, marketing materials generated using Newplans are all Search Engine optimized (SEO) and iPad and smartphone compatible, so that your properties get good web exposure and better search engine rankings - that means more hits and increased chances of sale.

To sum it all up, from Lead Generation tools to sophisticated Marketing Material tools to Personal Brand Management tools to Social Media Networking tools to SEO tools, Newplans takes care of all your marketing needs in just a few clicks.

For more information visit us at www.newplans.com or call us at 412-567-0010 x 217.

YouTube video for commercial real estate and residential real estate

Let’s look at some YouTube statistics before we discuss why it is important for your property marketing.

Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month
Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
YouTube is localized in 43 countries and across 60 languages
In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views
Millions of subscriptions happen each day.
500 years of YouTube video are watched every day on Facebook, and over 700 YouTube videos are shared on Twitter each minute
100 million people take a social action on YouTube (likes, shares, comments, etc) every week
YouTube is available on 350 million devices

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics)

The above statistics makes it evident why YouTube is one of the most important marketing medium for marketers today. With search engines favoring content on the web coming through reliable sources, it is but obvious that your listing when listed on YouTube will bring the much required attention from potential buyers.

Here is how you can upload your listing videos on YouTube

Step 1: Create your Newplans account. You can choose the 15-day free trial to try the platform first.

Step 2: Upload your listing images in your property website template.

Step 3: As soon as your property website is ready, your listing video is ready to be published on YouTube.

The process is very simple and hassle free. You don’t have to worry creating a video and uploading it with Newplans automation software.

Go visible with Search Engine Optimization

Nearly 90% of online population use search engine to find products, services and information. And if your website or content is not visible in the first 30 search results, chances are that your website will never be found and you miss out on an incredible opportunity. Keywords rich content, META tags and descriptions, regular site submission to search engine indexes and directories are some of the key elements that prepare your marketing materials for better search engine rankings. However, SEO is mostly neglected due to lack of understanding.

What is SEO?

SEO is the process of improving your website in order for your website to be ranked well and search engines thereby increasing its chances of being found in search results. This process includes SEO rule compliance with regards to the design of your website to the content written to the links given to the way the website codes is written and the pages structured.

Why you need SEO?

When people look for something on the web, they type a word popularly known as keyword or phrases known as Long Tail keywords. As soon as they type in the word and hit search, many results shows up simultaneously. The results that shows up are the sites the search engine pushes for been SEO complaint. And as a business and brand you definitely want to be in that list of results. This is where SEO can help you.

How to get started with SEO?

Pages of your website should have relevant information about your business.
Add META tags and make them keyword-rich.
Make sure your website content and marketing material content are solid and fresh.
Create internal links. Hyperlink key phrases pointing them to various pages within the website.
Use keywords that you think your visitors will most likely use while looking for something online.
Use alt tags on all the images that you use
The keywords should match the content of your website page
Use keywords in your HI and H2 heading tags
Incorporate your company and site description into your page URL.
Use external links to link to an external partner site and have them link it back to your site.
Submit your site to various search engines periodically
Try to change the content of your website regularly as search engine spiders keeps looking for new content
Try not to overstuff your webpages with keywords
Give links to your social media profiles
Analyze the activity on your website regularly. Know where an action is taking place.

Every business or personal websites need SEO to maintain their position on search engines. The key is to keep it simple and fresh without overdoing anything. So if you want your website as the front runner on Google, start your SEO efforts today.

From Lead Tracking to creating sophisticated Marketing Materials to Social Media Exposure to better Search Engine Rankings, Newplans takes care of all your marketing needs in just 5 simple steps. With ready-to-use templates you can create Property Websites and Listing Websites with Virtual Tours, Interactive Presentations, Flyers, E-mails Campaigns, e-Book or Videos and share them on major social networking sites. Not just that, marketing materials generated using Newplans is automatically optimized for search engines so that your marketing material get good web exposure and better search engine rankings.

For more information visit us at www.newplans.com or call us at 412-567-0010 x 217.

How to build an audience with Content Marketing ?

