#putting all of my eggs in this one basket. already committed to this summer but if they don’t want to hire me after graduation

[leemarkies]

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[itsclydebitches]

Welcome back, everyone! Starting here in Chapter Six these recaps are doing double duty with my latest attempt at completing National Novel Writing Month. Granted, this isn’t a novel and yes, I technically started this project well before November, but there’s no way I’d manage 50,000 words of fiction in 2020, so I’m hoping to hit that with these recaps instead. You all get semi-frequent updates and I may get to finally say I completed this challenge! That’s a win-win as far as I’m concerned.

Quick reminder: new teams, CFVY was separated, everything is awful. There, done. Seventy-five pages in we’ve come back to Velvet’s point of view as she and the other students are carted off in airbuses. She’s experiencing the “same shock and dismay” that she saw on Yatsuhashi’s face before they were separated, thus I’d like to re-emphasize last chapter’s argument that though shaking up the teams isn’t inherently a bad idea, doing it in this way while your students are recovering from/still involved in a war is… not so great for their mental health. Yeah, yeah, Remnant is a hard place and these kids experience traumatic events on the weekly, but still. There’s a fine line between preparing students for that kind of life and simply traumatizing them further, because this is a kind of trauma when the teams so heavily rely on one another - fill every aspect of one another’s lives: friend, colleague, family, teacher, student, leader, follower, romantic partner - and you’re now uprooting them with no warning. Whether or not new teams actually happen, the students think they are and that’s messing with their heads. Basically they’re just:

This problem is highlighted when we get confirmation of what I stated last time: the teams aren’t merely colleagues turned friends, but family. These fighters have got all their emotional eggs in one basket. Velvet goes so far as to imply that she loves her team more than her parents, with the logic being that they (her parents) “never talked to each other anymore.” So… if Coco and Yatsuhashi stopped talking would that undermine your love for each of them as individuals? I get what the overall takeaway is - divorce is a nasty business and can leave lasting scars on kids caught in the middle, to say nothing of the fact that, as a young adult, Velvet is poised to start creating a family by choice, not blood - but it’s still an odd way to phrase the issue. Here we have another instance of me picking up on implications due to RWBY, the franchise’s, overall themes. When you’ve got a story so thoroughly touting a teens vs. adults mentality, having Velvet mentally reject her parents for her team reads differently than it otherwise would. Chock that onto the pile that already includes things like, ‘Ruby denies that Qrow ever helped her’ and ‘Yang is no longer a part of grieving for Summer’ and ‘Weiss seems to have forgotten all that Klein did for her.’ There’s a lot of uncomfortable details attached to our heroes and how they see the adults in their lives, parents included.

Velvet doesn’t get to worry for long though. A much happier voice sounds across the airbus and she spots Sun, classically hanging from his tail. Instead of hearing more about her fears we segue into - you guessed it - Sun bashing. The first thought to pop into her head is that Sun “wasn’t with the rest of his team, but knowing Sun, that might have been his decision.”

...Velvet, you just tried desperately to stay with your own team and were (somehow) swept away by the apparently overwhelming crowed (still ridiculous imo). But if you didn’t manage this, what makes you think Sun had a chance? Why is his separation suddenly a potential choice when yours was presented as nothing of the sort? That is some real insistence on thinking the worst of him. I dragged Sun for abandoning his team in Volume 4 because that was abandonment. It was a choice worthy of criticism. This? This was outside of his control and Velvet knows it.

Sun saw her, smiled, and waved. Velvet looked away.

Nice, Velvet.

He comes over anyway and (kindly!) asks if she’s okay. Velvet says no, specifically because “Yatsu and I were separated.” Here we have another example of how close the partners get even within each team. Blake and Yang are inseparable. Ruby talks to Weiss more than her sister (and the concept of her talking to Blake in any meaningfully way is hilarious at this point). Now, despite being separated from her entire team - everyone is in the same awful boat - Velvet frames the situation as just being separated from Yatsuhashi. Later she repeats, “Well, I still want to try to find Yatsu.” So would it be a disappointment to find Fox or Coco instead? It’s especially weird because in the main show we see Velvet and Coco interacting the most. I actually had to look up who Velvet’s partner was because I just assumed our two girls were a duo. Apparently not. I’m not really into the CFVY side of the fandom, but I imagine there’s a substantial ship community for these two based solely on how Velvet embraces RWBY partnerships in this book, outside of the always popular Velvet/Coco, of course.

That’s admittedly a ship I can get behind. 

After Velvet unloads all her worries “Sun stared ahead, like he couldn’t quite manage to feel bad.” Attention, readers, this is an important lesson coming up! In fandom spaces I often see people analyzing novels (and other print media/visual media with narration) without taking into consideration the perspective. Unless we’ve got an omniscient perspective we need to take into account that our narrator might, simply put, be wrong (and even then, omniscient unreliable narrators are a popular choice). Often I see readers taking a characters’ thoughts - and words - at face value, which is understandable given that we’re meant to emotionally connect with them, but we have to keep in mind that this is their interpretation of events. We see the story through their eyes, how they perceive the world, but their perception of the world may not be accurate or, at the very least, is open to further interpretation. Sometimes this is used in an obvious, plot-driven manner - there’s a surprise twist for the reader, made possible because our protagonist was likewise kept in the dark - but it applies to our reading of more casual interactions too. This is a good example. Just because Velvet says Sun looks “like he couldn’t quite manage to feel bad” doesn’t mean that’s actually how Sun feels. As we’ve just re-established, Velvet is inclined to think the worst of Sun, or at least consider the worst as a distinct possibility. So if we’re asking the question, “Is Velvet’s perspective accurate to reality here?” weighing her previous assumptions against actions like Sun smiling, waving, and asking how she’s doing, AKA caring about her situation… I’d say no, it’s likely not.

At least she doesn’t outright accuse him of anything. Given that he’s not privy to these insulting thoughts, Sun chatters on about the test. He thinks it “isn’t a bad idea” because, as established, a lot of students lost teammates and are having trouble settling into Shade while still trying to live the life they had at Beacon. Changing the teams could be a “chance to really commit to our new school and our training, and learn from one another in a new way.” That’s what I think!

“Right… Or maybe some of us burned bridges with our team and might be looking for an easy way to avoid fixing those relationships.”

Velvet what the actual fuck. Can our cast NOT be assholes for five minutes??

Sun goes red at the accusation and calls her out on being harsh. “Tough love” Velvet calls it. Okay, no. Tough love is reserved for people you’re actually friends with and is meant to have them face a harsh reality they might be avoiding. Sun is avoiding an overt apology with his team, but we (and Velvet) have been given no indication that his thoughts on the test are a smokescreen to hide ulterior motives, which is what she’s talking about here. Sun clearly wants to make up with his team, he’s just struggling to accept what needs to be done to do that. Tough love would have been Velvet encouraging Sun to use this separation to reflect on what his team means to him and then, regardless of whether they end up back together, apologizing for how he unintentionally hurt them. Not… this. Plus, again, Velvet hasn’t exactly been friendly lately. She has little ground for dishing out “tough love.” You need established “love” before the “tough” part.  

In addition, she’s not listening to what Sun’s saying. “If they want us prepared for an attack, breaking up teams sounds counterproductive.” When did Sun mention anything about an attack? That’s your assumption of what’s going down based on the illegal investigation you’ve been assisting with. Sun just said that changing the teams would provide some of them with a much needed clean slate, which is true. Just because that’s not what Velvet needs doesn’t mean it’s not useful for others. As she eventually acknowledges, they can get too comfortable in the roles they’ve been playing.

We get her line about wanting to find Yatsuhashi followed by, “Sun, you do whatever you want. That’s what you’re good at.” Velvet seriously? Then minutes later she’s hoping Sun sticks close to her if he can. Real talk: everyone deserves better than this. ‘Friends’ who constantly act like your presence is a burden, insult you whenever they get the chance, insist such insults are for your benefit (it’s just tough love), but then turn around and play nice when you have something they want... those aren’t friends. Note that Velvet is - both privately and overtly - mean to Sun while he’s just existing in the airbus, going through the same horrible test as her, trying to be nice, and holding an otherwise civil conversation. While trapped on the bus with nowhere to go, Sun is a nuisance despite his best efforts. When the floor suddenly opens up and Velvet is terrified of falling and surviving on her own though, then his presence is desirable. That’s not friendship and in another story I’d praise the author(s) for writing a compelling move from shaky acquaintances to a strong bond… but I’m honestly not sure that the relationship (any of them, really) will improve. Far as I can gather, Myers thinks this is friendship.

So Velvet accuses Sun of always and forever hurting others in his pursuit of doing what pleases him (after checking in on Velvet… literally minutes ago…) which is right around when Scarlet decides to make himself known. He agrees with Sun’s belief that this test will be harder than they assume: “I think you’re right… For a change.” Everything comes with a caveat. Apparently Scarlet has been listening in the whole time, but somehow manages to turn that into an insult as well with “I’ve been standing five feet away. Maybe I’m ready for a new team, too.” Wait, is the implication that Scarlet is further annoyed because Sun didn’t notice him? Do you all have ANY idea how many times a friend has stood right next to me and I didn’t notice them because I was caught up in something like work, a show… a conversation? I’m oblivious af. I get that Sun has things to make up for but at the very least these characters could keep their criticisms to what he’s actually done wrong, not crazy reaches like, ‘Sun probably abandoned his team when everyone was separated’ or ‘Sun was busy talking to Velvet and didn’t notice me eavesdropping, so I guess I don’t mean much to him, huh.’ I’m constantly torn between the presumed realism of this writing - people are unfair in their criticisms, teens do hold unsubstantiated grudges - and acknowledging that Myers seems to have felt confident writing (1) personality and just gave it to everyone. Velvet privately becomes as critical as Coco, who is as vocal as Fox, who agrees with Yatsuhashi, who echoes Sun’s team, and Sun himself often throws that attitude right back. Round and round we go. 

As one might imagine, the three begin theorizing about what the test itself will be like. Usually Shade sets up initiation just like this. Students are transported in windowless airbuses, dumped in the desert, and told to find their way home. I’m interested in the bit about how teams are made up not only based on arrival, but also “the manner in which [the students] survived.” It definitely lends support to the assumption I’ve always had that the teams can really be random. At least not entirely. There’s strategy on the part of the instructors, thinking through aspects like, ‘Well, these two students used their wits in this manner so they’d pair together nicely.’ Or the reverse, ‘Put together the strategist with the student in love with blunt force, let them balance each other out.’ I certainly don’t think that Ozpin formed teams based solely on who ran into each other first. Not only do we have agency on the part of the students (Weiss leaves Ruby, then Jaune, then goes back to Ruby), as well as the fact that two sets of partners had to be paired together someway, but Ozpin was also carefully watching their whole performance. If the only thing that mattered was getting back to Beacon with a chess piece, why bother examining their choices? Shade appears to employ a similar setup of careful decisions portrayed as randomness, which would make sense given that Ozpin set up these schools. Though all the headmasters may not realize it (is Theodore a part of the inner circle?), or perhaps don’t agree with his methods overall, Ozpin’s influence is undeniably evident in each institution we’ve seen. 

The only difference between normal initiation and this test seems to be that the students have to find a gold figurine this time around. Though as our trio points out, there’s likely to be other differences as well, otherwise the original Shade students would have a pretty significant advantage. 

During all this Velvet remanences about Beacon’s initiation and we learn that Ozpin does, apparently, use the whole ‘Throw you into the woods where you’ll find some relic’ setup each year, as Velvet remembers being “thrown into the air” during hers. She also hits on another concern that hadn’t crossed my mind until now: what if a team includes a new student alongside the “more vocal in harassing recruits from Beacon and Haven?” It might do the Shade students some good to get to know the newcomers, but it’s not the newcomers’ responsibility to teach them some basic respect and kindness. 

During all this Rumpole, via a screen, has been explaining how the test will go down. Her little info session concludes with her telling them to “Prepare for drop-off… See you back home soon.” I really like that she used the term “home” here. It says something about how she views the school and her students’ place in it, despite the tough attitude and tougher culture of Vacuo.

Turns out, when Rumpole said drop-off she meant that literally. The floor opens up and we get a mix of some students panicking while others just happily jump out. 

Yeet. 

Like I said, Ozpin’s influence. 

I didn’t understand the panic initially - aren’t landing strategies a basic part of huntsmen training, something everyone (except Jaune) is expected to know coming into a school? Isn’t it at least partway through the year when everyone, even firsties, has had practice at this? - until I remembered Rumpole’s comment about how she hoped everyone remembered to bring their weapons this morning.

…that’s one hell of a lesson. Let’s break this down for a second. Yes, everyone at Shade is expected to carry their weapons at all times, but the meeting that started all this was early in the morning and, far as I can tell, entirely unexpected. ‘Supposed to’ is not the same thing as ‘will,’ especially when one is dealing with college-equivalent students who are still figuring expectations out. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that someone did leave their weapon behind. So now what? These buses are thousands of feet in the air, dropping students randomly as they jump/fall. If a student did need help how in the world would a professor assist them? Do they just expect other students to help like Pyrrha did for Jaune? It’s possible given that in a moment Octavia will help Velvet despite seeming to dislike her... but that’s not something I’d want to bank on. Whether a student forgot their weapon or has a weapon unsuited to a landing strategy, they’re going to die from this fall. Yeah, yeah, the test is supposed to be deadly, but what’s there to learn then? You’re dead! The lesson ‘Don’t forget your weapon’ or ‘Find a weapon more suited to landing strategies’ will never stick unless there are contingency plans in place to ensure that students survive their first mistakes. 

It just all seems kind of flimsy, like everything works out because the plot says it must, not because I believe this in-world setup is geared towards keeping students alive and teaching them how to survive this world. (The reverse of the story conveniently not killing civilians off during a major grimm attack.) If landing strategies are so crucial to a huntsmen’s work - and we see them a lot - why are students allowed to have weapons like Yatsuhashi’s Fulcrum that, far as I can see, provide you with no way of slowing your descent? What if you don’t have a suitable semblance? Or it hasn’t been unlocked yet? What if your weapon would work, theoretically, but you haven’t taken any pictures of other suitable weapons lately (Velvet)? What if you never figure out that there are parachutes on the ship? Unless the instructors have a secret way of saving someone from getting splattered, this seems like a test rife with deadly mistakes, not just encounters. Why not teach your students to carry mini high-tech parachutes on their belts, with weapons and semblances as backups? Incorporate Atlas tech into standard schooling, then give us huntsmen who suddenly have it taken away with the embargo, resulting in a lot of problems. I mean, the students are legit scared in this scene, Velvet included. Having them face deadly grimm is one thing, but why test the odds with a thousand foot plunge when there’s absolutely no reason to? Far as I can see, the schooling isn’t built around ensuring they survive a fall like this - nothing like weapon requirements, or carrying additional gear if you semblance is something like Ren’s - which means making the fall a part of the test itself is... not great. 

Which, to be clear, is the fault of the author(s) and how much thought (or not) they’ve put into their fictional school, not the fictional school’s fault because it’s, you know, fictional. Basically, the world building in this series kind of drives me nuts, in case you haven’t noticed lol. 

Velvet does find the parachutes, oh so conveniently, and at least has the decency to give one to Sun. Also yeah, kudos for thinking to search for them in the first place. I do like the ‘survival is the only thing that counts’ theme. Cheating, lying, and the like is great when it’s used because the odds are already stacked against you. We get her agreement to try and stick close because remember, there’s nothing like a dangerous situation to remind you to be decent towards someone else. As Velvet magnanimously thinks, “Being with Sun would be better than being alone.”

Okay. Low bar, but okay. 

So they fall and we get to hear a fair bit about Vacuo’s history based on what Velvet remembers about each landmark from history class. Honestly, I’m impressed at her recall. I wouldn’t be able to dredge up class notes while falling through the air. We get an abandoned city previously hidden by sand and the somewhat confusing sentence, “These were all that was left of the underground mines, the Drylands, the site of the old Paradise Oasis, long since dried up following Dust mining and the Great War.” Are these three separate places among the rock-less area pockmarked with holes? Or is this a single area of underground mines, called the Drylands (for some reason?), that includes the contrasting place called Paradise Oasis? I’m not sure. The takeaway though is that Velvet hopes Coco isn’t heading to that ambiguously named place because she’s incredibly claustrophobic.

What I find the most informative in all this is the description of the quarries as “physical manifestations of the wounds that still ran deep in the people of Vacuo.” The overall issue of outsiders coming into Vacuo, draining it of its resources, and then taking it back to their own kingdoms (while leaving their trash behind) is the sort of theme significant to our own lives and worthy of examination in fiction… Not saying that RWBY necessarily handles this theme well - especially given the messy conflation of that generational trauma and the awful treatment of any ‘outsider’ who wanders into the kingdom - but I do appreciate when I can see the series trying. Even if it fails, effort is (to an extent) still worth acknowledgement.

What I’m less inclined to praise is the strange follow up of “maybe that was why Rumpole was sending students there.” …what does this mean? Velvet just told us the quarries are the “wounds” of Vacuo, so are they being sent there because they’re dangerous? Because huntsmen will somehow fix this?? Neither of these make sense but I literally don’t know what point Myers is trying to make… which happens a lot. Again, there’s a whole lot of wise-sounding statements in this novel that, at the end of the day, mean very little - if anything at all.

Velvet eventually lands, nearly getting pulled into one of the openings when she can’t get out of her parachute. She’s saved at the last moment by Octavia Ember, a member of Team NDGO. You know, “One of the people she least wanted to run into.” We all knew the moment Velvet worried about running into one of the crueler members of Shade that it would happen.

Their conversation is filled with heartfelt gratitude and riveting greetings:

“Thanks?” Velvet said.

“Whatever.” Octavia sheathed her blade and started walking away. That was more like it.

What is wrong with all of these people? My kingdom for a kind, enthusiastic, non-team exchange!

You know the ‘enemies forced to work together’ conflict couldn’t end there though (a trope I normally love and would likely love here except having Octavia be another stereotypical mean girl was the least innovative choice possible). She and Velvet end up heading towards the same quarry, simply because there’s nothing else for miles around. Velvet displays some quick thinking when she explains that the instructors likely hid the relics in there to ensure they weren’t forever hidden under the sand. Velvet, unlike Yatsuhashi, has also realized that there’s more to the test than just their fighting skills. They’ll be graded on everything, “Including how we treat each other.” I’m always appreciative of characters who use their brains as much as their brawns.

Perhaps that not-so-subtle nudge resonated with Octavia because she opens up a bit. By this I mean she moves from “Whatever” to telling Velvet the traumatizing story of how she lost a third of her clan to Blind Worms in one of these quarries. Okay. That’s a complete 180, but I’ll take it. Velvet continues to have supposed insights about the Vacuans like, ‘Maybe they don’t cry because that’s a waste of water?’ and ‘Maybe they hate everyone on principal because of the past?’ and ‘I guess bullying is just something you’re supposed to survive out here’ (um… no.) In Velvet - and Myers’ - defense she acknowledges that none of these explanations excuse their actions… but I’m not so sure it explains them either. A few chapters ago we were hammering home how teens don’t have an emotional connection to their past, despite it not actually being that long ago (recall Coco’s conversation with Rumpole in class), but now we’re supposed to believe that all of these teens reject newcomers because of stuff that happened during a war they weren’t alive for? Also, I’m neither a doctor nor an anthropologist, but the concept of a desert people refusing to cry because it’s a waste of water - especially in an otherwise advanced civilization - seems suspect. I can buy someone being unable to cry because they’re currently dehydrated, but a whole culture denying themselves this outlet when most of them don’t actually lack water anymore is odd.

Granted, culture isn’t always logical. Case in point: memes. So let’s give that a pass. 

However, we’ve still got the issue of continuity across paragraphs. First Velvet is smug because she’s a better climber than Octavia. Then Octavia is ahead and supposedly annoyed that Velvet was slowing her down. It’s unclear when, or if, they’ve finished climbing at this point and a second later Octavia is climbing a tree - why didn’t Velvet do that? Really, I lay little blips like this at the feet of the editors, not the author(s), simply because as an author I know precisely how easy it is to lose track of every detail you’ve introduced. It becomes obvious to the reader when things don’t quite align, but it will often go unnoticed by the writer - like typos. (RIP my own work.) Which is why you need that second perspective to not just catch the big mistakes, but tweak all the smaller ones too. RWBY is now a part of WarnerMedia and Before the Dawn was published by Scholastic. There’s a standard here I don’t think either is meeting.

As said previously though, Octavia climbs a tree because Velvet - with faunus eyes - spotted a trinket the others had missed. Octavia falls, Velvet catches her, and a whole swarm of Ravagers show up, which seem to be a bat-like grimm. Nice. My gothic, vampire, Stellaluna loving ass can get behind that. 

Behold: my childhood.

They make a run for it and we - finally - get some solidarity as Octavia admits that the relic is technically Velvet’s and Velvet wonders in turn if they can share it. I offered my kingdom for a kind exchange and I got it! Hurray! More importantly, apparently that is an option because the airbus coordinates have shown up on both their scrolls. I’m not going to pretend that I understand how that tech works, but that’s a level of world building we don’t actually need. Not unless the hypothetical of students piggybacking on another’s relic is a part of the evaluation. 

I love that Velvet used her camera flash to scare off the Ravager in their way. That’s a fantastic twist on the ‘Velvet will use her semblance and impress Octavia’ expectation as well as a great way to demonstrate that she is a formidable fighter, capable of paying attention to her situation/surroundings and responding accordingly.

There are more Ravagers though, incoming Blind Worms, an avalanche… and the airbus. A narrow escape indeed. Octavia drops that attention-catching, “Thank the Brothers” as they reach safety.

Going back to my earlier point about Shade seeming happy to kill its kids, apparently Velvet and Octavia were the last to reach the bus and Sun told the pilot to wait. That says good things about Sun, but horrible things about the test. If Sun hadn’t insisted on staying would Octavia and Velvet have had a way out? Why in the world wasn’t the pilot told to wait longer?? The whole timeline is confusing, with Sun and Velvet leaving the airship only a short time after everyone else, but it looks like the whole group was way ahead of them (the quarry is empty of both relics and people by the time they arrive), except Sun managed to get super far ahead of Velvet somehow, and their pilot was apparently working under an unspoken deadline… I’m just taking information at face value because if you try to piece it all together, good luck.

Also sorry, but I straight up laughed at Sun’s “You woke up the Ravagers. And you lived to tell the tale.” That is so unnecessarily dramatic. Oh no. Not the Ravagers. Literally the first thing I thought of was some B horror movie like

Coming only to a streaming service near your couch because we’re still living through a pandemic. Wear your masks, friends!

Back to this very entertaining reaction. Sun, you and Velvet have both taken out Atlesian knights, you fought a gigantic sea monster with Blake, and Velvet just bypassed a nest of Ravagers with a simple bright light. If RWBY is going to randomly try and make the grimm threatening again, do it with stuff that actually reads as a significant threat to these fighters. After you’ve got your first years blasting through (Yang) and riding (Nora) bear grimm at initiation, a couple of bat grimm just doesn’t cut it. 

Moving on, Velvet’s iffy perspective rears its head once more as she thinks, “What if Sun had passed by the trinket in the tree, knowing it would be too dangerous to retrieve it? She and Octavia had not had that luxury.”

There’s a lot wrong with this theory: 

How do you know Sun has better vision, even as a fellow faunus? As Volume 7’s Tyrian attack brought to the surface, supposedly not every faunus has that advantage.

Velvet straight up says that she wasn’t able to see the Ravagers, otherwise she would have warned Octavia about them. The whole point is that they startled her and she fell. So what, Sun not only has faunus vision but better than Velvet’s? (Do monkeys have better vision than rabbits? I have no idea, but this is the kind of stuff I would google if I wanted to potentially draw attention to it in my book). 

If that trinket was too dangerous to retrieve, why did the instructors put it there in the first place? Fox mentioned things being unfair with his lack of sight, but that’s a pretty big difference: easy grabs in a supposedly abandoned quarry vs. a grab that wakes up the whole nest of grimm.

“She and Octavia had not had that luxury” why does this sound like another dig at Sun? Like it’s worth criticizing that he… got there first? Got lucky with the relics closer to the floor? Probably because everything is a dig at Sun in this book, including Velvet’s surprise that he might have “respect in his eyes.” Velvet! He was just asking about you, made the bus wait, and has always worn his heart on his sleeve! Sun’s respect/care is not in question, only how he chooses (at times) to display it.

Not that the story seems to get that. We can’t work through Sun’s questionable choices if we’re stuck in this never ending loop of ‘He’s so annoying/incompetent/willfully cruel’ into ‘Hark! is that a positive trait I see?’ and then back to ‘Never mind he’s awful.’ Maybe Velvet’s pride at his reaction to the Ravagers will finally move things forward.

Which is where we leave off. The airbus scares off the other Ravagers with its guns, the group heads back towards Shade (or a second part of the test? That did feel too much like a normal initiation to be fair), and Velvet ends with the equally dramatic line, “The initiation ritual had been hard and almost deadly, and even worse was yet to come: the assignment of the new teams.”

I have to say though, that is the most teen-accurate thought I’ve seen so far. An 18 year old would be more scared of their team social life than getting eaten by a monster lol.

On that note, drop a comment or an ask if you feel like being social yourself and I’ll see you during the next burst of NaNoWriMo energy! 💜

[ Ko-Fi ]

[dragonsaphirareads]

Language of Flowers

Day 9 of @tsshipmonth2020 Fluffuary!

Ship: Roceit

AU: Royalty

Word Count: 2749

Summary: Prince Roman had never been that interested in the Hibiscus Festival, until a young man he’d never seen before arrived at the event and he started to think maybe it wasn’t so useless after all.

(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)

The Hibiscus Festival was the largest celebration in the kingdoms, held every year in late summer. Nobles and royalty from the farthest reaches of the continent would travel for days or weeks for the festival.

Prince Roman of the Sun Kingdom stared out the window of his room, watching the carriages arrive by the dozens and nobles of all ages stream into the castle. Servants darted around like busy bees, always having another carriage to unload or another noble to escort to their room.

He could be down there, he knew, but he wasn’t required to meet with any guests until the festival truly started the following evening. Until then, he was entitled to simply watch.

Most of the interesting guests had already arrived days ago. He had already met with Prince Logan of the Moon Kingdom, and Prince Patton of the Earth Kingdom. He enjoyed their company - he’d known them since they were all children, so they were practically family to him.

He knew his brother felt slightly differently about Logan, though. He’d been bragging to Roman for a month about his elaborate plan to court Logan, starting with the Hibiscus Festival.

The courting rituals of the annual festival were renowned all over the land. The Hibiscus Festival allowed those wishing to court someone the chance to present them with a red flower, symbolizing their love. Those receiving a flower then had the week to consider their response, and on the final day they would present their potential suitors with a flower of their own.

A pink flower in return told the suitor that they would like to have a friendly relationship with them, rather than a romantic one. Yellow meant that they weren’t ready to commit yet, but to try again the following year. Purple was an outright rejection - to see someone walking around with a bouquet of purple hibiscus was seen as a symbol of one who would never find love.

And of course, returning a red flower to the suitor was an invitation, consent for the suitor to begin courting.

Roman sighed, watching the sun set and the carriages coming slower now. His birthday had been only a few months ago, and now that he was 18, he had no doubt he would be receiving countless hibiscus flowers this year now that he was of age. Patton and Logan had both received full bouquets from potential suitors the previous year, and Roman had heard murmurs of plans from many noble girls to offer him a red flower come tomorrow.

He sighed. He would be preparing a lot of pink flowers if that was the case. But better to let them know up front than to string them along.

The door opened behind him and he heard loud, obnoxious footsteps approaching before arms flung themselves onto his shoulders, and a chin rested beside his ear. “I knew you were hiding up here! What’re you doing, you love parties!”

Roman sighed again, simply staring out the window at another carriage arriving. “I’ve said hello to those I wanted to see. I’ll meet everyone else at the ball tomorrow.”

The carriage outside was small, with only a driver and two people inside. A regal looking woman with hair braided all the way down her back, and a young man dressed for a party already.

“Who is that?” Roman mused, and his brother pushed further to get a good view out the window.

“Oh, isn’t that that new noble family that just got super rich in the last year or two?”

Roman glanced back at Remus then, surprised. “What? Since when do you care about anyone that wasn’t Logan?”

“I only care cause they call her ‘The Dragon Witch’ and that’s fucking cool!” Remus defended himself, and then continued. “Plus, I heard her son is like, super fucking hot and I’m gonna see for myself.”

Remus pushed himself away from Roman, fixing his collar before running out of the room, leaving Roman alone to watch them enter the castle and their carriage pull away.

Dragon Witch... it was an intimidating name, but from what little he could tell, the woman fit it perfectly. It made him wonder what her son would be like. At the ball tomorrow evening, he’d be sure to seek him out first.

~

The opening festivities were an all day affair, although there was no required attendance until the evening ball. Roman spent the majority of the day with his brother and his friends, wandering around the town and enjoying the market stalls set up specifically for the festival.

Flower sellers were on every street corner, selling not only hibiscus flowers but all sorts of buds. Roman saw his brother eyeing every seller, and eventually Roman took pity on him and lead Logan and Patton away for a while so he could slip away and buy himself a red hibiscus.

Before he knew it, the sun was setting and they needed to get back to the castle to change into their best outfits for the party. Roman and Remus wore similar outfits, long suitcoats with a flowing cape hanging loosely from their shoulders. Roman dressed in white, red and gold embroidery, and Remus in black, green and silver.

“You’re gonna kill that flower if you keep that up,” Roman told Remus, noticing his brother fidgeting with the flower between his palms. Remus shot him a look.

“It’s better than nothing at all!” Remus teased, noting Roman’s lack of a flower to give. Roman shrugged.

“I’m just barely 18, I’ve got years ahead of me to woo someone! I’m going to wait for the perfect person, not just anyone who walks by!”

“Aww, so you’re gonna be a heartbreaker, walking around with a bunch of purple hibiscus? So cruel!”

“At least I’m not putting all of my eggs into one basket. What if Logan rejects you? What’ll you do then?”

Remus shrugged, hiding his nerves behind a wonky smile. “Then I guess I’ll die alone, just like you!”

Before Roman could retaliate, there was a knock at their door and a servant entered to tell them they were needed to begin the opening ceremony. Roman gracefully sauntered out of the room, with Remus trying to push against him the entire way.

The ballroom was enormous, and filled with nobles, servants and long tables of hors d’oeuvres. At the front there was a raised stage where the royal families were waiting to enter and begin the party.

Roman and Remus had to sneak around along a servant hallway to avoid the large crowd, but they did overhear snippets of conversation from people who had stepped out of the claustrophobic ballroom.

The twins’ parents waved them inside, urging them to hurry. Roman and Remus took their place beside them, smiling over at Logan and Patton who were already there.

Soon the curtains opened, and there was applause as the King and Queen of the Sun Kingdom welcomed their guests, inviting them to drink, eat, and dance the week away, as well as participate in the annual trading of the Hibiscus flowers, provided by their local farmers. There was excited tittering that rolled through the crowd, and Roman could feel the eyes looking in his direction. He scanned the crowd, plastering a neutral, pretty smile onto his face to mask how nervous he was about this.

He had always loved the festival, back when he was a kid. It was so romantic, the exchange of flowers and the meanings of every color. As a child, he had thought that he wouldn’t care what color he received, because they were all so beautiful.

Now, though, he couldn’t help but focus on the sea of red that was scattered throughout the crowd. What was so romantic about being ambushed by people he didn’t even know, wishing for his hand in marriage?

“With that, let this celebration begin!” The King announced, and a cheer rose from the gathered nobles. The royal families left the stage and mingled with their guests.

Almost immediately, Remus pulled Logan out of the ballroom, hiding the hibiscus behind his back. Patton and Roman watched them leave, and Patton giggled at how excited Remus was.

“Aww, they would be cute together, don’t you think?” He asked, and Roman had to agree that Logan was a pretty good match for his chaotic brother.

“What about you? Are you going to give a flower to anyone?” Roman asked, and Patton blushed slightly.

“Not this year...”

Roman raised an eyebrow, curious. “But you’ve got someone in mind, then? Aw, Pat, you’ve gotta introduce me! Who is it?”

“It’s this noble boy from the Kingdom of Stars... But he’s not 18 yet, so I can’t court him this year. But next year, I will!”

Roman grabbed his friend’s arm, shaking it playfully. “Introduce me! I wanna meet him!”

Patton giggled, and he scanned the crowd for a moment before spotting him, and he ducked and dodged through the droves of people expertly.

Unlike Roman, who was starting to find that wearing a cape wasn’t the best idea in a space like this. It kept getting caught on things, and then people would run up to him and present him with a flower, causing him to spend even more time in the crowd and allowing the cycle to repeat.

Having lost Patton, and now with an armful of red Hibiscus, Roman fought his way to the nearest hallway and collapsed against the wall, blowing out a heavy breath.

“You’re very popular, your Highness,” came a smooth voice from beside him, and Roman jumped. When he looked over, he was face to face with the young man he’d seen arriving yesterday... the son of the “Dragon Witch”.

His skin was dark, but with light colored patches around his left eye and spreading down onto his cheek and chin. His eyes were golden brown, with the left one almost seeming to sparkle like gold. He was dressed in a similar outfit to Roman, a black suit coat with gold trimmings and a capelet around his shoulders.

“A-Ah, well, I just turned 18, so they’ve been waiting for their chance!”

The young man smiled, but it was guarded. “Of course! And you’re so handsome, your Highness, I would have expected a bouquet twice this size!”

“H-Handsome?” Roman stuttered, unsure of why his heart was racing. He’d been called handsome plenty of times, but there was something about the way the word rolled off this man’s tongue that sent shivers down his spine.

It was then he saw there was a red hibiscus in the young man’s fingers as well, being twirled lazily.

“Perhaps it’s a waste of time given your vast selection, but if you’d allow me...” He leaned in, offering the flower to Roman. “I would be honored if I could throw my hat in the ring as well~”

Roman blushed, taking the hibiscus quickly. “I, ah... I’ll take it into consideration... if you’ll tell me one thing.”

The man tilted his head, a curious grin on his face. “Yes, your Highness?”

“What’s... your name?”

He blinked, then nodded and took a little bow. “Of course, my apologies. I am Ernest, your Highness. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Ernest...” Roman repeated, testing how it felt to say it. He found he quite liked it. “I’ll be certain to remember your name.”

“Perhaps we could spend some time together this week, your Highness? Your kingdom is beautiful, and I have never been to the castle. And who better to reveal its intricate beauties than its prince?”

Ernest was a charmer, and Roman knew that it was likely he was just sucking up to him to try and increase his chances at the end of the week. But Roman liked pretty words, so it was working.

“Only if you will then tell me about your family in return. I’ve heard that your family only attained noble status a year or two ago. I’m rather curious to know how.” Roman offered, and Ernest smiled that guarded smile again.

“Of course, I’d be glad to share our history. But perhaps... before all that, I could ask for a dance?” Ernest offered his hand, and Roman realized that while they were talking, waltz music had started to play in the ballroom.

“I suppose I could offer you one...” Roman said, trying to be coy but feeling his heart racing. They walked back into the ballroom together, and Roman was excited to find that Ernest was an excellent dancer. They spun around together long after that first song had ended, and the prince knew he should be a proper host and dance with other potential suitors... but he found he just didn’t care enough to do so.

~

Ernest made for fun company, as he found over the week of the festival. Every day he woke up early to spend time with him, taking him on a tour of the castle and of the town, pointing out his favorite things about the place he lived.

In return, Ernest told him about his family. About how they had been farmers for generations, but his mother had wanted to do something to change that. In just ten years she was able to completely change how their family was run, and in the last few years she had been getting invitations to bigger events. This was the first time they had been invited to come to the Hibiscus Festival, and it was everything he had dreamed and more.

The Dragon Witch title came from her competition, from those who wanted to destroy her reputation by insinuating she used dark magic to gain her success. It was all lies, Ernest told him, but his mother had enjoyed them, and used those rumors to inspire her appearance.

With every moment, Roman found himself falling even harder. On the night before the final day of the festival, Remus came into his room to find him lying on his bed, staring dreamily at the ceiling. He teased him, saying that out of the two of them, he never would have expected that Roman would be the one to fall in love with a nobody while Remus with another prince.

Roman wasn’t bothered for once, letting Remus talk as he daydreamed. It wasn’t expected of him, no, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

On the final day of the festival, the party was held in the gardens of the castle. As the sun set, the exchange of flowers began. The prince would stand in front as his potential suitors lined up to receive whatever flower he had decided to give them.

To those who had offered Patton a flower, he returned a pink hibiscus to every one of them. Roman expected nothing less - it would take a truly evil person to even have Patton consider giving a purple flower.

Remus had received a few, but he of course only offered pink and purple roses in return. When Logan stepped up, he saw that he was carrying a bouquet of all pink, with one red hibiscus in the center.

Remus couldn’t contain his happiness when it was that red flower being offered to him, and they both collapsed to the ground as Remus tackled him in an excited hug.

Then it was Roman’s turn, and he looked down at his bouquet of pink flowers, with one tucked away from view in the middle of it.

He handed out the flowers slowly, but when he got to Ernest in the center of the line, he spent a moment rearranging his bouquet to retrieve that other color hidden amongst the pink.

Ernest’s eyes widened as he stared at the flower, and Roman had to hide a smirk as he moved on, passing out the rest without much fanfare.

“Really?” Remus whispered as Roman came back to their group. “But I thought you were--”

“In love?” Roman asked, letting himself grin. “Maybe, maybe not. But I want to make sure that he’s not just all talk. Besides, you told me yourself his family has only really gained power in the last two years. I want to make sure that’s going to last.”

“I hope to prove myself quickly, then.” Ernest spoke from behind them, holding up the yellow flower he’d received, and Roman turned around and smiled at him. “I’m thankful for the chance, your Highness, and I hope to rise to your standards by next summer.”

“I look forward to it!”

[davewakeman]

Talking Tickets: 27 March 2020--Take Care Of Yourself! Twitch! TV Money! Marketing and More!

Hey There! 

Thanks for being here again this week.

If you’ve been finding value in the newsletter and the things I’ve been sharing, could you do me a favor and share this newsletter with someone that would get value from it?

I’d appreciate it!

Like I mentioned last week if you have some cool thing that you are working on to boost the industry right now…let me know and I will share it. LiveNation is doing a cool concept called ‘Sound of Silence‘ to support the Australian music industry and they have some really great t-shirts! The money raised will go to support artist crews and workers in the Australian live entertainment sector.

Last week, I co-hosted a virtual Happy Hour with Ken Troupe and I think we may have put the wrong link in the email here. But we had a few people, some laughs, and some fun. So we are going to try it again this afternoon at 5PM EST.

Want to connect with folks throughout this crisis and economically troubled time, I’ve put together a Slack channel for folks in the entertainment business to have a place to chat and connect.

To the tickets!

————————————————————————————————————

1. The recovery and return of games is being driven by…TV:

I’ve been telling y’all for years that you have to be careful if you put too many eggs in one basket. And, the coronavirus pandemic has taught us a lot of lessons about planning, risk, and business.

The great thing is that we are starting to see folks start talking about getting back to work, playing games, putting on shows, and all of these things.

But as we move out of the collapse of the economy and the pandemic eventually turns to a point where we can get back to business, we have to start thinking about our business models.

What are they? Why are we doing what we do? What do we want our businesses to be?

I put in a piece last week talking about everything being different, but what does that mean?

I’ve run across a lot of articles this week highlighting the impact that TV is having, driving decision making on returning to the field, making arrangements, and other decisions.

The TV money is awesome. It has provided tremendous opportunities.

But as we move into a new normal, we also have to ask if the TV money has also led to stagnant business models, lack of innovation, and a loss of control of the decision-making process.

As a noted contrarian, these ideas aren’t mutually exclusive.

Look, when Premier League teams are potentially going bankrupt without TV money, that’s the definition of too heavily weighted in one direction to me.

What will happen to the tickets? Fans in stadiums?

Also, will we see a trend of cord-cutting and subscription cancellations that leads to customers leaving and never returning? And, what about the ‘make goods’ that the networks and leagues will have to provide?

Several folks I spoke with over the last week or two have mentioned that the attendance numbers haven’t ever really recovered since 2008. Then you see stories like this one claiming that a Champions League match could have been ground zero for Europe’s coronavirus outbreak and it gives you pause.

Are these people wrong? Am I wrong? Because I’ve been highlighting this for years, empty seats is more than just a price issue or a new normal…it is an existential crisis.

I’m still working through my own process of what comes next for me, but I can tell you three things to think about:

1. What is the value you want to deliver? 2. Who is your buyer? 3. How are you going to reach them?

2. The pandemic and economic meltdown bring out the best and the worst:

Last week I shared the story of Amy Kline and how she organized singing in her neighborhood. This week I saw Joe’s post about how creativity is more important than ever.

That’s the great thing about art, it brings out the best in us in troubled times.

Goldstar has put together a nice program to help arts organizations weather the storm.

While Mark Cuban has been out at the front about making sure that sports teams take care of their hourly workers during the coronavirus shutdown.

On the other hand, in Boston, I’ve seen a lot of stories about how the Bruins and Delaware North have been placing folks on leave for “temporary business stabilization measures.” And, to use the kid’s term, Josh Harris and David Blitzer were “dragged” over their decision to cut most of their staff’s pay by 20% and then quickly turned around on that decision.

At the NHL offices in NYC, we are seeing salaries cut 25% to try and avoid layoffs.

3. We are still holding for any sign of light for events to begin again in many parts of the world:

Football clubs in Europe are still working on finishing their season by June 30th so that the regular club year can begin on July 1st.

Whether or not that is reasonable is still unknown, the British FA is being very aggressive in their pursuit of finding a way to save the season and make certain that clubs at all levels survive after the pandemic and the economic collapse that is going along with it.

MLB is likely to be hurt the most in the short term just because they are missing their Opening Day launching pad and combining that with a high likelihood that the NHL and NBA may end up playing their playoffs in competition with the launch of baseball during the summer months, god willing.

For me, the question isn’t just when will events come back, but what kinds of events will people come back for?

I’m thinking that this is likely to look a little like the airline industry after 9/11 and there is an interesting study that says that things won’t be distributed the same way when events come back.

What do y’all think?

From where I sit, we are going to have to think through how teams, leagues, and companies manage risk and planning going forward. I think that was always the case, but this crisis is highlighting how close to the edge many organizations are.

If you are totally jonesing for sports, I can point you to Belarus and Twitch!

4. In the States, I think we are going to see a huge change in the way that tickets are sold going forward: 

I mean, at this point, I don’t think we should be too surprised by the number of layoffs and troubles that the world of live events is facing. This pandemic hit at the heart of everything many of us do all day, every day.

But I think what is going to be interesting to see coming out on the other side is what comes next in tickets.

For a long time, I’ve partnered with Booking Protect as they’ve worked to deliver the best refund protection in the world of tickets and events.

Their commitment to maintaining a high level of service throughout the pandemic highlights something that really should have already been a primary consideration for folks, how do we give the ticket buyer more flexibility in their purchase terms and how do we meet customers in a way that reflects the reality of their jobs, their schedules, their health, and lives that don’t always conform to the events we’ve planned for months in advance.

In Australia in November, Maureen Andersen gave the closing keynote at the Ticketing Professionals Conference of Australia and she talked about elevating the level of service in the industry and an example that stuck in my mind was the idea of “all sales are final” or “no refunds, no exchanges.”

In the context of Maureen’s speech, these concepts just aren’t good enough for the modern customer of November…I think we can all agree that the reality of our customers has changed a lot in the 4 months since I heard her talk about this in Australia.

More, I think her point was that we have to end this idea that our default should be to figure out how to say, “yes” as much as we possibly can to every one of our guests.

I don’t have to tell any of y’all where I fall down on that idea.

You combine these ideas with the story of the secondary market platforms faltering under the strain of the coronavirus induced shutdowns and, in the States, you see that the model of sales is going to have to change going forward.

And, the state of what to do with all of the tickets that are postponed or canceled currently is another sticking point that is likely to drive this thinking for some folks. This particular part of the challenge confronts folks around the world.

Let me give you a couple of reasons why:

First, for far too long at this point, much of the risk for many teams, productions, and events have been born by the secondary market.

You’ve seen this in the rise of consolidation, ticket arbitrage, the fan broker model and a lot of other moves that consumers and professionals have had to make to attempt to either afford their tickets or to drive value into the ticketing ecosystem.

Effectively, what we’ve seen happen is that in the drive to maximize revenue at every touchpoint we’ve put so much pressure on brokers, consolidators, and fans, that the risk has returned to the teams and content producers because STHs can’t afford their tickets, the secondary market might not see a return on a partnership, and corporate partners may not see the value or need in having so much inventory at such high prices.

Now, you are likely to see a scenario where the secondary market either reconsiders their risk tolerance or the secondary market doesn’t have the financial ability to assume as much risk. Combined with consumers feeling the pinch from the pandemic and the accompanying financial crisis, and the movement for a lot of corporate customers to reevaluate their ticket packages and ticket investments…and what do you have, potentially, a tremendous amount of trouble!

BTW, we could see many brokers and platforms go out of business or change the way they operate their businesses.

What will that mean for ticket sales?

Second, the model of Glengarry Glenn Ross type selling that still dominates most American sports teams is likely going to need to be revisited.

Patrick Ryan sums it up when he mentions losing “half your net worth and having some 25-year-old kid calling up” threatening to take away your tickets at the height of a panic as really bad for your brand. And, Aaron Holland talks about being more agile in the way that you create value for your ticket buyers.

How will you adapt to these realistic factors in your ticket sales process?

Finally, my favorite topic of marketing needs to regain its spot as a strategic priority.

I’m sure I’ve written and said more than anyone on the need for marketing to lead the way in ensuring that we are maximizing our attendance and revenue in sports, theatre, arts, and entertainment.

This is going to be more important than ever. And, spoiler, the old ways of marketing aren’t going to necessarily cut it any longer.

We will need to focus on response, revenue generation, and demand creation over brand building. In a way, I believe that the TV partners and other partners do a really great job of building the brand of teams, venues, events, and performers, but they do a poor job of selling and maximizing revenue because that’s not what they are designed for.

The simplest way to kickstart something like this is to rethink the outcomes you are trying to produce instead of getting stuck in the mindless tail-chasing of doing things because everyone else is doing them.

So…if you need to sell tickets, how are these channels going to help? What does success look like? Where can I find an example of someone achieving this outcome either in tickets or outside of it?

FYI, this piece about marketing being everyone’s job could have been written by me!

5. I hope this pandemic and economic slowdown resolves itself quickly, but I want y’all to be safe: 

I’ve had friends from all around the world send me well wishes and notes of concern because I live in DC. And, I don’t want to get political but I do want to tell you no matter where you are in the world, listen to the professionals, be careful about what you information you intake, and take care of yourself as we work through this.

