actionable marketing guide

Dear ,

I cheer the millions of people who joined the Women's Marches across the U.S. and around the World.

Life still goes on in New York City.

As a marketer, I sometimes underestimate the need for a good salesperson to close big deals.

Currently, I’m in the process of selling a house.

Like marketing any product, you have to position the house to sell at the maximum price. For a house, it’s called staging, not styling.

I’m not talking about a Trump Towers apartment that’s difficult to access but rather a suburban house north of the city.

At first, my husband and I considered selling the house without an agent. We thought we could get a contractor who would buy the house without any work on our part. 

We soon discovered there’d be a cost to a direct sale:

• We'd have to pay an agent to get multiple bids.
• Or we’d get significantly less money since there'd be no competition. 

As a result, we evaluated a number of real estate agents. In the process, I’ve gotten a fast education in how to sell.

• Real estate agent recommended by a lawyer friend. She looked at the house and told us about every possible problem. Further, she’d only sell the house “as is”.  
• Cold called the town's top real estate firm. Two agents examined the house. They agreed it needed work but the investment would increase the sale price. They never did any actual pricing comparisons. Their only followup was to let me know they had a client who was interested in that type of house. (Note: You don’t want your agent to handle both sides of the deal.)
• Real estate agent recommended by a friend who had sold a similar home. She did her homework and had useful suggestions. BUT she didn’t call back for over a week! When she got me on the phone, she argued claiming she sent a txt.
• Contractors we knew. Their offers were either minuscule or they wanted to make the house into a do-over.

Who did we choose?

None of the above—but you knew that.

We selected a real estate agent who answered an online request.

Here’s what set her apart from the pack:

• She was the first one to respond to our request. Translation: She’s on-top-of-her leads.
• She did her homework and showed us comparable home sales in the specific neighborhood.
• She followed up the night after seeing us, often late at night.
• She gave us suggestions for contractors.
• She called us from her vacation to follow up and give us referrals.
• She just sold a nearby house in less than a month (during the Christmas holidays when no one buys.)

Bottom line:

For us, the real estate agent had to make the sale easy for us. She had to be ready to remove the issues at every step of the process.

But most of all, we had to feel that we could work with her.

As a marketer, you must ask yourself:

• Do your prospects and customers feel comfortable working with you? If not, what do you have to do to remove the friction?

I’m off to judge the Top Social Media Marketing Blogs of 2017. Stay tuned. They’re sure to be amazing. (BTW, I’m teaching a blogging workshop for Social Media Marketing World. I’d be thrilled if you joined me!)

Happy Marketing
Heidi.

Heidi Cohen
Actionable Marketing Guide

They Ask, You Answer – Book Interview

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• Time to rethink your SEO strategy. Check what SEO oldtimer Bruce Clay has to say about SEO silos.

People-Based Advertising

Evaluating the impact and future of addressable media.

Traditional digital display advertising doesn't work. The information in this report is based on an online survey of 350 senior North American marketers and media buyers with moderate to high online ad budgets which provides media buyers and advertisers with new insights into the opportunities presented by people-based advertising.

• Heidi Cohen was cited in Curata’s Mega List of Ebooks. What’s worth noting is that Cohen took a different spin on ebook. Take Away: Write something worth reading and promoting.
  
  
• Heidi Cohen was cited on the Marketo blog for the definition of brand.  My biggest learning from the piece: How many of my friends and colleagues saw it on LinkedIn. Lesson: Don’t underestimate who’s watching you on social media.
  
  
• Roger Parker cited this Actionable Marketing Guide newsletter in his Content Marketing Institute piece: 7 Changes Forward-Thinking Marketers Need to Consider in 2017. Lesson:  Examine trends you see in the wild.

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