Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people – William Butler Yeats
There is a saying in the marketing and communications business. Clients tell us what they want, and our job is to tell them what their customers need. This resonates with my team during these times.
Here are the biggest questions I have gotten in the last month (other than the obvious):
- How do we say what we are doing now – (and then there’s a pause…)
- …but first what is everyone else doing?
This is really uncharted territory that we’ve not faced in real estate marketing. In many cases, we have said and done what our clients’ leadership has asked. I have found every client is different because each company’s leadership is different. Different demographics, different geographies, different politics. But on a normal day, my job – and the job of my entire company – is to represent what the customers need, what they are feeling, what they will think is appropriate or, ultimately, what will they will respond to during this time.
Able&Co. is here to help you navigate your messaging and communication strategies during this time. I wholeheartedly believe that your homeowners, prospects, vendors and brand ambassadors want to hear from you and it’s ok to say what you are thinking, feeling and desire – just as you do on a normal day. Beware of watering down your message because you don’t know what tomorrow brings. That is every day that your brand is out in the universe.
As my friend David Baker said recently in his weekly email update, “The vast majority of us will be a little banged up, but just fine; some of us will be quite a bit poorer; but all of us will know what we’re made of. Let’s not forget that.”
Our team has been feverishly researching – first what other developers, builders and sales teams are doing. But secondly – just as important – we have been listening to the response of their customers and the consumer market, looking at analytics and online behaviors.
Here is what we have found:
