Become a Zero-Waste Brokerage
At first glance, becoming a zero-waste brokerage is a tall task. But there are many options to get you started. Use grey water for your toilets; set up shop in a central location (to reduce mileage); get to know your local recycling standards and recycle as much as possible; go paperless with transaction and document management; have your building LEED certified and more.
Becoming zero-waste is more than achieving environmental sustainability. It hits your bottom line. You set your business apart from your competitors. You demonstrate commitment to local and global communities. You create a platform for innovation as you challenge the status quo.
Video: Do it yourself!
Video is so ingrained in contemporary culture that brokerages have no choice but to embrace it. There are good video tools out there that cost practically nothing and that anybody can use. My iPhone 6, for example, has high-quality slow motion capturing capabilities, has an 8-megapixel 1/3-inch sensor, can do a decent time lapse, and is as user-friendly as it gets. As well, there are many free/cheap apps for quick and dirty video editing, including iMovie, Instagram, Boomerang, Snapchat etc. With good lighting, this phone can capture everything in a listing that you need. Videos can also help you with guerilla marketing on social media.
Sure, a large portion of your clientele could care less about funny 2-second video loops on Twitter, Facebook and whatever else. However, the largest demographic in the US, Millennials, are nearing home-buying age. And guess what? They communicate through video. To millennials, video is the new telephone. The new Internet. The new text message. The new Facebook. And so on. Checkout this blog on the newest video technologies affecting real estate.
Communicate 100% Online
How much communication can you do online?
Theoretically—all of it. Throw out your paper business cards—use a digital alternative. Trash the transaction paperwork—use eSignatures. Rip down the listings taped to the window of your brokerage and local banks—get a mobile-first website and a digital display for the window. Want to be really innovative? Try to do all of your communication online. You'll be surprised at how many things can be accomplished through the web.
Hire a Journalist
Consider hiring a journalism major, fresh out of college.
Give them daily and weekly assignments and let them become the eyes and ears of the real estate industry for your brokerage. They can produce blogs and external communications that may be helpful to your leads and clients. They can research industry, technology, market trends, and competitors. They can interview relevant personalities and much more.
Grassroots Community Networking & Partnerships
Take advantage of your freedom as a new brokerage and find small, up-and-coming community networks and social organizations to partner with that bigger brokerages may have overlooked.
Many social programs, for instance, desperately need sponsors to a) supplement their funding and b) help spread the word of their existence. Meanwhile, these partnerships can help demonstrate your involvement with the community and help your name gain trust within the community.
Use a Wedding Photographer
Here's a thought: instead of paying for a contract real estate photographer to do your listings, try hiring a wedding photographer instead.
The benefit is twofold. One, you get someone who can give you a fresh look at a listing. Wedding photographers are great at capturing details and character. Give them a master list of shots you require, and then let them go wild with creativity with the rest. Two, as a result of this fresh look, your listing photographs will look way different than your competitors—an aspect that will help them stand out in a sea of similar-looking listings.
TL;DR
TL;DR: Short for 'too long; didn't read'.
The term 'TL;DR' is used all over the internet as a sort of Millennial executive summary. For long forum posts, people provide a 'TL; DR'--basically, a summary of what the post is about that gives readers a chance to skip the time-consuming act of reading.
Point being: Don't shy away from the Internet's vernacular. You don't need to go whole hog and try to be trendy at every turn, but you shouldn't let proper spelling and grammar stop you from communicating the way that everyone else communicates. TL;DR, lol, nm, imo, btw, gg, rip, b/c, jk, otw, idk, ftw etc. Young people understand this language in the same way that your older clientele understands things like 'whole hog', or 'a bird in the hand'. Acronyms are the new proverbs. And you can use them in your marketing material to connect with over 80 million North American Millennials.
