Real Estate Marketing Blog

The Power of the Blog

For the second time in 5 months, conservative bloggers have shown that the Power of the Press has morphed into the Power of the Blog.

Five months ago, Dan Rather's empire was toppled as Bloggers proved a story on the President was manufactured.

Just recently, after nearly two weeks of intensifying pressure on the Internet, Eason Jordan, a news executive at CNN, abruptly resigned after being besieged by the online community. Morever, last week liberal bloggers forced a questionably credentialed White House reporter to quit his post.

This trend is being found to be disturbing by mostly media types. Comparing the Blogosphere to a "Pack of Wolves". Time will tell, but it is kind of nice to see some balance of power.

Realtor Group offer Specialized Loans to Hispanics

Prudential CA/NV/TX Realty has announced a new 103% Loan-To-Value (LTV) loan product designed specifically to meet the needs of Hispanic homebuyers in Northern California. This flexible, affordable loan was developed by The Home Loan Group, a joint venture with Chase Home Finance, and is now being offered exclusively in Northern California.

“After conducting an internal study of the Hispanic market, we saw significant gaps between the type of loan products currently available and what is an underserved market,” said Ed Krafchow, president of Prudential CA/NV/TX Realty. “We shared our information with The Home Loan Group and together developed a flexible, affordable loan geared to Hispanic home buying trends.”

“The 103% LTV Loan was designed to help Hispanic homebuyers, one of the youngest segments of California’s population, move beyond their perceived hurdle of an 80% conventional loan,” said Tom Borrelli, senior vice president, Chase Home Finance. “This is especially important in the expensive Northern California market.”

California’s Hispanic homebuyer spends an average of 28% of their monthly gross income toward qualifying income ratio – which includes principle mortgage, property tax and insurance (PITI) - payments, according to California Association of Realtors’ 2004 – 2005 State of the Housing Market report. By contrast, non-Hispanic households only devote 24% of their monthly gross to PITI payments.

Click Fraud Yahoo Google

A new piece to consider by the AP.

"

What does the Superbowl have to do with URL's, Strippers, real estate, and publicity?

Hell has to freeze over for me to do a theme park. Or, we have to go there when it is empty. So I had promised the family I would take them to Disney on Superbowl Sunday. As it is a guaranteed no line experience. In fact,I was willing to miss the pinnacle of God's greatest game, only because I convinced myself that the game is usually a snore fest.

I awoke Sunday morning to a house full of sick people! Oh sweet destiny! A full day of football hype.

If we would have gone that day, I would have not only missed the game, but the birth of this years best publicity campaign.

Half way through the first half, an advertisement poking fun at last years Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" aired. A very full figured gal stood in a tight fitting malfunctioning strap, whilst defending herself and her company -GoDaddy.com . The judges were a very stodgy and stiff judicial committee. Again mocking last years inquiries into lewd behavior. In fact if you blinked, you may have missed that it took place in Salem. (referencing the witch trials)

The ad passed the judgment of Fox, but the NFL showed its displeasure such that the second running of the ad was pulled form its slotted run in the second half.

Behaving as if this all was planned, GoDaddy.com's founder immediately posted the ads on its website and blogged about the incident.

Since the game, the voluptuous actress has been running from show to show on the morning talk show circuit selling her employer.

This is how you use publicity to get your name out there. If you never heard of the company before you do now.

I remember in the high flying 80's Mike Glickman, now of Mike Glickman Realty, proved to be an expert at the real estate publicity game as he created a persona that made him the spokesman for "Southern California real estate".

Real Estate Agents that cater to the Gay community are tapping into a very loyal and above average-wealthy niche.

I recently posted about the spending power of the gay community.  As luck would have it I have found even more compelling information about this powerful group.

• Readers of gay newspapers in 10 major media markets have an average individual income of $47,083.00. That is almost more than twice the average of the general population.
• 94% of readers surveyed said they are likely to buy products or services advertised in gay publications.

 

In 2002, gays and lesbians spent $55 billion on travel; they travel three times more often than heterosexuals, says Robert Wilson, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association.

They're less likely to have children, which means they possess more discretionary income. They place greater emphasis on luxury and they're willing to pay for it. And, when a business shows support for gays and lesbians, they support the business by displaying strong brand loyalty, he notes.

Many Hotels like the MGM in Las Vegas are becoming gay friendly and in fact, some are advertising in gay publications.

Home Builders are ven getting in on the action as RainbowVision Santa Fe (RVSF) will be the first resort/retirement community specifically targeted to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community, a growing segment of the population, according to Jay Geisinger, COO of RainbowVision Properties Inc.

"You will see a lot more [of these projects] from us because the demand is unbelievable. And it is not just domestic--we are getting calls from all over the world," he said. "It is something that the GLBT community has looked forward to for many years."

In Realtytimes.com Blanche Evans discussed the Across America Real Estate Network (AAREN), which is run by Mark Kasper, (gay). The site specializes in placing gay and lesbian clients with supportive agents -- gay and straight. His advice to agents is to be aware of gay clients' concerns. Being gay isn't a prerequisite, Kasper says, but you do need to be supportive as an agent.

A "supportive" agent is more than just comfortable dealing with openly gay clients; it's an agent well-versed in the issues important to his clientele. For example, what may be a "safe" neighborhood for a heterosexual customer may be unsafe for a homosexual customer.

Kasper further cautions that urban art communities won't appeal to every homosexual client. A substantial portion of gay homebuyers are interested in suburban communities; that market is approximately 75 percent female and 25 percent male.

Another thing to remember that I have found in my research is that gays tend to favor extreme loyalty to advertisers in gay publications.

A consortium argued about the state of the real estate market 's sustainability.

Reasons for a bubble burst were given such as:

the rapid rise "justified by the fundamentals. He compared it to the late-1990s stock market bubble and in the Japanese real estate market in the 1980s before prices they collapsed."

On the positive side, the article showed that

"while housing prices generally tracked close to the overall inflation rate for nearly 40 years starting in the mid-1950s, home values have grown about 40 percent in real terms since 1995."

Billionaire Sam Zell, the U.S.'s largest landlord, is bullish and shared his optimism of the real estate market in an online video.

The Online Magazine also has some other articles that  mentioned three reasons that there is not a bubble:
1. Low Interest Rates
2. Demand
3. Despite tests to the general economy, real estate has yet to be tested.

To be fair and balanced, Yale University economist Robert Shiller the Author who predicted the stock tech bubble, says that we are just as crazy for real estate.

My take on that argument is that you cannot compare real estate to stocks as we buy real estate for more than just its speculative value.

In the online marketing community many experts recommend niche marketing where instead of casting a wide net, you drill deep into a market. Target Marketing makes your marketing much easier.

In past blogs I have mentioned the Hispanic community as a widely untapped, underserved niche for the real estate professional.

Look at the numbers:

• eMarketer projects the number of Hispanic internet users in the United States will rise from 13.3 million in 2004 (7.6 % of all internet users) to 16 million in 2007 (8.4 %).
• eMarketer cites an America Online/RoperASW survey of U.S. Hispanic at-home Internet users' online activities: 54 percent of respondents research health care products, 52 percent make travel arrangements, 43 percent shop online, To sum up, they're online, they're bringing their peers with them, and they're spending money.
• Hispanics are actually from 22 countries and although they pretty much all speak Spanish, they prefer English, according to comScore Media Metrix.
• So translating your real estate website into English may not be your best bet. But this is the hard part. Hispanics searching in English are harder to target.
• comScore reports there are over 2 million U.S. Hispanics online who prefer surfing in Spanish, presenting a large enough sample size for research purposes.
• AMount spend by Hispanics online in 2003: $5.6 billion
• They tend to use the same major search engines that everyone else uses.
• One of the sources of this blog noted that "mortgage" is "hipoteca" in Spanish. Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool reports there were 1,255 searches for "hipoteca" in July 2004 (1,277 for "hipotecas") - hardly a massive base of searches, but a good enough size for testing purposes. Six advertisers bid on the word, one for $1, one for $0.40, and the rest for well under a quarter.
• Hispanics command $575 billion in buying power

The article pointed out an interesting tool to gather data to influence offline marketing.During month 1, it may try the copy, "No venderemos su información personal." During month2, it may try "Consultacion gratis" Consider this hypothetical application: Ameriquest may have a direct mail campaign going out to 500,000 Hispanics in California, New York, Texas, and Florida. From the tests in Overture, it knows the word "gratis" works better on the East Coast but the other phrase, allaying fears of selling customers' personal information, plays better further West. The marketer now has a wealth of data from search to inform the larger campaign.

"Geographic targeting is going to be a great opportunity for SEM marketers because 72 percent of all U.S. Hispanics seem to be concentrated in the top 20 markets (Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago alone making up 32 percent)," says Hernandez.

Most aggressive niche marketers understand the path to market domination is by covering the niche on various angles.

The article goes on,"for the keyword "hipoteca" in Google, the lender runs an ad in English. Look at how many more variables that involves. It's a different language with different possibilities for the copy. Perhaps it turns out that English ads convert three times better in Florida than New York, and the Spanish ads receive more clicks in California. The marketing director uses this information to test a TV ad on Telemundo in Los Angeles. Before long, results from relatively small search buys are influencing a campaign spanning six different media that's seen by tens of millions of people. This isn't science fiction. Some of the more sophisticated marketers tapping search are getting very savvy with this strategy.

A site that speaks to the online hispanic marketing and issues is www.elmensajero.blogspot.com

Another great souce is ttp://www.hispanicbusiness.com/ which recently reported that:  U.S. Hispanic Media Markets, 2000-2007. Advertisers spent an estimated $3.09 billion in 2004 to market their products and services to U.S. Hispanics, an 11 percent increase from the previous year.

Real Estate Niche Market 2.

It has always been known amongst Realtor's that the lady of the house makes the buy decision to purchase a home. This knowledge alone could guide a marketing campaign.

However, some startling numbers have emerged of late that indicate that not only are women making more decisions, they are able to make these decisons independently.

• In the last 10 years, the US Census bureau has reported a 15% increase in the number of stay at home mothers.
• 1 in 3 US kids under 15 has a mom at home full time (Washington Post 2003)
• The Census Bureau even reports that women own 38% of all small businesses in the US alone.

According to InternetBasedMoms.com "It's clear that more mothers are coming home to be with their children, but in today's economy, she often needs to supplement the family income or she may even be the sole bread winner for her family. But here's the most important FACT --- Moms don't think like you're average entrepreneur and they aren't motivated to buy your products for the same reasons."

Real Estate Niche Market 3.

Consider the 65 and over market. According to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, Americans over 65 who use the Internet have jumped by 47% since 2000, making them the fastest-growing group to embrace the online world.

This group has jumped 25 % online this year, to a total of almost 10 million surfers, while 55- to 64-year-olds increased their numbers by 15 %, to almost 16 million, according to a new study by Nielsen/NetRatings.

More stats about the over 65 market:

• Only 22 % go online
• 75 % of ages 30 to 49 go online
• 42% have used a computer
• 41% have a computer at home
• 31% have ever gone online
• 33% have Internet access at home
• e-mail is the top activity for this market
• 93 percent of wired seniors use e-mail
• 68% have checked the weather online
• 67% read news online
• 58% go online for hobby information
• 57% have bought a product such as books, clothes, or plane tickets online.
• 53% search for health and medical information
• 53% browse for fun

Real Estate Niche Market 4.

Do you know that if you made the gay community into a demographic that they are the most educated and affluent segment in America?

• Annual value of the gay and lesbian market is $515 billion.
• 21% of gay and lesbian households have income greater than $100,000 per year
• 28% have income greater than $50,000 per year
• 62% own a personal computer
• 71% of gay and lesbian online users have made credit card purchases online
• Has a greater amount of expendable income in comparison to the heterosexual population. (because they don't typically generate kids) (Visit this site which is where I got my numbers for a great marketing perspective on this market)

A niche must be fanatical and unserved. And a niche must naturally have spending power.

Some other groups that are passionate and begging to be served:

Christians-easy to identify and speak to. Many have defined themselves as the anthithesis in belief as our last niche. Many are well to do and well educated.

African Americans-Contrary to what many "well wishers" would have us believe, more and more Black Americans are upwardly mobil.

I wish I could find the source, but I remember listening to conservative-black radio talk show host Larry Elder. He was talking about the under reported wealthy blacks. He said that educated black married couples out earn educated white married couples. Inherant in this under reporting is the opportunity for your services.

New Home Developments- There are many areas of the country where new developments are popping up. In two or three years, these new homeowners will be the new neighborhood's first home sellers. Start now and you will own this "farm" until you retire.

Alumni Organizations-Many Universities are incredibly supportive of their family of past students. One of my early real estate brokers had spent his career supported by his family of brothers and sisters from his school. It brings to mind the saying, "it is not what you know, it is who you know". If you have access to this kind of organization, tap into it , and ride it as long as you can.

Hopefully, these groups or niches will spark ideas for you to dominate a small group and be everything to them, instead of being little to everybody.

A new report put out by the Kelsey Group says that the the differences of brand and direct are blurred online..Source http://publications.mediapost.com

"By 2009, it may be more difficult to distinguish awareness advertising from directional advertising, as digital advertising platforms expand and lines between these forms of advertising blur," states the report, titled "Global Directional Media Forecast."

It says that search marketing, has caused the blur.

The report said that many businesses equate rank with brand equity.

In its forecast, Kelsey also predicts that the global market for digital directional advertising--online business directories, local search, and wireless directories--will reach about $10 billion in 2009, up from an estimated 2.8 billion last year.

Local search, in particular, is expected to skyrocket. In the United States, local search spending is expected to leap to 3.38 billion in 2009, from an estimated 162 million last year and a predicted 418 million this year. Internet Yellow Pages will grow from an estimated 478 million last year to 576 million this year and 1.331 billion in 2009, predicts The Kelsey Group.

Few industries are as competitive online like real estate.

I have always maintained that while your competitor attempts the brand equity thing, you should capture leads, and build brand on the back end once you have made a friend thru your offerings.

News Flash RealtyVille USA-The Real Estate Bubble has burst. Just like it did in 2003 & 2005. wink wink

In a book by ex Presidential Economic advisor and now Author and teacher. Paul Zane Pilzer tells the story of President FDR.

FDR asked his top economic advisor the prognosis on the economy.

As the story goes, his advisor answered, "well on the one hand..."

FDR replied, "what we need is less two handed economists!"

Now it seems that the real estate economists, many whom have predicted doom for real estate are "on the other hand".

Economist Mark Schniepp says there is a housing bubble, but maybe a better description is a balloon. "We believe there is a bubble, but not all bubbles have to burst," Schniepp said. .....On the One Hand

"Prices rose with buyers' inflated expectations of future prices, and now the air is leaking out slowly as the market comes back to an equilibrium of incomes and home prices."

The director of the California Economic Forecast is presenting his annual Real Estate and Economic Outlook this week. When discussing his report he said that the Ventura County's housing market has become disconnected from the fundamental economic principles that should underlie prices.

Other economists counter that the short supply of houses is enough to explain the price run-up. The county's median sales price for existing homes was $612,460 in December, up 25.3% from December 2003 but only 1.8% from November, according to the California Association of Realtors.

Schniepp said that best-case scenario is that home prices continue to be flat and there continues to be job creation.

"It will probably stay buoyant through 2005," Schniepp said.

And on the Other Hand.....If prices do start to fall, he expects the slide would be over the course of six to nine months, or even a year.

Enough of having it both ways.....

Schniepp did offer some data to support his if>then scenarios. He estimates 90% of Ventura County, CA residents could not afford to buy a house in the county if they didn't have built-up equity to spend. "You have to have more than 10% of people who can purchase," he said.

Sorry to poke holes in this pessimism, but has it ever been much better than 90%? Otherwise every apartment dweller in the country would no longer be renting.

The only economics worth a damn is the notion of supply and demand.

But this market has been driven to a large extent by the first time homeowners jumping into homeownership. When homeownership is the higherst ever in the U.S. the market demand will soften only because everyone who can own a home owns one. But as demand has softened so has supply in many sectors.

So prices stay flat or slightly rise.

Real Estate is not a short term or long term play. It isn't a play at all. It is a home.

Real Estate commentators seem to always talk about home buying in the same tone as day trading. And it seems the public buy into these get rich quick notions.

But at the end of the day the vast majority want to own the roof over their head. That is a pretty good demand.

One thing is for sure. I wish I would have bought back in 1993. I wish I would have bought in 1994 and so and so on.

Notes on the Bubble:

Bradley Inman has interesting comments in his blog. Worth visiting.
I found this useful:
"Incomes rising, interest rates falling and price gains not strong enough to offset the other two variables. Basic economics.
What could unwind this incredible boom: Simple math gang, rising rates, flat incomes and ballooning home prices.
But for now, the levers are perfectly synchronized."

Email, faxes, websites....
We are so obsessed with online, that we forget offline.

Offline gestures can be extremely lethal as you competitors duke it out online.

In the interest of exploiting low hanging fruit, Let's explore some easy actions to make an impact.

The no brainer to me is the humbly effective thank you note. Instead of sending an email, send a hand written thank you. I love to order cards from Successories.com that has all kinds of cool motivational sayings.

These have always been impactful. Yet even pre-internet they are hardly implemented.Do you send thaqnk you notes?

Tommy Hopkins was right about at least one thing, although I will pass on the band uniform ;-)

I have visited my clients several months after my mailing and and have seen my thank you card on display.

All the advertising in the world can't buy that kind of impact.

Another distinction. Instead of sending your farm more of the same 'ole materials that everyone else is, how about sending them information about how to use your Listings feed and its inherant benefits.

This is not the same as saying visit my website.

You have to say why they need to visit your website, and as many reasons why it will benefit them to visit your website.

At SpiderWorkz we can help you discuss your real estate web design, and real estate search engine marketing needs. Check it out.

Real estate Publicity and the Superbowl

What does the Superbowl have to do with URL's, Strippers, real estate, and publicity?

Hell has to freeze over for me to do a theme park. Or, we have to go there when it is empty. So I had promised the family I would take them to Disney on Superbowl Sunday. As it is a guaranteed no line experience. In fact,I was willing to miss the pinnacle of God's greatest game, only because I convinced myself that the game is usually a snore fest.

I awoke Sunday morning to a house full of sick people! Oh sweet destiny! A full day of football hype.

If we would have gone that day, I would have not only missed the game, but the birth of this years best publicity campaign.

Half way through the first half, an advertisement poking fun at last years Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" aired. A very full figured gal stood in a tight fitting malfunctioning strap, whilst defending herself and her company -GoDaddy.com . The judges were a very stodgy and stiff judicial committee. Again mocking last years inquiries into lewd behavior. In fact if you blinked, you may have missed that it took place in Salem. (referencing the witch trials)

The ad passed the judgment of Fox, but the NFL showed its displeasure such that the second running of the ad was pulled form its slotted run in the second half.

Behaving as if this all was planned, GoDaddy.com's founder immediately posted the ads on its website and blogged about the incident.

Since the game, the voluptuous actress has been running from show to show on the morning talk show circuit selling her employer.

This is how you use publicity to get your name out there. If you never heard of the company before you do now.

I remember in the high flying 80's Mike Glickman, now of Mike Glickman Realty, proved to be an expert at the real estate publicity game as he created a persona that made him the spokesman for "Southern California real estate".

Gay Real Estate

Real Estate Agents that cater to the Gay community are tapping into a very loyal and above average-wealthy niche.

I recently posted about the spending power of the gay community.  As luck would have it I have found even more compelling information about this powerful group.

• Readers of gay newspapers in 10 major media markets have an average individual income of $47,083.00. That is almost more than twice the average of the general population.
• 94% of readers surveyed said they are likely to buy products or services advertised in gay publications.

 

In 2002, gays and lesbians spent $55 billion on travel; they travel three times more often than heterosexuals, says Robert Wilson, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association.

They're less likely to have children, which means they possess more discretionary income. They place greater emphasis on luxury and they're willing to pay for it. And, when a business shows support for gays and lesbians, they support the business by displaying strong brand loyalty, he notes.

Many Hotels like the MGM in Las Vegas are becoming gay friendly and in fact, some are advertising in gay publications.

Home Builders are ven getting in on the action as RainbowVision Santa Fe (RVSF) will be the first resort/retirement community specifically targeted to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community, a growing segment of the population, according to Jay Geisinger, COO of RainbowVision Properties Inc.

"You will see a lot more [of these projects] from us because the demand is unbelievable. And it is not just domestic--we are getting calls from all over the world," he said. "It is something that the GLBT community has looked forward to for many years."

In Realtytimes.com Blanche Evans discussed the Across America Real Estate Network (AAREN), which is run by Mark Kasper, (gay). The site specializes in placing gay and lesbian clients with supportive agents -- gay and straight. His advice to agents is to be aware of gay clients' concerns. Being gay isn't a prerequisite, Kasper says, but you do need to be supportive as an agent.

A "supportive" agent is more than just comfortable dealing with openly gay clients; it's an agent well-versed in the issues important to his clientele. For example, what may be a "safe" neighborhood for a heterosexual customer may be unsafe for a homosexual customer.

