How One Brokerage Gets More Listings and Referrals with Online Branding

Robert Slack, LLC uses branded property portal and retargeted ads to attract clients, recruit agents, and win listing presentations. In this interview, Robert Slack, Founder and CEO, and Dan Walters, Partner and COO, share their secrets to online marketing success.

How does the realtor.com Local Expert City program fit it into your listing strategy?

Dan: You have two different types of agents. Some are listing agents who, given the opportunity to pursue listings, will say, "Wow I love doing this and this is what I do."

These agents will be able to walk into a listing and say, "We provide Local Expert exposure in this area. Because of this, we can put your listing on page one of realtor.com home searches."

That could be the final decision needed to win the listing. It can be a game changer for them.

There are also some agents who might not have that confidence yet. I think this gives them the tool and that pushes them forward to think, "Wow, even I can do this. I have something others don't have. I can walk in and tell a prospective seller that I'm going to put their listing up top on realtor.com home searches."

I think we could grow our listing side immensely with this, no question. In some cases, it could be the listing presentation as a whole. This would be something new and competitive that they would have in their arsenal.

Let's face it, every listing agent has the same tools that are out there. They all have a beautiful presentation. They pitch, "I'm going to put it on the MLS."

But to be able to have that one thing almost nobody else has with the ability to say, "We're part of the Local Expert program with realtor.com®, and your listings will rotate into a prominent position when people are looking for property." Absolutely this is something we will push.

Will you use this to get listing appointments?

Dan: Our plan is to use this when we're prospect marketing for listings on social media. If our agents are at an open house, if they're out in the community, if they're presenting themselves at a community gathering, this is something that they're all going to talk about.

They see your branding on realtor.com®, then they will see it as a retargeting ad on Facebook and Instagram. What is the value of the repetition?

Robert: We all know 90% of all home buyers begin the homebuying and selling process by viewing properties online. That's why at Robert Slack, we're perhaps the largest investor of realtor.com leads. We increase awareness when they're online searching and they see our brand. Once they go on Facebook and Instagram and they see that brand again from Local Expert, it has a compounding effect. Then they start seeing our agents sending them properties in emails and text message, and they see that brand once more.

Let's face it—not everybody's ready to buy the day that they click on a property. But when they are ready to purchase, we truly believe that they're choosing our agents and they're responding to our agents' emails and text messages because that brand is repeatedly in front of them through the entire search process.

Is this part of your recruiting plan?

Dan: When you have the ability to recruit a good agent, you can tell them, "We've got the ability to position your client's property in the first set of listings that come up in a home search."

Few other brokers can say that. What the potential recruit hears is, first, that they have a prominent position for their listing. What they also really hear is that they will have the ability to get that double-sided transaction and make more money, or at the very least shorten the time of the homes on the market for their clients.

By doing a better job for that client, they will continue to win more listings.

You have a big investment in customers you've met on realtor.com® who you have now closed. Can Local Expert play a role in repeat business from these relationships?

Robert: We have 6000-7000 transactions where we've sold homes to people already. Many of those past clients came from realtor.com. When they are ready to move again, it is most likely they will ultimately go back to realtor.com to start looking at home values of other competing homes in their area.

When they do, they will see our brand again. It complements the fact that we've been staying in touch with them through our retention program. It strengthens the recollection of the agent who originally closed on the transaction. Now they're back to realtor.com and the first thing they see is our brand once again. What we expect that does—and we've already seen some of this—is instead of them clicking and filling out a lead form, they will be calling us directly. We're now-front-of mind with them again once they go back to realtor.com.

Learn more about the realtor.com® Local Expert program here.