Knock knock.

Who’s there?

Newspaper.

Newspaper who?

Exactly.

It’s almost embarrassing for me to write about why you shouldn’t advertise in newspapers so I won’t. Instead, I’ll update you on just what newspapers are doing to stay afloat in such turbulent times. You may ask “why does this matter to me as a real estate agent?” It’s a great question and the answer is simple. In the future, newspapers will still be a part of your business model but it will take a major paradigm shift from the newspaper industry before it makes sense for you to get involved again.

Not long ago, Shorewest REALTORS, a Wisconsin based real estate company, published the below  advertisement in their local paper.

“Thank you for reading our property ads. Starting January 1st, our Open House listings will no longer appear in this paper. All of our listings are featured on Shorewest.com”

Shorewest Last Newspaper Ad

This ad is a bold example of just what real estate companies are finally doing. Slashing their newspaper budgets. In my opinion, this was a great move by Shorewest.  However, it doesn’t mean that newspapers are out for good.  Not yet at least.  In order to survive, newspapers will need to undergo a complete overhaul of their business models, content and delivery.

For years, the newspaper industry has been over exaggerating their circulation and providing very little value added.  They all add very little benefit for a company/agent trying to target a very small and specific demographic market.  Advertising in newspapers has become much like dropping fliers for your product from an airplane.  You just hope that it lands in the right hands but most of the time, much of it is a waste.

In their current state,  surviving newspapers are finding other ways to make money while providing additional services to companies–especially to mom and pop shops.  Just some of the methods of creating new revenue identified by the industry include

• Website advertising with a new push for greater Search Engine Optimization
• Direct mail services and fulfillment
• Website hosting for easy lead generation
• Custom newspaper printing
• Call centers/sales support to qualify leads from your ad

Besides the value added aspect, newspapers are being forced to rethink the kind of news they deliver.  After all, why should I have to wait a whole 24 hours before I receive major international news. I can look that up anytime on the web, have it delivered right to my phone, or watch it on TV.  For these reasons the industry will have to create more magazine-like articles of special interests.  Instead of trying to become the first to break a story, they will need to investigate stories that have already happened and give the side that no one knows.

Take one of today’s events as an example.  The Internet has already blasted the headlline “Justice Souter To Retire.”  Tomorrow morning I will scan through the headlines and read this exact same headline. If a newspaper wants to sell newspapers, its headline should read, “Obama’s Arsenal of Possible Choices for Supreme Court.” This article would contain in depth information on each candidate and would be of great value to anyone interested in this particular topic.

If I had to put my money in futures of the real estate company, I would place it with companies that would allow me to customize my own physical newspaper with the news that interests me, with only the ads that I care about, and delivered to me only on Sundays. This concept is being lightly considered by only a couple of companies.  From an advertising standpoint, this would be a format that would be well worth putting money into.  Couple this with a whole group of services that I, as an advertiser could use, and this could be a good thing.  Newspapers, you have a lot of work to do before you can make sense to me again.

Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon. Stay tuned for more information about his new book, “Stand Out, Stick and Stay. Transforming Real Estate Marketing”

Another great example of Guerilla Marketing at it’s best.  KFC offers to fill in potholes across the U.S.  Read the article.

Read more about Guerilla Marketing on Blog of Geese right here

Tonight my son, Evan, kept pointing to the back of my computer and saying “Dats Dada’s.”  Translation: That’s Dad’s.  It turns out that what he was pointing to was not my computer at all but a bumper sticker that is stuck to the back of my laptop.  The sticker has a picture of a blue feather that can also be seen on the front of my first book, My Blue Goose.  In many ways this blue feather has become a bit of a logo for many of my promotions.

What fascinated me was that my two year old son picked up on this, or at least it seems he has.

So often real estate agents haven’t found that one thing that the public can recognize quickly.  This ‘one thing’ can be just about anything.  This type of branding can be color scheming, a photo, a mascot, a way you pose in a photo and a slew of other things.

Take Carol Audette for example.  Carol is one of New England’s top real estate agents.  I remember Carol because growing up in Vermont it was difficult to NOT see her photo somewhere be it the newspaper, a

magazine, or the back of a shopping cart.  Her photo was the same all of the time–which as the branding experts know, it is the best thing you can do.  The funny thing is that her pose in the photo is the same photo I have spent many years telling agents not to make.  She is holding a phone to her ear and smiling.  The photo she used to use even had a cord attached.  I know! Can you imagine a phone that is attached to a cord!?  Even though I don’t care for the type of photo, the fact is that it works for Carol.

When you look at your branding, is there one thing that you consistently use to identify yourself?

I sat down last night and went over some of the newly signed stimulus bill to see how it may effect those who are part of the real estate industry. Here is the one thing you NEED to know.

There’s a $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers only who buy between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1, 2009 — this credit doesn’t have to be paid back, unlike the $7,500 perk available in 2008.  The home-buyer credit starts to phase out for taxpayers with adjusted gross income above $75,000 for single filers and $150,000 for joint filers.

NOTE: Originally in the bill was a $15,000 tax credit for all home purchases made in 2009.  This item was cut at the very last second just hours before the bill passed in the House and Senate.

