on GazetteXtra.com (Janesville, WI). 

The article suggests that some title companies are starting to focus marketing efforts on consumers.

 

Click here to visit Ligonier Living 

Last week, I promised to share links to RE blogs with hyper-localized content.  The sites selected are exciting, interesting, informative, and have lively audiences.  They have personality and charisma.   They deal directly with the real lives of real people.  New marketing models far transcend the stuffy, blue suit concepts of the past.  Web 2.0 offers the tools to truly engage others and form long-term, meaningful relationships.

I hate to disappoint my friend Greg Knowles, but I don’t know of any hyper-localized blogs hosted by title companies.  I do, however, believe that it can be done … and done inexpensively.

Readers have to realize that they’ve missed out, so far, on the cultural phenomena that is Web 2.0.   Bloggers have become main streamed and are even interviewed by traditional media as part of the presidential primary coverage.

Welcome to the intersection of the old school and the new way business thinks in 2008 …

Real estate agents and loan officers have created prolific and profitable web-profiles while title companies have sat by idly and watched.  Why?  I have no explanation to offer for the title industry’s lack of interest in viral, organic marketing concepts with proven effectiveness.  Your lack of initiative fascinates and infuriates me because it makes no sense. 

You guys have to make an effort to get on the dance floor, if you get my drift, and you have to do it soon.  The party has started and you’re on the outside looking in like a bunch of socially awkward kids at the senior prom. 

Your marketing efforts have to become interactive (blogging) and they have to be hyper-local.  Think communities … think towns … think the part of the big city where your office is located … think people.  That’s where the action is.  That’s where you have to be.

For now, I simply ask that you explore the nuances and ingenuity of these first rate and high energy RE blogs.  Notice, as well, that each of these bloggers  has a separate photo blog that chronicles their daily adventures in the communities where they work.   You quickly feel that you know and like these people.  You would do business with these bloggers because you know where they’re coming from and what they’re about.  These people are real! 

As informal or chaotic as Web 2.0 may seem, it’s not.  There’s a tested methodology to this presumed madness, and you’re about to meet Web 2.0 marketing experts who understand their targeted audiences.

In no particular order:

Rick & Ines hosts of Miamism. 
Photo blog: Miamism Pix .

Chris Griffith host of Real Life & Real Estate in Bonita Springs Florida.
Photo blog: Mobile Life In Bonita Springs Florida .

Bob Carney host of Focus On Frederick .
Photo blog: frederick md as seen through my cell phone .

Sarah Cooper host of The Putnam Scoop .
Photo blog: CoopPics .

Linda Davis host of Eastern Connecticut Real Estate .
Photo blog: Simply Ledyard .

Now think about your own static web-site and the stone-cold, boring image it projects.

As a consumer coming in blindly, would you be excited about doing business with your title company after visiting its web-site?   Be honest!

Reuters reports that one in ten homeowners hold mortgages that are upside down.

I feel the numbers are substantially worse than generally reported and that many homeowners have a gut feeling that they are in real trouble because their homes have depreciated.   They are frightened, concerned, and confused.

We really don’t know how far values have plummeted and there’s no way to predict when the crises will end.

Never before has there been such a legitimate need and opportunity for title companies to connect with consumers.  Build credibility in local markets by offering information and resources to people who are frightened and in need.  Partner with churches, non-profits, real estate offices to host gatherings to discuss the realities of foreclosure, selling short, mortgage fraud schemes, communicating with lenders, etc.  Start a blog to stay connected with the people you meet and to keep sharing valuable information.

Re-invent your title company as the local “go-to” place for the real estate needs of real people.  After all, you are the expert.  No one knows their way around a transaction the way you do!

What are you waiting for?  Do it now … your future customers are waiting to hear from you!

Your future customers need to hear from you! 

 

 Key points from Seth Godin’s post titled Advice for real estate agents (quit now!):

• Order takers (those genetically programed dinosaurs who know the answer to every question, but bring nothing of real value to the table) are as good as extinct. 
  
• The down market offers infinite opportunities for real champions.
  
• You’re either fanatical about your product or you’re “invisible.”
• All real estate marketing is hyper-localized.
• Become the local go to person for anyone and everyone, even your enemies, that can benefit from hearing your message.
• Build blogs to communicate the “real information, not just data” that’s important to past and prospective customers alike.
  

Now comes the title industry …

Real estate agents have done a far better job branding themselves than have title agents.  There’s little risk of short term disintermediation for real estate agents because they’ve wisely positioned themselves as the point of contact within local communities.  They’ve aggregated audiences of loyal fans.  Real estate brokers, considering current models, couldn’t exist without their agents, particularly the top producers.

