Our new president Barack Obama can sell a lot of things. He sold the nation on his taking the Oval Office. His image alone sells newspapers, magazines, commemorative plates and coins, t-shirts, posters, wrapping paper, and a whole bunch of wacky items, too. But, can Barack Obama sell real estate?
Judging by his oratory powers alone, I’d say yes. However, the more important question is…
Can Barack Obama help you sell real estate?
Now, if you haven’t already done so (heaven forbid!) take a moment and read this agentgenius article on how the porn industry leveraged buzz over the bailouts to create a lot of attention and publicity.
By jumping into people’s conversations surrounding the federal bailouts of the bank and auto industries, the porn industry was able to infiltrate and turn that exact same conversation to themselves… and sell a few more DVDs.
So, the big buzz right now is Obama and the presidential inauguration. Folks, this is a prime conversation that’s already out there that you can leverage for website traffic and hopefully get a few new clients to boot.
Take a look at how these businesses have captured the buzz:
The website move-moron.com was able to enter the public’s conversation around the Obama presidency with this post on top movie presidents.
Known as a source for social media news, mashable.com leveraged the Obama conversation for traffic and views with this article on the White House’s use of Twitter.
Again, movie-moron.com jumped into the conversation with this article on Obama’s favorite movies.
Here we see that cracked.com, known for it’s off-beat humor and stories, leveraged the Obama conversation by highlighting some the more odd pieces of Obama merchandise.
theonion.com is famous for it’s fake news stories. With this non-news story were able to draw traffic and page views.
You may have noticed that each site covers niche content that, at first glance, have nothing to do with national presidential affairs. But, they looked at the most prominent conversation in the nation and found an angle that matched the Obama buzz with their audience.
From a real estate perspective, you could run with stories like these:
- Homes of the Ex-Presidents
- Selling the White House. It’s Fair Market Value.
- Staging the White House Obama Style
What real estate spins can you find in the presidency?
Missy Caulk
January 26, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Wow, this is great. I actually did hear that news story on the porn guy trying to get bail out money. It was so ridiculous I let it go right over my head about what a great marketing tactic that was.
Need to pay more attention.
Marvin Jensen
January 26, 2009 at 1:59 pm
I was thinking about this earlier this morning. How would I use this for selling real estate in Salt Lake City? Maybe:
“Top 10 Reason Obama like the Salt Lake real estate market after his stimulas package kicks in?” I like this…
Laura Cannon
January 26, 2009 at 11:14 pm
I don’t know if I understand this article. Is this a joke?
Laura Cannon
January 26, 2009 at 11:27 pm
. . .scratch that, sorry. I just learned what guerrilla marketing is.
Mark Eckenrode
January 27, 2009 at 11:41 am
@missy: agreed, Flynt’s appeal for a bailout does seem pretty ridiculous but, Flynt is a master of PR and he did a great job of harnessing the conversation and the turbulence to bring attention to himself.
most often, the best marketing ideas come from outside the industry.
@marvin: you’re on the right track, tying in the buzz of the stimulus package and what it means to local homeowners and investors. run with it 🙂
@laura: if it was a joke, it’d probably be funnier with a proper set-up, which is in this article.
the idea here is to tap into the dominant conversation inside your market rather than trying to start a new one. after all, the market’s already shown that this is what they want to talk about. once you tap into it, you can then add yourself to the buzz for increased visibility.