A Couple of Additional Benefits That Are Worth Knowing About:

• Those taxpayers eligible for the “make work pay” credit — up to $400 for single workers and $800 for couples
• Unemployed people will find their first $2,400 of benefits is untaxed, and they may qualify for reduced health-insurance premiums through their former employer’s group plan, or Cobra.
• Above-the-line deduction for sales tax paid to buy a new car in 2009. You can only deduct the tax on the purchase price up to $49,500

I always seem to have a craving for Chick-fil-A on Sunday. The only reason I think this happens is because Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays. Have you ever noticed that you crave something more when you can’t have it?

We are a ‘give it to me now’ kind of society. Most companies want to give their product/service the way the consumer wants it. Burger King says “Have It Your Way,” 7-Eleven stores are open 24 hours a day, Sprite tells us to “Obey Your Thirst,” or how about this one….”I Want My MTV!“

Only a handful of companies have been able to tell the public that they will offer their product or service on their own terms. After complaints that its Ketchup took too long to come out of the bottle, Heinz didn’t change its packaging right away. Instead, like a scolding mother, it told us “Good things come to those who wait.” In this same way Chick-fil-A’s founder and CEO Truett Cathey decided to close his doors on the busiest of days in the restaurant business. His reasons really had nothing to do with creating the craving for Chick-fil-A as I described above but instead was done to:

“Glorify God by being a faithful steward to all that is entrusted in us”Read the entire Chick-fil-A closed on Sunday policy here (Quick-load PDF file).

What if, as real estate professionals, we weren’t the crazy people that much of the public views us as?  What if we actually created hours and advertised them on our business cards?  What if we told our clients and potential clients “Unless it is an emergency I do not work on Sundays?”  Or maybe the more Disney-esq way of telling them is “I am available to you Monday through Saturday afternoon.”

We may find that by doing this we are:

• refreshed by the rest that we receive
• our time is respected by our clients
• more productive since our hours are limited

What if… we actually created a craving for our services? Think about it and make the change.

Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon. Stay tuned for more information about his new book, “Stand Out, Stick and Stay. Transforming Real Estate Marketing”

Several months ago I wrote about my dentist in Boston and how impressed I was with them.  Not just the service, but the entire way they marketed themselves.  I was so impressed, I called them back to find out how they knew my wife and I so well. I mean, really, after our first couple of visits they were able to recall six months later everything we told them.  It turns out that every visit the assistant went back to the file on the computer and wrote down all of the things that we spoke about. They were big on writing down dates of things as well, birthdays, anniversaries and so on.  Any date that they write down goes into another spreadsheet so they can send appropriate correspondence.

A similar thing happened to me when I went into get my haircut at Sportsclips.  “Matt, do you want us to use the 2 on the sides like last time?” Cindy asked me. Then she asked my how my wife was doing with the pregnancy.  Again, this was a person I remembered but hadn’t seen a few months.

It got me thinking.  How many of us actually take the time to record personal notes about the clients with whom we have worked.  What does it do for our business when we can reach out to each and every one of our clients in a totally unique and personal way?

Unfortunately, many real estate agents these days don’t even keep up to date blue lists, let alone going above and beyond to create notes on life events. There’s no better time to change a habit then at the beginning of the year.

Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon. Stay tuned for more information about his new book, “Stand Out, Stick and Stay. Transforming Real Estate Marketing”

The holidays are just about here!  When I say holidays I am talking about good ‘ole Christmas(Dec. 25); Kwanzaa (Begins Dec. 26) and Hanukkah (Dec. 21). Each year it amzes me more and more how many people will not say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Hanukkah.” Just so you know where I stand on this issue, I say if you celebrate Kwanzaa then say “Happy Kwanzaa!”  It has become to social politcal standard to say Happy Holidays at the risk of offending others.  I’m here to tell you that all of the times that I have wished people a Merry Christmas, they have not been offended.  In fact, my wife and I know more than a few Jewish families and I am reminded of one in particular.  We always wish them a Merry Christmas and they say “Merry Christmas to you and a Happy Hanukkah as well.”  Can someone clarify the offensiveness in that exchange?

As I said in last year’s post (posted below) let’s put being PC aside this Christmas and just enjoy our good company.

After lunch with a colleague and some clients I was told I should be more careful about wishing people a Merry Christmas just in case they weren’t Christian. Then I ran past an article from Ben Stein. Most of you know Ben. He was a speechwriter and lawyer for Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford (he did not write the line “I am not a crook”). He has written 16 books and seven novels and is also a screen writer. Some of you may also know him from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Here is what he had to say on the subject.
Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart:

I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don’t know who Lindsay Lohan is, either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise’s wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young. It’s not so bad.

Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

It wasn’t more then a year ago I was sitting down with a Vice President of a real estate company and we were talking about something that all of us are told to shy away from.  The foundational question of the conversation was rather simple.  Does God belong in real estate?  Before you answer this question with a simple yes or no, think about it.

Almost immediately the first company that was brought into focus was Keller Williams. Keller Williams has been said to have a strong spiritual component to its core values. They even define this on their website.  My VP friend told me that she thought they were just selling God to steal the best agents.  I told her that this may be true, however, it was another discussion to define if this is right, wrong and/or effective.

Matthew S. Gosselin is the author of My Blue Goose, Exploiting The Wow Factor In Real Estate Marketing. The book can be purchased on MyBlueGoose.com or Amazon. Stay tuned for more information about his new book, “Stand Out, Stick and Stay. Transforming Real Estate Marketing”

What a great way to get out on a cool morning and exercise. The YMCA hosts its 27th annual Turkey Trot in Fort Worth. It’s also an excuse to eat more turkey later on in the day! I ran with the other members of Fellowship Church.