‘Content is King’. Period. Content is the most scalable way to educate, inform, connect, increase visibility and salability. The best way to power web marketing is by publishing content on the web that educates and empowers the readers. And the best part is you don’t have to write new content all the time. You can use your old content and improvise it to keep it fresh. It’s all about building trust by sharing free content and keeping your audience engaged and interested in your brand.

Forms of content marketing

Blogs – create an account in Blogger and post up to one blog a week.
Press releases – update readers and prospects about latest happenings in your business. This will keep them informed about the new developments.
Newsletters – send out newsletter once every month with information and tips that you think is relevant to your business and also informative to your readers.
Articles – write pertaining to your area of expertise and publish them on well-known sites.
White papers – write extensively on multiple subjects pertaining to your area of interest and make it available to your audience.
Case studies – share case studies that will help your audience make a decision.
eBooks – share your articles or white papers by converting them in to an eBook.
Website - update your website with new products and services. Add your articles, blogs and white papers on your website.
Videos – create informative videos for people who are pressed for time. Keep it short but relevant.

Content marketing must dos

Identify your target audience. You should know for whom you’re writing.
Content that you share should be relevant, valuable and informative. This will keep the readers interested.
Your content should be marketing backed to sell your brand but in the most subtle way. Your content should in no way be overwhelming for the readers.
Integrate print, video, audio in to your content to make it more interesting.
Follow consistent branding standards throughout. Use your logo wherever possible.
Go viral with your content to make it available to your readers on the web.
Publish your new content and recycled contents on

— Online press release sites

— Video sites

— White paper sites

— Guest blog on popular sites

— Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+

— Online newspapers

— Magazines

— Article marketing sites

The key to online success through content marketing is by having a no sales agenda. Remember that customers are looking for answers and guidance online.

For more information visit us at www.newplans.com or call us at 412-567-0010 x 217.

Why Marketing Analytics is as important as Web Analytics?

With marketing going beyond the boundaries of a website, it has become imperative to keep a close watch on the other channels of marketing. While web analytics gives you detailed information about the performance of your website, marketing analytics helps you analyze and track the capability of your marketing campaigns.

Marketing without analyzing the results is like shooting an arrow in the dark. You will never know if you’re hitting the right target. Marketing analytics offer insightful information about the performance of your marketing initiatives and whether it is yielding the kind of results expected by you. Though web analytics only covers the website; marketing analytics can be undertaken for marketing collaterals, landing pages, social media as well as your email campaigns.

How can analyzing your marketing campaigns help?

Helps optimize your marketing by giving you a detailed report on each of your marketing effort, be it social media, landing page, emails or eBooks..
Tells you which campaign worked and which didn't.
Give you detailed information about your leads like their company name, location with address.
Helps you analyze customer behavior.

Things to remember as you begin analyzing your marketing campaigns

Identify what questions you want answered when reviewing your analytics. Are there more visitors? Did anyone download the free eBook? Has anyone clicked on the links and so on.
Look at the metrics that matters for the growth of your business – unique visitors or traffic sources or conversions and so on.
Review and analyze on an on-going basis. Compare past results with current.
Take action to optimize your marketing initiatives based on the analysis.

What to look for in your analytics report?

Identify which landing pages work the best
Identify which marketing campaign gets more results. For instance, if a particular email campaign has more bounce rate or unopened rate, you’ll know something needs to be changed
Identify the traffic sources to your marketing materials
Measure your conversion goals. Are you able to convert the leads into sales?
Use the information to analyze customer behavior. Which page they find interesting? Which link they clicked the most and so on.

Your objective should be to analyze the data and improve your marketing strategies. Too much or too little information can obstruct your objective. So picking and using the right analytics tool is very important. And after you choose the right tool, use the information you get to guide your online business decisions and to improve your brand visibility and increase sales.

For more information visit us at www.newplans.com or call us at 412-567-0010 x 217.

Conquering Social Media Marketing

Over the years social media has gained momentum and still continues to grow. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn have become extremely popular because it helps organizations, big or small, to promote, engage and collaborate and to create a one-to-one relationship with their audience. When used with the right intention and managed regularly, social media can be a no-cost marketing tool to help you grow your business.

