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Imprev Rolls Out Thought Leader Survey Results [Professional Services Close - Up](Professional Services Close - Up Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) According to the Imprev 2014 Thought Leader Survey, the vast majority of top real estate executives say that consumers view their local real estate company brand more favorably than real estate portals Zillow, Trulia and realtor.com Imprev noted that it released this and other results of its 2014 Thought Leader Survey on July 15. The firm reported in a release that sixty-nine percent of real estate leaders surveyed think consumers view their company's brand more favorably than Trulia, 64 percent said consumers viewed their company's brand more favorably than Zillow, and 63 percent said consumers viewed their company's brand more favorably than realtor.com. Fewer than one-in-five executives think consumers view Zillow, Trulia or realtor.com more favorably than their brokerage's brand. The 2014 Imprev Thought Leader Survey, conducted in June, polled top executives at leading real estate franchises and independent brokerage firms that were responsible for more than one-third of all U.S. residential real estate transactions last year. This year's Thought Leader Survey focused on the value of brand, the interaction between brands (agent, local, company, franchise, and portal brands) as well as how real estate leaders manage their brands. "Real estate executives believe that the 'consistency' of their brand is highly valuable to their business, with 88 percent percent ranking it an 8 or higher on a scale of 1 to 10," said Renwick Congdon, CEO of Imprev. "Just 5 percent percent gave it a ranking of 3 or lower." Other key 2014 Imprev Thought Leader Survey findings: The number one brand challenge faced by real estate leaders: "Keeping their brand relevant to today's consumer" was the top challenge (25 percent), closely followed by "Cost to maintain brand awareness" (24 percent), "Achieving brand consistency across all channels" (21 percent), and "Getting agents to embrace your brand promise," which ranked fourth (19 percent). Marketing tools and technology top competitive differentiator: When asked to select five competitive differentiators that "help your business most," "Marketing tools & technology" was selected by the most respondents (87 percent), surpassing "productivity of agents" (84 percent), "brand" (83 percent), "culture" (81 percent) and "training programs" (72 percent), which rounded out the Top 5. "Leads generated for agents" ranked 7th with 58 percent. Which brand impacts consumer perception more? When asked which brand has the greatest impact on how the consumer perceives their brand, 37 percent of executives responding said Company brand had the greatest impact on consumer perception, followed by Local brand (34 percent) and Franchise brand (25 percent). Just 6 percent of real estate executives said the portals (such as Zillow, Trulia) have a major impact how consumers view their brand. Facebook emerges as a brand promotion tool: Facebook tied with Agent Websites as the second most common tool used by real estate firms to promote their brand (87 percent), according to the top executives surveyed. Company Websites top the ranking (96 percent), with Email marketing (79 percent) and direct mail (64 percent), the other most mentioned brand promotion tools. The top marketing tool real estate firms provide their agents to promote their brand? Old-school printed material (flyers, brochures) topped the list with 90 percent, followed by agent websites (89 percent) and training (88 percent). More than two in three firms provide their agents with online marketing software (69 percent), but one in three provide agents with 1990s technology -- Desktop Publishing software -- to create marketing material. 'Brand conflict' a business challenge for real estate execs: More than 100 survey respondents shared their personal views about the potential conflicts between franchise, portal, company, local, team, and agent brands. Among the most common concerns: Portals making brokerage firms 'pay to get our own leads;' the growing power of teams and agents who want to promote their individual brands; and inaccurate data on the portals impacting their brand. Imprev provides real estate companies with marketing solutions. Survey information: www.imprev.com/report/2014ThoughtLeaderReport.pdf. More information: www.imprev.com ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) (c) 2014 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |