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A case for title company blogging

 An excerpt from Predicting the Title Industry Future (Jan/Feb 2008 TitleNews):

The industry must make a valid moral case for title insurance and the profits it earns from selling title insurance and related services. The essence of such a case is that the industry has a right to succeed by offering products and services that consumers need and want, so long as it does so without engaging in coercion or fraud.
The statement was made by Barbara Miller, the president of TSS Software headquartered in Annapolis, MD.   TSS is the developer and provider of an industry software package that I’ve used in the past and recommend very highly.  Just one of its many strengths is escrow reconciliation.

Consumers need to understand the benefits of title insurance, and the industry that delivers it, as a value proposition.  Consumers don’t trust you because they don’t know you.  They don’t know who you are or what you do.   Consumers don’t understand that most title professionals are under compensated for the  work-product  provided and  risk  assumed.

Blogging is quickly distinguishing itself as the most effective form of public relations to ever exist.

 

Blogging is a cultural phenomena that can’t be ignored or overlooked.  Title companies can’t afford not to blog.

Ms. Miller has made as compelling an argument for title industry transparency visa vie title company blogging as I’ve seen to date.

 

Posted on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 09:07AM by Registered CommenterEd Rybczynski in , , , | Comments9 Comments

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Reader Comments (9)

That nails it. Title companies could get out from under the downward pressure being exerted on them by the media and politicians if they just took a few extra minutes to market to the consumer what title insurance does and why it's important.
March 12, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterWine Dog
Wine Dog
There's no question that title companies could, if they wanted, directly target consumers. It's the only marketing model that holds any credibility in this day of transparency.

Diane is experiencing the miraculous spread of viral,organic marketing. She will soon become the "go to" person in her sphere for all things real estate related. I'm convinced that consumers will ask her to refer real estate agents before all is said and done.

Thanks for commenting.

Ed
March 12, 2008 | Registered CommenterEd Rybczynski
Good morning Ed. I'm happy that I decided to jump of the ban wagon. You know, I can walk into any room and immediately start a conversation with someone. So when I became a member of AR, I thought, this is going to be easy. I've learned that being a writer, isn't as easy as being a talker. When I'm face to face, for me, the conversation seems to just flow. On the other hand, in blogging, I think you tend to question what's going to come out of your mouth more than you would with that one on one meeting. Shouldn't it be easier, considering you're behind a computer? To me, when you write it all down, the public can read it and come back to it, whereas, if it is verbal and you said something that you didn't mean to say, most likely the other person wouldn't have noticed or might forget. For instance, was that a run-on sentence? You wouldn't have noticed if we were face to face! Did I use my commas correctly, was my spelling correct? These are all the things that can be critiqued.

My point, although it may seem otherwise with what I wrote here, is blogging is great and I believe we all should be actively participating. However, we're not all writers and as with our jobs, we need to have that second set of eyes before we submit our work. Spell check should be a habit, just like brushing your teeth. I noticed you didn't have spell check here! As with anything, practice makes perfect.
March 13, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterDawn/HomeRun Title
This is a great discussion. I had to fight fairly hard to convince senior management to allow me to add a blog. While they supported marketing directly to consumers the idea of a blog made them nervous. They are very happy that we did it but there was a lot of initial trepidation.
March 13, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterMark Pilatowski
Blogging is the one way to connect with consumers without the gatekeepers of real estate and lending controlling the flow. For that reason, I highly recommend having a blog presence outside of communities like Active Rain. I think you need to be in more than one place and it's not hard. Brian Brady has convinced me that you can post the same material in more than one spot because you are probably reaching different readers.


PS - Ed I can report that consumers have been asking me for Realtor and mortgage lender referrals for years. It started as soon as we directed our marketing to the consumer rather than insiders. People often call us first. I'm sure others who have consumer facing market programs have similar experiences. It's all in your perception. If you believe the Realtor controls the point of sale, they always will. That's been my big beef with Troon Management and ALTA's decision to embrace the Anastasi philosphy. It doesn't well serve title people. The Troon philosphy supports RESPRO style business.

We can be free. It's our choice.
March 13, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterDiane Cipa, The Closing Specialists®
Diane,
You're so right on! To take it a step further, Controlled business models actually insult the consumer and the intelligence of the consumer, by seeking to wrest control of the decision of service provider from the consumer...it is a model doomed to fail because it is not consumer-centric!!! I am consumer-centric!!! Thanks, Fran

P.S. And all the money that supports RESPRO can be going into the consumer's pocket!!!
March 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterFran Gaspari
damn straight!!!!!!
March 16, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterDiane Cipa
Just coming back with an update. Our local computer dealer - whose office is two doors away - provides free seminars for the community at the library on using the internet and e-mail. He and I are working together to add a session on blogging. I am so excited. The library has a wireless network so people can bring their laptops. They also have workstations. I am expecting this to be big. What a wonderful way to connect a community and raise awareness of our businesses.
March 18, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterDiane Cipa, The Closing Specialists®
I have enough trust on title companies. They can do it if they really want it. Blogging is a great way to promote and be popular
April 3, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterTitle Company

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