However, the efficacy of social media marketing is often overlooked due to debates on how to get it right. Social media marketing calls for consistent efforts, and if not done correctly, can back-fire. So here are some tips and tricks to master social media marketing.

Create your social profile on major sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.
Format the profile page to reflect your branding. You can use your company logo for the profile picture and for the Facebook cover images; you can design a smart and appealing image.
Include your company bio. You can take the information from the company website.
The design used should be attractive and capable of engaging visitors.
Create and publish Facebook tab landing pages with a call to action - promote, share, like.
Identify your target audience and add them to your social media circle.
Focus on sharing and discussing rather than selling.

Post photos, videos and informative contents.
Identify key industry influencers, competitors, industry news & comments.
Listen regularly for comments about your company, brand, and products.
Respond to questions or comments about your company or products.
If you like particular message like it or re-tweet it - people appreciate sharing.
Tag people wherever possible.
Post links to articles or sites you think will be of interest to others.
Make sure your Facebook updates and Tweets provide value.
Ask questions and float ideas on these sites.
Reply quickly to customer service issues.
Enhance Facebook page with Facebook applications.
Keep discovering new customers and have them discover you.
Analyze the response to your social media efforts regularly and tweak your strategies to gain more response.

One of the biggest advantages of social media is its ability to make things go viral. Hence, social media marketing if done right can help increase your brand visibility and turn your fans into customers. Make sure you initial excitement does not change into frustration if you don’t see any results. Keep analyzing the results, tweak your strategies and keep putting in efforts. The results will multiply over time.

From Lead Tracking to creating sophisticated Marketing Materials to Social Media Exposure to better Search Engine Rankings,Newplans takes care of all your marketing needs in just 5 simple steps. With ready-to-use templates you can create Property Websites and Listing Websites with Virtual Tours, Interactive Presentations, Flyers, E-mails Campaigns, e-Book or Videos and share them on major social networking sites. Not just that, marketing materials generated using Newplans is automatically optimized for search engines so that your marketing material get good web exposure and better search engine rankings.

For more information visit us at www.newplans.com or call us at 412-567-0010 x 217.

Why blogging is important for your brand ?

Web marketing helps you create a relationship. And one of the best ways to build relationships is through blogging. Blogs are web-based log of entries about a particular subject or topic. Though blogs mainly include text, it can also include videos, pictures and audio.

Blogging is important for businesses today

To build trust among your audience by bridging the gap between you and your prospects.
To engage with prospects online through feedback, comments and questions.
To get better search engine rankings on the web through quality content.

Blogging helps in boosting a company’s credibility, visibility and salability. However, blogging as a marketing tool needs to be done correctly. Here are some best practices to successful blog writing.

Undertake intense research to understand what your audience wants to read.
Zero in on a content theme to base your blog on for instance you can write on current market trends, marketing strategies and so on.
Write interesting, authentic and valuable content. But keep it short.
Your blog content should be unique and high in quality. This is not only important to keep your readers engaged but also from search engine optimization point of view.
Add keywords in your blog posts. Use keywords you think you need to push for your business to be found on the web.
The title of your blog is very important. So give an appealing title to all your blog posts.
Integrate your blog in your website and keep updating it
Design and personalize your blog to give it a professional look.
Update your blog every day with fresh content. Avoid repetitive content.
Announce your blog launch through a press release.
Invite other bloggers to guest write a blog.
Include pictures, videos and audio wherever possible to build readership and to make your blog more attractive.
Include links to your website or other relevant sites to increase credibility.
Encourage people to leave a comment or share your post and respond to those comments quickly.
Share your blog posts on other social networking sites that your active on.
Add your Facebook, Twitter and other social profile links on your blog, to make it easy for your readers to share your content.
Add tags to your blog posts .

The most important thing is to understand that the way you deliver your message is as important as the message itself. So why wait? Pick up a topic and start blogging your way to marketing success.

For more information visit us at www.newplans.com or call us at 412-567-0010 x 217.