The Insider: Issue 026
Hey! This week we’re thinking deeply about desire as a human condition and how to truly position a brand for success. Cool? Let’s go.
Last Week This Week
We channeled a lot of what was reported as news last week into what we call the “whatever” bucket.
Zillow unloaded a bunch of the homes it bought? Whatever.
Another regional, flat-fee, rebate brokerage raised $8 million? Whatever.
Background noise. Hiss on the real estate industry mixtape.
So on this Monday, we’re going to make it more personal and note some cool things some of our Inside members did over the past week or so. None of these announcements is earth shattering, but they are significant moves made by companies who are part of this emerging community.
Adwerx raised $14.5 million to go big on what it’s calling “Customer Relationship Advertising,” which fuses retargeting and CRM. Makes a ton of sense to connect these things.
- Curaytor, the digital marketing platform provider, acquired Fourwalls, a Canadian company specializing in deriving actionable marketing insights from real estate data.
- Bright MLS launched Teams by Bright, to make their MLS system congruent with the unique structure and processes of teams. It’s still all too common for teams to have to hack their way around many real estate software applications, so this is a big step forward.
- Mega-brokerage and nascent franchisor @properties launched a homebuyer portal called “Closing Milestones” that turns its internal deal management software inside out, giving buyers and their agents a clear view into their transaction. @properties continues to be a tech-forward brokerage without VC, and without running aground on some of the usual rocks that often stymie its competitors.
Props to Insiders Jed Carlson, Jimmy Mackin, Brian Donnellan, Thad Wong and their teams.
Have You Heard About This?
Land, Ho!
There’s something distinctly American about our deepest desire to own homes and land. Denying this innate dream is something close to the ultimate shedding of a national identity. We felt this in our core when we came across the website, Terra Karta, where you can search for land for sale across the good ole’ U.S. of A… like this secluded 40 acres of pure beauty (pictured above) in the Ozarks, listed for $110,000.
What's Inside
What if you zigged when others zagged? Staci Staub, CEO of West + Main real estate gave her answer in a Spotlight Interview with Brian last week. Watch it here if you missed it.
Place, which provides a suite of services to agents and teams ranging from accounting to digital marketing, raised $100 million from Goldman Sachs a couple weeks ago. Tomorrow, we’ll be interviewing Chris Stuart, the company’s President. If you’ve got a question you’d like to see answered, hit us up at [email protected].
Inspiration Point
The Ultimate Position
“PLASTIC ISN'T ACTUALLY RECYCLABLE… The average aluminum can contains over 70% recycled material, the average plastic bottle contains only 3%. Aluminum is infinitely recyclable. Plastic is not. In fact, plastic is not even technically recyclable anymore because it is no longer profitable to recycle. So most recycling facilities simply send plastic to landfills because they would go out of business trying to recycle it. Environmental economists now say it is actually better for the planet to simply throw your plastic in the trash so that it requires less trucking to get it to the landfill. Sad stuff.”
We work with companies all the time to figure out their brand positioning — which basically means we’re trying to nail down the space they want to own in their target customer’s mind… a space not already occupied by someone else.
We pulled the copy sample above from a canned water company called Death Wish. This is how you do brand positioning well. You don’t simply create a document that states some nice things you hope to be. You create a point of difference within your core business, you double down on it, you exploit it, you live it. This company was entering the crowded bottled water market and instead of simply creating yet another brand with a cool color scheme and brand voice, they saw an opportunity not only to truly differentiate by packaging themselves in a can, but also to follow a bigger mission of fulfilling what’s better for the environment. They get an A+ in brand strategy and execution.
Check out their full site for more branding inspo.
Quote of the week
“It ought to be clear to marketers that without the benefit of swords, harnessing the power of the creative arts is among the most effective ways to maintain relevance and market dominance.”
— Bob Hoffman
