Credit: Ludie Cochrane on Flickr

First of all, Happy New Year to you and yours! We can only hope you’ve enjoyed a great start to 2012. For most of us New Years is a time to reflect on the past year’s accomplishments and failures. We take a look in the mirror and ask ourselves, “What can I do differently this year?”. The answer generally comes in the form of one of those tragically hopeful new year’s resolutions. Case in point, according to website Squidoo.com some of the most common 2012 resolutions included losing weight, stopping smoking and enjoying life more!

If you’re laughing right now I can’t really blame you. How can you eat less, exercise more, and expect to enjoy life more?

Jokes aside, we hope the following three r̶e̶s̶o̶l̶u̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶ suggestions help get you off to a great start this year…

1.  Forget resolutions. Resolutions are promises and we all know what they say about promises.  Instead focus on creating a checklist with goals, “I’m going to accomplish x, y or z this year.” A goal is a landmark helping guide your way. Resolutions are abstract and easily broken. Goals help you focus on clear objectives. Goals provide a sense of closure and clarity on what is and is not important to you. You’re not likely to check them all off; however, you will feel a sense of accomplishment knowing you got started by scratching out a few on the list. That ole’ post-resolution let down will be replaced with a renewed impetus to set and go after after new challenges without having to wait an entire year to do it.

2. Trim the fat and I don’t mean Weight Watchers. I’m referring to all the ‘mental’ weight that comes with managing social media and digital marketing in the new economy. Do you have five or more tabs open on your internet browser right now? Are you watching tweets all day and feel remiss if you don’t post that one final tweet before bedtime? Checking email every five minutes? Were you just on Facebook and forget why exactly you went there in the first place? Contrary to popular belief we are NOT good multitaskers. Take a look at how you spend your time (the most valuable currency) each day. What activities are netting results that equal $ and/or a better quality of life for you and others around you? Find and focus more time on fruitful activities by trimming down on those other distractions in your life.

3. Ask for help. If you want to work out more, is the solution to buy a treadmill or find a find a work-out buddy? The treadmill inevitably ends up in the basement while the buddy keeps you motivated when the  motivation just isn’t there most days. If for years you’ve been telling yourself, “I’m going to do more this type of marketing in 20xx!”, get help and get going. If that means real estate video marketing, find a local videographer or filmmaker who can take the burden off you and help get it done this year not next. Better yet, call us at WellcomeMat headquarters (303.499.0589) and we’ll find a video pro for you.

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This year instead of trying to stop doing something you really enjoy (i.e, eating delicious food, swiping plastic, ignoring relatives), set goals and then work backwards on steps to accomplish each goal. Ask yourself, “What efforts are going to make the highest impact on my business while serving my customers best interests?”

I think you know our answer. Good luck!

Internet Marketing Analyst eMarketer reported yesterday that 39% of companies expect spending on electronic branded content to rise in 2012 and the average company spending on custom branded content has reached its highest level ever.

The primary motivation for creating branded content among a plurality of companies (49%) is to educate customers.

For the uninitiated, Wikipedia defines branded content as the following…

“A relatively new form of advertising medium that blurs conventional distinctions between what constitutes advertising and what constitutes entertainment. Branded content is essentially a fusion of the two into one product intended to be distributed as entertainment content, albeit with a highly branded quality. Unlike conventional forms of entertainment content, branded content is generally funded entirely by a brand or corporation rather than, for example, a movie studio or a group of producers. Branded entertainment is used in events and installations, film, video games, music, the internet, and television.”

Unfortunately marketers sometimes take the wrong approach. Many consumers see branded content as information with a bias towards that particular brand’s service or product. In one example, imagine you’re reading a magazine article when you suddenly notice the words, ‘Paid for Advertisement’ stealthily listed atop the page. What’s your next move?

While the chances of creating negative consumer sentiment exist, branded content has the potential to be a our (the consumer) best source of quality information and a your (the real estate agent, brokerage) most powerful ally. In order to be effective you just have to create create content that focuses on the needs and wants of your audience.

Some of the best examples of branded content often don’t involve the brand at all. Take for example Louis Vuitton (LVMH). In 2010 LVMH launched NOWNESS, a site dedicated to previewing the latest in fashion, art, cinema, entertainment, culture, music, gastronomy, design, travel, and the world of luxury. NOWNESS indirectly supports the LVMH brand by showing support for contributors representing the ideals of the brand. LVHM seeds the site with great content allowing you to formulate your own opinion of their brand. To quote Nima Abbasi, founding partner of Syndicate Media Group, “It’s a mix of editorial and video with a distinct, independent point of view that you can’t get anywhere else – and that’s what consumers are craving.”

Elle Fanning: Rodarte’s Muse on Nowness.com.

What makes for compelling content? As David Martin eloquently points out this Forbes article, “Instead of creating branded content, we actually need to focus on doing something far more fun.  Let’s first and foremost tell a story.  Let’s tell a story with conflict, and characters and tension and resolution.  We may not be able to force consumers to watch our ads, but what we can do is create something that is so compelling that consumers will feel a need to watch it.  And if we really get our story right, we might even make them want to share it with their friends.”

How can branded content be used by those of us in the real estate market? Over the next few weeks the WellcomeMat blog will highlight real estate brokerages we consider best of breed when it comes to creating branded content. In the meantime, here are a few seeds to get you thinking where you could begin creating your own branded content:

1. Real estate agents and brokerages have always been in the ‘pole position” when it comes to local marketing. You’re in this position because you work with small businesses and community members on the local level. Consider how much knowledge exists collectively between you and your organization. Find a way to free it. Consumers will find it.

2. When searching for a place to move, the consumer seeks as much knowledge as possible on the neighborhood(s) and surrounding areas under review. They want what a lot more than what’s being offered in the form of listings (see #1). A point fully supported in a recent study by Nabewise which found “82% of consumers said neighborhood was “as important” or “more important” than the property they were buying or renting.”

3. The individuals (and companies) who focus on being an information source by publishing unique content stand the best chance of winning new business now and into the future.

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So what do you think? Is branded content is the new game in town? What companies do you recognize as good story tellers? Who out there goes beyond the listing?