Kasper further cautions that urban art communities won't appeal to every homosexual client. A substantial portion of gay homebuyers are interested in suburban communities; that market is approximately 75 percent female and 25 percent male.

Another thing to remember that I have found in my research is that gays tend to favor extreme loyalty to advertisers in gay publications.

Appreciate or Depreciate?

A consortium argued about the state of the real estate market 's sustainability.

Reasons for a bubble burst were given such as:

the rapid rise "justified by the fundamentals. He compared it to the late-1990s stock market bubble and in the Japanese real estate market in the 1980s before prices they collapsed."

On the positive side, the article showed that

"while housing prices generally tracked close to the overall inflation rate for nearly 40 years starting in the mid-1950s, home values have grown about 40 percent in real terms since 1995."

Billionaire Sam Zell, the U.S.'s largest landlord, is bullish and shared his optimism of the real estate market in an online video.

The Online Magazine also has some other articles that  mentioned three reasons that there is not a bubble:
1. Low Interest Rates
2. Demand
3. Despite tests to the general economy, real estate has yet to be tested.

To be fair and balanced, Yale University economist Robert Shiller the Author who predicted the stock tech bubble, says that we are just as crazy for real estate.

My take on that argument is that you cannot compare real estate to stocks as we buy real estate for more than just its speculative value.

RIches in the Niches

In the online marketing community many experts recommend niche marketing where instead of casting a wide net, you drill deep into a market. Target Marketing makes your marketing much easier.

In past blogs I have mentioned the Hispanic community as a widely untapped, underserved niche for the real estate professional.

Look at the numbers:

• eMarketer projects the number of Hispanic internet users in the United States will rise from 13.3 million in 2004 (7.6 % of all internet users) to 16 million in 2007 (8.4 %).
• eMarketer cites an America Online/RoperASW survey of U.S. Hispanic at-home Internet users' online activities: 54 percent of respondents research health care products, 52 percent make travel arrangements, 43 percent shop online, To sum up, they're online, they're bringing their peers with them, and they're spending money.
• Hispanics are actually from 22 countries and although they pretty much all speak Spanish, they prefer English, according to comScore Media Metrix.
• So translating your real estate website into English may not be your best bet. But this is the hard part. Hispanics searching in English are harder to target.
• comScore reports there are over 2 million U.S. Hispanics online who prefer surfing in Spanish, presenting a large enough sample size for research purposes.
• AMount spend by Hispanics online in 2003: $5.6 billion
• They tend to use the same major search engines that everyone else uses.
• One of the sources of this blog noted that "mortgage" is "hipoteca" in Spanish. Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool reports there were 1,255 searches for "hipoteca" in July 2004 (1,277 for "hipotecas") - hardly a massive base of searches, but a good enough size for testing purposes. Six advertisers bid on the word, one for $1, one for $0.40, and the rest for well under a quarter.
• Hispanics command $575 billion in buying power

The article pointed out an interesting tool to gather data to influence offline marketing.During month 1, it may try the copy, "No venderemos su información personal." During month2, it may try "Consultacion gratis" Consider this hypothetical application: Ameriquest may have a direct mail campaign going out to 500,000 Hispanics in California, New York, Texas, and Florida. From the tests in Overture, it knows the word "gratis" works better on the East Coast but the other phrase, allaying fears of selling customers' personal information, plays better further West. The marketer now has a wealth of data from search to inform the larger campaign.

"Geographic targeting is going to be a great opportunity for SEM marketers because 72 percent of all U.S. Hispanics seem to be concentrated in the top 20 markets (Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago alone making up 32 percent)," says Hernandez.

Most aggressive niche marketers understand the path to market domination is by covering the niche on various angles.

The article goes on,"for the keyword "hipoteca" in Google, the lender runs an ad in English. Look at how many more variables that involves. It's a different language with different possibilities for the copy. Perhaps it turns out that English ads convert three times better in Florida than New York, and the Spanish ads receive more clicks in California. The marketing director uses this information to test a TV ad on Telemundo in Los Angeles. Before long, results from relatively small search buys are influencing a campaign spanning six different media that's seen by tens of millions of people. This isn't science fiction. Some of the more sophisticated marketers tapping search are getting very savvy with this strategy.

A site that speaks to the online hispanic marketing and issues is www.elmensajero.blogspot.com

Another great souce is ttp://www.hispanicbusiness.com/ which recently reported that:  U.S. Hispanic Media Markets, 2000-2007. Advertisers spent an estimated $3.09 billion in 2004 to market their products and services to U.S. Hispanics, an 11 percent increase from the previous year.

Real Estate Niche Market 2.

It has always been known amongst Realtor's that the lady of the house makes the buy decision to purchase a home. This knowledge alone could guide a marketing campaign.

However, some startling numbers have emerged of late that indicate that not only are women making more decisions, they are able to make these decisons independently.

• In the last 10 years, the US Census bureau has reported a 15% increase in the number of stay at home mothers.
• 1 in 3 US kids under 15 has a mom at home full time (Washington Post 2003)
• The Census Bureau even reports that women own 38% of all small businesses in the US alone.

According to InternetBasedMoms.com "It's clear that more mothers are coming home to be with their children, but in today's economy, she often needs to supplement the family income or she may even be the sole bread winner for her family. But here's the most important FACT --- Moms don't think like you're average entrepreneur and they aren't motivated to buy your products for the same reasons."

Real Estate Niche Market 3.

Consider the 65 and over market. According to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, Americans over 65 who use the Internet have jumped by 47% since 2000, making them the fastest-growing group to embrace the online world.

This group has jumped 25 % online this year, to a total of almost 10 million surfers, while 55- to 64-year-olds increased their numbers by 15 %, to almost 16 million, according to a new study by Nielsen/NetRatings.

More stats about the over 65 market:

• Only 22 % go online
• 75 % of ages 30 to 49 go online
• 42% have used a computer
• 41% have a computer at home
• 31% have ever gone online
• 33% have Internet access at home
• e-mail is the top activity for this market
• 93 percent of wired seniors use e-mail
• 68% have checked the weather online
• 67% read news online
• 58% go online for hobby information
• 57% have bought a product such as books, clothes, or plane tickets online.
• 53% search for health and medical information
• 53% browse for fun

Real Estate Niche Market 4.

Do you know that if you made the gay community into a demographic that they are the most educated and affluent segment in America?

• Annual value of the gay and lesbian market is $515 billion.
• 21% of gay and lesbian households have income greater than $100,000 per year
• 28% have income greater than $50,000 per year
• 62% own a personal computer
• 71% of gay and lesbian online users have made credit card purchases online
• Has a greater amount of expendable income in comparison to the heterosexual population. (because they don't typically generate kids) (Visit this site which is where I got my numbers for a great marketing perspective on this market)

A niche must be fanatical and unserved. And a niche must naturally have spending power.

Some other groups that are passionate and begging to be served:

Christians-easy to identify and speak to. Many have defined themselves as the anthithesis in belief as our last niche. Many are well to do and well educated.

African Americans-Contrary to what many "well wishers" would have us believe, more and more Black Americans are upwardly mobil.

I wish I could find the source, but I remember listening to conservative-black radio talk show host Larry Elder. He was talking about the under reported wealthy blacks. He said that educated black married couples out earn educated white married couples. Inherant in this under reporting is the opportunity for your services.

New Home Developments- There are many areas of the country where new developments are popping up. In two or three years, these new homeowners will be the new neighborhood's first home sellers. Start now and you will own this "farm" until you retire.

Alumni Organizations-Many Universities are incredibly supportive of their family of past students. One of my early real estate brokers had spent his career supported by his family of brothers and sisters from his school. It brings to mind the saying, "it is not what you know, it is who you know". If you have access to this kind of organization, tap into it , and ride it as long as you can.

Hopefully, these groups or niches will spark ideas for you to dominate a small group and be everything to them, instead of being little to everybody.

The Real Estate Brand

A new report put out by the Kelsey Group says that the the differences of brand and direct are blurred online..Source http://publications.mediapost.com

"By 2009, it may be more difficult to distinguish awareness advertising from directional advertising, as digital advertising platforms expand and lines between these forms of advertising blur," states the report, titled "Global Directional Media Forecast."

It says that search marketing, has caused the blur.

The report said that many businesses equate rank with brand equity.

In its forecast, Kelsey also predicts that the global market for digital directional advertising--online business directories, local search, and wireless directories--will reach about $10 billion in 2009, up from an estimated 2.8 billion last year.

Local search, in particular, is expected to skyrocket. In the United States, local search spending is expected to leap to 3.38 billion in 2009, from an estimated 162 million last year and a predicted 418 million this year. Internet Yellow Pages will grow from an estimated 478 million last year to 576 million this year and 1.331 billion in 2009, predicts The Kelsey Group.