My lady has taken over my office right now, but I have kept a bust of FDR (I think bust is the right term) next to my desk since I started working out of my office about 5 years ago because FDR was kind of Georgia’s first president. And, I know for many people we are dealing with a lot of uncertainty and a lot of stress. I’m not the president so I can’t go on the TV and calm the world’s nerves, but I can share FDR’s first inaugural address where he said the famous line: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” 

It is a tough time. As I’ve mentioned everywhere in the last few weeks, we are in this together. If you need me, let me know. You can email, text, call, WhatsApp, or whatever your preferred method of connection is. I’m here for you. And, after having gone through the 2008 financial crisis, I recognize that one of the most important things we can do for anyone is just be a friend, a shoulder, or someone to bounce ideas off of.

Importantly for me, thank you for paying attention…writing this week’s newsletter was really therapeutic and in a way felt like a meditation on business and life. So thanks again for being here! 

—————————————————————————————————————-

What am I up to this week?

I’m hosting 3 webinars this week on topics that I hope you or your team or colleagues might find useful during the current pandemic but also heading out of it…

On Tuesday, March 31st at 11 AM EDT, I’m going to take some of those concepts and ideas I talked about in section 4 and create a webinar to help you come up with some new ideas to sell more tickets in the future. I’m going to cover value for the premium buyer, messaging, incentives, value, and more. I hope to see you there.

On Wednesday, April 1st at 3 PM EDT, I’m putting together one that is all about value and how you can create value for your clients and prospects in crisis times. We will cover whether you should be selling, how to offer insights, and how you can become a resource to your market.

On Thursday, April 2 at 12 PM EDT, I’ve put together a webinar with Frederic Aouad from Stay22 on leading a sales team during the pandemic. We will discuss how doing the right thing is the most important thing you can do right now, helping your sales team see the light at the end of the tunnel, changing performance metrics, and delivering value.

You can also listen to the previous webinars: The Language of the Sale and What Matters In Tickets Now! as well! Check out The Business of Fun archives and I will get back to posting podcasts this week with an interesting conversation with Queue-It North American CEO, Phil Hansen. 

Please follow and like us:

Talking Tickets: 27 March 2020–Take Care Of Yourself! Twitch! TV Money! Marketing and More! was originally published on Wakeman Consulting Group

[formacaelesti]

Chapter 19

The means, therefore, which unto us is lent

Him to behold, is on his works to look,

Which he hath made in beauty excellent,

And in the same, as in a brazen book,

To read enregister'd in every nook

His goodness, which his beauty doth declare;

For all that's good is beautiful and fair.

She stood before him, her hair in his favourite shade of caramel, staring into his eyes. His hands felt soft grasping hers, his smile warmed her body, the softness of his eyes staring into hers made everything worth it.

“You may kiss your Bride,” the voice said softly, as Remus leaned down and captured her lips. There was a round of applause and she smiled against his lips, laughing slightly.

“I love you,” he mumbled stealing another quick kiss as they separated. Still holding hands, he gave them a squeeze and looked around them. The small tavern clapped at the newly married couple. No one knowing who they were, but were happy to bare witness to the two’s marriage.

And with that, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks were married, committed to spending the rest of their lives with each other. Dora couldn’t be happier, her elation was infectious, as they stood still holding each other’s hands.

“Congratulations,” people shouted as the two began to walk out of the tavern. Not wanting a huge fanfare - it was never Remus’ style- they took leave. Exiting into the windy summer day, the sun beamed down on the couple, as she let go of his hand, before twirling around, letting her plain white dress twirl around her legs. Remus chuckled at the still child like quality she possessed. There was an air of innocence about her, but her maturity came out when needed.

Stopping and smiling, she looked at Remus. “Come,” she held out her hand, as he walked towards her, taking her newly ringed hand in his own. “I want to tell Mum and Dad.”

Nodding his head, Remus pulled her close, to take one more moment of wedded bliss before going back to war. “Hey,” she said softly, reaching to touch his cheek. “You okay?”

“Perfect,” Remus replied, as she traced a scar on his face with a finger.

“Good. They’ll love you,” giving him a wink, they disapparated together, appearing at the Tonks’ property, Dora grinned brightly. She was at home. “Remus?”

“Do they know?” he asked softly. He knew he didn’t have to explain what he was asking, she always knew more than she let on.

“They don’t care,” she said, giving his hand a squeeze. “Come.” Walking across the green lawn, Remus watched as his new wife moved with ease, and almost bounced into the house. “Mum! Dad?”

“Dora?” a voice questioned as she let go of Remus’ hand, and landed into the hug from her mother. Remus was in shock as he stared at the women in front of him. If it wasn’t for the brown hair and the kind eyes, he would have thought she was Bellatrix Lestrange.

“Mum, this is Remus, Remus, this is my mum Andromeda,” Dora introduced, as Andromeda let go of her daughter, and took the hand that Remus held out to shake.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Remus smiled, bowing his head slightly.

“Is Dad home?” Dora asked, with a grin.

“No, he’s at work. What brings you two here in the middle of the day?” Andromeda asked as she ushered the pair into the sitting room. Remus looked around, and he couldn’t help but smile. The house reminded him of his parents, a mix between magic and muggle. It was comforting. Photos of young Dora hung on the walls, and he couldn’t help but smile at them. Ranging from different hair colours, and noses. He moved closer to one collection, each labelled with ‘Nymph’s first day of Hogwarts’ where seven photos hung, all in various stages of her adolescence. No prefect badge graced her breast, but her smiles and hair colours spoke for her years at Hogwarts.

“Remus and I got married,” she declared holding up her left hand, which now had a gold band. Remus whirled around, looking at Andromeda, whose eyes were large, and bright.

“Married?” she asked, as Dora nodded.  

“We love each other,” she added. Remus was trying his hardest to remain composed, he had never felt this type of anxiety. There was something new about meeting the parents of your new wife for the first time. Something he never thought he’d ever experience. But the kind face in front of him, with a smile, moved towards him and brought him into a hug.

“Welcome Remus,” Andromeda hugged him tightly, as his body released its tension, and he saw Dora mouth ‘Told you’. “Oh, this is such great news! Wait until your father hears Nymphadora. He’ll be so happy for you two. This calls for a special supper. I’ll make your favourite.”

“Mum, you don’t have to go through all that work,” Dora protested, but when a hand waved dismissively at her, she sighed with a grin. “But we’re only staying for supper. I have work in the morning.”

“Of course Nymphadora,” Andromeda smiled. “My daughter is married. Such a bright day!” Exiting the room, Dora chuckled and plopped herself on the couch opposite of the fireplace.

“What did you want to do this afternoon?” she asked, looking at Remus with sparkling eyes. There was something to be said about how infectious her joy was. When she was happy, everyone around her seemed to be just as happy. He chuckled slightly, as her hair started to show bright streaks of hot pink. “What?”

“Pink,” Remus smiled before he turned back towards the wall that was covered in her pictures. His hands traced the frames of the ones of her as a baby. She had a duck beak and was laughing hysterically in the photo.

Dora moved behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist, standing on her tiptoes to see over his shoulder. “Mum hated when I changed my face, but Dad always thought we needed proof that I was an indeed a disgrace to the Black family tree.”

“Nymphadora,” Remus chided softly.

“Nothing to be ashamed of. I’d rather be a disgrace than one of them,” she replied honestly. “Just think, by marrying you, I’m even more a disgrace!” Kissing his neck, she let go of his body.

“You are a disgrace,” a male voice said entering the room, as Dora turned around and grinned.

“And proud of it!” she stood proudly. “Hi, Dad.”

“Hello my Dora,” Ted smiled taking his daughter into a hug. “Your mother sent an owl, saying to come home right away.”

“Dad, this is my husband Remus, Remus, my Dad, Ted.”

“Husband?” ted asked, raising his brows, as his daughter held up her left hand to display the new golden band that adorned her ring finger. “My Dora, married!” There was a look of disbelief on his face, as he chuckled. “Welcome to the family Remus. You must be a crazy one for marrying this sprite.”

Remus smiled and shook Ted’s hand in pleasure. “Or she’s the crazy one for marrying me, we’ll never know.”

“Nymphadora, will you go collect some eggs from the hens?” Andromeda asked walking into the main room holding a basket. Dora nodded, taking the basket and bouncing out of the room. In that moment, Remus felt extremely anxious. “Don’t be worried,” she added with a kind smile.

“We just want to know this isn’t because of the war,” Ted continued. “That is, only because we may die any moment.”

“No,” Remus confirmed. “It has nothing to do with the war.” It was true. There was more to do with him letting his guard down enough for her to break it down.

“That’s good,” Ted replied taking his seat in his favourite chair. “Please sit,” he gestured to the couch opposite. “I think it’s time I learn about my son-in-law.”

“Of course,” Remus replied. There was fear in revealing who he was…

“Dora mentioned you teach?”

“Did, I taught a year at Hogwarts, Defense Against the Dark Arts,” Remus explained. “I tendered my resignation after a year.” Hoping neither asked why Remus took a breath. “Since, I’ve been doing a lot of work for the Order. Gathering as much intel as possible on Voldemort’s return and army.”

“Would you return to teaching?” Andromeda asked, trying to gauge Remus.

“In a heartbeat,” Remus replied. “I felt very much in my element teaching. I had always loved school.”

“My husband, the prefect,” Dora smiled from the doorway. “Mum, I grabbed a dozen. They’re a bit peckish.”

“Thank you, Nymphadora,” Andromeda smiled.

“You two know he is a werewolf, so stop skirting around the question,” Dora said firmly, moving to sit on the couch beside her husband, taking his hand in hers. “And it’s fine. I’m quite good at potion brewing if you recall. No one would ask if I was buying the ingredients. With this stupid anti-werewolf legislation that Umbridge is trying to put forward, it’ll be easier for us to keep him under wraps than sending him to live with the werewolves. And besides, I thought this family was all about disgracing the house of Black, and what’s more disgraceful than marrying an animal?”

“Dora,” Ted started. “This is why you get in trouble all the time you know?” Shaking his head, he looked at the couple in front of him. “Don’t brew in one place. Your mother and I will help secure the wolfsbane.”

“The meadow!” Dora said loudly. “I forgot. The meadow… behind the ravine…”

“Dora?” Remus asked softly.

“I was never allowed to play in our meadow behind our ravine, because of its undisturbed plantation of wolfsbane,” she explained. Her mind was racing, and she started to twitch. “We need to secure it!”

“Already done Dora,” Ted chuckled. “Years ago. We will brew here this month, but I recommend you find different homes to brew. In case the Ministry does raids.”

And in that moment, Remus felt as part of the family. The Tonks’ were openly accepting of him and were willing to do what only a handful of people were willing to do… love him unconditionally.

[qqueenofhades]

I'm asking this out of curiosity, how can you just let go of a ship like captain swan? you were a hardcore captain swan shipper and you were part of their journey from the very beginning and now you barely care about them if at all. it's just I don't know i thought you were staying till the end & would even have a hard time saying goodbye to them after the show ends. sorry if this came off as rude I'm totally just curious just cuz you were so invested for years now you don't care anymore

Well, honestly, I have discussed this subject before, and tried to be straight about it, and I’m sure you didn’t mean to be rude and are genuinely curious. Still, though, it’s a bit discouraging?

I’m still here. I’m still active on tumblr, I still reblog CS gifs fairly regularly, and I know what’s going on in the show, and I’m looking forward to the wedding. I’ve made several long posts on my process of stepping back from the show and why that happened. It’s certainly not that I just “let go” overnight. It’s been going on for almost a year, and it has not in the least been easy for me. CS got me back into fandom after a long time away. I don’t need to prove my bona fides as a shipper to anyone; I’ve shipped them since 2012, been on tumblr for them and an incredibly active and prolific fandom member since 2013, written multiple novel-length fics and countless drabbles for them (and am still working on TDH, which is my second-longest project EVER behind The North Remembers), answered thousands of questions, written just as many specs and metas and spoiler and roundup posts, went to my first ever con (way out of my comfort zone!) to meet Colin, and still have many dear friends who have changed my life. I don’t ever regret any of the time I did spend on them. I have loved them for a long time and I still care. I just am engaging with it differently, and I have had to do that for several reasons.

As noted, I was super invested during season 5. SUPER. It got to the place where I was thinking about it almost every waking moment, even as I was trying to adjust to a new city and country and degree study and the ups and downs that came with that. My mood was totally dictated by spoilers or theories or how people were reacting to them or how I was going to have to hold things together during an angsty time with all the people I had to comfort/talk through the pain of the Dark Ones/Underworld arc. It took a lot out of me, to be honest. I couldn’t even enjoy the show quite the same way because I was so dependent on it all working out and the effect this had on my ability to deal with things. I’ve always been honest about my years and years of anxiety and depression and what I’ve had to do with that, and the show was something for me to focus on and to try to get me out of my head (again, during an otherwise stressful year). Honestly, that level of addiction/dependence isn’t healthy for anything, especially what is, at the end of the day, just a TV show. The s5 finale burned me the hell out after all that pain with pretty much nothing to show for it, and I struggled over the summer with the thought that I was finally having to withdraw from it in bits and pieces. I watched 6x01, but… nope. That pretty much put the lid on it that I wasn’t prepared to go back at the same level again, and probably wouldn’t be.

As noted, and as anyone who has read my fics can attest, I have no problem with angst. I love angst, even long-term and complex angst. I love serious and dark and morally challenging stories, they are some of my favorites. But as I have also said, I do have a problem when that angst results, to my view, in no measurable story progress and the endless repetition of long-played-out character arcs. I just watched CS struggle to be together for all of season 5. I don’t want to watch more of Emma Has Walls or Killian Keeps Secrets Because He’s Guilty or Oh Look, They’re Separated and Will Die. It’s just… not interesting to me. So I still love them as a ship, but I’ve almost completely disengaged from wanting or expecting canon to provide any kind of satisfying or well-thought-through fulfillment for them. I’ve written tons and tons of fics (and novels). I write all the time. I analyze things for a living. I am an English tutor and a history teacher. I’m a storyteller. I have spent a long time with these characters and coming up with and thinking through what I want to see for them. That doesn’t mean I’m Better ™ than the writers, but it also means that any effort I put in feels like way more than they are, and that’s not a fun or stimulating way to engage with a fandom.

I don’t do hate-watching, and I certainly am not about to rain on the parade of people who do still love it as much as ever (which as I have said many times, I am happy for them). So it’s just better to focus on things that I DO actively enjoy and which I find rewarding and engaging. This year has been incredibly tough for me since about last November and the Orange Nazi’s election (and before that, really). I don’t need to put my limited and valuable free time into things that are just going to drain me or make me annoyed more than I already am. Fandom, once again and though it sometimes can be anything but, is supposed to be fun. And I am trying to space out my interests and have several different places to turn to for inspiration, rather than putting all my eggs in one basket. As noted, it’s just not healthy, and I have to take care with that.

As also noted, I was truly happy about the CS engagement and I will watch their wedding and probably reblog a lot of gifs from it. But I can look at said gifs and enjoy their cute moments and feel as if I’m getting what I need to, rather than having to slog through all of season 6. And honestly, if OUAT is losing people like me – a super, SUPER dedicated fan with years of investment and high-level commitment and fandom participation and creation – it doesn’t take too much guesswork to see that it’s probably losing regular viewers like crazy as well, and that’s why the ratings have taken a nosedive. I know I’m not alone, because I know a lot of fellow fandom people who just can’t muster up the same level of investment, and we’ve all paid our dues. We don’t have to “prove” anything or get caught in the inevitable “Who’s a Real/Better Fan” drama that just makes the whole cycle even more draining. We’re just engaging how we choose to, over a fictional narrative that has meant a ton to us, but has also changed, and we have as well.

So yeah. I still care. I am still a fan. But I think it’s important to remember, as always, that fandom is a FICTIONAL space, and that the people who engage in it are real, with all the hangups and changes of interest and needs and triggers and emotional reasons that go along with that, and we only interact with each other on a very limited basis through tumblr, which is obviously not face to face and where we curate the content we want to post/focus/present. It’s not objective, and it’s fun and amazing and collaborative, but it can also provide a somewhat limited perspective of who people are, what they’re doing, and why they decide to move on from something. So yeah, that’s where I am.

:)

[rilenerocks]

People talk about their spirit animals. Or about which animal they’d be if there was really reincarnation. My mind has glanced over that topic more than once in my life. I used to think that if I wasn’t human, I’d be a dolphin. I like their big brains. I like that they hang around in groups and are strong communicators. And they’re helpful, seemingly altruistic. All of those traits appeal to me. As I’ve matured and looked at myself differently than I did years ago, I realized that my personality has shifted, along with my interest in nature. A bird girl when I was little, I’ve grown more interested in them in more recent years. I’m a skywatcher, a cloudchaser. I still love water. What could be a better spirit animal for me than an albatross? They’re gliders. They can fly for thousands of miles, never touching land, feeding from the sea. The majority of them mate for life. I mean, seriously, is this me or what?

So you might think the quarantine has pushed me over the edge. Not really. I’ve just been a little raw lately. Unlike the brave health workers who go to their hospitals daily, experiencing horror and death, I’ve been able to have the luxury of distance from that harsh reality for some time. This month will mark the third anniversary of Michael’s death. I was at his side, holding his hand, in our own home. An event so unlike these tragedies I read about, when people drop their loved ones at emergency rooms and never see them again. How unbearable, as is so much in the news cycle. Since March, I’ve experienced three deaths. One was my dear friend, Julie, an expected loss, but the end of a 50 year relationship. Last week, I heard of another friend’s death, this one a more casual friend, the kind with whom you can have a nice chat when you run into each other. She died from Covid19 at only sixty-one. This week, it was a man I’d known since he was very young, a musician who worked in my husband’s music store, and was part of a circle of people who moved in and around the periphery of my world for four decades. Michael and I were invited to his first wedding, an alternative and off-beat affair. I watched him perform in his bands until eventually the 10 year gap between us, meant that I was chasing children around while he was still doing gigs. In the past few years, we’d reestablished contact and exchanged thoughts and music over social media. His death was by suicide at age 59. This tough month of May also contains the birthday of my best friend from childhood, another suicide who I still grieve after 32 years. Everything suddenly felt like too much. So I headed out to chase the clouds on a beautiful sunny day, trying to climb over the mounting pain from each end of life.

The endless changing cloud formations never bore me. Instead they make me feel more centered and conscious of my place in the world. After driving around for an hour, I headed back home to push a little further into my never ending list of things to do. I started with the garden, checking out the latest blooms and the ones getting ready to open. I always have some anxiety every spring as I know there will be losses due to who knows what. And then there’s the satisfaction of the reliable, familiar ones who come back each year. Now, given the always surprising Illinois weather, a polar vortex has been served up for tonight, with frost expected. I admired what plants already arrived, hoping they’d survive this night. The ones in pots, hanging baskets and raised beds cost me an hour of bundling them up as best I could, trying to make sure they have their best shot at seeing another day.

I was really happy that I’d restrained myself from repotting and putting my tropical miracle from last year outside to weather the elements. Last year, a friend of mine gave me a gorgeous plant called a Duranta Sapphire tree for my birthday, also this month. I showered it with care, pretty certain I’d kill it in this unpredictable environment. But it hung on. So I kept watering it until suddenly, it was November and still it survived. I thought that any plant that wanted to live so much deserved a chance, so I brought it into my house.  It’s still alive and soon I’ll repot it and bring it to the garden where I hope it will enjoy another glorious summer. Next I crossed the street to see how my kids’ new chickens were doing. The older hens had them boxed into a corner, making them perfect targets for a few photos.

After that, I went back home to work in the garage for a bit. I’ve made progress in there, finding some things that were easy to toss out and others that I’ll be keeping for a long time. A while back I wrote a blog called “The Soul of a Garage,” basically a commentary on how Michael’s presence was so palpable in there. I’m carving out my own space now,  although his hobbies and projects still emerge from the corners. Today was no exception. Michael was one of those guys who could do almost anything. In the old days before cars were so heavily computerized, he was always fixing carburetors, doing brakes, dealing with oil pans and lots of other stuff I can’t begin to name. So how great was it when I found his creeper and his coveralls? After wiping away some grime, the oak sheen of the creeper came shining through, along with the name of the company which produced it. I looked it up, The Anderson’s and found that it finally closed its doors in 2017. Because Michael was 6’4,” his auto mechanic coveralls were so long I could barely hang them up. But I used a garden tool and finally reached a hook. Those will stay in the garage.

I found one of his baseball bats. His glove is in the house. When he played softball for years with the High and Mighty team, his nickname was “Stick,” because he was such a reliable hitter. He loved that game, but years of swinging gave him a string of herniated disks and one back surgery. I also found his tackle box still filled with lures, reels, filleting knives and other gear. Every summer for many years, he and three buddies headed up to Nelson’s Resort In Minnesota, near the boundary waters, where they fished for walleye and northern pike. At night they played bridge. I always missed him when he was gone but they always had a great time and brought their trophies back for a fish fry.

I was feeling pretty good after hanging around in the garage. I’d cleaned, discarded old junk, found things worth keeping which brought good memories, and had gotten a bit over the top of a sad day. I decided to continue my newly recovered baking skills and went inside to do a banana bread. As I got my ingredients together, I cracked my first egg and got a double yolk. My mom always used to tell me that was a sign of good luck.    I assembled everything, put the bread in the oven and reflected on how my day’s choices were positive and had smoothed the rough edges off my sadness. By this time it was nearing dusk and I went back outside to snap a few shots of the lovely sky. When I came back inside, the bread was a warm golden brown and the house smelled and felt warm and homey. After dinner, I popped the computer open to catch up on social media and  the news.

On a mutual friend’s Facebook page, there was commentary on the man who’d committed suicide. Someone I didn’t know had written the question, “So is anyone else from the Record Service(my husband’s former business,) dead besides Nick and Michael? I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. This stranger couldn’t have known that I was a person who might read that line. I’m sure she didn’t know that the anniversary of Michael’s death is bearing down on me and my family. Reading her dispassionate, gossipy question threw a big bucket of cold water on my improved mood. I couldn’t imagine asking a question like that in a public forum because to me, it’s remarkably insensitive. And so is a lot of the world. Within seconds, I was back in my albatross dream. I am gliding away from any land mass, following the water. I hear no human voices saying thoughtless things. I can go for miles and miles with nothing but sky and clouds ahead and ocean below. Eventually I’ll get back to my mate, my mate for life. And beyond. Sounds like a plan to me. 

Albatross Dream People talk about their spirit animals. Or about which animal they’d be if there was really reincarnation.

[kayleyfaheyus]

Shift Your Brokerage into High Gear

Five years ago, I was a hobby farmer in Western Ohio, on the prowl for a new career. After 19 years in the automotive industry, working my way up from lot porter to salesman to GM and president of a dealer group, I was ready for a change.

I was eager to apply my background and experience in consumer marketing to a new line of work, one that preferably highlighted my passion for land. Should I get a broker’s license or go to work for a management company or call up a trust department to see if they had any openings? I honestly had no idea how to proceed. Fortunately, my wife, Jessica, made a brilliant suggestion: Call the publisher of that magazine I was always raving about, and see what he had to say. You probably already have an inkling of how things turned out.

I lobbed an email to The Land Report publisher Eddie Lee Rider, and that very day I got a call back. The sales guy in me immediately liked this. Not five minutes into our initial conversation, we both sensed an opportunity. My gut told me to sign on with the Magazine of the American Landowner. After a heart-to-heart with Jessica, that’s exactly what I did.

Almost immediately, I recognized that the tenets of marketing and branding that build successful dealer groups also applied to the successful marketing of land. I guarantee the lessons I learned as I worked my way up from the mailroom to the showroom and finally the boardroom can better your book of business.

 Consistency is Key

One of the principle tenets of automotive marketing is that reach without frequency equals wasted money. Eddie Lee hammered home this very same point to me. “If someone wants to buy a one-time ad, tell them not to waste their money,” he says. “Selling land isn’t about when a broker is ready to market a listing. It’s about when a buyer or a seller is ready to pull the trigger.”

“Consistency is key” is especially true when marketing land and your services. A well-crafted branding message, delivered consistently, creates top-of-mind name recall. In my humble opinion, this could well be the factor that generates that all-important phone call from a potential buyer or a motivated seller.

 There is No Off-Season

Many industries target a certain time frame to ramp up marketing. Car sales is not one of them. It may seem as though dealers are doubling down when they do a “year-end clearance,” but that’s just one of many arrows in their quiver. How many times a year do you see ads about factory incentives? Or special dealer financing? By the time you factor in all the limited-time offers that are pitched – President’s Day, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Back to School, Black Friday, New Year’s Eve – a far more sophisticated strategy emerges. Automotive dealers market 24/7/365.

So if investors who buy and sell land have no off-season, why should you?

Yes, we both know that as the calendar year wraps up, so does deal pace. I equate this to an auto dealership’s year-end clearance. But if your own marketing slacks off during the off-season while your competitors are busy reinforcing their branding, guess who gets the cold call in the middle of winter? Guess who hits the ground running when the snow melts or school lets out? Not you.

As entrepreneurs, our instinct is to keep our powder dry when things slow down.

Yet the decision to buy or sell a legacy property is often a family decision that is discussed and debated during the off-season, a.k.a. the holidays. Does it really make sense to pull back your marketing at the exact moment you need to be building your business?

Like countless brokerages coast to coast, The Land Report shifts into high gear as spring turns into summer. Yet we consciously produce our biggest issue of the year, which features The Land Report 100, so it comes out in December. Why? Because we practice what I’m preaching. Our must-read content is on coffee tables and in private jets precisely when families gather for the holidays.

Effective marketing is a full-time, year-round commitment. The consistent marketing message that you deliver, even during spells of lower activity, builds brand equity and name recall. These are priceless.

Marketing is Not an Expense. It is an Investment. Treat it as Such.

Best practice dictates you establish a marketing budget and commit fully to it. Budgets create limits; you can’t have a presence everywhere. So, do your research, negotiate well, and pick your platforms based on their position within the industry. Only invest in favorable brand association. Demand added value for your marketing dollars. Above all, challenge your marketing partners to deliver your message effectively and specifically to the right audience. Trust but verify.

Please note that I said “platforms.” Do not put all your eggs in one basket, be it print, online, or direct mail. And that includes my own title, The Land Report. Do you go to the trade shows your target buyer attends? You’d be surprised how many of those events take place during the so-called off-season. How about hosting your own event, even if it’s just a cast-and-blast for a handful of key clients. Again, money well spent.

Fish where the fish are. By that, I mean make sure you connect with your target market in person, online, via direct mail, and in print. That’s a sound investment.

Branding is Not A Slogan. It’s the Truth.

I’ve always been a big fan of Ford’s slogan: Built Ford Tough. It’s confident. It’s catchy. And it hammers home the fact that more than a century after Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company, Ford is very much an industry leader. I know that for a fact because I spent the majority of my career with the blue oval.

Let’s apply that marketing savvy to your business. If your brokerage has been around for a while, what are you best known for? A specific land use? A certain market? A specialized expertise? Spell it out in an honest, straightforward manner. At The Land Report, we call ourselves The Magazine of the American Landowner. It’s confident. It’s catchy. And it hammers home the fact that we share the stories of America’s leading landowners.

But what if you’re new to the business and just starting out? What drives you? What inspired you to launch your business? Are you a longtime local? Then put those deep roots and your local ties to work for you. Maybe you relocated to the land of your dreams. If so, doesn’t your trailblazing decision make you the ideal candidate to pave the way for others who might want to do so? Do you love to hunt? Is life better on the back of a horse?

Consider these questions and write down your answers. Look at it closely. Refine it. Hone it. Buff it. THAT is your brand.

There’s Never Been a Better Time to Market Your Brand

The landscape of marketing choices for land professionals has never been more diverse. Traditional advertising is gone. Kaput. Once upon a time, advertising featured an “offer” that was deliverable through standardized channels. Today, it’s all about experience marketing. When I got my first paycheck in the automotive industry, Facebook, Google, and YouTube didn’t even exist. By the time I left, key influencers were creating billions of impressions with blogs and podcasts that reached consumers via their iPhones, a product that debuted in 2007. This avalanche of new technology has created exciting opportunities for small business owners to create and control marketing and branding. Use it to your advantage.

I’m a big fan of Instagram. The visual-forward nature of this rapidly growing platform and its ability to integrate video and drone footage gives a broker the unique opportunity to conduct virtual showings on multiple listings from a handheld device. If you are a land broker in 2018, an active Instagram account is a must, not an option.

Finally: hashtags, hashtags, hashtags. Marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuck insists that for real estate professionals, the most effective way to grow your Instagram following is through the use of strategic hashtags. This means the use of a minimum of 10 hashtags per post. I recommend including hashtags featuring the state where your listing is located as well as the type of property – i.e., #farm, #ranch, #timberland, #hunting. Keep the hashtags relevant and watch the interactions with your posts build.

Thanks to Jessica’s suggestion, I’ve been on board with The Land Report going on five years now. Even better, I’m applying insights and ideas that I gained in one of the most competitive industries to my new career. I sincerely hope that one of these kernels of truth helps you take your book of business to the next level in 2018 and beyond.

P.S. If you want me to share more, reach out to me at davidz@landreport.com. I’ll even help you set up that Instagram account you’ve been putting off.

About the Author: David Zawalich lives in west central Ohio with his wife, two kids and a Wire Haired Pointing Griffon named Zeke. His love of land and the outdoors was sparked as a child in the wilds of northeast Pennsylvania. He employs his unique vantage point as a landowner and marketing professional as the Associate Publisher of The Land Report.

The post Shift Your Brokerage into High Gear appeared first on REALTORS® Land Institute.

from News About Real Estate https://www.rliland.com/shift-your-brokerage-into-high-gear-branding

[joefnolan80]

Shift Your Brokerage into High Gear

Five years ago, I was a hobby farmer in Western Ohio, on the prowl for a new career. After 19 years in the automotive industry, working my way up from lot porter to salesman to GM and president of a dealer group, I was ready for a change.

I was eager to apply my background and experience in consumer marketing to a new line of work, one that preferably highlighted my passion for land. Should I get a broker’s license or go to work for a management company or call up a trust department to see if they had any openings? I honestly had no idea how to proceed. Fortunately, my wife, Jessica, made a brilliant suggestion: Call the publisher of that magazine I was always raving about, and see what he had to say. You probably already have an inkling of how things turned out.

I lobbed an email to The Land Report publisher Eddie Lee Rider, and that very day I got a call back. The sales guy in me immediately liked this. Not five minutes into our initial conversation, we both sensed an opportunity. My gut told me to sign on with the Magazine of the American Landowner. After a heart-to-heart with Jessica, that’s exactly what I did.

Almost immediately, I recognized that the tenets of marketing and branding that build successful dealer groups also applied to the successful marketing of land. I guarantee the lessons I learned as I worked my way up from the mailroom to the showroom and finally the boardroom can better your book of business.

 Consistency is Key

One of the principle tenets of automotive marketing is that reach without frequency equals wasted money. Eddie Lee hammered home this very same point to me. “If someone wants to buy a one-time ad, tell them not to waste their money,” he says. “Selling land isn’t about when a broker is ready to market a listing. It’s about when a buyer or a seller is ready to pull the trigger.”

“Consistency is key” is especially true when marketing land and your services. A well-crafted branding message, delivered consistently, creates top-of-mind name recall. In my humble opinion, this could well be the factor that generates that all-important phone call from a potential buyer or a motivated seller.

