Launch Playbook v.1

Quarterback:_____________________________

What the heck is a Spring Launch Playbook?It’s a handy guide for bringing Spring (the greatest market-level real estate portal in the universe) to your market. This document is intended to be an informal guide to walking your organization through all the meetings, strategy sessions, pre-launch meetings, launch event and long-term maintenance stages you’ll face during the process.

Why did we write this?Because launching Spring is complicated. It’s not as simple as turning on a new website and 1) hoping your members and their clients notice and 2) actually use it. This is a team effort with many participants at each stage - each with their own unique set of needs and assumptions.

There are dozens of considerations that need to be addressed along the way. This document is a compilation of items we believe deserve close attention - along with some friendly advice based on our experiences.

Who should read this?We hope that this document will act as a reference point for strategic discussions. AEs, MLS Staff, Directors and MLS/Tech Committees are the intended audience.

We ask respectfully that you limit the exposure of this document to that small group of people.

We’ll start The Playbook with a set of potential barriers that threaten to halt a Spring launch before it even gets started. Let’s see who’s on the team.

The Locker Room: Getting Started

Below is a list of all the people/groups involved in a Spring launch project. Each of these people have concerns, needs and expectations about a public portal but may not always be in the room when decisions are made. It’s important that these groups be considered as the process moves along to prevent surprises and/or problems.

DirectorsThe greatest asset to the project. A BoD that’s convinced of the strategic value of a public portal can make decisions quickly and confidently. They expect to be informed regularly on progress and require high-level information on features and potential problems before they arise. Real estate industry consultants and any analytics (i.e. ROI material, best practices) from industry colleagues helps drive early discussion.

MLS CommitteeSpring is a public portal first and in most cases will mature into the preferred MLS platform as usage grows and pro-level features become available. The MLS Committee is most concerned with seeing that aspect move forward step-by-step. A public site along with the “no cutover” approach to the next MLS platform will resonate with this group, but the timeline that shows when it becomes the MLS is what they’re really after.

Organization StaffEvery product release has a project manager; the person we’re calling The Quarterback. Because of the nature of our client organizations, this job usually falls on the Organization Staff. A Spring launch will need almost constant nurturing and this person will have to drop many current duties and be the point person to see the public portal from early discussion all the way to ordering food for the launch party. This document is mostly written to help this person stay sane during this process.

The Team: Coaches & Trainers

Technology Partners (Solid Earth)Spring not only represents a huge leap in technology, it’s also changing how we all think about our business. Solid Earth has always been a close partner, but the complexity of launching Spring raises the intensity of that relationship. On-site strategy meetings and weekly progress meetings are essential. Solid Earth has a Spring Implementation Team ready to step in and help your organization’s Quarterback (mentioned above) move the project along on a weekly basis.

Marketing TeamThe advertising/marketing experts hired to build (or re-build) the organization’s brand and supporting collateral metarial. They’ll need a heavy dose of MLS 101 before they begin work. Avoid setting them free on the project before they completely understand the nature of the industry and the strategic goals of the organization.

MembersThe second level of consumer for the public site is the organization’s membership. Because Spring is a public site, a mobile site and likely the future MLS, communicating effectively (and winning hearts and minds) among the membership is a top priority. An excellent marketing campaign is only the beginning. Engage them early and feed them a steady flow of information to keep them interested and part of the process. Engage them long-term with analytics and social media interaction to keep them interested and spreading the good news.

General PublicThe first level of consumer for the public site. Very similar to the organization’s membership in terms of the importance of engagement and maintaining interest. A positive experience and word-of-mouth will create the desired traffic and insure success long-term. Just as with the membership, a marketing campaign can only go so far. Long-term social media interaction is critical.

The Team: Players & Fans

Problem One: [Politics] “A MLS-run site competes with MY company site”

Spring is a public-facing portal for searching and researching property data within a given market. That fact alone may be a problem for some organizations where the idea of a MLS-sponsored search environment may be seen as a negative by one or more broker members. So, the first obvious hurdle will be a convincing pro-public portal argument within the walls of the local organization’s Board of Directors. Put simply, the organization as a whole must come to the conclusion that a public portal is a good thing.

To successfully navigate this conversation, we suggest becoming intimately familiar with both sides of the issue. Specifically, calling on those in our industry who have been down this road already. There are numerous resources for gathering information, but there are also people who have been in your position and will help if you just ask. Below are some of the most visible and well-respected proponents of the MLS-driven public portal who will be happy to help:

• Mike Audet, Marilyn Wilson, Victor Lund - WAV Group Consulting• Kevin McQueen - Focus Forward Consulting• Rebecca Jensen/Steve Allen - UtahRealEstate.com• Bob Hale/Rene Galvan - Houston Association of REALTORS

The Huddle: What could stop us?

Problem Two: [Financial] “We can’t afford to market a public site”

Shortly after your group agrees that a public portal is the way to go, someone will probably ask if the budget is healthy enough to execute it. This is a great question.

A public-facing portal can only be successful when the intended audience is aware of its existence. This seems pretty obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many people live by the “if you build it they will come” mindset. The Internet is a big place with thousands of pages related to real estate alone. Just placing yet another resource for real estate data out there will not guarantee the millions of pageviews you expect.

This is a real and challenging marketing problem and it requires the help of professionals. This work is important and there are talented, experienced people in your own back yards that can help.

A marketing campaign doesn’t have to be outrageously expensive, but it will cost something. Small to mid-sized markets can expect to pay a local marketing/advertising company between $10,000-$40,000 for a comprehensive 3-6 month campaign to inform the public of your new, wonderful real estate search portal.

Research these companies. Interview them. Ask for references and call them. Then choose carefully. You’re entrusting them with your brand.

The Huddle: What could stop us?

Problem Three: [Financial] “OK, can we afford long-term marketing?”

Even if you have room in the budget to create a great campaign to tell the public in your market about the new and improved public site, that’s only the beginning. What about maintaining that brand position over time?

Marketing now requires constant exposure of the brand on social media as well. Is the organization equipped to not only introduce the brand, but also provide consistent exposure from now on? What resources in the current budget needs to shift to accommodate this?

Now the fun part. With the potential deal-killers out of the way, it’s time to pull thetrigger on a public portal and start building the brand. Ready... BREAK!

The Huddle: What could stop us?

Branding is... “The marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products”

When having a strategic discussion about creating (or re-creating) a brand for the organization, it’s easy to race out in front of some aspects that need careful, detailed consideration. A good place to start is with a simple question.

“Why are we building (re-building) a public site?”

This is a great strategic conversation starter. There are several answers to this simple question and none of them are wrong. Listen for answers that reinforce the overall vision. Listen for those that aren’t convinced it’s still a good idea and help the group talk this through. Listen for keywords that might be used in your marketing. You’ll get the sense of just how many people see a site like this from wide-ranging view points.

Here’s another great introductory question that needs to be asked.

“When it’s up and running, who will use the public portal?

Another great conversation starter. Yes, the members and public will use it. What about real estate investors? What about affiliates? Are there other people/groups that may want services (data feeds, analytics reports) out there that aren’t currently being offered?

The brand that’s created will need to be friendly and inviting to all these intended users - and above all not threatening or alienating to them.

Set the Strategy: What’s the Brand?

Set the Strategy: What are we missing?A few more questions to consider...

• What are the short-term and long-term goals of your organization?• Partnering with a smaller, adjacent board?• Partnering with an adjacent larger board?• Do you currently have a recognizable brand in your market? Is it successful? How do you know?• Is the current brand capable of carrying the message(s) of the new site or does a new brand need to

be established?• Does the community know the unique value proposition members (the trusted local professionals)

offer to the market? How can you educate them?• What are the current methods for communicating with the membership and the community? How

successful are they?• Is there a need for a communication overhaul?• Is there a current social media strategy? How successful is it? How do you know?

Educating the membership

The membership will see Spring as just another public portal unless informed of its key differences. Spring is responsive design (any device, any browser) so it’s the Mobile solution they’ve been waiting for. Spring is a lead-generating monster. They should never pay for leads again, period. Spring is full of detailed information like tax data, demographics and school information (in most areas).

It’s also expected going to grow into the becoming the MLS over time: the “single-point-of-access for both consumer and pro” message is something to emphasize with the members. So communicating with the members that “Spring is coming” is certainly important, but communicating what Spring brings above and beyond what they may be accustomed to is just as important.

Strugging with engaging your membership? Meghan Weinrich from the Charleston-Trident Association of REALTORS is so good at it, she’s been given awards from NAR. Go ahead. Ask her for advice. She’s happy to help.

meghan@charlestonrealtors.com

Here are some talking points that might prove useful in your communication:

Spring Value Proposition

Spring is a real estate data platform. It is also a consumer/professional relationship facilitation portal.

It is a toolbox to be used by real estate professionals and consumers to share a unique, positive and affirming experience with one central goal - to make the buying and selling of real property simpler, more direct and focused on underscoring the value of the real estate professional to the process.

Calling The Play: Communicating

Spring Talking PointsMobility: Spring is the first and currently only completely new platform focused on mobility; “any device, any browser”.

Lead Generating Engine: At its most basic level, Spring is a lead-generating factory designed to bring the consumer and the professional together as quickly and comfortably as possible. “You should never pay for leads again”, is a statement that any broker or agent will instantly find interesting!

PRM (Property Relationship Manager): In Spring, the marriage of public records and MLS data make the full lifespan of the property the focus of the data as opposed to only the sales instances of that property

Game-changing Analytics: MLS information only tells a part of the story of a property’s lifespan and Spring will provide deep analytics to real estate professionals (and friendly yet limited-access to the consumer) as the industry shifts into an environment where a professional’s role will be that of a market expert, marketing analyst and process strategist

An attractive bolt-on opportunity: Client organizations need not purchase “all or nothing” with Spring. Spring can grow slowly along side a legacy product allowing an organization wishing to avoid mass upheaval among membership to offer Spring to eager early adopters

Complete Ad Network: Ad Revenue will be supplemental to the Spring business model and allow for meaningful revenue share opportunities back to the client organization

Built on an Application Programming Interface (API): Solid Earth maintains relationships with 27 outside vendors; all of whom access the underlying database. The API will allow the MLS organization to not only better regulate and police this flow of information but potentially monetize its distribution.

Educating the community

The marketing agency should have this aspect of the project under control. It cannot be overemphasized that they will need a deep education in the industry as a whole, what the goals are for the organization and an understanding of Spring itself before embarking on a marketing campaign to the general public.

Engaging and maintaining the brand in front of the general public will require more than just a marketing campaign, which is by definition only temporary. This is a good time to ask some questions about the current state of the marketing efforts of the organization.

Does your organization have a Blog? A Facebook page? A Twitter account? Are these channels successful? How can you tell? Are efforts underway to increase the readership of these channels among membership AND the public?

Calling The Play: Communication

Pre-Launch Checklist (In order)

1) Site Title/Customer Name: The public site needs a title. This could be an existing brand or a part of the new branding/marketing efforts. A title might be the organizations acronym which is the URL itself, (such as HAR.com) or it might be a combination of the organization’s full name and URL (such as BuyInMississippi.com).

Choosing a name will lead you directly to the next step. Often, these steps happen at the same time.

2) Domain/subdomain name: In some cases, a domain name already exists and Spring simply replaces the current iteration of the public portal. If this is not the case, the organization will have to choose and register a domain where Spring will be published.

It’s a good idea to consider the domain as a representation of the organization strategic goals both now and in the future.

3)SSLCertification:When a SSL Certificate is installed on a web server, it activates a padlock (the https:// protocol) and allows secure connections from a web server to a browser. Spring must have a SSL Certificate and Solid Earth will handle the purchase and implementation of the SSL.

4) Horizontal version of corporate logo: If part of the implementation process for Spring is a new brand image, a logo will probably be a part of the deliverables from the marketing company. If that’s the case, Solid Earth will need a finished version of the new logo as soon as it becomes available.

We can work directly with the marketing company on sizes and file types. If the current logo is sufficient, we simply need that file as soon as possible so work can begin on the layout of the main page.

Calling The Play: Setting assignments

5) 3 to 6 landscape-oriented, 2000 pixel width homepage images: The large background images on the Spring start page feature prominently in the layout as visual representations of the market, so it’s important that they be chosen carefully.

The local chamber of commerce or visitors bureau are good places to start searching for quality, professional photos. If those are dead ends, gettyimages.com has the world’s largest library of stock images for sale and will certaily have options appropriate for your start page.

Aside from the above checklist, Solid Earth is your partner throughout the entire lifespan of the project and will handle all other technical aspects of the project.

IMPORTANT: Any additional organizations/teams working around the launch (Marketing, web design, etc) should be acquainted with the Solid Earth team and have regular contact to maintain communication on actions and progress to insure there are no surprises at any stage.

Calling The Play: Setting assignments

The purpose of this playbook is to get you started with a new or revamped public portal powered by Spring. But, this is only the beginning. A new brand needs to be nurtured and the messages that support it need to change over time. Just like a great football team, the first play is only the start of a long season. Early successes will need to be identified and expanded. Early mistakes will need to be identified and corrected

It’s already been stated a few times, but It’s important that your organization takes the long-term growth of the public portal into consideration now, not later. Having a strong consumer product is a departure from business-as-usual for most of our clients. Seeing that it has a long and successful life span will require further investment in time and money.

Now is the time to question current practices and commitments to internal and external marketing, current staff roles and any small gaps that might widen as managing a public portal becomes a daily set of tasks in the coming weeks and months.

Conclusion

Now it’s time to break the huddle and make this happen. Spring is ready for your market. Hopefully the playbook has given you some things to think about as you move toward bringing a new and exciting platform to solidify the place of the broker member in the real estate process in your local area. As always, if you need more information, you know where to find us.

Bill Fowler, Chief Marketing Officersolidearth.com@bill_fowler

The Snap: Launch and What’s next

Notes