The title industry has employed a decidedly different business model.   Chronic anonymity complicated by a self imposed identity crises has been the by-product of decades of bad marketing choices by title companies.  I think it’s safe to say that many title companies have no marketing, branding, or positioning strategy at all.  It’s an error that can’t be corrected when boom markets turn sour.  The silent closure of a title company for lack of business goes unnoticed.  Why?  Most consumers don’t know what a title company is, what it does, or that it exists.

The title industry’s favored marketing tool of the past, a box of donuts featuring a stapled business card, is no longer an effective option.

Could title insurers replace their agents with a team of aggressive sales reps?  It wouldn’t be an easy accomplishment on the operations side, but I think it could be done quickly on the marketing side.  It’s something to think about in light of underwriter affinity for direct operations.  If title agents were to instantly disappear, I suspect that title orders would flow to underwriters in direct proportion to current industry dominance.  First American and Fidelity National would control about 70% of the market with the remaining players competing for any remaining business.  It really has nothing to do with technical superiority or claims ratios.  Underwriter dominance is determined wholly by management’s commitment to attracting and developing marketing talent.

As a value proposition, title companies have to build solid brands within their targeted audiences.  While many of you will continue to market only real estate and lender sources, the importance of internet transparency on consumer decision models can’t be ignored.

Title order pipelines have to swell with increasing percentages of consumer directed orders to remain viable in the future.

Title companies have to start championing themselves and the communities which they serve.  You don’t sell title insurance.  Your product is a complicated mix of reputation, credibility, and service.  And yes, the future of title company marketing lies in the power of Web 2.0 and the power to communicate interactively and selectively.  If you’ve never heard of Web 2.0, we need to talk. 

The boring, static web-sites that are the title industry standard have anthropological value at best.  They do nothing to promote business in the Web 2.0 business environment.   It’s not unusual to find underwriter logos featured on title company web-sites.  The practice results in confusion and possibly the branding of underwriters at the expense of title company irrelevance. 

Keep in mind: the underwriters that you’re marketing on your sites are often your direct competition for title orders.

This post is getting lengthy so I’ll hit my key points:

• Hyper-localized blogs offer unlimited opportunities for title companies to connect with consumers and other local sources of business.
• There’s no excuse for not blogging because it’s inexpensive and most title companies aren’t busy.
• Stop selling title insurance and title insurers.  Sell yourselves!  You are the product!  Become your own product champion.  Become fanatical about your title company.
  
• Use blogging to offer valuable information about your company, your community, and anything else that matters to real people.
• Use the internet to engage others.  It works.

Shortly, I’ll share links to some of my favorite real estate blogs with hyper-localized content.

 

Seth Godin wrote a post for real estate agents that’s should be read … reread … and reread again, by every title person.  It contains insights to successfully transition your company into the new business reality. 

It’s no longer business as usual, or business the way it was in the past, and you need to let go of  the primitive practices that worked yesterday.   They won’t work today and they certainly won’t work tomorrow.

Don’t let your competition get ahead of you.

When I get back from Tuscon, I plan to use Seth’s post for the framework of a Title-opoly post detailing the new rules of the title business.

Stay tuned … we’re going to the next level! 

 

Sawbuck Realty’s website states that the company is managed by it’s founders: Steve Barnes and Guy Wolcott.  Guy Wolcott commented on Title-opoly last night after a lively day of readers’ remarks about his company’s unusual business model.  It turns out that Barnes and Wolcott own a mortgage company, but direct orders to a national lender that can offer a broad range of benefits to consumers.   It appears that I was incorrect when assuming that Sawbuck is a lead generator for an affiliated mortgage company.   In his comment, Wolcott was emphatic about avoiding any appearance of impropriety.

Sawbuck is in the business of earning commission referrals by providing qualified buyers (leads) to a network of trusted real estate agents. 

Sawbuck recommends local title companies that share a vision of creating new opportunities for consumers demanding transparency.

Networked business derived from shared values among services providers isn’t the same thing as affiliated business even though the model is dependent upon directed orders.  The difference lies in the fact that consumers knowingly make choices.  Many of you were concerned that Sawbuck’s preferred title companies were undercharging for their services.  The model is geo-specific and works due to a combination of high property values and favorable title insurance premiums in the DC, VA, MD area.  The concept may not work in your specific market.

I stand firm in my resolve to expose title agents to the ingenious, and compliant, models that are starting to appear.  It’s my strong opinion that the title company of tomorrow will depend wholly on internet models that cast a wide net to produce local customers with highly defined opinions concerning settlement service providers.  Enter generation “x” and generation “y” as the baby boomers lose their dominance as the industry’s primary source of business.

Guy Wolcott’s comment on Title-opoly:

Ed, thanks for your thoughts on our new venture. It is always interesting to hear how people from each industry we touch (real estate, mortgage, title, technology) feel about what we are doing.