 There is No Off-Season

Many industries target a certain time frame to ramp up marketing. Car sales is not one of them. It may seem as though dealers are doubling down when they do a “year-end clearance,” but that’s just one of many arrows in their quiver. How many times a year do you see ads about factory incentives? Or special dealer financing? By the time you factor in all the limited-time offers that are pitched – President’s Day, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Back to School, Black Friday, New Year’s Eve – a far more sophisticated strategy emerges. Automotive dealers market 24/7/365.

So if investors who buy and sell land have no off-season, why should you?

Yes, we both know that as the calendar year wraps up, so does deal pace. I equate this to an auto dealership’s year-end clearance. But if your own marketing slacks off during the off-season while your competitors are busy reinforcing their branding, guess who gets the cold call in the middle of winter? Guess who hits the ground running when the snow melts or school lets out? Not you.

As entrepreneurs, our instinct is to keep our powder dry when things slow down.

Yet the decision to buy or sell a legacy property is often a family decision that is discussed and debated during the off-season, a.k.a. the holidays. Does it really make sense to pull back your marketing at the exact moment you need to be building your business?

Like countless brokerages coast to coast, The Land Report shifts into high gear as spring turns into summer. Yet we consciously produce our biggest issue of the year, which features The Land Report 100, so it comes out in December. Why? Because we practice what I’m preaching. Our must-read content is on coffee tables and in private jets precisely when families gather for the holidays.

Effective marketing is a full-time, year-round commitment. The consistent marketing message that you deliver, even during spells of lower activity, builds brand equity and name recall. These are priceless.

Marketing is Not an Expense. It is an Investment. Treat it as Such.

Best practice dictates you establish a marketing budget and commit fully to it. Budgets create limits; you can’t have a presence everywhere. So, do your research, negotiate well, and pick your platforms based on their position within the industry. Only invest in favorable brand association. Demand added value for your marketing dollars. Above all, challenge your marketing partners to deliver your message effectively and specifically to the right audience. Trust but verify.

Please note that I said “platforms.” Do not put all your eggs in one basket, be it print, online, or direct mail. And that includes my own title, The Land Report. Do you go to the trade shows your target buyer attends? You’d be surprised how many of those events take place during the so-called off-season. How about hosting your own event, even if it’s just a cast-and-blast for a handful of key clients. Again, money well spent.

Fish where the fish are. By that, I mean make sure you connect with your target market in person, online, via direct mail, and in print. That’s a sound investment.

Branding is Not A Slogan. It’s the Truth.

I’ve always been a big fan of Ford’s slogan: Built Ford Tough. It’s confident. It’s catchy. And it hammers home the fact that more than a century after Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company, Ford is very much an industry leader. I know that for a fact because I spent the majority of my career with the blue oval.

Let’s apply that marketing savvy to your business. If your brokerage has been around for a while, what are you best known for? A specific land use? A certain market? A specialized expertise? Spell it out in an honest, straightforward manner. At The Land Report, we call ourselves The Magazine of the American Landowner. It’s confident. It’s catchy. And it hammers home the fact that we share the stories of America’s leading landowners.

But what if you’re new to the business and just starting out? What drives you? What inspired you to launch your business? Are you a longtime local? Then put those deep roots and your local ties to work for you. Maybe you relocated to the land of your dreams. If so, doesn’t your trailblazing decision make you the ideal candidate to pave the way for others who might want to do so? Do you love to hunt? Is life better on the back of a horse?

Consider these questions and write down your answers. Look at it closely. Refine it. Hone it. Buff it. THAT is your brand.

There’s Never Been a Better Time to Market Your Brand

The landscape of marketing choices for land professionals has never been more diverse. Traditional advertising is gone. Kaput. Once upon a time, advertising featured an “offer” that was deliverable through standardized channels. Today, it’s all about experience marketing. When I got my first paycheck in the automotive industry, Facebook, Google, and YouTube didn’t even exist. By the time I left, key influencers were creating billions of impressions with blogs and podcasts that reached consumers via their iPhones, a product that debuted in 2007. This avalanche of new technology has created exciting opportunities for small business owners to create and control marketing and branding. Use it to your advantage.

I’m a big fan of Instagram. The visual-forward nature of this rapidly growing platform and its ability to integrate video and drone footage gives a broker the unique opportunity to conduct virtual showings on multiple listings from a handheld device. If you are a land broker in 2018, an active Instagram account is a must, not an option.

Finally: hashtags, hashtags, hashtags. Marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuck insists that for real estate professionals, the most effective way to grow your Instagram following is through the use of strategic hashtags. This means the use of a minimum of 10 hashtags per post. I recommend including hashtags featuring the state where your listing is located as well as the type of property – i.e., #farm, #ranch, #timberland, #hunting. Keep the hashtags relevant and watch the interactions with your posts build.

Thanks to Jessica’s suggestion, I’ve been on board with The Land Report going on five years now. Even better, I’m applying insights and ideas that I gained in one of the most competitive industries to my new career. I sincerely hope that one of these kernels of truth helps you take your book of business to the next level in 2018 and beyond.

P.S. If you want me to share more, reach out to me at davidz@landreport.com. I’ll even help you set up that Instagram account you’ve been putting off.

About the Author: David Zawalich lives in west central Ohio with his wife, two kids and a Wire Haired Pointing Griffon named Zeke. His love of land and the outdoors was sparked as a child in the wilds of northeast Pennsylvania. He employs his unique vantage point as a landowner and marketing professional as the Associate Publisher of The Land Report.

The post Shift Your Brokerage into High Gear appeared first on REALTORS® Land Institute.

from News About Real Estate https://www.rliland.com/shift-your-brokerage-into-high-gear-branding

[jamieclawhorn]

4 ways to lose everything in the stock market

Survivorship bias — the tendency to read about and celebrate the successes of a very small number of people — ensures that the vast majority of us will find the task of naming legendary investors fairly easy. Warren Buffett will feature, of course. So might Benjamin Graham, George Soros and Peter Lynch. 

What’s less talked and written about are the many market participants who’ve lost huge amounts of money — perhaps everything they own — through ill-discipline, poor decision-making and bad luck. While we can’t do much about the last of these, we can try to minimise the probability of joining this club by identifying examples of the first two.

Here then, are a few ways that could cause you to lose a lot, if not all of your money, over the course of your stock market journey.

1. Letting your emotions run wild

Round-the-clock news coverage arguably makes staying the course harder than it ever used to be. Brexit, Donald Trump — there’s never any shortage of stories that have the potential to lead investors to make impulsive (and usually erroneous) decisions, sending share prices down.

As I’ve become more experienced, it’s become apparent to me that successful investing is less about trying to develop an ice-cool temperament and more about acknowledging that I’m as prone to behavioural foibles as anyone else. If you like, it’s akin to recognising that a diet is more likely to be successful if you refrain from buying your favourite calorie-laden food than attempting to store it ‘out of reach’ in your house. If said treat is nowhere to be found, there’s no need to expend a great deal of willpower resisting it.

Applying this idea to the stock market, it makes no sense to check your portfolio every day if you’re likely to stay invested for years and possibly decades. Doing so merely raises the likelihood that you’ll take action when none is required.

This isn’t merely confined to periods of panic, of course. At this time of the year, markets can feel sluggish and the temptation to do something, anything, to relieve boredom can be strong.

In such a situation, I find it’s worth recalling the famous study by financial services group Fidelity which showed that its most successful clients were either already dead or had completely forgotten they ever had accounts. 

To be clear, the correlation between taking action and stock market success appears decidedly negative.

2. Failing to diversify

A quick look at the history of stock markets over the last two decades should explain why the idea of putting all your eggs in one basket (be it a company or sector) is anathema to Foolish investors.

Think back to the speculative dotcom boom at the end of the last century. Back then, a huge number of tech stocks soared on the back of hype and very little else. Many investors, swept along by excitement, began to value businesses based on anything but traditional metrics. We know how that story ended.

Had you invested purely in boring old banks back in 2007, you’d have also lost a lot of money, at least on paper. The fact that the share prices of such supposedly ‘safe’ stocks are still to recover to pre-crash levels tells you why it’s so important not to rely on any single sector to perform. 

Will adding a bank stock to your portfolio today hurt your chances of doing well? Probably not. In fact, the huge dividends currently being offered by the likes of Lloyds and HSBC suggest having at least a few shares in one could be sensible. Owning both is questionable though, especially if you are still committed to running a fairly concentrated portfolio.

An alternative strategy would be to have the core of your portfolio composed of cheap index trackers or exchange-traded funds, thus spreading your money over hundreds or even thousands of different companies. Any remaining cash can then be invested in a limited number of what you consider to be your best ideas.

3. Listening to bulletin board posters

I’m not averse to reading the odd bulletin board now and then. Considering the opinions of others, particularly those that diverge from your own, is a great way of avoiding confirmation bias — the habit of only seeking out information that agrees with what you already think. Becoming attached to shares may sound absurd but its surprisingly easy. That’s why reflecting on the reasons why a particular company may fail or underperform is just as important as thinking about why it might thrive.

Having said this, basing any investment decisions purely on the back of what someone posts is folly. For one, you have no idea who this person really is.  Moreover, if he or she believed they knew exactly where markets were headed in the short term (tip: no one does), do you think they’d be so benevolent to post it on a free-for-all discussion board?

Even if you’re aware of the identity of a bulletin board poster, it would be a mistake to assume that their attitude to risk, financial goals and investing time horizon are exactly the same as yours. Which brings me to my final point.

4. Skipping on research

The ease at which people can now buy and sell stock in companies belies the fact that consistently successful stock-picking can be both hard work and time-consuming. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t have the inclination to work their way through the full-year figures or latest news release from a company, preferring to buy into an exciting story than to question whether every chapter of that story is likely to be told.

Becoming a successful investor doesn’t require a degree in finance. Nevertheless, profits can be determined by your own diligence and a willingness to evaluate a stock based on a clear, concise checklist (including qualitative aspects such as perceived economic moats in addition to numerical valuations). Doing so can only serve to strengthen your confidence in any purchase that is subsequently made. 

Getting Rich Slowly

It’s easy to make a million by using a simple strategy such as tracking the FTSE 100 and letting your money work for you. Unfortunately, most investors ‘over-trade’ and, as a result, their returns suffer significantly…

To help you avoid this key mistake, the Motley Fool has put together this free report entitled “The Worst Mistakes Investors Make”. These mistakes can cost you thousands over your investing career but the best part is, this report is free to download.

Click here to get your copy today.

More reading

£1,000 to invest? Here are 2 FTSE 100 growth stocks to jump-start your wealth

Is a lifetime ISA the best way to invest in the FTSE 100?

3 UK dividend ETFs income investors will love

No retirement savings at 55? Here’s what to do

These 3 FTSE 100 monster dividend stocks are yielding more than 20%!

Paul Summers has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended HSBC Holdings and Lloyds Banking Group. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

[kayleyfaheyus]

Shift Your Brokerage into High Gear

Five years ago, I was a hobby farmer in Western Ohio, on the prowl for a new career. After 19 years in the automotive industry, working my way up from lot porter to salesman to GM and president of a dealer group, I was ready for a change.

I was eager to apply my background and experience in consumer marketing to a new line of work, one that preferably highlighted my passion for land. Should I get a broker’s license or go to work for a management company or call up a trust department to see if they had any openings? I honestly had no idea how to proceed. Fortunately, my wife, Jessica, made a brilliant suggestion: Call the publisher of that magazine I was always raving about, and see what he had to say. You probably already have an inkling of how things turned out.

I lobbed an email to The Land Report publisher Eddie Lee Rider, and that very day I got a call back. The sales guy in me immediately liked this. Not five minutes into our initial conversation, we both sensed an opportunity. My gut told me to sign on with the Magazine of the American Landowner. After a heart-to-heart with Jessica, that’s exactly what I did.

Almost immediately, I recognized that the tenets of marketing and branding that build successful dealer groups also applied to the successful marketing of land. I guarantee the lessons I learned as I worked my way up from the mailroom to the showroom and finally the boardroom can better your book of business.

 Consistency is Key

One of the principle tenets of automotive marketing is that reach without frequency equals wasted money. Eddie Lee hammered home this very same point to me. “If someone wants to buy a one-time ad, tell them not to waste their money,” he says. “Selling land isn’t about when a broker is ready to market a listing. It’s about when a buyer or a seller is ready to pull the trigger.”

“Consistency is key” is especially true when marketing land and your services. A well-crafted branding message, delivered consistently, creates top-of-mind name recall. In my humble opinion, this could well be the factor that generates that all-important phone call from a potential buyer or a motivated seller.

 There is No Off-Season

Many industries target a certain time frame to ramp up marketing. Car sales is not one of them. It may seem as though dealers are doubling down when they do a “year-end clearance,” but that’s just one of many arrows in their quiver. How many times a year do you see ads about factory incentives? Or special dealer financing? By the time you factor in all the limited-time offers that are pitched – President’s Day, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Back to School, Black Friday, New Year’s Eve – a far more sophisticated strategy emerges. Automotive dealers market 24/7/365.

So if investors who buy and sell land have no off-season, why should you?

Yes, we both know that as the calendar year wraps up, so does deal pace. I equate this to an auto dealership’s year-end clearance. But if your own marketing slacks off during the off-season while your competitors are busy reinforcing their branding, guess who gets the cold call in the middle of winter? Guess who hits the ground running when the snow melts or school lets out? Not you.

As entrepreneurs, our instinct is to keep our powder dry when things slow down.

Yet the decision to buy or sell a legacy property is often a family decision that is discussed and debated during the off-season, a.k.a. the holidays. Does it really make sense to pull back your marketing at the exact moment you need to be building your business?

Like countless brokerages coast to coast, The Land Report shifts into high gear as spring turns into summer. Yet we consciously produce our biggest issue of the year, which features The Land Report 100, so it comes out in December. Why? Because we practice what I’m preaching. Our must-read content is on coffee tables and in private jets precisely when families gather for the holidays.

Effective marketing is a full-time, year-round commitment. The consistent marketing message that you deliver, even during spells of lower activity, builds brand equity and name recall. These are priceless.

Marketing is Not an Expense. It is an Investment. Treat it as Such.

Best practice dictates you establish a marketing budget and commit fully to it. Budgets create limits; you can’t have a presence everywhere. So, do your research, negotiate well, and pick your platforms based on their position within the industry. Only invest in favorable brand association. Demand added value for your marketing dollars. Above all, challenge your marketing partners to deliver your message effectively and specifically to the right audience. Trust but verify.

Please note that I said “platforms.” Do not put all your eggs in one basket, be it print, online, or direct mail. And that includes my own title, The Land Report. Do you go to the trade shows your target buyer attends? You’d be surprised how many of those events take place during the so-called off-season. How about hosting your own event, even if it’s just a cast-and-blast for a handful of key clients. Again, money well spent.

Fish where the fish are. By that, I mean make sure you connect with your target market in person, online, via direct mail, and in print. That’s a sound investment.

Branding is Not A Slogan. It’s the Truth.

I’ve always been a big fan of Ford’s slogan: Built Ford Tough. It’s confident. It’s catchy. And it hammers home the fact that more than a century after Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company, Ford is very much an industry leader. I know that for a fact because I spent the majority of my career with the blue oval.

Let’s apply that marketing savvy to your business. If your brokerage has been around for a while, what are you best known for? A specific land use? A certain market? A specialized expertise? Spell it out in an honest, straightforward manner. At The Land Report, we call ourselves The Magazine of the American Landowner. It’s confident. It’s catchy. And it hammers home the fact that we share the stories of America’s leading landowners.

