November 13, 2024Chapters:
- 00:00:00 – Welcome to the episode and introduction of guest, Matt Wagner
- 00:01:00 – Matt’s background and expertise in real estate branding through media
- 00:02:30 – Success stories with exclusive market approaches
- 00:04:15 – Insights on navigating current real estate market challenges
- 00:08:15 – Effective media strategies for real estate agents
- 00:10:05 – Leveraging Google reviews for brand credibility
- 00:12:10 – Importance of robust follow-up systems
- 00:13:45 – Strategies for driving online traffic from traditional media
- 00:20:20 – Building lasting brand awareness through consistent media presence
- 00:24:10 – Lessons from political advertising in real estate marketing
- 00:25:35 – Why radio advertising remains relevant today
- 00:26:35 – Using nostalgia in media for audience connection
- 00:27:30 – Identifying compelling voices and influencers in media
- 00:28:25 – Story behind Barbara Corcoran partnership and its marketing power
- 00:35:55 – Importance of quality production in media campaigns
- 00:41:05 – Key tips for real estate agents aspiring to grow their business
- 00:44:40 – Closing thoughts and how to connect with Matt Wagner
Links and Resources:
- Reside Platform
- Suneet Agarwal on LinkedIn
- Reside Platform Website
- Matt on LinkedIn
- Radio and Television Experts
Episode breakdown: making radio advertising work for a real estate team
Matt Wagner runs Radio and Television Experts, which helps top agents advertise on radio and TV, usually with one client per market. He has worked in radio and TV advertising for more than 20 years, and Suneet Agarwal is a current client. Recorded on Halloween 2024, a week before the election, their conversation covers what separates agents who are winning in a slow market and how traditional media now feeds a buyer’s or seller’s online search.
Add Google reviews steadily, not in bursts
When a client says radio isn’t working, the first thing Matt checks is their Google review count. He says reviews have to keep coming in. People he has talked to who know Google well told him that when new reviews stop, Google assumes the business is slowing down and starts taking reviews away. Contests that produce 30 reviews in a week don’t help either, because Google notices.
Make it a goal for your agents to add at least one or two a day. That’s sustainable.
Matt Wagner
One a day adds up to 30 more a month. Matt also tells clients to look at the photos on their Google profile. Consumers want to see the team and happy clients, not a wall of houses. He once checked a client who complained about results and found 15 reviews and a 3.8-star rating. He asked whether the client would eat at a restaurant with those numbers.
Use radio to drive search, then make the next click easy
Radio used to make the phone ring. Today, Matt says, it mostly drives Google searches. People don’t write down vanity phone numbers anymore, so the ad sends them to search, then to reviews, then to the website. That means the whole path has to hold up. The call to action should be easy to find online, and the website should match the offer in the ad.
If the ad is aimed at sellers, Matt wants a homeowner to be able to find their home’s value in less than 30 seconds, not scroll through listings. At one mastermind, he had agents pull up a large iBuyer’s website, with its clear offer and testimonials at the top, and then have a neighbor search for them. The contrast pushed many of them to simplify. He also compares tracking website activity to having a camera in your store. If hundreds of people walk in and nobody buys, the problem isn’t the advertising.
Set a follow-up standard before you add traffic
Matt says the top agents doing well in this market all have good follow-up systems, scripts and dialogue, and they work their database consistently. Suneet’s advice for any team that wants better follow-up is to set a standard first and then hold people to it. In his experience, the problems are agents not using the CRM correctly and leaders not holding people to the expectations.
You can either step up or step out.
Matt Wagner
Build a relationship with the on-air talent
Matt made Suneet promise to go meet the station’s host in person. Listeners treat a morning host like a friend. When that host clearly knows and likes you, the ad turns into an endorsement. Listeners stop saying they heard your ad and start saying they heard the host talking to you. Matt says callers rarely say it’s the first time they’ve heard the agent. More often they say they’ve been hearing them for years.
Station choice matters as much as the ad. Matt says people listen to radio to be entertained, informed or comforted, and classic rock stations grew during the pandemic because people wanted comfort. He looks for voices that move people to act.
There’s a difference between being interesting and compelling.
Matt Wagner
How the Barbara Corcoran campaign came together
About ten years ago, facing a competing event the same week as his mastermind, Matt emailed Barbara Corcoran and asked her to speak. After the event she told him his audience looked like agents she would hire, and the TV campaign followed. The hard part was production. One producer quoted half a million dollars for a day. A third, Chris Strand, planned it like a wedding, so a production that normally costs around $70,000 runs agents roughly $1,500 to $3,000. Agents fly to New York and film with her, which Matt credits for the campaign still running a decade later.
Key takeaways for team leaders
- Ask each agent for one or two Google reviews a day instead of running review contests.
- Put your team and happy clients in your Google profile photos.
- Walk the path a listener takes, from search to reviews to website, and make the offer clear.
- Set and inspect a follow-up standard before you spend more on traffic.
- If you advertise on radio, get to know the host, and pick voices that are compelling, not just interesting.
- Judge brand advertising over years, not by last month’s call count.
