What should I write, what can I say?
How can I tell you how much I miss you.
The unmistakable opening lyrics from Carole King & Gerry Goffin.
I know. I know.
It's so well before your time, but humour me as I struggle daily with the onset of dotage.
It's a question I see asked frequently about content.
What should I write?
Should I even write at all?
Make no mistake.
Writing will make you better at whatever it is that you do.
It will bring clarity to your thoughts.
As the ever brilliant Nicolas Cole writes on the Medium platform.
https://artplusmarketing.com/why-i-tell-all-of-my-entrepreneur-friends-to-write-and-what-happens-to-the-ones-who-listen-6fbca2673d02
If you can write it, you can better explain it.
What, then, should I write?
Well, there's a school of thought that suggests vendors aren't interested in you, or your estate agency.
That, what interests the vendor is a story of what's happening in your local property market.
I have to disagree.
Vendors can get all the information and data they need from a few hours surfing the web.
And they seem, to all intents and purposes, more au fait with the true value of a property than many an estate agent.
The 'elephant in the room' when we talk about estate agents isn't their lack of knowledge about the property market.
It's that the public don't trust them.
I firmly believe that the public is interested in the estate agent. Not so much, the brand and business.
But the character of the person that will be selling their prized possession.
Can they be trusted? Do we like them? What do we know about them?
Are they true to their word? Are we a good fit?
And what do estate agents deliver in return for this Cri de Coeur?
A Free Valuation? Yawn.
On-call 24/7? Serf-like status is not endearing.
Advertising on every portal? Next.
The latest technology to speed up the sales progression? Email's from a do-not-reply email address.
Experienced experts. Aren't they all?
A virtual bazaar of everything the agency thinks the vendor wants.
But nothing of what every vendor needs.
Reassurance.
The poor vendor is left to assess the estate agent in the space of a 60 minute marketing appraisal.
No wonder so many get it wrong, first time.
So if you write, write of this.
Your origin story.
How you got here. The trials & tribulations of setting up your own agency.
The culture shock of working for a demanding, high profile London agency when lesser mortals would have quit.
Your aspirations.
What's important to you. What 'turns you on'.
Don't sprain your wrist, though, patting yourself on the back.
Be vulnerable. Be authentic. Be inspiring.
Tell them how proud you are to be an estate agent.
And if you feel that writing your personal brand is beyond you, remember this.
" If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish & stupid." - Epictetus.
I encourage you to write. It's never too late and there's always the time.
I'm happy to work with you on that journey.
To develop your personal brand story.
To win the hearts & minds of your local community.
What I don't encourage, however, is dependency.
If it's just a regular 'ghost writer' that you seek. Someone to provide aggregated content week after week.
To simply fill the page with words that underwhelm.
Then, we're not right for each other.
There's copywriters a plenty that fill that particular need.
My wish is to first attract.
Those with a desire to express what it is that makes them so very different from every other estate agency.
Then to repel.
Once those first few steps have been taken and you can 'stand on your own two feet', I'm surplus to requirement.
A brief affair.
It's not me. It's you.
People read to feel first, learn second.
Make them feel something.
Make them care.
And when they do, the story begins.
Check out www.andsothestorybegan.co.uk
mob: (44) 07369251435
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Chris.
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