But what if you’re new to the business and just starting out? What drives you? What inspired you to launch your business? Are you a longtime local? Then put those deep roots and your local ties to work for you. Maybe you relocated to the land of your dreams. If so, doesn’t your trailblazing decision make you the ideal candidate to pave the way for others who might want to do so? Do you love to hunt? Is life better on the back of a horse?

Consider these questions and write down your answers. Look at it closely. Refine it. Hone it. Buff it. THAT is your brand.

There’s Never Been a Better Time to Market Your Brand

The landscape of marketing choices for land professionals has never been more diverse. Traditional advertising is gone. Kaput. Once upon a time, advertising featured an “offer” that was deliverable through standardized channels. Today, it’s all about experience marketing. When I got my first paycheck in the automotive industry, Facebook, Google, and YouTube didn’t even exist. By the time I left, key influencers were creating billions of impressions with blogs and podcasts that reached consumers via their iPhones, a product that debuted in 2007. This avalanche of new technology has created exciting opportunities for small business owners to create and control marketing and branding. Use it to your advantage.

I’m a big fan of Instagram. The visual-forward nature of this rapidly growing platform and its ability to integrate video and drone footage gives a broker the unique opportunity to conduct virtual showings on multiple listings from a handheld device. If you are a land broker in 2018, an active Instagram account is a must, not an option.

Finally: hashtags, hashtags, hashtags. Marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuck insists that for real estate professionals, the most effective way to grow your Instagram following is through the use of strategic hashtags. This means the use of a minimum of 10 hashtags per post. I recommend including hashtags featuring the state where your listing is located as well as the type of property – i.e., #farm, #ranch, #timberland, #hunting. Keep the hashtags relevant and watch the interactions with your posts build.

Thanks to Jessica’s suggestion, I’ve been on board with The Land Report going on five years now. Even better, I’m applying insights and ideas that I gained in one of the most competitive industries to my new career. I sincerely hope that one of these kernels of truth helps you take your book of business to the next level in 2018 and beyond.

P.S. If you want me to share more, reach out to me at davidz@landreport.com. I’ll even help you set up that Instagram account you’ve been putting off.

About the Author: David Zawalich lives in west central Ohio with his wife, two kids and a Wire Haired Pointing Griffon named Zeke. His love of land and the outdoors was sparked as a child in the wilds of northeast Pennsylvania. He employs his unique vantage point as a landowner and marketing professional as the Associate Publisher of The Land Report.

The post Shift Your Brokerage into High Gear appeared first on REALTORS® Land Institute.

from News About Real Estate https://www.rliland.com/shift-your-brokerage-into-high-gear-branding

[kayleyfaheyus]

Shift Your Brokerage into High Gear

Five years ago, I was a hobby farmer in Western Ohio, on the prowl for a new career. After 19 years in the automotive industry, working my way up from lot porter to salesman to GM and president of a dealer group, I was ready for a change.

I was eager to apply my background and experience in consumer marketing to a new line of work, one that preferably highlighted my passion for land. Should I get a broker’s license or go to work for a management company or call up a trust department to see if they had any openings? I honestly had no idea how to proceed. Fortunately, my wife, Jessica, made a brilliant suggestion: Call the publisher of that magazine I was always raving about, and see what he had to say. You probably already have an inkling of how things turned out.

I lobbed an email to The Land Report publisher Eddie Lee Rider, and that very day I got a call back. The sales guy in me immediately liked this. Not five minutes into our initial conversation, we both sensed an opportunity. My gut told me to sign on with the Magazine of the American Landowner. After a heart-to-heart with Jessica, that’s exactly what I did.

Almost immediately, I recognized that the tenets of marketing and branding that build successful dealer groups also applied to the successful marketing of land. I guarantee the lessons I learned as I worked my way up from the mailroom to the showroom and finally the boardroom can better your book of business.

 Consistency is Key

One of the principle tenets of automotive marketing is that reach without frequency equals wasted money. Eddie Lee hammered home this very same point to me. “If someone wants to buy a one-time ad, tell them not to waste their money,” he says. “Selling land isn’t about when a broker is ready to market a listing. It’s about when a buyer or a seller is ready to pull the trigger.”

“Consistency is key” is especially true when marketing land and your services. A well-crafted branding message, delivered consistently, creates top-of-mind name recall. In my humble opinion, this could well be the factor that generates that all-important phone call from a potential buyer or a motivated seller.

 There is No Off-Season

Many industries target a certain time frame to ramp up marketing. Car sales is not one of them. It may seem as though dealers are doubling down when they do a “year-end clearance,” but that’s just one of many arrows in their quiver. How many times a year do you see ads about factory incentives? Or special dealer financing? By the time you factor in all the limited-time offers that are pitched – President’s Day, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Back to School, Black Friday, New Year’s Eve – a far more sophisticated strategy emerges. Automotive dealers market 24/7/365.

So if investors who buy and sell land have no off-season, why should you?

Yes, we both know that as the calendar year wraps up, so does deal pace. I equate this to an auto dealership’s year-end clearance. But if your own marketing slacks off during the off-season while your competitors are busy reinforcing their branding, guess who gets the cold call in the middle of winter? Guess who hits the ground running when the snow melts or school lets out? Not you.

As entrepreneurs, our instinct is to keep our powder dry when things slow down.

Yet the decision to buy or sell a legacy property is often a family decision that is discussed and debated during the off-season, a.k.a. the holidays. Does it really make sense to pull back your marketing at the exact moment you need to be building your business?

Like countless brokerages coast to coast, The Land Report shifts into high gear as spring turns into summer. Yet we consciously produce our biggest issue of the year, which features The Land Report 100, so it comes out in December. Why? Because we practice what I’m preaching. Our must-read content is on coffee tables and in private jets precisely when families gather for the holidays.

Effective marketing is a full-time, year-round commitment. The consistent marketing message that you deliver, even during spells of lower activity, builds brand equity and name recall. These are priceless.

Marketing is Not an Expense. It is an Investment. Treat it as Such.

Best practice dictates you establish a marketing budget and commit fully to it. Budgets create limits; you can’t have a presence everywhere. So, do your research, negotiate well, and pick your platforms based on their position within the industry. Only invest in favorable brand association. Demand added value for your marketing dollars. Above all, challenge your marketing partners to deliver your message effectively and specifically to the right audience. Trust but verify.

Please note that I said “platforms.” Do not put all your eggs in one basket, be it print, online, or direct mail. And that includes my own title, The Land Report. Do you go to the trade shows your target buyer attends? You’d be surprised how many of those events take place during the so-called off-season. How about hosting your own event, even if it’s just a cast-and-blast for a handful of key clients. Again, money well spent.

Fish where the fish are. By that, I mean make sure you connect with your target market in person, online, via direct mail, and in print. That’s a sound investment.

Branding is Not A Slogan. It’s the Truth.

I’ve always been a big fan of Ford’s slogan: Built Ford Tough. It’s confident. It’s catchy. And it hammers home the fact that more than a century after Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company, Ford is very much an industry leader. I know that for a fact because I spent the majority of my career with the blue oval.

Let’s apply that marketing savvy to your business. If your brokerage has been around for a while, what are you best known for? A specific land use? A certain market? A specialized expertise? Spell it out in an honest, straightforward manner. At The Land Report, we call ourselves The Magazine of the American Landowner. It’s confident. It’s catchy. And it hammers home the fact that we share the stories of America’s leading landowners.

But what if you’re new to the business and just starting out? What drives you? What inspired you to launch your business? Are you a longtime local? Then put those deep roots and your local ties to work for you. Maybe you relocated to the land of your dreams. If so, doesn’t your trailblazing decision make you the ideal candidate to pave the way for others who might want to do so? Do you love to hunt? Is life better on the back of a horse?

Consider these questions and write down your answers. Look at it closely. Refine it. Hone it. Buff it. THAT is your brand.

There’s Never Been a Better Time to Market Your Brand

The landscape of marketing choices for land professionals has never been more diverse. Traditional advertising is gone. Kaput. Once upon a time, advertising featured an “offer” that was deliverable through standardized channels. Today, it’s all about experience marketing. When I got my first paycheck in the automotive industry, Facebook, Google, and YouTube didn’t even exist. By the time I left, key influencers were creating billions of impressions with blogs and podcasts that reached consumers via their iPhones, a product that debuted in 2007. This avalanche of new technology has created exciting opportunities for small business owners to create and control marketing and branding. Use it to your advantage.

I’m a big fan of Instagram. The visual-forward nature of this rapidly growing platform and its ability to integrate video and drone footage gives a broker the unique opportunity to conduct virtual showings on multiple listings from a handheld device. If you are a land broker in 2018, an active Instagram account is a must, not an option.

Finally: hashtags, hashtags, hashtags. Marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuck insists that for real estate professionals, the most effective way to grow your Instagram following is through the use of strategic hashtags. This means the use of a minimum of 10 hashtags per post. I recommend including hashtags featuring the state where your listing is located as well as the type of property – i.e., #farm, #ranch, #timberland, #hunting. Keep the hashtags relevant and watch the interactions with your posts build.

Thanks to Jessica’s suggestion, I’ve been on board with The Land Report going on five years now. Even better, I’m applying insights and ideas that I gained in one of the most competitive industries to my new career. I sincerely hope that one of these kernels of truth helps you take your book of business to the next level in 2018 and beyond.

P.S. If you want me to share more, reach out to me at davidz@landreport.com. I’ll even help you set up that Instagram account you’ve been putting off.

About the Author: David Zawalich lives in west central Ohio with his wife, two kids and a Wire Haired Pointing Griffon named Zeke. His love of land and the outdoors was sparked as a child in the wilds of northeast Pennsylvania. He employs his unique vantage point as a landowner and marketing professional as the Associate Publisher of The Land Report.

The post Shift Your Brokerage into High Gear appeared first on REALTORS® Land Institute.

from News About Real Estate https://www.rliland.com/shift-your-brokerage-into-high-gear-branding

[joefnolan80]

Shift Your Brokerage into High Gear

Five years ago, I was a hobby farmer in Western Ohio, on the prowl for a new career. After 19 years in the automotive industry, working my way up from lot porter to salesman to GM and president of a dealer group, I was ready for a change.

I was eager to apply my background and experience in consumer marketing to a new line of work, one that preferably highlighted my passion for land. Should I get a broker’s license or go to work for a management company or call up a trust department to see if they had any openings? I honestly had no idea how to proceed. Fortunately, my wife, Jessica, made a brilliant suggestion: Call the publisher of that magazine I was always raving about, and see what he had to say. You probably already have an inkling of how things turned out.

I lobbed an email to The Land Report publisher Eddie Lee Rider, and that very day I got a call back. The sales guy in me immediately liked this. Not five minutes into our initial conversation, we both sensed an opportunity. My gut told me to sign on with the Magazine of the American Landowner. After a heart-to-heart with Jessica, that’s exactly what I did.

Almost immediately, I recognized that the tenets of marketing and branding that build successful dealer groups also applied to the successful marketing of land. I guarantee the lessons I learned as I worked my way up from the mailroom to the showroom and finally the boardroom can better your book of business.

 Consistency is Key

One of the principle tenets of automotive marketing is that reach without frequency equals wasted money. Eddie Lee hammered home this very same point to me. “If someone wants to buy a one-time ad, tell them not to waste their money,” he says. “Selling land isn’t about when a broker is ready to market a listing. It’s about when a buyer or a seller is ready to pull the trigger.”

“Consistency is key” is especially true when marketing land and your services. A well-crafted branding message, delivered consistently, creates top-of-mind name recall. In my humble opinion, this could well be the factor that generates that all-important phone call from a potential buyer or a motivated seller.

 There is No Off-Season

Many industries target a certain time frame to ramp up marketing. Car sales is not one of them. It may seem as though dealers are doubling down when they do a “year-end clearance,” but that’s just one of many arrows in their quiver. How many times a year do you see ads about factory incentives? Or special dealer financing? By the time you factor in all the limited-time offers that are pitched – President’s Day, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Back to School, Black Friday, New Year’s Eve – a far more sophisticated strategy emerges. Automotive dealers market 24/7/365.

So if investors who buy and sell land have no off-season, why should you?

Yes, we both know that as the calendar year wraps up, so does deal pace. I equate this to an auto dealership’s year-end clearance. But if your own marketing slacks off during the off-season while your competitors are busy reinforcing their branding, guess who gets the cold call in the middle of winter? Guess who hits the ground running when the snow melts or school lets out? Not you.

As entrepreneurs, our instinct is to keep our powder dry when things slow down.

Yet the decision to buy or sell a legacy property is often a family decision that is discussed and debated during the off-season, a.k.a. the holidays. Does it really make sense to pull back your marketing at the exact moment you need to be building your business?

Like countless brokerages coast to coast, The Land Report shifts into high gear as spring turns into summer. Yet we consciously produce our biggest issue of the year, which features The Land Report 100, so it comes out in December. Why? Because we practice what I’m preaching. Our must-read content is on coffee tables and in private jets precisely when families gather for the holidays.

Effective marketing is a full-time, year-round commitment. The consistent marketing message that you deliver, even during spells of lower activity, builds brand equity and name recall. These are priceless.

Marketing is Not an Expense. It is an Investment. Treat it as Such.

Best practice dictates you establish a marketing budget and commit fully to it. Budgets create limits; you can’t have a presence everywhere. So, do your research, negotiate well, and pick your platforms based on their position within the industry. Only invest in favorable brand association. Demand added value for your marketing dollars. Above all, challenge your marketing partners to deliver your message effectively and specifically to the right audience. Trust but verify.

Please note that I said “platforms.” Do not put all your eggs in one basket, be it print, online, or direct mail. And that includes my own title, The Land Report. Do you go to the trade shows your target buyer attends? You’d be surprised how many of those events take place during the so-called off-season. How about hosting your own event, even if it’s just a cast-and-blast for a handful of key clients. Again, money well spent.

Fish where the fish are. By that, I mean make sure you connect with your target market in person, online, via direct mail, and in print. That’s a sound investment.

Branding is Not A Slogan. It’s the Truth.

I’ve always been a big fan of Ford’s slogan: Built Ford Tough. It’s confident. It’s catchy. And it hammers home the fact that more than a century after Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company, Ford is very much an industry leader. I know that for a fact because I spent the majority of my career with the blue oval.

Let’s apply that marketing savvy to your business. If your brokerage has been around for a while, what are you best known for? A specific land use? A certain market? A specialized expertise? Spell it out in an honest, straightforward manner. At The Land Report, we call ourselves The Magazine of the American Landowner. It’s confident. It’s catchy. And it hammers home the fact that we share the stories of America’s leading landowners.

But what if you’re new to the business and just starting out? What drives you? What inspired you to launch your business? Are you a longtime local? Then put those deep roots and your local ties to work for you. Maybe you relocated to the land of your dreams. If so, doesn’t your trailblazing decision make you the ideal candidate to pave the way for others who might want to do so? Do you love to hunt? Is life better on the back of a horse?

Consider these questions and write down your answers. Look at it closely. Refine it. Hone it. Buff it. THAT is your brand.

There’s Never Been a Better Time to Market Your Brand

The landscape of marketing choices for land professionals has never been more diverse. Traditional advertising is gone. Kaput. Once upon a time, advertising featured an “offer” that was deliverable through standardized channels. Today, it’s all about experience marketing. When I got my first paycheck in the automotive industry, Facebook, Google, and YouTube didn’t even exist. By the time I left, key influencers were creating billions of impressions with blogs and podcasts that reached consumers via their iPhones, a product that debuted in 2007. This avalanche of new technology has created exciting opportunities for small business owners to create and control marketing and branding. Use it to your advantage.

I’m a big fan of Instagram. The visual-forward nature of this rapidly growing platform and its ability to integrate video and drone footage gives a broker the unique opportunity to conduct virtual showings on multiple listings from a handheld device. If you are a land broker in 2018, an active Instagram account is a must, not an option.

