Ronda Van Billiard has the most eye-catching nametag in the room. While it sports her name and company logo, as would be expected, there’s something else: a matrix of black dots that form a two-dimensional image known as a QR code. Short for Quick Response Code, the code allows any smart phone user with a QR Reader to scan Van Billiard’s nametag and automatically receive her business card via their phone’s browser.
A Realtor at her table at the Women’s Council of Realtors luncheon pulls out her cell phone and scans Van Billiard’s nametag. Seconds later, the business card appears on her phone, and she bookmarks it.
It’s a neat trick. Van Billiard doesn’t have to fish for business cards, or apologize for having run out, and once her contact bookmarks her card, she’ll never lose it. It’s also an effective conversation starter.
But mobile marketing has far more potential than serving as a means of distributing contact information. Through Van Billiard’s company, Fortune Marketing, a Realtor can easily build a database of contacts, and then market directly to those potential clients.
Van Billiard explains: “I have a two-part program designed specifically for Realtors. One part of the program is the virtual business card. When you scan my nametag, or text ‘Ronda’ to 72727, you’ll receive my business card. When you text me, I receive your name and phone number, and can add you to my contacts. That connects us.”
Once someone is in a Realtor’s database, the agent can send audio, video, pictures, listing information, open house announcements, and more to that person. Since federal law mandates a person must opt-in to be a part of a mobile advertising effort, everyone on the contact list has chosen to be a part of it, meaning the Realtor is marketing his or her products or properties to the people who want the information.
“When someone no longer wants to be on your contact list, they simply reply ‘stop,’ and they’re automatically removed,” Van Billiard says.
The process is simple, but has profound implications for how advertising works. Instead of the line of communication being one-way, mobile marketing creates a two-way street on which messages and consumer needs can be exchanged.
“Most advertising is one-way. You place a yard sign by the road, and hope someone sees it. But you’ll never know who’s seen it. Mobile marketing doesn’t travel in one direction; information goes back and forth. It creates a dialogue and a relationship,” Van Billiard says.
The second part of Fortune Marketing’s program for Realtors also utilizes QR codes and text messaging, but in a way designed to replace the brochures traditionally placed in yard signs on properties. Instead of using printed materials, an agent can place a sign with a QR code and a number to text on a property, and when a potential buyer either scans the code or sends a text, he or she will instantly receive information about the listing.
Before a Realtor places the yard sign on the property, he or she goes into what Van Billiard calls the “back office,” where the agent pulls information from the MLS and automatically places it on a mobile website assigned to that QR code and text number. When potential buyers scan the code on the sign, the website will appear a few seconds later, complete with photos, videos, home specs, Realtor contact information, open house dates, and more.
“You can even look at other properties with matching criteria,” says Van Billiard.
Realtors can also be notified via their smart phone the moment someone scans the code, allowing them to call the potential client while her or she standing in front of the listing.
“One of the biggest complaints homebuyers have is being unable to see a home when they want to see it. So, if I’m a Realtor, and I know someone is standing in front of one of my listings, I can call them, introduce myself, and show them the property as soon as possible,” Van Billiard says.
Even better, Realtors can use the signs again and again by going into the back office and assigning the QR code and text number to a different listing.
Van Billiard sells different packages, each offering a different number of signs, although she will sell just one sign to a Realtor if that’s what he or she needs. Regardless of the package, all of her customers receive their own smart phone application. The app is downloaded from the agent’s mobile website and is fully configurable, down to the look of the icon placed on the end user’s phone.
“You can use a picture of you, or your logo,” Van Billiard says. “Then, whenever your clients want to see your new listings, they have your app on their phone, and it will take them directly to your mobile site.”
Although not a Realtor, Van Billiard has worked in real estate marketing for many years. And she’s ready to help agents in Chattanooga test the waters of mobile marketing.
“My company is a local, woman-owned business. Plus, I have 25 years of advertising experience. That makes me a professional who understands what you do and knows how to help you here, in this market. That’s better than going online and ordering these services from a generic provider.”
To contact Van Billiard, text “Ronda” to 72727.