To be clear, even though the founders also own a mortgage company, Sawbuck does not refer business to it (both to enable us to scale up, and to avoid any misperceptions about how we make money). Instead, we partered with a national lender and work with their local retail operation. For our buyers, we’ve negotiated a below-market rate with no closing costs. In fact, we subsidize every loan (the opposite of making money).

On the settlement side, we work with local title companies who agree to our “rules” — no fees, no markups, default to standard coverage. We have no ownership interest in any title company, and have no ABAs. But since no one is used to a real estate company negotiating FOR the buyer, it takes a while for what we are doing to sink in.

Sawbuck ONLY makes money from real estate. After working with them during the early “search” phase, we refer our buyers to top local agents/teams we have identified in each community. We don’t charge agents to be our partner, and don’t charge for “leads”. We get paid our referral fee only when a qualified buyer meets a good agent and successfully buys a house. (Then we take a significant portion of that fee and plow it back into the mortgage subsidy.)

Our idea is that commissions are big enough to support a variety of benefits to buyers. Our goal is to turn the molehill of our referral fee into a mountain of savings for the buyer.

 

 Check out North American Land Transfer located in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania!

 

I found this interesting post about the importance of social networks for title professionals, real estate agents, etc. in a blog that appears to be hosted by Cornell University.  

With so much information available to consumers on the internet, the title industry can no longer remain standoffish.  The non-transparent approach to anything and everything has greatly weakened the public’s perception of the industry.

 

… if I could suggest ways to spread the word about title industry issues that have detrimental effects for consumers. 

It’s clear to me that blogging is the most powerful communication platform to ever exist. 

My Active Rain blog, For What it’s Worth, is read by countless numbers of real estate agents and loan professionals with voracious appetites for information. 

Blogging is not only an effective education tool, but an invaluable marketing and networking tool as well.  I’ve met more people though blogging than I could have met in any other way.  

Title blogger Tim Kane recently expressed his opinion of blogging by paying tribute to Rain City Guide founder, Dustin Luther.

Tim who blogs on RCG said: “thanks [Dustin] for introducing me to a way that a small fry can compete with the Goliaths.”

Scott Perry, Pennsylvania abstractor and occasional commenter on this site, has launched an Active Rain blog titled Bossman’s Blog.  In a very short time, Scott has provided volumes of great advice to a growing number of regular readers.

Active Rain is an on-line community of real estate professionals who strive to educate and motive each other.  Currently the site has well over 69,000 members and is expanding at an explosive rate.  It’s a legitimate cultural phenomena and a significant marketing opportunity for title agents with initiative. 

Scott’s decision to participate in the forum as an abstractor is a remarkable development that can produce only positive results.   As an industry, we need to become completely transparent.  We need to take everything that we know and put it online as quickly as possible.  The industry has created many of its own problems by allowing itself to be misunderstood for so long.  While it could be said that very few people understand title insurance and the work-product of title companies, even fewer have a clue about abstracting.

Scott’s blog holds the potential to educate untold numbers of real estate agents, loan officers, and consumers.  As long as Scott continues to write consistently, readers, when feasible, will insist that he search the titles to the orders they refer.  People will come to know Scott and to trust him.  More importantly, sources of business everywhere will eventually insist on locally prepared abstracts due to Scott’s blogging efforts and the similar efforts of others who are certain to follow.

Blogging is the future of title company marketing!  It’s time to get started!

There was a time when all title companies in Baltimore charged identical fees.  An equation was used that involved a percentage of a property’s selling price reduced by the published rate for the lender’s title policy.  An equally senseless approach was used for refinances.  It was a stunningly stupid practice that reflected a perception that title companies provide identical services.

The pricing model that emerged during the mid 1980’s and still employed today is a lasting monument to the title industry’s innate fear of real estate agents and loan originators:

The title company of tomorrow will understand that its products must reflect the tastes and personalities of its customers.  The time has come to tear down the old to begin building the new. It’s ridiculous to think that consumers aren’t going to search online for title companies.  That might be said of Baby Boomers, but it’s certainly not true of Gen X and Gen Y. 

You don’t sell title insurance, you sell trust in the form of an almost ritualistic experience.  You sell credibility in the form of homeownership without risk of litigation.  Price isn’t the primary factor when something as fundamental as homeownership is concerned.  The big players can’t seem to grasp this fact and never will because they don’t know who their customer is.  Real estate agents and loan officers “push” the price/convenience mix because it sounds good and requires little explanation.

Reinvent yourselves, but build from the ground up this time.  The inverted institution that is the title industry worships the middle man at the expense of the consumer.  The consumer is your customer.  The informed consumer will gravitate towards an exceptional title company that “gets it.”   Consumers are willing to pay more if they understand that a product is superior.  But, it’s up to you and you alone to tell them.   It’s not about your price, it’s about you.  

Are you starting to “get it” now? 

Related posts:

• Price Point
• How do you Price Your Product?
• Pricing your Product Revisited