Houston Real Estate Blog

From the monthly archives:

July 2009

Live Chat for Houston Real Estate Firm is HUGE Success!

July 15, 2009

In just over 2 short weeks since its launch, John Daugherty, Realtors’ on-line Live Chat is a huge success. Our clients have been enjoying the convenience and instant access that it gives them to our agents. Meanwhile, our agents are embracing this technology as a great business generating tool of both buyers and sellers. In fact, many agents are staying logged on to assist web site visitors who want to “chat” way after normal business hours.

Darren Moore, our Web Marketing/IT Manager, has lead the charge in offering this unique feature to visitors of our web site, as well providing training and guidance to our agents in order to convert live chatting into live real estate transactions. The success of this program continues to increase with each passing day.

John Daugherty, Realtors is the first real estate company in Houston to offer Live Chat, proving once again that we stay on the cutting edge in terms of the latest technology and services that we provide to our clients. As a company, we are committed to evolving with the changing technology, while utilizing all viable marketing channels in order to maximize the exposure that we give to all of our listings. At the same time, many buyers and sellers are being lured by our advanced marketing expertise and use of various social media platforms in highlighting the extraordinary services that we give to our clients.

We recognize the significant impact that these technological changes are having on the real estate industry as a whole. As for the relocation industry, the impact is equally apparent. The use of social media and Internet marketing in lieu of traditional print advertising has become a very hot topic at global relocation conferences and among relocation professionals in general.

As it happens, less than 5% of our business is generated as a result of print advertising. In contrast, about 80% or so of our clients begin their real estate buying or selling process on the Internet. As such, we are becoming more and more Internet-centric in our marketing strategies and capturing more of this business as a result.

Live Chat is just one of the many new features that we have planned for our web site in order to better serve our clients. Many new and exciting additions are currently in the works, so please check back often and stay tuned for details.

For now, I encourage you to visit our web site at www.johndaugherty.com to learn more about our company and innovative marketing style. While there, please check out our Live Chat.

The Decline of Traditional Advertising & the Rise of Social Media

July 8, 2009

By: Michelle Sandlin
Director of Global Relocation Services

There has been so much talk in the past year or so regarding the rapid decline of traditional advertising in favor of on-line marketing strategies. Brian Solis, in his popular blog PR 2.0, posted a blog today based on a report from Forrester Research that I think sums the situation up nicely. In general, he says that, “advertising in traditional media will continue to decline in favor of less expensive, more effective interactive tools and services.”

He adds, “Dollars that are moving away from traditional advertising are now allocated towards “un” marketing activities that will earn stature, credibility and ultimately empower a more confident group of influential advocates through investments in innovation, research, customer services, customer experiences, and marketing-specific technology and IT staff.”

This report is certainly in keeping with what John Daugherty, Realtors knows to be the changing rules with regards to marketing methods within the real estate industry. As always, as a company, we continue to embrace and implement our interactive, on-line marketing strategies to reflect this technological evolution.

Last week we launched Live Chat on our web site, which has already met with much success. And, you wouldn’t believe all of the really cool things that we have planned for the near future. All I can say at this stage, is that I would recommend that you continually visit www.johndaugherty.com on a frequent basis. Our web marketing/IT manager, Darren Moore is leading the charge and has many innovative strategies in mind to achieve our goals. All of this will greatly enhance our ability to serve our clients in ways that not only set us apart from our competition, but position us many steps above and beyond. Our efforts so far have already proven to attract many fans and followers from real estate companies outside of the Houston market that are looking to emulate our strategies and approach.

These innovations are also bringing significant benefits to our local clients who are looking for up-to-date real estate market information, and to those individuals looking for Houston relocation information. We know that traditional advertising is fastly becoming a thing of the past, and that newer methodologies are the key to our future success.

Furthermore, we are focused on listening to our clients’ needs and are responding by delivering the information that they want to have in the ways that they say want it. To accomplish this, we are utilizing various resources and all available marketing channels.

To read Brian’s Blog, click on the link below:
The Decline of Traditional Advertising and the Rise of Social Media

New pilot program passed for property tax appeals, interesting!

July 7, 2009

On June 19, 2009, Governor Perry signed into law House Bill 3612 (“HB 3612”), which establishes a new appeals option for those with property valued over $1 million. View the entire article at: http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=10555.

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