As a child, I watched a movie titled, "A River Runs Through It."  The part of the movie that stood out in my mind was how the movie exemplified the art of fly fishing.  Fly fishing is where an angler whips a line across the top of the river's surface, with a fly-like lure attached to the tip of a course line. The movement and interaction of the anglers technique increases the fishes desire to follow the fly and the razor sharp hook hidden beneath the delicately placed feathering.  The movie portrayed bait fisherman as being lazy and drunken men, with no connection to the art of fishing.

When I think of today's marketing choices, I compare them to the differences found when choosing to be fly fisherman or a bait fisherman.  Traditional marketing strategies consisted of posting ads in news papers, billboards, magazines, and books like the yellow pages.  Traditional forms of marketing push a fine tuned messages to the face of consumers.  Today's consumer is a far more advanced or at least has far less of an attention span. The consumer today requires a more interactive approach, a pre-relationship, which takes place prior to committing to the investment.  No longer can we dangle are marketing bait and wait for bites.  We, like the fly fisherman have to find new ways to interact with our consumers.  Methods like Twitter, Facebook, Talking ads, SEO, and other consumer networking methods, have opened the doors to a different marketing approach.

Does this mean that traditional marketing methods are dead. No, I don't think so, but as always, its important to find the most effective methods to get the most activity for the least amount of your money. Paying twelve hundred dollars for an ad in the Yellow Pages, that receives little to no response, is no longer an affective way to spend your marketing dollars.  As a president of CRI Inspections, I hear stories from agents and brokers, about the length of time from initial client contact to the escrow closing and checks being issued can take several month's.  This time line is only lengthened, with today's marketing expectations. Clients are on our web sites, tweeting questions, commenting on Facebook, calling numerous times with a multitude of questions about our qualifications and experience.  My clients want to see sample reports and comments from previous clients, all before they commit to becoming a paying customer and as you know their commitment is only half the battle in this Real Estate Market.  The lenders, sellers, appraisers, and sometimes the inspectors, can all have a say about whether or not we get paid. 

What I'm trying to convey is, the days of writing, "A referral is the biggest compliment I can receive", on the back of your business cards and expecting to meet your annual sales goals, are gone.  The bottom line is whether your at the office or on twitter, have a finely tuned marketing message, which will allow the client to have constant access to you and what you represent. In the end exhaust every method of the new age marketing super highway. (Read more of our blogs at our website)