Finally: hashtags, hashtags, hashtags. Marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuck insists that for real estate professionals, the most effective way to grow your Instagram following is through the use of strategic hashtags. This means the use of a minimum of 10 hashtags per post. I recommend including hashtags featuring the state where your listing is located as well as the type of property – i.e., #farm, #ranch, #timberland, #hunting. Keep the hashtags relevant and watch the interactions with your posts build.

Thanks to Jessica’s suggestion, I’ve been on board with The Land Report going on five years now. Even better, I’m applying insights and ideas that I gained in one of the most competitive industries to my new career. I sincerely hope that one of these kernels of truth helps you take your book of business to the next level in 2018 and beyond.

P.S. If you want me to share more, reach out to me at davidz@landreport.com. I’ll even help you set up that Instagram account you’ve been putting off.

About the Author: David Zawalich lives in west central Ohio with his wife, two kids and a Wire Haired Pointing Griffon named Zeke. His love of land and the outdoors was sparked as a child in the wilds of northeast Pennsylvania. He employs his unique vantage point as a landowner and marketing professional as the Associate Publisher of The Land Report.

The post Shift Your Brokerage into High Gear appeared first on REALTORS® Land Institute.

from News About Real Estate https://www.rliland.com/shift-your-brokerage-into-high-gear-branding

[joefnolan80]

Shift Your Brokerage into High Gear

Five years ago, I was a hobby farmer in Western Ohio, on the prowl for a new career. After 19 years in the automotive industry, working my way up from lot porter to salesman to GM and president of a dealer group, I was ready for a change.

I was eager to apply my background and experience in consumer marketing to a new line of work, one that preferably highlighted my passion for land. Should I get a broker’s license or go to work for a management company or call up a trust department to see if they had any openings? I honestly had no idea how to proceed. Fortunately, my wife, Jessica, made a brilliant suggestion: Call the publisher of that magazine I was always raving about, and see what he had to say. You probably already have an inkling of how things turned out.

I lobbed an email to The Land Report publisher Eddie Lee Rider, and that very day I got a call back. The sales guy in me immediately liked this. Not five minutes into our initial conversation, we both sensed an opportunity. My gut told me to sign on with the Magazine of the American Landowner. After a heart-to-heart with Jessica, that’s exactly what I did.

Almost immediately, I recognized that the tenets of marketing and branding that build successful dealer groups also applied to the successful marketing of land. I guarantee the lessons I learned as I worked my way up from the mailroom to the showroom and finally the boardroom can better your book of business.

 Consistency is Key

One of the principle tenets of automotive marketing is that reach without frequency equals wasted money. Eddie Lee hammered home this very same point to me. “If someone wants to buy a one-time ad, tell them not to waste their money,” he says. “Selling land isn’t about when a broker is ready to market a listing. It’s about when a buyer or a seller is ready to pull the trigger.”

“Consistency is key” is especially true when marketing land and your services. A well-crafted branding message, delivered consistently, creates top-of-mind name recall. In my humble opinion, this could well be the factor that generates that all-important phone call from a potential buyer or a motivated seller.

 There is No Off-Season

Many industries target a certain time frame to ramp up marketing. Car sales is not one of them. It may seem as though dealers are doubling down when they do a “year-end clearance,” but that’s just one of many arrows in their quiver. How many times a year do you see ads about factory incentives? Or special dealer financing? By the time you factor in all the limited-time offers that are pitched – President’s Day, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Back to School, Black Friday, New Year’s Eve – a far more sophisticated strategy emerges. Automotive dealers market 24/7/365.

So if investors who buy and sell land have no off-season, why should you?

Yes, we both know that as the calendar year wraps up, so does deal pace. I equate this to an auto dealership’s year-end clearance. But if your own marketing slacks off during the off-season while your competitors are busy reinforcing their branding, guess who gets the cold call in the middle of winter? Guess who hits the ground running when the snow melts or school lets out? Not you.

As entrepreneurs, our instinct is to keep our powder dry when things slow down.

Yet the decision to buy or sell a legacy property is often a family decision that is discussed and debated during the off-season, a.k.a. the holidays. Does it really make sense to pull back your marketing at the exact moment you need to be building your business?

Like countless brokerages coast to coast, The Land Report shifts into high gear as spring turns into summer. Yet we consciously produce our biggest issue of the year, which features The Land Report 100, so it comes out in December. Why? Because we practice what I’m preaching. Our must-read content is on coffee tables and in private jets precisely when families gather for the holidays.

Effective marketing is a full-time, year-round commitment. The consistent marketing message that you deliver, even during spells of lower activity, builds brand equity and name recall. These are priceless.

Marketing is Not an Expense. It is an Investment. Treat it as Such.

Best practice dictates you establish a marketing budget and commit fully to it. Budgets create limits; you can’t have a presence everywhere. So, do your research, negotiate well, and pick your platforms based on their position within the industry. Only invest in favorable brand association. Demand added value for your marketing dollars. Above all, challenge your marketing partners to deliver your message effectively and specifically to the right audience. Trust but verify.

Please note that I said “platforms.” Do not put all your eggs in one basket, be it print, online, or direct mail. And that includes my own title, The Land Report. Do you go to the trade shows your target buyer attends? You’d be surprised how many of those events take place during the so-called off-season. How about hosting your own event, even if it’s just a cast-and-blast for a handful of key clients. Again, money well spent.

Fish where the fish are. By that, I mean make sure you connect with your target market in person, online, via direct mail, and in print. That’s a sound investment.

Branding is Not A Slogan. It’s the Truth.

I’ve always been a big fan of Ford’s slogan: Built Ford Tough. It’s confident. It’s catchy. And it hammers home the fact that more than a century after Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company, Ford is very much an industry leader. I know that for a fact because I spent the majority of my career with the blue oval.

Let’s apply that marketing savvy to your business. If your brokerage has been around for a while, what are you best known for? A specific land use? A certain market? A specialized expertise? Spell it out in an honest, straightforward manner. At The Land Report, we call ourselves The Magazine of the American Landowner. It’s confident. It’s catchy. And it hammers home the fact that we share the stories of America’s leading landowners.

But what if you’re new to the business and just starting out? What drives you? What inspired you to launch your business? Are you a longtime local? Then put those deep roots and your local ties to work for you. Maybe you relocated to the land of your dreams. If so, doesn’t your trailblazing decision make you the ideal candidate to pave the way for others who might want to do so? Do you love to hunt? Is life better on the back of a horse?

Consider these questions and write down your answers. Look at it closely. Refine it. Hone it. Buff it. THAT is your brand.

There’s Never Been a Better Time to Market Your Brand

The landscape of marketing choices for land professionals has never been more diverse. Traditional advertising is gone. Kaput. Once upon a time, advertising featured an “offer” that was deliverable through standardized channels. Today, it’s all about experience marketing. When I got my first paycheck in the automotive industry, Facebook, Google, and YouTube didn’t even exist. By the time I left, key influencers were creating billions of impressions with blogs and podcasts that reached consumers via their iPhones, a product that debuted in 2007. This avalanche of new technology has created exciting opportunities for small business owners to create and control marketing and branding. Use it to your advantage.

I’m a big fan of Instagram. The visual-forward nature of this rapidly growing platform and its ability to integrate video and drone footage gives a broker the unique opportunity to conduct virtual showings on multiple listings from a handheld device. If you are a land broker in 2018, an active Instagram account is a must, not an option.

Finally: hashtags, hashtags, hashtags. Marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuck insists that for real estate professionals, the most effective way to grow your Instagram following is through the use of strategic hashtags. This means the use of a minimum of 10 hashtags per post. I recommend including hashtags featuring the state where your listing is located as well as the type of property – i.e., #farm, #ranch, #timberland, #hunting. Keep the hashtags relevant and watch the interactions with your posts build.

Thanks to Jessica’s suggestion, I’ve been on board with The Land Report going on five years now. Even better, I’m applying insights and ideas that I gained in one of the most competitive industries to my new career. I sincerely hope that one of these kernels of truth helps you take your book of business to the next level in 2018 and beyond.

P.S. If you want me to share more, reach out to me at davidz@landreport.com. I’ll even help you set up that Instagram account you’ve been putting off.

About the Author: David Zawalich lives in west central Ohio with his wife, two kids and a Wire Haired Pointing Griffon named Zeke. His love of land and the outdoors was sparked as a child in the wilds of northeast Pennsylvania. He employs his unique vantage point as a landowner and marketing professional as the Associate Publisher of The Land Report.

The post Shift Your Brokerage into High Gear appeared first on REALTORS® Land Institute.

from News About Real Estate https://www.rliland.com/shift-your-brokerage-into-high-gear-branding

[kayleyfaheyus]

Shift Your Brokerage into High Gear

Five years ago, I was a hobby farmer in Western Ohio, on the prowl for a new career. After 19 years in the automotive industry, working my way up from lot porter to salesman to GM and president of a dealer group, I was ready for a change.

I was eager to apply my background and experience in consumer marketing to a new line of work, one that preferably highlighted my passion for land. Should I get a broker’s license or go to work for a management company or call up a trust department to see if they had any openings? I honestly had no idea how to proceed. Fortunately, my wife, Jessica, made a brilliant suggestion: Call the publisher of that magazine I was always raving about, and see what he had to say. You probably already have an inkling of how things turned out.

I lobbed an email to The Land Report publisher Eddie Lee Rider, and that very day I got a call back. The sales guy in me immediately liked this. Not five minutes into our initial conversation, we both sensed an opportunity. My gut told me to sign on with the Magazine of the American Landowner. After a heart-to-heart with Jessica, that’s exactly what I did.

Almost immediately, I recognized that the tenets of marketing and branding that build successful dealer groups also applied to the successful marketing of land. I guarantee the lessons I learned as I worked my way up from the mailroom to the showroom and finally the boardroom can better your book of business.

 Consistency is Key

One of the principle tenets of automotive marketing is that reach without frequency equals wasted money. Eddie Lee hammered home this very same point to me. “If someone wants to buy a one-time ad, tell them not to waste their money,” he says. “Selling land isn’t about when a broker is ready to market a listing. It’s about when a buyer or a seller is ready to pull the trigger.”

“Consistency is key” is especially true when marketing land and your services. A well-crafted branding message, delivered consistently, creates top-of-mind name recall. In my humble opinion, this could well be the factor that generates that all-important phone call from a potential buyer or a motivated seller.

 There is No Off-Season

Many industries target a certain time frame to ramp up marketing. Car sales is not one of them. It may seem as though dealers are doubling down when they do a “year-end clearance,” but that’s just one of many arrows in their quiver. How many times a year do you see ads about factory incentives? Or special dealer financing? By the time you factor in all the limited-time offers that are pitched – President’s Day, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Back to School, Black Friday, New Year’s Eve – a far more sophisticated strategy emerges. Automotive dealers market 24/7/365.

So if investors who buy and sell land have no off-season, why should you?

Yes, we both know that as the calendar year wraps up, so does deal pace. I equate this to an auto dealership’s year-end clearance. But if your own marketing slacks off during the off-season while your competitors are busy reinforcing their branding, guess who gets the cold call in the middle of winter? Guess who hits the ground running when the snow melts or school lets out? Not you.

As entrepreneurs, our instinct is to keep our powder dry when things slow down.

Yet the decision to buy or sell a legacy property is often a family decision that is discussed and debated during the off-season, a.k.a. the holidays. Does it really make sense to pull back your marketing at the exact moment you need to be building your business?

Like countless brokerages coast to coast, The Land Report shifts into high gear as spring turns into summer. Yet we consciously produce our biggest issue of the year, which features The Land Report 100, so it comes out in December. Why? Because we practice what I’m preaching. Our must-read content is on coffee tables and in private jets precisely when families gather for the holidays.

Effective marketing is a full-time, year-round commitment. The consistent marketing message that you deliver, even during spells of lower activity, builds brand equity and name recall. These are priceless.

Marketing is Not an Expense. It is an Investment. Treat it as Such.

Best practice dictates you establish a marketing budget and commit fully to it. Budgets create limits; you can’t have a presence everywhere. So, do your research, negotiate well, and pick your platforms based on their position within the industry. Only invest in favorable brand association. Demand added value for your marketing dollars. Above all, challenge your marketing partners to deliver your message effectively and specifically to the right audience. Trust but verify.

Please note that I said “platforms.” Do not put all your eggs in one basket, be it print, online, or direct mail. And that includes my own title, The Land Report. Do you go to the trade shows your target buyer attends? You’d be surprised how many of those events take place during the so-called off-season. How about hosting your own event, even if it’s just a cast-and-blast for a handful of key clients. Again, money well spent.

Fish where the fish are. By that, I mean make sure you connect with your target market in person, online, via direct mail, and in print. That’s a sound investment.

Branding is Not A Slogan. It’s the Truth.

I’ve always been a big fan of Ford’s slogan: Built Ford Tough. It’s confident. It’s catchy. And it hammers home the fact that more than a century after Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company, Ford is very much an industry leader. I know that for a fact because I spent the majority of my career with the blue oval.

Let’s apply that marketing savvy to your business. If your brokerage has been around for a while, what are you best known for? A specific land use? A certain market? A specialized expertise? Spell it out in an honest, straightforward manner. At The Land Report, we call ourselves The Magazine of the American Landowner. It’s confident. It’s catchy. And it hammers home the fact that we share the stories of America’s leading landowners.

But what if you’re new to the business and just starting out? What drives you? What inspired you to launch your business? Are you a longtime local? Then put those deep roots and your local ties to work for you. Maybe you relocated to the land of your dreams. If so, doesn’t your trailblazing decision make you the ideal candidate to pave the way for others who might want to do so? Do you love to hunt? Is life better on the back of a horse?

Consider these questions and write down your answers. Look at it closely. Refine it. Hone it. Buff it. THAT is your brand.

There’s Never Been a Better Time to Market Your Brand

The landscape of marketing choices for land professionals has never been more diverse. Traditional advertising is gone. Kaput. Once upon a time, advertising featured an “offer” that was deliverable through standardized channels. Today, it’s all about experience marketing. When I got my first paycheck in the automotive industry, Facebook, Google, and YouTube didn’t even exist. By the time I left, key influencers were creating billions of impressions with blogs and podcasts that reached consumers via their iPhones, a product that debuted in 2007. This avalanche of new technology has created exciting opportunities for small business owners to create and control marketing and branding. Use it to your advantage.

I’m a big fan of Instagram. The visual-forward nature of this rapidly growing platform and its ability to integrate video and drone footage gives a broker the unique opportunity to conduct virtual showings on multiple listings from a handheld device. If you are a land broker in 2018, an active Instagram account is a must, not an option.

Finally: hashtags, hashtags, hashtags. Marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuck insists that for real estate professionals, the most effective way to grow your Instagram following is through the use of strategic hashtags. This means the use of a minimum of 10 hashtags per post. I recommend including hashtags featuring the state where your listing is located as well as the type of property – i.e., #farm, #ranch, #timberland, #hunting. Keep the hashtags relevant and watch the interactions with your posts build.

Thanks to Jessica’s suggestion, I’ve been on board with The Land Report going on five years now. Even better, I’m applying insights and ideas that I gained in one of the most competitive industries to my new career. I sincerely hope that one of these kernels of truth helps you take your book of business to the next level in 2018 and beyond.

P.S. If you want me to share more, reach out to me at davidz@landreport.com. I’ll even help you set up that Instagram account you’ve been putting off.

About the Author: David Zawalich lives in west central Ohio with his wife, two kids and a Wire Haired Pointing Griffon named Zeke. His love of land and the outdoors was sparked as a child in the wilds of northeast Pennsylvania. He employs his unique vantage point as a landowner and marketing professional as the Associate Publisher of The Land Report.

The post Shift Your Brokerage into High Gear appeared first on REALTORS® Land Institute.

from News About Real Estate https://www.rliland.com/shift-your-brokerage-into-high-gear-branding