Few industries are as competitive online like real estate.

I have always maintained that while your competitor attempts the brand equity thing, you should capture leads, and build brand on the back end once you have made a friend thru your offerings.

Housing Bubble-licious

News Flash RealtyVille USA-The Real Estate Bubble has burst. Just like it did in 2003 & 2005. wink wink

In a book by ex Presidential Economic advisor and now Author and teacher. Paul Zane Pilzer tells the story of President FDR.

FDR asked his top economic advisor the prognosis on the economy.

As the story goes, his advisor answered, "well on the one hand..."

FDR replied, "what we need is less two handed economists!"

Now it seems that the real estate economists, many whom have predicted doom for real estate are "on the other hand".

Economist Mark Schniepp says there is a housing bubble, but maybe a better description is a balloon. "We believe there is a bubble, but not all bubbles have to burst," Schniepp said. .....On the One Hand

"Prices rose with buyers' inflated expectations of future prices, and now the air is leaking out slowly as the market comes back to an equilibrium of incomes and home prices."

The director of the California Economic Forecast is presenting his annual Real Estate and Economic Outlook this week. When discussing his report he said that the Ventura County's housing market has become disconnected from the fundamental economic principles that should underlie prices.

Other economists counter that the short supply of houses is enough to explain the price run-up. The county's median sales price for existing homes was $612,460 in December, up 25.3% from December 2003 but only 1.8% from November, according to the California Association of Realtors.

Schniepp said that best-case scenario is that home prices continue to be flat and there continues to be job creation.

"It will probably stay buoyant through 2005," Schniepp said.

And on the Other Hand.....If prices do start to fall, he expects the slide would be over the course of six to nine months, or even a year.

Enough of having it both ways.....

Schniepp did offer some data to support his if>then scenarios. He estimates 90% of Ventura County, CA residents could not afford to buy a house in the county if they didn't have built-up equity to spend. "You have to have more than 10% of people who can purchase," he said.

Sorry to poke holes in this pessimism, but has it ever been much better than 90%? Otherwise every apartment dweller in the country would no longer be renting.

The only economics worth a damn is the notion of supply and demand.

But this market has been driven to a large extent by the first time homeowners jumping into homeownership. When homeownership is the higherst ever in the U.S. the market demand will soften only because everyone who can own a home owns one. But as demand has softened so has supply in many sectors.

So prices stay flat or slightly rise.

Real Estate is not a short term or long term play. It isn't a play at all. It is a home.

Real Estate commentators seem to always talk about home buying in the same tone as day trading. And it seems the public buy into these get rich quick notions.

But at the end of the day the vast majority want to own the roof over their head. That is a pretty good demand.

One thing is for sure. I wish I would have bought back in 1993. I wish I would have bought in 1994 and so and so on.

Notes on the Bubble:

Bradley Inman has interesting comments in his blog. Worth visiting.
I found this useful:
"Incomes rising, interest rates falling and price gains not strong enough to offset the other two variables. Basic economics.
What could unwind this incredible boom: Simple math gang, rising rates, flat incomes and ballooning home prices.
But for now, the levers are perfectly synchronized."

real estate marketing offline in an online world

Email, faxes, websites....
We are so obsessed with online, that we forget offline.

Offline gestures can be extremely lethal as you competitors duke it out online.

In the interest of exploiting low hanging fruit, Let's explore some easy actions to make an impact.

The no brainer to me is the humbly effective thank you note. Instead of sending an email, send a hand written thank you. I love to order cards from Successories.com that has all kinds of cool motivational sayings.

These have always been impactful. Yet even pre-internet they are hardly implemented.Do you send thaqnk you notes?

Tommy Hopkins was right about at least one thing, although I will pass on the band uniform ;-)

I have visited my clients several months after my mailing and and have seen my thank you card on display.

All the advertising in the world can't buy that kind of impact.

Another distinction. Instead of sending your farm more of the same 'ole materials that everyone else is, how about sending them information about how to use your Listings feed and its inherant benefits.

This is not the same as saying visit my website.

You have to say why they need to visit your website, and as many reasons why it will benefit them to visit your website.

At SpiderWorkz we can help you discuss your real estate web design, and real estate search engine marketing needs. Check it out.