The Touch Marketing Inc. Blog

Do You Need to Take a Course to Learn about Websites and Social Media?

Jay Brennan — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:01:38 +0000

Do you need to take a course to learn how to use websites and social media for real estate? via: creative commons Maybe you should take a course, or maybe not. It depends on what your goals are. Yes, you should take a course, if: 1.You have a real estate marketing plan. 2. You [...]

Thoughts on REBarCamp and Realtor Quest 2012

Jay Brennan — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:41:39 +0000

This has been a busy week here in Toronto, Canada for real estate people and the vendors who love them. REBarCamp was on Tuesday May 1 and Realtor Quest on Wednesday and Thursday, May 2 and 3. Again this year, it was good to see that event organizers were striving to maintain a balance between [...]

Ever had anyone complain about you on the Internet?

Jay Brennan — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:35:53 +0000

Yes, you have. What is taking place these days between the Competition Bureau and the mainstream Canadian real estate industry (particular TREB) can be understood as a form of online complaint. A key challenge is how real estate listing information will be available over the Internet. It is tough when the government starts to mess [...]

Spring Cleaning for the Tech-Savvy Real Estate Agent, Part 3

Jay Brennan — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:01:22 +0000

Your smartphone and laptop serve you day in and day out, and what thanks do they get? What about your tablets, USB sticks, back up devices, e-readers, music and video players, hook ups for televisions, bluetooth devices, and whatever new and amazing gadget that Apple will be coming out with next. It is absolutely incredible [...]

Spring Cleaning for the Tech-Savvy Real Estate Agent, Part 2

Jay Brennan — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:04:43 +0000

It is such a sad thing. To visit a real estate blog that last received a new post in 2009. Look at a real estate agent’s Facebook page that has grown dusty with disuse and no new friends. Or to send a real estate broker a Tweet and receive no response. There are LinkedIn accounts [...]

Spring Cleaning for the Tech-Savvy Real Estate Agent, Part 1

Jay Brennan — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:21:39 +0000

Too busy to do spring cleaning for your technology? Don’t have time for it? Recently, I spoke to someone (who is not tech-savvy or a real estate agent!) who had kept six years of work on their USB stick. Guess what? It stopped working. No replacement. No back ups. No maintenance. It is [...]

Have you been ‘borrowing’ stuff you find on the Internet for your Real Estate Website?

Jay Brennan — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:11:50 +0000

I love real estate websites and social media pages with barrels full of good-quality video, photos, and text. The reason we do not see much of this? It is a monumental challenge to come up with fresh, interesting, original, local content on a regular basis. So what is a busy real estate person to do? [...]

Shopping for Real Estate Brokerage Software, Part 3

Jay Brennan — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:47:24 +0000

In this final installment on real estate brokerage software, I would like to review two important software building blocks for financial management and contact management. Accounting software is an important purchase, whether you purchase the ubiquitous Quickbooks, Netsuite, or other general accounting software or an industry-specific offering from a vendor such as Lone Wolf. [...]

Five Tips For Managing The Internet During The Busy Spring Real Estate Market

Jay Brennan — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:00:46 +0000

In many real estate markets, a fabulous ‘Spring Market’ is already warming up. Through a quiet winter, many agents and brokers have worked on their websites, blogs and social media pages. Now, that activity is picking up, you want to get out there and meet some people and make deals. So…. just when a [...]

Shopping for Real Estate Brokerage Software, Part 2

Jay Brennan — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:39:25 +0000

With software shopping, there is never an end in sight. There are no perfect solutions, there are so many options that it is easy to miss something good, and there is always something better coming up just around the corner. Of the options that I reviewed, I liked Propertybase the best. (You will notice that [...]