Leaders of Realtor associations have a daunting task.
In addition to serving a demanding membership base, they now face existential uncertainties ranging from industry lawsuits to questions over the future of the Realtor Three-way Agreement. Stir in economic uncertainty, higher interest rates and lower sales and you have a perfect storm that makes a difficult leadership job even trickier.
Bluntly stated, that’s a mistake.
Many associations unfortunately don’t do a good job of selling themselves, preferring to wait to act until the legal picture becomes less murky.
Atop the association leadership to-do list should be aggressively selling the value Realtor associations bring to practitioners and consumers. And yes, it’s time to expend the resources to do it now.
Four points to consider in this time of uncertainty:
- Tell your best story: In absence of a narrative, a narrative will be created for you. If you don’t have a list of what you bring to your members, drop everything and write one now. From networking to MLS to training, associations play a role in making sure the market works best for all. This list should be prominent on an association’s website, should be used to guide email campaigns and newsletters.
- Humanize the message: Your members are your best ambassadors. Use their words in print and in video to tell why they see value in the association and how it has made a difference in their careers. A list of value propositions is a starting point, but having practitioners in a relational business sell your value is priceless.
- Be relentless: Effective messaging is not one and done. Effective messaging is consistent and repetitive in a non-repetitive way. By that I mean you are telling the story in different ways but stressing the same attribute.
- Audit your communications and marketing efforts: Do you have the internal horsepower to get your message out? Can you generate a weekly newsletter that connects with members and is not just a cut-and-paste from the previous week? Are your social channels well populated? Is your homepage the same as it was two years ago? If there ever is a time to look at additional resources to tell your story, this is it.
As an association leader you can’t predict the future, but you can best position your organization to meet whatever challenges emerge in the months ahead. Investing now will pay dividends.
Jon K. Broadbooks is founder of White Blaze Strategies, a non-profit association communications and marketing firm. He has two decades of media experience and more than a dozen years in real estate organizations. He can be reached at [email protected].